Baume-les-Dames (first Aesculapian snake)

Our home next to the Veloroute for the past week

SATURDAY 7 JUNE 

It rained on and off during Saturday morning so, apart from Karen going for a run, we pottered around the boat and Ougney-les-Champs where we were moored. There were quite a few walnut trees around and we’ve noticed over the last few days that the walnuts have started fattening up. It’ll probably only be a couple of weeks before we’ll be picking some for pickling prior to the shells forming inside. After not being able to move for a few days because of the recent rain we felt that by midday the river level and flow rate were down enough for us to have the confidence to cruise. 

We set about moving off towards Baume-les-Dames but before leaving the first lock we took on water. As with most water points we’ve come across at locks the pressure was really high and the bore of the hose only just fitted into our water tank inlet. This meant that it took very little time to fill up the tank. After leaving the lock we passed Ougney-le-Bas where we’d walked to a couple of days previously. I said then how small the place was and this picture reflects that and the lavoir we found can be seen on the left next to the river bank.

As we cruised, the clouds cleared and we noticed that the hills were becoming less high and there were also areas where there were meadows in place of the woodland.

We went up three locks during the cruise and as we entered the third one we remarked that we hadn’t had any issues with the locks on the Doubs so far. There was one a couple of weeks ago when the top gates wouldn't open so we'd rung VNF who opened them remotely, therefore we didn’t really count that as an issue as we weren’t held up.

By time we moored for the day on the lock landing above the Beaumerousse lock the sun was out leaving us with a very pleasant evening.

We’d noticed more kingfishers during the cruise than we’ve seen on any day so far this year. While waiting for one of the locks to set one hovered alongside the boat. We don’t often see this behaviour in kingfishers and find it amazing how they can just stop in mid-air and hang there motionless apart from the blur of rapidly beating wings. Later on, we were sitting on deck having a drink when one flew onto the other end of the boat and perched there for a while. Whilst on nature I realise that I forgot to mention our first sighting of an Aesculapian snake the other day. It was when we were cycling to Deluz to pick up the car. I could see it coming out of the undergrowth on the side of the cycleway and it was halfway across once we reached it. Unfortunately it turned and slithered back into grass as we came alongside it.  

On Saturday we cruised 6.5 km up three locks and saw no boats on the move but three did pass us before we left in the morning.

SUNDAY 8 JUNE  

The morning started grey and windy which we didn’t mind too much as we were walking back to Ougney-les-Champs to retrieve the car. The wind did end up bothering us a bit though as it was blowing directly up the river valley so we had to walk against it. We walked along a country road the whole way but as it was in France we saw hardly any vehicles.

The only settlement we went through was Esnans. I’m not sure what to call it as it had a mairie but not a church so in my mind it was bigger than a hamlet but smaller than a village.

Like the two hamlets of the previous couple of days it did have a lavoir but although the abreuvoir was full of water, the washing basin was dry.

After walking for nearly seven km we were back at the car and although it was still windy the clouds had started disappearing.  The sun was quite warm so we’d been fortunate that it hadn’t appeared until the end of our walk. We drove back to the boat and parked by the lock next to our mooring. In the afternoon we drove into Baume-les-Dames to follow the historical self-guided trail we'd picked up from the tourist office on Friday. Compared with when we went in during the week it was practically dead with no shops and very few restaurants and bars open. It seemed the only people out and about were tourists like us.

It was so quiet we were able to park right in the centre next to the 17^th century church of St Martin with the Grenier brothers’ manor type house behind it.

Inside the church the windows depicted some of the original dames (nuns) of Baume-les-Dames but we had the camera focused on the ornate pulpit meaning the window designs couldn't be seen.

The ribbed vaulted ceiling was typical of Gothic architecture.

The Grenier brothers (of the manor house above) were apparently well known in their time, one being a painter and the other a poet. Our explanatory leaflet explained that they’ve been forgotten about since the 19^th century and we'd certainly never heard of them.

