Montbéliard (off the river)

Early morning moored at Branne before the temperature hit 35°C

THURSDAY 12 JUNE 

Whilst having breakfast we checked the water levels and flows on the website I explained about on the last blog update. We decided that because none were going in the wrong direction, we should give it a go and have a cruise after five days of not being able to move. The locks are only two km apart for quite a while so if we found the going getting difficult it would mean we didn’t have far to go to get to the next lock waiting pontoon to tie up until we felt confident.

We also decided to stop keeping the car with us for the next few weeks, so Karen drove into Baume-les-Dames to find somewhere to leave it. While she did that, I set about taking the boat down to the port in the town to take on water which would also be a handy place to pick Karen up. It all worked perfectly and by the time I could see her walking into the port carrying a couple of shopping bags I was putting the hose away. We set off immediately and were soon leaving Baume-les-Dames to continue our journey eastwards.

Looking back over the weir to say goodbye to Baume-Les-Dames.

Having said the other day how good the locks have been on the Doubs we did encounter one that wouldn’t empty for us. I rang VNF and as they couldn’t sort it out remotely they sent an éclusier out to us. We tied up to the waiting pontoon as we didn’t know how long the guy would take to arrive. While waiting for him a mad Polish guy came by on his bike – I’d noticed a flag on the back with all his camping equipment. He stood by the side of us and played a few bars from his bugle including the Last Post. He then took some pictures, jumped fully clothed into the water next to us, bobbed up and down, got out and then cycled off.

The éclusier was a lovely guy and soon got us through the lock. We had a stilted but friendly conversation as he knew no English other than, ‘Goodbye’. It transpired he was born and bred in the area and would never want to leave it. He also loved his job and couldn’t think of anything else he’d rather do. He went ahead to each of the following locks to make sure they worked OK for us and also to continue our conversation. Well it wasn’t really a conversation as it wasn’t easy to understand him and he found it difficult to understand me but at least he spoke nice and slowly. The scenery continued to change as we cruised, sometimes the hills would fall right back leaving meadows in the valley and at other times the steep rocky hills returned alongside the river.

The river, although higher than normal, presented no problems and we were able to travel at almost our normal speed. We moored up for day below the lock at Branne and were able to sit outside for the rest of the day as a handy tree was covering half the pontoon in shade.

It looks like we’re finally going to have to get used to temperatures on the wrong side of 30°C. It always takes us a while to get adjusted and normally that would happen during May over here. We did have some 30+ days in May, but it then cooled down and we had quite a few grey days and also some where it rained so that’s why we’re having to get acclimatised again. We took the opportunity of mooring on the river to have a swim to cool down. As a strong swimmer Karen went in first to check it would be safe for me. There was no current near the boat so that's where I stayed.

I don’t usually include pictures from locks unless I’m describing something that occurred during the journey, but I thought a selection from the day’s locks would make a change and also show what amazing locations some are in.

On Thursday we cruised 10 km up five locks and saw two private boats, both French cruisers coming out of one of the locks together.

FRIDAY 13 JUNE 

Karen went for an early morning run before it got too hot, but she obviously didn’t go early enough as it was already 28°C when she got back to the boat. As much as our overnight mooring below the lock at Branne gave us wonderful views and also shade in the evening, we’d decided we needed to move on. This was because the road following the Doubs valley was right next to the mooring, so it hadn’t been particularly quiet overnight.

Going up the first lock Karen spotted that eggs were for sale in the lock cottage, so she knocked on the door to buy a couple of dozen. She was gone quite a while and when she returned she explained she had to wait because the man and his wife had insisted on washing them all first. After an hour or so cruising we were approaching Clerval where we planned on stopping for lunch.

There were no moorings in the town itself so we pulled up at the lock landing and then walked back downstream to Clerval.

The town stretched across both banks of the river and part of it was built under the riverside cliff face and this house abutted the rocks on one side, even the roof was built up to the rock.

There were a couple of riverside restaurants and one of them had a novel way of selling extra portions. The meals were pre-prepared and were the same as some of those on the menu, they just needed heating through though.

