Tuesday 23rd May 2017 L’Isle to Allenjoie 33kms 17 locks

Moorings in L'Isle-sur-le-Doubs

8.8°C Sunny with hazy clouds. Mike moved the car to the parking area by the moorings above lock 26 and bought some bread on his way back. Up 2.2m in lock 26 L’Isle (a crowd of loud for their size little girls on bikes were on the lockside in front of the lockhouse) and past the moored boats on the all-mod-cons pay moorings (using a credit card in a slot). Just 1.6kms through the shady woods, with loads of thick weed

Our VNF lady in a van working the liftbridge at Colombier-Fontaines

floating just before lock 25 Coteau-Lunans (2.9m). There was a huge dead and stinking carp floating in the lock chamber, Mike managed to flush it out with our prop wash before I lifted the rod and the lock filled – no way that we want that next to the boat, perfuming the air! Weed was bad all along the 2.6kms section to the next lock, but OK after that. A VNF van went past us driving up the towpath. At lock 24 Blussans (2.5m) there were three VNF vans on the

Liftbridge at Colombier-Fontaines

lockside. The road followed the canal closely on the 2.5kms pound to lock 23 Colombier-Chatelot (1.4m) which had a very nice lock house. 2.4kms to the next. There was an 80m long mooring made from steel tubes sunk into the canal bed which supported wooden decking. Gunfire in the woods – first we’d heard this year. A bridge had a sign to say it had 3.4m clearance – our mast is 3.38m high, but there was loads of room and the pound was full to overflowing, so they got that one a bit wrong. Round a sharp right hand bend and into 22 St Maurice (2.9m) another deep one. The lock house was empty, shuttered. A little two car train went past, the railway right alongside the canal again. On to a 1.9kms long straight pound. The woods were now at a distance with cows in fields close to the canal on both sides. Up 21 Colombier-Fontaine (2.5m) and 2.5kms to the next. A short distance beyond the lock there was a liftbridge, operated for us from a small cabin by a young VNF lady in a van. Barriers came down on either side of the canal and railway to stop the road traffic. There was a VNF depot just after the liftbridge and we spied a tap with a hose, maybe we might use that on the way back. Noticed the towpath was not

Willow bank edging

tarmacked – so no fast cyclists for a while. 20 Raydans (2.5m) had a lived in lock house and just a bit further on up the canal were the remains of a burnt out factory building, just the walls were left. Some of the buildings had been reused – there was a scrap car dealer in one of them. 1.6kms and the road was very busy. 19 Plaine de Dampierre. (1.5m) No house just a small port-a-cabin for the lock controls. 1.8kms to the next with high stone walls around a Z-bend close to the church as we entered Bavans. 18 Bavans (1.5m) This lock also had no lock house just a

Crossing the Doubs

cabin. Above the lock was a flood run-off weir, but the water in the canal was more than 8” below it. The towpath was tarmacked again, so the cycle piste must have diverted through the last three canalside villages. 2.4kms to lock 17, crossing the Doubs on a level (the river crosses the canal flowing right to left and goes over a weir). The canal had steep grassy banks with ox-eye daisies growing in profusion, it was bordered with willow wickerwork edging, a good eco-idea as the willow sends up new branches which can also be woven in and helps reduce the

Courcelles liftbridge

erosion caused by boats travelling above the 6kph limit and making lots of wash. Through the open flood lock 18b and across the river, virtually no flow today - the deepest channel was marked by buoys.  Lock 17 Voujeaucourt (3.2m) didn’t “see” the boat – so Mike reversed out and paused under the entry sensor, that set the automatics working, all OK after that. Made sandwiches for lunch on the 2.2kms pound through two long narrowed sections with stone walls. 16 Courcelles (1.3m) No lock house. 2.2kms pound and