We were pleased to see that there were fortifications on the trail. The first town walls were built in the 1100s but we were disappointed to find that the only remnants were practically out of sight with a house built alongside them.

 Other points of interest included the old courthouse which now houses the library...

…a Renaissance house built in 1574 complete with a corbelled turret…

…and a 17^th century priory which is now used for private housing.

To be honest we weren’t particularly impressed with the trail as much of it concentrated on relatively obscure characters from the past and the houses they lived in. Their houses weren’t really architecturally noteworthy to us whereas there were many other impressive buildings in the town that to our minds should have been included. The almost non-existence of the fortifications didn’t help either.

We were pleased to see the day had remained dry and with hot sunny weather to come we hope it won’t be long before the river levels subside, and we can continue on our way.

MONDAY 9 JUNE 

All navigable rivers in France and their major tributaries have monitoring stations every so often along their length. These stations record the depth and flowrate every 10 minutes, and the results are available to view on-line in real time. By monitoring the relevant stations and looking at the river itself we can make sure we only move when we feel confident. For example, the level at 11am was 46 cm lower than it was 24 hours previously but still 10 cm higher than when we arrived. These differences don’t sound much but they make a big difference when in a narrowboat rather than a Dutch barge style boat or river cruiser.

One point of that preamble was to explain why we decided that we wouldn’t move for at least two more days. Although no more rain has fallen we know that the stations upstream are still recording increases due to the recent rain in the Jura mountains. Fortunately, the hot dry weather is back with us so we should be OK to move soon. I got in touch with VNF to explain that we’d be staying on the lock waiting pontoon for at least two more days and they were more than happy we stayed until we felt safe even though boats are not meant to stay at the waiting pontoons.

Talking of pontoons, Karen spotted a kingfisher perched on our pontoon and watching us while we were having our morning tea and coffee. It was a shame we didn’t have our SLR camera to hand as we could have got a much better picture considering it was less than two metres away.

Karen went for a run further upstream before it got too hot and saw Baume-les-Dames from across the water. The three cream coloured buildings in the centre by the river are old weaving factories, that we felt should have been on the town trail.

When she returned she was quite excited as she’d seem some Montbéliard cows which is a breed I have to admit to having never heard of before. Karen had learnt about them from listening to The Archers. We no longer listen together as she often listens on catch up during her run. The character Helen had been to France to buy some Montbéliards to aid her cheesemaking. They are pied red/brown and white with white heads and they are the most common breed around here as their milk makes the best local cheese, Comté. Although I eat Comté cheese and know it’s local I’d never drawn the link between the name of the cheese and the region we’re currently in, Bourgogne-Franch-Comté.

I spent the morning doing some paintwork prepping on the roof but had to stop by lunchtime as the metalwork was too hot to touch. We sat by the boat for most of the rest of the day and were pleased when some Montbéliard cows appeared on the other side of the cut.

One other thing I learned about the breed was that there’s a long standing tradition of removing the horns which is carried on today and all the ones we saw certainly didn’t have any.

TUESDAY 10 JUNE 

Now the decent weather has returned I can spend a couple of hours or so each day catching up on prepping and painting the roof which is exactly what I did first thing on Tuesday. As we seem to be staying longer at Baumerousse than we’d planned we thought we’d go out for the rest of the day and took the train to Montbéliard. We knew we’d soon be travelling through there on the boat but if we see it first it’ll mean we won’t have to stop there if we decide against it. As large towns aren’t our favourite places to moor it’ll also mean we won’t have to stop if we don’t feel like it.

As always seems to be the case in France, the train departed Baume-les-Dames on schedule and arrived in Montbéliard dead on time. The first thing we noticed as we left the station was this Peugeot Lion building which was built in 1909 as a car and motorcycle showroom.

The Peugeot company have been based in and around Montbéliard for over 220 years and still manufacture cars there. They also have a highly regarded museum which we decided to leave until we arrive on the boat as it sounds like we’d probably want to spend a whole day there.

