Stakes and ladders

St Jean de Losne to Montbéliard

170km

60 locks

2 lift bridges

Our map showed a tiny squidge from St Jean de Losne to the mouth of the Canal du Rhone au Rhin. Unfortunately, we completely misjudged how long this squidge would take us and arrived at the closed doors of the lock at lunchtime.  We settled on the small pontoon to wait for the lock keeper to finish his sandwiches and we were soon joined by a couple of chaps on a cruiser.

The lock tower at the entrance to the Canal du Rhone au Rhin

At 1.30pm the red light turned green and we steered into the lock. Tracy was asked to go into the office where she was given a remote control for the rest of the locks on this canal and instructions on how to use it.

The first stop point on our map was Dole so we set off hoping to reach the town by tea time. The scenery from St Symphorien through the first couple of locks was bucolic. After the third lock we entered a huge chemical plant and were horrified to find signs stating ‘Do NOT linger’ and ‘If the alarm sounds, run for the hills’ written in French, German and English. The very definition of a narrowboat journey is to linger, we have only the two speeds, slow and stop. We have now added a pair of trainers to our arsenal of emergency items as it would be faster to run.

After what seemed like an eternity, we eventually ascended a lock and moved away from the blast radius at the speed of evolution.

After another hour, with only the fallout to worry about, we came upon a mooring at Choisey which was not noted in any of our guides. It was a beautiful spot and so we decided to moor up for the night.

Our mooring in Choisey

There were hundreds of these little fish swimming around in the crystal clear waters

And also lots of these frogs. The noise from them was deafening

As a hire boat passed us smiling and waving we wondered what had happened to the cruiser from earlier, as they had not overtaken us. We met the poor buggers hours later both looking like they’d lost the will to live. They explained that the hire boat that had passed us had been a nightmare for them. They shared a lock with them but they took so long to leave it caused the gates to close. This meant they had to redo the whole lock process backwards before they could finally ascend.

We wandered into the village centre to see if we could find a bar. Apart from a church the size of a cathedral, there was not a bar or shop in sight. We spoke to an old chap and he pointed up some steps saying ‘grand magasin’. We walked off wondering what they would class as a big shop around these parts. We were completely blown away when we ascended the steps to find a humongous retail park with a supermarket the size of an aircraft hanger.

A lovely village in a rural setting

Turn around at the top of the steps and you are hit with this huge retail park and busy road

It was off to Dole the next day and as it wasn’t going to be a long trip we decided to get moored up and then find a nice restaurant for lunch. With bellies rumbling, we spotted the town of Dole in the distance. “Shall we have traditional French or Chinese” I asked. “I don’t care”, Tracy replied “as long as there is plenty of it, I’m starving”. The conversation continued along these lines as the town drew nearer and nearer. Then just as I was about to baste one of the dogs, and pop him in the oven (gas mark five) we eventually arrived at the town and were completely devastated to find we couldn’t moor up. Staging hadn’t been provided and there was only the sloping sides of the wharf to moor up against.

This is as close as we could get to Dole town centre

As we continued our journey the landscape changed dramatically as cliffs rose up and the waters leap-frogged from canal to river then back to canal again. The Canal du Rhone au Rhin was really the canalised River Doubs.

Countryside around the Canal du Rhone au Rhin was some of the most dramatic and beautiful we had seen on all our travels

A mooring loomed in the distance at a particularly beautiful picnic spot. This was Rochefort-sur-Nenon and we decided to make camp here.

The stop-lock to Rochfort-sur-Nenon

The village centre had a lovely feel to it with a picturesque church and bar.

Some towns have drive-thru fast food, Rochfort had its own drive-thru boulangerie. (You saw it here first!).

The weather had turned hot and sunny so we took a stroll down to the river where Oddjob had a great time swimming for his ball and even little Piglet got his trotters damp.

One family had made the mistake of driving down to the banks of the river, needless to say their car got stuck in the shale along with the van that had come to help them. I offered to help but after about an hour we had managed to move the car all of 30 feet. I found it was difficult not speaking the language fluently to say “go easy on the gas” and after digging the wheels back out of the silt more times than I can remember, I gave up and left them to it.