Moorings in Montbeliard

another liftbridge, this one was a Llangollen type. The young lady in a van worked it for us from a little cabin by the bridge. Lots of cars had to wait, quite a long queue of them. Surprised when a wedge-shaped cruiser suddenly appeared at the beginning of the next narrow bit just beyond the liftbridge (that’s now 14 boats moving). Up 15 Coteau-Jouvent (2.2m) where there was a restaurant boat on the right (and an empty free mooring) opposite the pay moorings – which were practically full, in the short pound (1.1kms) leading to 14 Montbeliard (1.7m) Above lock 14 there was a section of canal that

Entrance to the Belfort arm

had been prepared for the arrival of big boats when they upgraded the canal close to the massive Peugeot car factory. Lock 13 no longer exists, it was eliminated when they built the deepened widened canal which is fed by the river Savoureuse, a tributary of the Doubs. The upgrade never happened as there was too much public outcry that making a ship canal would ruin the Doubs valley. So lock 12 Etupes (4.25m) was a replacement deep one for

Aqueduct over the river Allan and Allenjoie lock

two shallow ones. Up 11 Etupes (2.10m) and 10 Marivées (1.6m) then the canal ahead had been closed and, around a sharp left hand bend a new deep lock 9 Allenjoie (2.0m) had been built to join the river Allan, another little tributary of the Doubs. A sharp turn to the right with the arm to Belfort to the left. We hadn’t intended to go up the five remaining navigable locks of the canal de la Haute-Saône as we’d looked on Google Earth and found that the canal had been surrounded with factory estates and a large shopping complex, plus the A36 followed its bank into Belfort and it

Moored in the jungle near  Allenjoie

looked like there were houseboats moorings occupying a lot of the sections between locks. Now we were surprised to find a no entry sign on a barrier across the arm. Speaking later to a VNF guy he said that there is a problem with lack of water and he thought that boats were allowed to leave or enter the arm a couple of times a year (that must be for the houseboats!). There were no lights on at lock 8 Fontenelle so we assumed contact has to be made with VNF to continue further and we were only going to go as far as we could with the automated locks before turning back to return down the Doubs. We winded- just about – to the amazement of a passing cyclist who stopped to chat. We told him we couldn’t use the shady mooring by the entrance to the Belfort arm as we wouldn’t be able to get satellite TV. He laughed at that and wished us bonne route. We tied up in the jungle on the non-towpath side where there was adequate water depth for us, the towpath side had lots of underwater rocks next to the nicely piled edge along the very well-used cycle path. Set up TV and got lots of channels on French digital TV including TF1 for the best weather forecasting, first time on this trip, well done Belfort.

Saturday 20th May 2017 Grand Crucifix lock to l’Isle-sur-le-Doubs 10 lks 24.8kms

Black redstart on the quay ladder at L'Isle

Chaux-les-Clerval and start of lock cut

7.6°C Sunshine with clouds building up, some black ones, but the rain missed us. Early morning mist was lifting as we set off ay 7.50am. I cleaned thousands of corpses off the roof – tiny black mayflies that were attracted to the solar lights in the flower boxes. Mike said the river level had risen by 18” while we’d been moored on the pontoon due to all that rain we had. 2.5kms of river to lock 36 Hyèvre-Magny. Less than a metre rise and the weir alongside was flowing well, producing a standing wave below it. A campervan had parked on the lockside overnight. Just 1km to lock 35 l’Ermite. It was a slow kilometre with a water flow of 3.5kph. Up another 1.7m then 1.4kms, still on the river, to lock 34 Branne, a deep one (3.6m) taking us up on to the next canal section. At the lockhouse there was a cage with birds, but not chickens – guinea fowl! 2.2kms of canal to lock 33 Chaux-les-Clerval (0.7m) fishermen were out in force along the canal banks. 4kms to the next lock, half of that distance along the canal, through the flood lock, which to our amazement was open, on to 2kms of river. Under a new road bridge and through the middle of Clerval with a pontoon on our right and a big