Next to the Peugeot Lion building was the château of the Dukes of Würrtemberg. It couldn’t really be missed and was the first thing we could see from the train after crossing the river Allan, a large tributary of the Doubs, and then entering the town. Seeing it prompted me to read up on the history of the town and I established that it became part of France after the French revolution.

The tourist office was close by, so we made that our first stop and picked up a self-guided historical tour. As with Baume-les-Dames we weren’t overly impressed with the tour itself so I’ll include some of the items we saw without mentioning whether or not they were on the trail.  Immediately outside the tourist office was a model of a Montbéliard cow which for some reason had horns. We’d read that traditionally their horns are removed and every one we’ve seen has been hornless. This included the ones that were close enough to the railway line for us to see when we were on our train journey.

One of the first places we visited was the remembrance park which housed war memorials from the major wars France has been involved in since the Napoleonic wars. This one named those people from Montbéliard who died in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71.

This one and the wall plaques named those who perished in the two world wars of the last century.

These market halls which are now converted to retail outlets and offices were built in the early 1500s in the early Renaissance style.

The Germanic style of the market halls could be seen in many of the other buildings we saw in the old town.

The other striking thing about some of the houses was the cheerful colours with which their owners had chosen to paint them.

This is inside the main catholic church of St-Maimboeuf. Having seen the classic ribbed vaulted ceiling of the Gothic church in Baume-les-Dames the previous day we knew this one was from a different era. We found out later that it was indeed, having been built much later, around 1860.

One item that was on the trail evaded us for a while, the pierre à poisson or fish stone, where fishmongers laid their wares for sale. We finally found it amongst the outside dining area of one of the many busy restaurants. It is purported to be the only complete surviving medieval monument in Montbéliard although thinking about it I’m not quite sure what that really means. The first written record of the limestone slab is from 1470 so it’s not known how long it was in use before that date.

A building that caught our eye when we walked around the citadel of which the château was the focal point was the original conservatoire de musique. We could find no information about its history other than the conservatoire is now housed in a much more modern building.

Before catching the train back to Baume-les-Dames we walked down to have a look at the port which sits on a lock cut in the town between the rivers Doubs and Allan. It was full of boats, most of which looked like they made it their home mooring when not out cruising. There were a few visiting boats in too and plenty of room for more on finger pontoons as long as they weren’t any longer than 15 metres which would preclude us and many other boats. I’m sure they would find somewhere for us to moor if we wanted to but at 30€ a day we didn’t see the point as we could moor directly opposite the port where we could see an old quay complete with bollards.

The final thing we did before leaving was to buy some Montbéliard pork sausages. We’d never heard of them before but were keen to try them as they seem to be a local delicacy. They're made entirely from pork seasoned with cumin, then slowly smoked using softwoods. I’ll let you know what we think when we get around to trying them but they are definitely large.

WEDNESDAY 11 JUNE 

Karen went upstream on her morning run to see what the river views would be like when we finally get going again. Not only was she lucky enough to find a lavoir she also reported back that the scenery was just as stunning as we’ve been used to recently. Whilst she was gone I got on with more painting but had to stop before the steel of the boat got too hot.

Later on we went for a bike ride along the Euro Veloroute 6, stopping off at the port in Baume-les-Dames to check we could get water when we go through. We took a detour at one point to find a disused factory where a company called Ropp made cherrywood smoking pipes.

The factory opened in 1897 and employed around 150 men. Their most productive year was in 1923 when they made 530,000 pipes. Amazingly Ropp had three manufacturing plants around France; the one we saw closed in 1991.

Whilst out on our bike ride we thought we should take a selfie as there hasn’t been one in the blog for a while.

The rest of the day was spent outside the boat alternating between sitting in the sun and finding some shade.

Oh, and the Montbéliard sausages? They were delicious, a great combination of smokiness and cumin – we would definitely recommend them.