We crossed the river on the bridge that linked the two parts of the town and found the mairie. This was the first mairie we can remember seeing without any flags flying so it looked rather miserable.

Clerval château now houses the museum of memory and peace which sounded like it would have made for an interesting visit. Of course, as is our luck, it was closed because they obviously knew we were in town.

There were two war memorials next to each other, the right hand one was erected for those fallen in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian war and the other the two World Wars of the following century.

Back down near the river again we found a lavoir that needed some attention to make it appealing to tourists. I doubt most would notice it even though the grass and scrub had recently been cleared.

The temperature was 34°C by the time we returned to the boat so I got the second sunshade out to give us more protection as we continued our cruise. Being as we were travelling on a wide river we did feel the effects of a river breeze which helped somewhat. The only lock of the afternoon looked quite unusual as it had very tall top gates. This was because the river was on the other side and the height would prevent the water coming over the lock during floods.

We stopped for the day on yet another lock landing, this one was in Pompierre-sur-Doubs and we took the opportunity once again of going for a swim to cool down.

On Friday we cruised 9.5 km up three locks and saw three river cruisers, two French and one German, all heading downstream.

SATURDAY 14 MAY 

I know I seem to go on about the current high temperatures but it’s a big thing to us on a steel narrowboat because it heats up so quickly and then retains it throughout the night. Most bigger boats have built in generators and can run air conditioning units and, as well as being large and hence airy, they are often painted white so reflect all the sunlight.

I did a bit of painting first thing while Karen walked into the local village, Pompierre-sur-Doubs.  She came back and told me how pretty and well cared for the place was. It had a quaint mairie, the second one in two days not displaying flags, but as it was so cute it didn’t seem to matter. It was also quite unusual in that there were no signs that part of it was ever a school as is normally the case with village mairies.

She also found the old school which has now been converted into private homes…

…a pretty lavoir that had water in the abreuvoir (water trough) but sadly not in the washing basin…

…the war memorial,,,

…and a church with a Burgundian bell tower.

Not only was the village well cared for, but she said it felt as if the villagers were proud of their home. A stone plaque on an inside wall of the lavoir showing the village watermill, the lavoir and an old bridge across the river was testament to this feeling.

On her way back she stopped at the lock where the previous evening I’d noticed walnuts that looked ready to be picked for pickling. It’s an interesting custom in northern and central France where most locks have one or two walnut trees growing next to them, planted by the lock keepers who used to live in the lock cottages. Karen had obviously gone prepared as she’d taken walnutting gloves and a bag with her. Walnuts have to be handled carefully, or at least with gloves, as they stain pickers’ hands black. This is both in June when the green ones are picked for pickling and in the Autumn when the ripe ones have fallen to the ground and are harvested for shelling.

During our day’s cruise to L’Isle sur le Doubs, Karen started the first phase of the pickling process: pricking the skins and then bottling them in brine. They are then left in that state for eight days before the next stage of the process starts. We went up several locks and at one of them the lock cottage had hardly any gardens to speak of. Its frontage was the towpath and a railway line ran immediately along the back of the house.

While on railway lines we can tell we’re nearing the Peugeot factories at Montbéliard and Mulhouse because several of the freight trains that have passed us were loaded with either Peugeot cars or with Peugeot vans. The following lock started working for us and then went to two red lights as the doors started to open. We pulled up and called the VNF control centre who told me that there’d be a wait of an hour as the éclusier was on his lunch break.

We went inside to have our lunch when Karen saw a VNF van driving past us. I went out and found an éclusier had parked up and gone into the lockside control hut. We were soon going through with hardly any delay and I thanked him for interrupting his lunch hour. He was fine about it and was glad he could help us out.

We realised during the cruise that this would be the last day we’d be on the river Doubs itself. From our destination for the day, L’Isle sur le Doubs, until we meet the Rhine near Basel we’ll be travelling on canal only apart from a small section at Montbéliard. The section at Montbéliard is actually a crossroads where the river Doubs flows across the canal so care has to be taken because of the obvious crossflow.