A swan in flight abv lk 35 l'Ermite

“no mooring” sign! An elderly man stood on the lockside and watched us lock through 32 Clerval (2m) (he was gobsmacked, we think, he only managed to say Bonjour!). The lock house’s doors and windows were all bricked up. 3.3kms of river reach, the flow rate increased, 4kph, so Mike wound the power on to keep going at around 4kph. Round a long right hand bend to lock 31 Pompièrre and up almost 3m on to the next canal section, nice to have no flow

Guinea fowl at lk 34 Branne

for a while. 1.6kms to the next lock. Up another 3m at 30 Plaine de Pompièrre. The canal followed a long sweeping left hand bend of the river, through an open flood gate back on to a 4kms river reach. Lock 29 La Goulisse refused to work, we got really close with the boat and still the device said “out of range”. Mike backed up to the pontoon and I got off with the device and walked up to the lock, still trying the controller and still getting the same message on its screen “Hors Champ”. Even right next to the cone shaped antenna on the lock cabin it still said “out of range” – so I called VNF on the

Pontoon with no mooring sign at Clerval

cabin intercom. I could hardly hear the person who spoke as the weir was so loud. Presumed he said he’d send someone. I walked back to the pontoon – at least we had something to tie to and wait. It was 12.45pm so I made some lunch. Mike got some sandpaper out to sand down the filler he put on some small depressions in the roof by the engine room slide. Our VNF lady in a van arrived and emptied the lock for us. It wasn’t a fault with the device, it

Waiting for a lock keeper at lk 29 La Goulisse

was a lock fault she said (probably that antenna we thought) and we locked through. The VNF lady was on the phone throughout. It was just 1.45pm as we left the lock on the 2.5kms river reach to lock 28 Appenans. There was a boat in the lock coming down (that’s probably why the long phone conversation – she’d have to work the lock for that one too). The cruiser went past, gates started closing, then reopened, relief when the device activated the lock for us to go up. We counted up how many boats we’d seen moving since we came on to the Doubs, it had

Thundering weir at La Goulisse

been very, very quiet – a total of 12 boats including the cruiser we’d just passed. Up 1.5m in lock 28, the smell was pretty bad (cow byre) as the wind was in the wrong direction! On to the last navigable reach of the Doubs, 1.2kms to lock 27 La Papeterie up nearly 3m and on to the canal. Tied up in l’Isle-sur-le-Doubs at 3pm next to a high quay wall (with new ladders) by an Intermarché supermarket. We hadn’t been tied up very long when number 13 went past heading uphill, the Swiss cruiser whose skipper had told Mike how much the mooring fees were at

You have been warned!

Baume-les-Dames. Internet was full house, 4G four bars. Mike went to have a look at the parking in the town for when he collects the car next day. Maybe have a day out in the car in Switzerland on Monday as the weather looks like being good. He said there was a new mooring above the next lock with eight boats moored there, including the Swiss cruiser. It’s much quieter down here  on the quay where we are despite it being right next to a road.

Quiet mooring on the quay at L'Isle

Thursday 18th May 2017 Deluz to abv lk 37 Grand Crucifix 25.5kms 10 locks

Deluz, moored boats and Locaboat hire base

15.2°C Leaden skies – rain due tomorrow. Sun out by mid-afternoon, thunderstorm after we’d tied up. A train went past with thirty empty car transport wagons. Set off at 9am. There were already some noisy fishermen on the opposite bank. A new layby filled with cruisers moored end on to the bank had been built in Deluz and a Locaboat hire base. Upstream of that was what was once an elegant factory building, now sadly decaying,

Old abandonded factory, roof falling in. Deluz

its roof falling in. A little further on by the church in Deluz there was a mooring for bigger boats at the base of a sloping grassy bank with a wooden piled edge. Flood lock 46B was in action. Tied to a floating pontoon, the water level went up by about 10cms. Back on the river, there were cliffs on the left and forested hills all around as we swept round a big bend to lock 45 Aigremont and a rise of just 0.7m. On the lockside a row of gabions had been placed to make a layby for VNF vans only – why do that when vans could just

