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.