Ougney-les-Champs (what's happened to the weather?)

A white admiral in the woods above Novellars

SUNDAY 1 JUNE 

Laying in bed in the morning we became aware of what we thought was a boat on its way. This was strange as it was only 6.30, half an hour before the lock next to us opens. Then it hit me, our water pump was running continuously and as soon as I said what it was, we both immediately realised we’d run out of water. This was the first time we’d ever run out and it was just as well we'd planned on filling up first thing before we left Besançon. Fortunately, we’d left the kettle full the previous evening so Karen was able to have her morning pot of tea and me my cafetière of coffee before we did anything.

Once we were revived we moved the boat around to the front of the bottom gates of the lock leading into the tunnel. Karen was able to secure the front of the boat to a handy bollard and I then set about connecting one of our hoses to the water tap hidden behind a bench at the front of the unoccupied lock house. The water pressure was nice and high so it didn’t take too long to fill our tank and we were able to move back to our mooring to have breakfast before setting off around the Besançon loop.

Before leaving the town we needed to pick up some vegetables so halfway around we pulled up on an old quay that was about 100 metres long and had plenty of mooring rings. The quay was near a grocery store and Karen popped in while I stayed on board to save the hassle of locking the boat up.

The day promised to be another hot one but with hazy cloud cover it was already feeling quite muggy as if thunderstorms were brewing, although it was rather pleasant staying on the boat as that side of the river was still in the shade. Luckily for us it stayed dry during our cruise and also the rest of the day but it did remain very close.

Soon after casting off again we were passing the minotaur statue and, viewing it from the direction we were travelling, we could see its resemblance to a bull. We’d seen it from other directions over the last couple of days and hadn’t seen that it looked like its namesake, so now we were glad that we could. It was also performing one of its intermittent water spray sessions which was rather apt.

After passing the minotaur we rounded a bend in the river and saw we were approaching the first lock that we’d come across in France that had to be operated manually by boaters. We’ve been on a few French canals where the locks are manually operated (as the majority are in the UK) but the operation is carried out for boaters by lock keepers (éclusiers). These éclusiers are called éclusiers itinérant because they travel ahead of the boat to set the locks either on a bike or scooter or in a van. I dropped Karen off so she could go and set the lock. She was pleased to have an offer of help from a tourist and his daughter who opened one of the paddles and gates under her direction. She wasn’t sure of their nationality but they weren't speaking French or English but it didn’t really matter as they understood her hand signals.   

Once out of the lock we were passing the other end of the tunnel where we’d been moored for the previous three days. So, apart from the tunnel itself, we’d completed the loop around Besançon. After the next lock we could see the hills were getting less steep and not as high as we’d been seeing lately but we had no idea how long the new scenery would be with us.

It was a very quiet day on the river and the only boat we saw on the move came past us as we were mooring up in a lock cut near a place called Chalèze.

On Sunday we cruised 13.5 km up three locks and saw one boat on the move.

MONDAY 2 JUNE 

As expected, we had rain during Sunday night and when we arose in the morning it looked like it was going to be a grey day. Karen ran back to Besançon to fetch the car and then we planned on having a short cruise to Novellars. It was drizzling on and off and as we left we could see the clouds hanging over the hills above Chalèze.

After 20 minutes or so we saw what looked like a longish quay with half a dozen bollards. As we got closer we realised it was brand new so we decided to pull up there to have a look around and if we liked it we would stay and move on to Novellars on Tuesday. Two old ladies were leaning over the railings watching us moor up. They were very excited as we were the first boat to moor on the new quay which we found was in a place called Roche-lez-Beaupré.

One of the ladies lived in a large old house beside the lock cut. The house was originally built in 1685 next to the first well in the village. It was greatly extended when the river was made navigable and it became le Café de la Marine. As well as providing food and drink for passing boatmen and their families it offered overnight stabling for their horses too. 