Below Laissey lock - weir to the right - mill stream to the left

drive on to the lockside anyway which was on the same level as the road – do they often drive into the lock? 2kms of winding river, passing the little town of Laissey on route to lock 44 Laissey. 2,2m lift. A factory (still in use) on the left of the lock was supplied with water from above the lock, which meant there was water flowing, not only from the weir on our right, but also from a millstream on the left. Sitting below the lock waiting for it to empty was a bit dodgy as there was no waiting pontoon and the flow was trying to push the

Above Laissey lock - weir to the left - mill stream to the right

boat sideways towards the middle of the river. Inside the chamber there were large recesses in the lock walls, one at the back of the lock ladder. Put a rope around a vertical bar in the rod recess. The lock filled gently via ground paddles only. 2.3kms of river to lock 43 Douvot (1.35m) which had a footbridge over the lock which made an ideal vantage point for gongoozling passing cyclists. Above the lock there was an island with no sign to say which side was the navigable

Clary growing on lock wall at Ougney

channel, we followed our Vagnon guide and went left. About 2kms to the next. The river still lay at the foot of cliffs and forested hills. A short sharp rain storm caused Mike to put the brolly up and me to close all doors. Under a road bridge and into lock 42 Ougney (1.25m), there were houses on both sides of the lock chamber and a beautiful blue clary flowering in the lock wall. 2.2kms of river running below Fourbanne cliffs which stood like massive castle turrets. Up lock 41 Fourbanne, another 2m rise, with a big VNF van on the lockside, but no occupant in sight. On upriver

Fourbanne cliffs

with cliffs towering above steep meadows with grazing cows, 2,5kms to the next lock. A big group of waving cyclists went past, we wondered if they were on a cycling tour. Into lock 40 Baumerousse, a very deep one at 4.1m lift. It filled gently, again with just ground paddles, no violent gate paddles. Two young men stood on the lockside watching, The canal above had lots of floating brown blobs of dead blanket weed. The moorings at Baume-les-Dames had been

Squeezed into the moorings at Baume-les-Dames

altered out of all recognition with finger moorings and boats moored end on to the bank. There was a length long enough for us to slot into on an angle. Signs said pay at the campervan place just across the road. There were tariffs for vans 10€ but nothing for boats and the office didn’t open until 6pm – it was 1.40pm. One Swiss cruiser was occupied so Mike went to ask how much they charged. He was told that charges went by length, below 15m was 15€ per night and over 15m was a staggering 20€ per night – and we were planning on stopping two nights as the weather forecast for the next day was bad, rain all day with thunderstorms. No way we were going to pay 40€ when we

Moored on pontoon above Grand Crucifix lock

didn’t really need their water or electricity. We set off again at 2.45pm. The sun came out and it was getting hot again. Sunshade up. Through an open flood lock 40B and along a canal section with very high steep banks with rocks along the base. Back on to the river round a big left hand bend with two scowling young fishermen in a small boat anchored in the middle. Two Swiss cruisers went flying past heading downriver as we approached lock 39 Lonot. A pontoon was angled to the river

Moored above lock 37 Grand Crucifix

just before a sharp right turn into the lock. Up 1.7m, into a short lock cut then back on to the river, another short reach of 2.2kms to lock 38 La Raie au Chèvre on the right hand side of the river with a long open weir to the left. Up just 1m. The next short river reach had holiday chalets in ones and twos before lock 37 Grand Crucifix. Gently up another 1.5m. There was a pontoon above – and it had no notice forbidding mooring. We tied up. It was very hot and we were starting to get tired. The lock behind us closed, but the red lock light was flashing. A large VNF van went past, paused by the lock then went on downriver. A pleasant place to stop. Glad we did as a thunderstorm brought pouring rain not long after we tied up.

Wednesday 17th May 2017 Besançon to abv Deluz 20.3kms 5 locks

Besancon. A pump out! and it looks like it works and it's free!!