Our last stretch on the river Doubs

Soon after leaving the river we were heading into L’Isle sur le Doubs and looking for a quay next to an Intermarché which we found after ten minutes cruising and tied up for the day.

As it was early afternoon we thought we’d pop to the tourist office and have a look around the town. It really was mad dogs and Englishmen weather as the only people out and about seemed to be tourists. The tourist office had already closed for the day and wasn’t reopening until Monday so we made up our own tour. We were in what looked like the main street of the old town.

The nearest building in the above picture was originally a primary school then it was used as a mairie (note the tell-tale air raids sirens) and is now a primary school again. We headed down the high street to the island of L’Isle sur le Doubs itself which is obviously surrounded by water. This is where the original part of town was and it really was quite attractive with most of the houses backing directly onto the river. I took a photo of one line of houses but it didn’t come out very well. Later on I found a photo of the houses on the web – can you guess which one was mine?

With it being such a hot day we found that the locals were out enjoying themselves barbequing in the shade of the trees on the banks with many of them swimming and paddling in the river. There were even people in the water both sides of the weir.

The waterpower was harnessed from early times and several forges had been built on the island. One of them made nuts, screws and bolts and used these arches, which had wheels on, to transfer power by belts into the factory. That forge was dismantled when the company went out of business but a later factory, now disused, can be seen in the background behind the arches.

On the weir side of the island we found various stone structures and also a noticeboard that indicated they were all that remained of a castle built for the Count of Neufchâtel in 1230.

At the other end of the island we came across a water fountain and an abreuvoir and saw a cave behind them.

We investigated the cave and found that it contained an underground lavoir and the basin was still filled with running water. 

We than retraced our steps and instead of going back to the boat we crossed the canal to have a look at the south side of town which was clearly the modern part of L’Isle sur le Doubs. The only building we saw of any note was the old telegraph office.

Rob and Amy from Vivante whom we’d been moored next to in Besançon had recommended a restaurant in town so we went along when it opened at 6.30pm. Unfortunately, they were fully booked so we ended up ordering a pizza to take away and had a couple of drinks while we waited.

On Saturday we cruised 10 km up five locks and saw two private boats on the move, a Kiwi couple and a French couple.

SUNDAY 15 JUNE

The forecast was for cooler weather on Sunday, to be brought about by thunderstorms. We didn’t want to stay in L’Isle sur le Doubs, preferring instead to get out into the country and it seemed the best window for cruising would be a few hours either side of midday. Before we left, Karen did some food shopping while I made a couple of trolley trips to the fuel station.

It was a mixture of sun and cloud for the journey and we avoided getting wet as there were only a couple of light showers. At one of the locks we saw an automatic weed dispensing machine. I use the word dispensing to mean getting rid of as opposed to giving out. When it sensed the hopper in the water was full, a conveyor started up and transferred the weed into a shredder which then disgorged into a skip. We actually saw the machine in operation as we came up the lock but it was idle again as we passed it.

Now we were off the river and onto a canal proper the countryside had definitely changed.

We were fortunate with the weather, because as we were mooring up for the day at Colombier-Châtelot, we could hear thunder in the distance.

A thunderstorm then arrived with us and lasted an hour or so but at least it brought the temperature down somewhat for the rest of the day.

On Sunday we cruised seven km up four locks and saw no boats.

MONDAY 16 JUNE 

We woke to cloudy skies on Monday which was ideal for Karen as it was a run day, and whilst she was gone I had a walk in the countryside. We set off soon after we were both back and by the time we reached the second lock the clouds had started receding.

We had a lift bridge ahead at Colombier-Fontaine and we’d given VNF the requisite amount of notice by calling them by 15.00 the day before. Although we’d said we wanted it raised at 12.00, we were three quarters of an hour early but an éclusier was already waiting for us and was happy to let us through. I did wonder if it meant he could take an early and extended lunch break.

There was a VNF office just after the bridge and Karen had spotted an outside tap so I asked the éclusier if we could take on water and he readily agreed. I know we only filled up a couple of days ago, but we always top up whenever we see a tap that’s available as it’s not always obvious where the next working water tap will be.