When the canal opened in the early 19^th century a company called Bugnot-Colladon built a factory in the village. They produced various products from fertilizers to alcohol. They chose the site because of the access to water from the river and the opening of the navigation for transporting their products and the raw materials. We found out that the new quay we were moored on was built on the site of the factory’s original quay and looking around we found much of the old structure still in evidence. The company employed nearly 300 men and built houses for their workforce in the village which must have transformed what was a tiny place before the factory opened. Most of the factory has now been demolished and replaced by modern housing.

In the afternoon we walked back to Chalèze to fetch the car and left it further upstream at Novillars and then walked back to Roche-lez-Beaupré where we had a wander around. There seemed to be plenty of commerce including a couple of restaurants and a boulangerie, it even had a railway station. Most of the buildings looked well maintained apart from this sad looking one.

Reading a noticeboard outside we found out that it was originally built as a lavoir in 1909. The reason it was built so late in the development of washhouses in France was because the women of the village used the river Doubs to do their laundry. The noticeboard went on to explain that the lavoir was closed in 1968 and then used as a garage by the fire service until 1993 and then a storage room for the village council. It is now used by ‘la croix verte’ to crush and store plastic bottles and tops prior to recycling. 

Another church with a Burgundian bell tower 

A new park was being built just up from the mooring, so combined with the installation of the new mooring it feels that the village is investing to attract more tourists. When we got back to the boat we decided to stay for the rest of the day and move on the last kilometre or so to Novillars on Tuesday morning.

On Monday we cruised 2.5 km through no locks and saw two private boats.

TUESDAY 3 JUNE 

Tuesday dawned quite misty but it lifted quite quickly so we thought we’d cruise up to Novillars for breakfast. There always seems to be something special about cruising early in the morning but it’s both difficult to describe what it is, let alone show it in a picture.  Here’s the last of the mist lifting before the sun had risen.

It was a very short cruise, and we were soon approaching Novillars which has a handy 25 metre pontoon for visiting boaters. We were fortunate as there were no boats using it so we were able to moor up with ease.

Next to the mooring was a noticeboard that had details of a seven kilometre walk around the village. Its title was along the lines of ‘see Novillars from a different perspective’. This piqued our interest especially as approaching half of the walk was in the woods on the hill above the village. Though it was odd that there were only six points of interest on the hike considering its length. One of which was the cycleway (EuroVelo 6) that runs along waterways for much of its 4,500 km route from Nevers in western France through 10 countries to the Black Sea.  As we’ve been following it for the last 90 km or so it wouldn’t really interest us, neither would the psychiatric hospital as it had restricted access thus not leaving us much to find. 

We started at the village château which was first built as a defensive castle in the 13^th century and extensively modernised in the 17^th to become the building we saw today.

The château was bought from private ownership by the Doubs département in the last century and is now used by the Work and Education support teams. Much of the land has been given over to the village and is being developed into parkland, children’s play area and other resources such as the modern mairie, another of the points of interest.

The fifth point of interest, the papermill, wasn’t actually on the trail so we planned on seeing that later in the day. This left the final item which was the woods on the hills above the village.  We enjoyed the walk up to the top but were rather disappointed that because of the woods themselves that there was no view to be had. We were pleased though to find our first white admiral of the year, one of my favourite UK butterflies because of its wonderful gliding flight and beautiful markings which are strikingly different between the uppersides and lower.

This is the noticeboard showing the route of the walk:

The buildings shown with green roofs to the bottom left on the map above are the psychiatric hospital that was opened in 1968 so it wasn’t surprising that it trebled the population of Novillars from 600 to 1,800 in one year.  Even though it was an odd hike we still enjoyed it, despite the lack of things to see. It started raining at lunchtime and continued for an hour or two so we stayed on the boat until later in the afternoon. We then walked further upstream to Vaire-le-Petit which took us past the papermill.