10.7°C Sunny and hot. Untied from the pontoon below the ramparts in Besançon and set off upriver at 9am on la boucle du Doubs (loop of the Doubs river). Passed an old loading/unloading basin on the right, now filled with yellow water lilies. A Le Boat hireboat went past, heading downriver, at 9.10am by the first roadbridge. As we came to the second roadbridge a female goosander flew past. At the third bridge another Le Boat

University and a blue bendy tram. Besancon

cruiser came downriver towards us then did a sharp U-Turn to moor next to the vertical stone quay at Port Battant. Into the lock cut leading to St-Paul’s lock. There was a trip boat on the mooring below the lock, it was running its engine and pouring out clouds of thick blue/grey smoke. Cough, cough. He wouldn’t get away with running a road vehicle like that! Why are there so many people who don’t do engine maintenance on their boats like they do with their cars?? A few

St Paul's lock and mill (manual DIY) Besancon

cruisers were moored on the finger mooring below the lock. Mike went up a ladder and put a rope on a bollard while he turned the lock round. It’s DIY and manually operated by boat crews. The paddles needed many turns to open and shut. The capstans to open and shut the gates were very stiff and would have benefited from some grease. Last boat was uphill and had left the top end gates open and all the paddles up. When the lock was empty Mike opened one gate – a guy came out of the old mill alongside the lock and went to open the other gate for him until Mike pointed out we only

New moorings - abt 150m of pontoon with all mod cons.

needed one gate. Mike had taken a short boat shaft with him and hooked a rope for me and put it round a bollard, which was in the wrong place – and the water kept pulling the boat forward. Up about 2.10m. Not far upriver from the lock there was an extensive new pontoon, about 150m long, outside a large modern building. Just a couple of boats tied to it – one smoky cruiser had just set off heading the same way as us. The pontoon had all facilities – including a toilet pump-out!

Tunnel under the citadel eastern end

We paused and refilled our water tank, didn’t need much so, it didn’t take long and we were on our way again. A bit further upriver there were two converted péniches, one was a floating restaurant, the other a houseboat. A factory marked on our chart had disappeared altogether. Two more houseboat péniches were moored upstream of the next road bridge. Took a photo of the eastern most end of the ramparts as we continued past the end of the tunnel and on upriver. Lock

Two rise staircase at Deluz

40 La Mâlate filled as fiercely as we’d written on our guide book last time, glad Mike had a rope on a recessed bollard and I also had one on a vertical bar set in the slot for the blue rod, as one gate paddle still opened fully all in one go. The boat still tried to surge back and forth with the flow. Surprise when the gates opened, there was a DB a few feet from the gates! Mike managed to steer around his bows without getting into the shallow edge to our right. Then the boat went into the chamber before he got a green light – why do they do that? It’s sure to go “en panne” and cause more work for the VNF. There were three more

Alongside the road abv Deluz 2-rise

péniche houseboats moored on the left bank above the lock – Nadia was very tastefully converted. 6.4kms of river to the next lock and it was starting to get very hot with no relief from the breeze which was coming from behind us. The river was still flowing between 2.5 and 3kph as we wound around the bends through Chazeule. The village church clock rang its bells for midday as we went past. Rocks and more bends. No pontoon now at the sports ground. Lock 48 Chalèze emptied slowly. Again it was a deep lock (3.6m) which filled fiercely and there were no bollards in the wall, but there was a bar in the slot for the rod, so I threaded a

Moored abv Deluz locks
noisy fishermen on the pontoon behind us (opposite bank)

rope around that. 7.6kms to the next. I made some lunch and sat inside with the fan on to eat mine. Mike had put our sunshade up (first time this year) so he was sheltered from the sun under that. Through the flood gate at Roche-les-Beaupré and noted a new pontoon for mooring, right next to a friterie (French-style chip shop). Last lock of the day was another two-rise staircase lock. 47/46 Deluz. No bollards or a bar in this one, went up the lower chamber OK, then Mike got off the boat and walked up to the top, I steered the boat into the top chamber and Mike

Eastern end of the ramparts. Besancon

took the centre rope, put it round a bollard for me, then lifted the blue road. The man from the house alongside the lock was mowing his lawn on the lockside. We moved on further up the canal section and moored next to the busy little D266 road, using the Armco supports to tie to.