It was the first day since we left the canal des Vosges on 2^nd June that we’ve not had part or all of our journey on a river. It made a pleasant change being on a canal and we soon got used to it and also taking in the different scenery.

After four locks we arrived in Dampierre-sur-le-Doubs and moored up on an old high quay next to the church. Once again, it was a reminder that we no longer had Buddy with us as it would have been very difficult getting him off and on the boat against such a high quay.

There wasn’t much to the village, not even a bar or boulangerie. The mairie was small like the one Karen had found a couple of days previously at Pompierre-sur-Doubs, but it could hardly be called quaint, like she’d described hers.

With fewer than a dozen villagers killed in the two world wars two marble plinths had been erected in their memory in place of a traditional war memorial. Words to the effect that ‘it’s our moral and civic duty to never forget those that lost their lives’ was inscribed on the bottom of one of the plinths.

We were moored at the end of a road called rue du Lavoir and we had to walk the length of it before finding what we hoped to find.

Later in the afternoon we walked a few km further upstream to check out the section where the river Doubs forms a crossroads with the canal. We wanted to be sure we knew how we would handle the cross current caused by the flow of the river. Fortunately, it looked quite benign, so we were confident we’d be okay when we cruised that way the next day on our way to Monbéliard.

In the days before motorized barges they had a novel way of crossing the river when it was high. A narrow-gauge rail track ran on the towpath on the bridge that crossed the river. A chariot (description from our guidebook!) ran on the track from one side to the other with a barge attached to it to prevent it being taken down stream. We found what remained of the ‘chariot’ on the bank of canal by the crossing. I have to assume that must have been some sort of restraining mechanism that stopped the 'chariot' being pulled into the river.

When we got back to the boat we called up VNF as we had to give notice that we wanted to go through a lift bridge just outside Montbéliard tomorrow,

On Monday we cruised 10 km up four locks and saw one private boat of unknown nationality.

TUESDAY 17 JUNE 

With a hot day forecast we set out early from Dampierre-sur-Doubs bound for Montbéliard. This is leaving the Dampierre lock, looking back at the church under which we’d moored the previous night.

The canal kept reminded us of cruising in the UK with some narrow sections and sometimes the edges were lined with rushes.

It wasn’t long before we were crossing the Doubs and, as we suspected, the crossflow was hardly noticeable. This picture shows us entering the crossing with the canal continuing into the distance. The Doubs flows in from under the bridge which can just be seen on the right and then leaves on the left where, just out of sight, the river Allan joins it.

Now we’ve left the Doubs valley we’ll be following the river Allen for the next 20 km or so and then the river Bourbeuse to the summit. We had one lift bridge to go through and arrived 15 minutes early but the éclusier was already on site and was closing the vehicle barriers as we arrived.

We noticed how tame the herons were becoming the closer we got to Montbéliard. We saw a couple standing next to fishermen and not flinching when the rods were being brought in as we passed. There was even one at the side of a lock that wouldn’t move as we went through.

We soon reached Montbéliard and managed to moor outside the VNF office which is right next to the port. VNF allow visiting boaters to stay a night or two for free which we thought was most reasonable considering we were in a very popular tourist town.

The blue boat that’s to the right of us was too long to moor safely where it was in the port. To overcome this, they had a mobile spud leg which can be seen to the right of their anchors. It was the first time we’ve seen such a contraption, usually they’re part of the boat itself and the legs are dropped down underneath to secure the boat to the bottom of the waterway. The figurehead on the boat is actually a live heron.

After lunch we walked into Montbéliard and caught a train to Baume-les-Dames to pick up the car. Rather than taking the autoroute back to the boat we went the scenic way along the Doubs valley, recognising many of the places we’d cruised and moored at recently.

Back at the boat we met a lovely couple who were admiring our boat and ended up having drinks with them in the busy bar at the port. The couple were from Indiana and had recently bought a house on the canal de Bourgogne and were taking a holiday by cycling along the Doubs.

On Tuesday we cruised seven km up four locks, through one lift bridge and saw no boats.