The papermill produces 90,000 tonnes of corrugated paper each year.  This figure didn’t mean much to us but when it was described as 600 kilometres a day then it was much easier to imagine the output. The corrugated paper is produced from used paper and cardboard and the factory has been operating for over 135 years.  The large pond in the photograph above is part of the production process.  Once the used paper and cardboard has been crushed and pulped with water it passes through the large agitators in these ponds which remove the impurities such as staples, glue and plastics.

It was a pleasant walk especially as the sun had reappeared and we had a glimpse of the countryside we had ahead when we get on the move again.

On reaching Vaire-le-Petit we found it was quite a well-to-do village with plenty of large well-kept houses so it was rather surprising when we came across a lavoir that was in desperate need of some love and attention.

Checking my emails later I saw that the lock at Besançon was reopened at 14:00 so we weren’t surprised to see Amy and Rob passing by later in the afternoon.  They’d had to wait for the lock to reopen as they were too deep draughted to go around the Besançon loop to avoid the lock like we’d done on Sunday. They slowed for a quick chat as they passed and we learnt they were heading for Deluz, our next planned stop. 

WEDNESDAY 4 JUNE 

A lot of rain must have fallen in the Jura mountains, the source of the river Doubs, over the last few days as we awoke to a greatly increased flow. The forecast was for rain in the area we’re in over the next few days so we thought it would be a good idea to get off the river and therefore decided to leave straight away. Unfortunately, it had started raining once we were ready so it was on with the wet weather gear.  

As we were moored on a pontoon on the outside of a bend where the flow was the fastest, we tested it out before casting off. Karen loosened the front line, and I made sure we could make headway. All was OK so off we went. After 30 minutes we’d covered 1½ km meaning that we were going at half the speed we’d usually achieve against the normal flow on a river.  I must admit I’d thought we’d be going even slower than that, so I started to feel quite confident and began to take more time looking at the views which must be stunning on a sunny day.

The rain did stop after an hour, but we left the wet weather gear on as the clouds hadn’t dispersed. 

A little while later we could see a lock leading off the river on the left which would enable us to achieve our main objective: to get off the river and onto a lock cut.

The lock was actually a staircase of two and the next picture clearly shows how the top gates of the first lock would also serve as the bottom gates of the second.

It wasn’t long before we were coming into Deluz and passing a small port that would only accommodate boats of up to 13 metres.

Ahead of the port we could see the remains of yet another papermill and what a sorry state it was in having closed down in 1977 after over 100 years in operation.

We managed to moor in the lock cut using some fence posts just past the papermill and 100 metres or so before we would have to rejoin the river on the other side of a flood lock.

In 1914 the papermill employed over 400 people who were housed in the village.  As well as building the houses for the workers, the mill owner at the time also built a school for the workers’ children.  Many of the workers’ houses still exist today and are easily recognised as they are terraced back-to-backs but on a larger scale than those found in the mill towns of northern England.

The papermill buildings that aren’t falling down (and can be seen in the background of our mooring above) now house a hydroelectric plant driven by the river Doubs. After a bite to eat we walked the 6.5 km back to the previous mooring to retrieve the car and luckily it stayed dry for the entire walk. As we left Deluz we noticed wooden boxes attached to the large plane trees. Each box had a name on it and for some unknown reason the names were in English such as TOY STORY and GHOST STORY. Upon opening a couple we surmised that they were part of a local school project.

After driving back to Deluz and finding somewhere to leave the car we had a look around the village. As well as the usual church, mairie and war memorial it also had a lavoir that was built in 1832.

It didn’t take long to explore the village, so we then walked down to the flood lock to have a look at the water flow on the river and take a picture of the level gauge

In the morning we’ll walk down to the flood lock again to check how the level and flow have changed to help us decide whether we will move on or not.

The recent hot weather seems to have disappeared, definitely not what's expected at this time of year in France but if the forecast is to be believed it'll be back soon. One thing we've noticed in the grey weather is that the mossies have started biting and rather than attacking Karen and leaving me alone as is usually the case it seems it's finally my turn. 