Tuesday 16th May 2017 Boussières to Besançon 16.7kms 6 locks

Heron on his favourite rock in the weir at Boussieres
I love this photo taken by Mike.

10.1°C Sunny all day but with a chilly wind. Set off early at 7.40am so we could continue beyond Besançon if we didn’t fancy the moorings in the river loop around the city. A short wait for lock 56 Thoraise to empty and we went up 3.7m (another deep one) Mike put our centre rope on to a recessed bollard in the wall. The bell sounded and the flashing yellow light flashed to tell us the gates were opening, then everything stopped. Mike called

Columbine

on the lock intercom and was told someone was on their way. It was 8.20am. A hireboat was moored on the pontoon above the lock - there are getting off places above and below the locks for crew to get off (or back on) to work the locks and all of them have notices to say that they are for lock working only, as did the one that the hireboat had obviously been tied to overnight. Two men in a van arrived at 8.45am. They went into the lock cabin and opened the top end lock gates for us. We s

Thoraise tunnel

aid thanks, only got a scowl in response, and we were on our way again upriver. Through the tiny tunnel (185m long) at Thoraise which cuts off a long un-navigable loop of the Doubs, round a sharp right hand bend, along a short canal section with very steep banks on both sides, then through an open flood lock and we were back on the river again. Cliffs among the forest along the left bank. 3.9kms to the next lock. The hireboat overtook us on the river section, so we slowed down so he would

Line of moored houseboats above Rancenay two-rise

clear the staircase two-rise 55/54 Rancenay before we arrived. The hireboat was in the top chamber, so we had to wait until it had left before the two-rise would reset itself. (The bottom chamber emptied but the gates wouldn't open). Up another 5.1m. By the lockside we noticed a set of post boxes, about twenty of them, the sort of thing they have for a block of flats. A sign said 5kph for the next 500m. Ah! A row of houseboats on the right hand side of the narrow canal. Most were converted péniches with a couple of old DBs and one sparkling

More goosanders 

new-built UK barge. After the moorings there was a 400m long narrow one-way section. The canal continued to the flood lock at Avanne, where we collected an abandoned fender, salvage – probably ripped off a hireboat that can’t steer through a 5.2m wide flood lock! A beautiful river reach with forested hills and cliffs. Lock 53 Gouille had only a 1.3m lift then we were back on the river, passing islands to our left. Took photos of ducks and the weir plus factory and silo beyond it. 3.7kms to the next lock. Up 52 Velotte just 2.10m.

Silos at Avanne

More islands as we entered the outskirts of the city of Besançon. Up lock 51 Tarragnoz (1.9m) between buildings. To our right was a lock inside the tunnel under the citadel which cuts off a big loop of the river, which in this case is navigable - we intend to cruise around the city on the river and come back through the tunnel later on the way back downriver. Turned left and found two new pontoons linked with a footbridge that went up to the towpath. No one else moored there so we tied up and closed the

How long has this graffiti been there?
Make love - not walls - surely not Berlin??

gate at the top which said “For waterways users only”. Great. Mike went to look at the quay we’d tied up on last time, about 100m further upriver, opposite the weir. There were trees growing out of the vertical stone quay wall and the rings to tie to had gone. OK, we’re

Citadel at Besancon

OK where we are. It was 12.30pm

New pontoons on the river in Besancon

Moored in the shadow of the citadel

Sunday 14th May 2017 Ranchot to Boussières flood lock 17.6kms 6 locks

A goosander and chick by floodlock 57

12.4°C Heavy rain in the night and more showers during the morning. A German campervan that had been parked by the quay when we arrived left around 10.30am. A Locaboat pénichette went past, heading uphill. The rain stopped and it was sunny. We set off at midday, passing some fishermen at the upstream end of the quay. Out of the lock cut and on to the river again for about a kilometre to the first lock of the day, lock 60