We had a similar situation on a muddy field once, Tracy and her mum were sat in the car and I was at the front trying with all my might to push the car back on to dry land. After about an hour of rocking and pushing, I sat on the front seat for a rest, only to discover that Tracy had had the car in first gear. That’s right just me against 1,100 horses and two mud shy ladies.        

Feeling guilty, I returned a bit later that day but only found track marks in the shale, the only evidence of their earlier predicament (thankfully).

There were steps up to the cliff tops and the next day we took a picnic and a bottle of wine and enjoyed a lazy day.

Like a dripping tap, water was once more on our minds, so setting out we kept an eye out. Tracy asked a VNF lady where the next tap was “I don’t think there are any” she replied worryingly. A couple of miles further along we spotted one outside a VNF workshop. It was a bit of a clamber to get to and Tracy didn’t have the strength to pull herself up the wall, but we managed it. 

Dont's let the steps fool you, there was a six foot leap to get to them.

As we were about to set off, a boat full of Germans came zooming from nowhere at great speed. I raced along the gunwale to get to the tiller to push the boat’s back end out of the way. Quickly, Tracy untied and we stuck close to Mr (f***) u-boat the whole few hundred yards to the next lock. Without missing a beat they entered the lock and shut the door in our faces.

We cruised past the moorings at Ranchot misreading the sign as ’20 minute wait only’ and completely missed the pontoon at Thoraise several hours later as it was hidden behind the lock. It was getting late and we were getting desperate to moor up. There were a couple of pontoons provided for kayakers but nothing for a boat of our size. We tried a couple of times to get into the bank but it had not been dredged and we were yards away. Eventually, we decided to wait until the locks closed at 7pm and then moor on the lock mooring.

Through the tunnel after the mooring we missed at Thoraise

Luck was not on our side that night, we were now on the river and when we arrived at the next lock there was no staging to be had. We tied up to lock ladder on a precarious angle and managed like two circus performers to get our dancing dogs off the boat to uncross their paws.

Ladder just out of shot that we tied to. Tracy is watering the dogs on this small patch of grass.

The next day we had a couple of hours cruising and after exiting lock number 51 we were met with a tunnel and some staging below a citadel. We presumed we had landed in Besançon but decided to moor up and have a snoop around rather than chancing the tunnel to goodness knows where.

The river ran around the circumference of the city centre and we had a walk completely around and back through the tunnel to the mooring.

Just on the other side of the tunnel was the official visitor moorings.

It was here that I spotted our friendly Germans again and decided to get my revenge. As I approached, one of them was knelt scrubbing the deck with so much of his builder’s crack showing he was mooning a crowd of on lookers. “You could park your velo up that” I said loud enough so everyone could hear. “Velo, velo” I repeated standing behind him whilst pretending to push my imaginary bicycle up his fat arse.

The crowed roared with laughter, then with his face lit up like a glowworm, he pulled at his pants and they covered the gap, just.    

After chatting to various boaters on the official mooring they all said the same thing, the moorings were free. After moving through the tunnel and getting moored up, we left to see the city. At the security gate we met a simple lad whose job was to clean the jetty and empty the bins. Tracy made the mistake of asking him if the moorings were free. We were summarily frog-marched about 1km to the capitainerie where we were given a bill of €15 plus €3 for electricity. I’m always telling her to keep her big gob shut.

As the cinema was showing Noé (Noah in English) as version originale we decided to pay a visit. We wished we hadn’t as it was one of the worst films we had seen in a long, long time (and that list includes Transformers 2!).

Not wanting to pay out any further money, we decided to move back to our original free moorings. Instead of going through the tunnel this time we decided to take the scenic route around the city. There was a manual lock part way which didn’t trouble us too much as Tracy is an expert lock winder/pusher. What we didn’t bank on was the lack of staging for her to get on and off and she had to commando roll off the boat on to the tow-path. She managed this with all the elegance and dignity of a hog on a rotisserie.