On Wednesday we cruised 6.5 km up two locks and saw no boats.

THURSDAY 5 JUNE

Having said that the mosquitos have been bothering me and not Karen this year, she realised she also had a few bites when she got up on Thursday morning – seems she isn’t immune this year after all. While Karen went for a run, I walked up one of the hills above Deluz. It was a steep climb and with woodland starting halfway up I took the opportunity of taking a picture of Deluz before the trees hid it from view. The lock cut can be seen running beside the river with the papermill, now hydroelectric powerplant, between.  I could just make out Chalkhill Blue on its mooring but that’s probably because I knew where to look.

The hillside meadow I was walking through was teeming with Marbled White butterflies and dozens could be seen at a time fluttering just above grass height. Here is one of them at rest.

When I reached the top, Deluz was hidden from view just as I thought it would be, but I could just about see where we would be heading upriver when we leave.

Once we were both back at the boat we went down to the flood lock to check the water level gauge. It had only gone up two centimetres overnight so we decided to move on. As the water level was up, the flood lock was in use as a normal lock.  Normally the gates at both ends are left open and boats can cruise straight through.

It turned out to be quite a stressful journey especially when negotiating the lock entrances as we had to be very mindful of the swirling currents arising from the water crashing over the weirs. The other thing we had to be aware of was picking the correct channel where the water flow was at its lowest bearing in mind it’s usually, but not always, stronger on the outside of bends.  

The views continued to be stunning with the steep wooded hillsides and rocky outcrops.

The going got very slow between the third and fourth locks so we decided to call it a day below the fourth lock which was at Ougney-les-Champs and moored up on the lock landing pontoon.  As these pontoons are only meant to be used when waiting to use the lock we rang VNF to let them know where we were and we would be staying until the levels had dropped enough for us to feel safe travelling again. They completely understood and were glad we’d called them. 

Later in the afternoon we went for a walk to the hamlet of Ougney-le-Bas. I call it a hamlet as it didn’t have a church, mairie or war memorial. There were a dozen dwellings at most lining the only road, rue de la Fontaine.

At the far end was a 16^th century tithe barn in a sad state of disrepair. For a long time it was thought to be a disused priory but in recent years historians have proved its real use as a tithe barn with living quarters.

Hidden between two of the houses we weren’t surprised to find a lavoir because of the street name. We were surprised at its size though, considering how small the hamlet was.

On Thursday we cruised 8.5 km up three locks and saw no boats.

FRIDAY 6 JUNE 

When we got up I checked the water level on the gauge on the lock where we’d moored overnight. As there was no discernible change from the previous evening we agreed to stay put for the day. After breakfast we walked to Ougney-la-Roche and found that like Ougney-le-Bas yesterday, it was just a hamlet but it did boast a nice looking auberge with restaurant but sadly it was closed.

Also, like yesterday’s hamlet there was a lavoir but this one also had an abreuvoir or animal trough on the outside.

Later on we cycled back to Deluz to pick up the car and then drove to Baume-les-Dames which is the next large town on our journey east to the Rhine. We went to the port first to check out the moorings, but the views weren’t particularly pleasant being on a lock cut rather than the river itself; however, it did look a good place to leave the car. The other reason for going into Baumes-les-Dames was to visit the tourist office to pick up information on any self-guided tours that they had, ready for when we go through on the boat. They did have a self-guided historical tour which included an abbey to which the office held the key. To save having to back to the office to pick up the key on another day we had a look around while we had the opportunity.

The current abbey was built in the 18^th century on the site of a 14^th century abbey for benedictine nuns. Story has it that the nuns wanted to be known as dames hence the origin of the town’s name. Nowadays it's used for private hire and to stage exhibitions.

When we got back to the boat we checked the gauge once again and could see the level had dropped by four centimetres. Hopefully it’ll drop more overnight but we’ll check again in the morning before deciding what to do on Saturday.