vendredi 19 juillet 2013

19.07.13 Aveney

This morning we set off from our moorings by the weir and went through amazing countryside, varying from huge open stretches of mountainous river to man-made canalised sections.
 At Thoraise there is a tunnel which has  a curtain of water at the beginning and end of the tunnel. The water is turned off using our electrical lock opener gizmo, but you can see the water still flowing at the other end of the tunnel as we entered!

 It has an amazing light show on the roof of the tunnel too.
 At the exit there is a lovely little Madonna statue set into the rock face.
 Huge open stretches of river
 A derelict castle high up on the mountainside.
 A closer view of the castle
 Mr Heron watching our boat very warily..!
 We entered a huge double lock, through these gates first.
 Then straight into another lock.
 a canalised part of the Doubs.
Our moorings for tonight.
 
So we are now at Aveney, moored by the side of the canal, we shall hopefully get to the walled City of Besancon when we next move.


15.07.13 Ranchot to Le Maroc

After 15 nights at Dole we set off and discovered after 5 hours of cruising a lovely little village called Ranchot. There we had water electricity and bollards for mooring but at a cost of 8 euros a night. we liked it there so I took the opportunity to catch up on my washing and ironing and we also spent 14th July 'Fete Nationale' there too.
 The chapel at Ranchot now decommissioned and used as an exhibition hall.

The most beautiful hand made patchwork quilts were in evidence when we were there.

 As usual the local kids came to visit us for their lollipops...

 And a lovely singsong was had by all despite the language barrier!!


 Two views of our moorings in Ranchot, the above one taken at Dusk as we headed off for Bastille Day fireworks...
These lads found a dip in the canal off the lock wall very refreshing on a very hot sticky sunny day!

 
This was the marching band on Bastille day, or "Fete Nationale" as it is now called. we marched behind them, the children carrying paper lanterns with candles inside them. All the while everyone was setting off crackers and bangers in the crowd...!!!

 We walked about 6 kilometres altogether and had a celebration at both the villages's memorials to the Dead of the two World Wars. A bouquet was laid and the band played the Marseillaise, it was quite moving. By the time we arrived at the second village and climbed the hill for the fireworks we were knackered but they put on a fab display of very noisy fireworks!

Some of the views from the towpaths were amazing, with the river opening out with very pretty weir waterfalls. We spent five nights at Ranchot and then moved on to a wall by a weir, I didn't take any photos of the actual moorings but we could walk a couple of minutes to a lovely beach on the river where we have spent the last four nights.

Temperatures have been in the mid 30's so John cooled down by sitting on a chair in the river....!!
Mags and Ni arrived on Gesina and stayed a couple of nights so there was more putting right over a bottle or two and they had us to dinner for a BBQ. Poor Tashi (their dog) got so hot she regularly went for a paddle in the river!!

Yesterday we walked miles up the hillside to a village called 'Torpes' where we saw this lovely chateau.

The stable block belonging to the chateau.

Torpes has this memorial in cast brass to the Revolution, it is the first time we have seen one of those!
A close up of the statue.
 

10.07.13 Dole

We moved from Choisey to Dole on 25.06.13 where we had lovely moorings in the port with free electricity and water (eventually we found some water but it took a while..)
 
Our first sights of Dole from the water

 
Dole is known as 'Little venice ' for obvious reasons!
 
The town is Medieval and this can be seen in the architecture



This bit of unnavigable canal runs behind Louis Pasteur's birthplace, where we went to a fascinating museum.
 
An underground wash house, I wouldn't fancy doing my washing here!


 
Louis Pasteur's birthplace and Museum
 There was a BMX cycle endurance race whilst we there where they cycled up and down the very steep passages from 6pm to midnight to see how long they could race for!

They cycled down this steep narrow passage and there were some very near misses at the bottom with the pedestrians...!!


The stained glass windows were just amazing, and the church was one of the most beautiful I've seen in France so far!

Whilst the cycle race went on we stopped for a drink at this café as our favourite group of gentlemen were playing, it was really great live music and we had a lovely evening.
 
Our friends (Nigel and Mags on Gesina) who we spent last winter with at Auxerre arrived and passed a lovely week with us with many an evening spent over a bottle of wine and also a spontaneous curry evening caused by inclement weather!! Nigel discovered the water so we moored alongside to get our tanks filled and then moved back to our moorings.
However the city life palled and so we moved on to pastures new on the 10th July....