Weir at Ranchot

Dampierre. We had Sunday afternoon promenaders as onlookers while the boat rose 2.4m in the lock. 4.9kms to the next, the first half was canal and we were serenaded by a loud frog chorus backed up with crickets – Mike could hear the frogs but not the crickets. He reminded me that he hadn’t been able to hear cicadas last time we were in the Midi and that was ages ago – at least ten years! A man who was walking the towpath kept pace with the boat, not bad as we were

Swan on nest below lk 59 St Vit

doing nearly 6kph. Through the flood gate with a road bridge at Fraisans and the walker turned off on to the road as we started the next wide river reach leading to lock 59 St Vit. There was a short lock cut below lock 59 and we noted that the mooring marked in our guide as two pontoons in the weirstream (put there by the local council for passing boats) were full with overwintering, sheeted cruisers. The lock had unusual sloping sides, higher at the top end gates

Sloping lock chamber walls, lk 59 St Vit

than at the lower end. Mike went up the ladder with the centre rope and the lock filled, raising the boat a further 1.6m. Round a sharp right hand bend – someone had decorated the piled wall on our left with coloured hula-hoops, maybe for the last Olympics. On the next river reach we changed departments again, from Jura back into Doubs. A Nichols hireboat from Dole went past heading downriver. A hole opened up in the clouds and for the first time since we set off it was hot as the sun appeared.

House overhanging a cliff edge near Routelle

Fleeces off. A sand quay mooring we had marked on our guide had gone now, not a sign of it. Lock 58 Rozet-Fluans was full even though a hireboat had just come down – water was pouring over its top end gates as it emptied, so it would quickly refill itself. Mike went up the slimy ladder and the chamber filled, 3.2m, but nowhere near as violently as some of the shallower locks. A cheery load of cyclists went past hooting and waving and shouting Bonjour as we

Columbine

started on the 1.2km canal section. We’d not gone far when a second cycle club outing went past, also waving and hooting and shouting Bonjour, hello, etc. Just over a kilometre of canal to the next lock - another no 58, (a "new" lock according to my Imray of French Inland Waterways) Routelle a 1.7m lift and on to more canal, 4.1kms to the next. A different view too, cliffs on the left bank gave way to open fields while the Doubs was now over 6m below the canal on our right. Lots of cyclists were on the towpath on the left bank, then two scooters with headlights on came

Moored in the rain by the weir near Boussierres

racing down the towpath, hooting and yelling as they passed us. Dangerous with families out in force on their bikes. Never a policeman when you need one….. After we passed through a narrow section with strong stone walls, a busy little road ran right alongside the canal for a while, there were several fishermen and a young lad had just caught a small pike - his friends were taking photos on their phones of him holding it. Through another narrow stone lined narrow section which had a layby with

The weir and paper mill at Boussieres

bollards on the right (shame about the noisy road, it looked like a good mooring). Steep wooded cliffs behind the noisy D106 and the towpath had swapped over to the right bank. A lovely canal section through the woods. The road swung away from the canal as we neared the town of Osselle and there were more fishermen by two old stone quays. Lock 57 Osselle was a deep one at 3m but there was a hefty rod to loop a rope around in the same slot as the control rod, so no need for Mike to climb another slimy ladder. Two young boys were playing in front of the lock house doing wheelies on their bikes. Still on the canal, a VNF van went past heading downriver, he waved as he stopped while a bunch of cyclists went past. Dark clouds were

Moored by the weir at Boussieres, remains of old floodlock behind us

gathering again just like they did yesterday – just before we tied up it started to rain again. The next flood lock 57B, near Boussières, was in use so we had to work through it although there was only a few cms difference in water levels. We moored beyond the remains of an older flood lock on the right by the stone wall next to a semi-circular weir with a (working!) paper mill on the far right of the weir. It was 4.10pm and it had just stopped raining. On the opposite bank was a railway line and a TGV train went past soon after we tied up. The pénichette that went past us this morning heading upriver now went past us again at 4.50pm heading back downriver. Later another cruiser went past, getting busier.