Views from our journey around the city by boat

Besançon was the windiest place we have ever been, travelling around the city we expected to find Neptune from Jason and the Argonauts astride the cliffs blowing down the river for all he was worth.

Views of the city centre

We had a walk up to the citadel but as dogs were not allowed in we decided to have a revisit on our return journey

It was back on our travels the next day as we headed to Montbéliard and continued through an amazing ‘Lord of the Rings’ landscape. We felt like two hobbits on a quest. We stayed at Novillars and Laissey on route both small villages with very little in the way of facilities.

Our mooring in Novillars

The dogs enjoying the street art in Novillars

Our moorings in Laissey

The park in Laissey

The third evening we had planned to stay at Baume-les-Dames but the small port de plaisance appeared to be full so we soldiered on. We eventually found what appeared to be a derelict campsite with a small jetty next to it. Not wanting a repeat of our journey to Besançon, we decided to take a chance and tie up. The next morning we noticed a campervan on the field and the chap popped over. He was a fellow Englishman living and working over here. The first thing he said was “the campsite isn’t derelict you know”. The site owner had extracted €10 off him during the night and had said he was going to get €15 of us. With that we untied and pushed off before we were accosted.

Our moorings at the 'derelict' campsite. The 'owner' had driven up during the night to take payment, we reckon the poor chap in the camper had been diddled

Now, sometimes as I am cruising along my mind can wander and I find myself wondering what Tracy is making for tea. It was on one of these occasions when I suddenly stopped pondering (hope its chips, its chips) and realised that I had missed a couple of green buoy markers. It was at this point when through the depths of the river I rapidly saw the ground approaching. Panicking, I quickly steered the bow of the boat to starboard and put the boat into reverse to slow us right down.

Disaster averted, I kept a sharp look out for any buoys in the distance. We headed into Clerval and decided to pick up a loaf. Oddly, the town mooring had a huge ‘no mooring’ sign on it. As we were only going to be a short time, I chose to ignore the sign and motored onwards. As I approached, I suddenly realised why there was no mooring at this town. There was a large sand bank that hadn’t been dredged but I managed by fluke to navigate the shallow waters and get the bow on to the staging.  The only problem was that my stern then swung around with the river’s current and became grounded. It was touch and go whether we were going to get off.

By now a large crowd had gathered and were enjoying the spectacle.

In sixteen years of boating we have never owned a pole as we have never needed one. For the want of a pole, Tracy handed me the mop, I gave it a half-hearted attempt to a sniggering crowd.

I was beginning to think my only option was to strip down to my briefs and push us off. Luckily, just at that moment I sensed movement and tentatively we moved away.

The boulangerie at Clerval that turned out to be closed after all the drama

We eventually got through lock 27 at L’isle-sur-Doubs just before the locks closed for the evening at 7pm. Our guide told us this was the town mooring. We were up against a high wall with a ladder to access the wharf, ok for us but a bit more tricky for the dogs. Luckily, they are both used to being hefted about.

Our mooring at L'isle sur Doubs

We were both tired and hungry so I set forth into the city centre to hunter-gather our tea and a pizza shop was just what the doctor ordered.  The two lads in the shop were surprised to see a boater as they said that boats rarely stopped in their town.

The next day we discovered why. Ascending lock 26 we came upon the actual town moorings. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to fill up with water we pulled up to see if it was available. No sooner had Tracy’s feet touched tarmac than another German chap appeared like the shopkeeper in Mr Ben to order me to move along frantically waving his arms in the air. Without introductions we have no idea who he was but we got the impression that he was very much in charge around these parts. “We just want a top up of water” I shouted across the canal to him. “Water is only turned on at night and it is €6” he bellowed. If we wanted the water we would have to moor up for the night (another €10). €16 for water seemed a bit extreme so we didn’t bother.

A few kilometers further along the canal, a VNF workshop provided water for free.

One of the lift bridges on route to Montbéliard

Arriving at Montbéliard the port de plaisance appeared to be full. Not knowing what else to do we continued into the lock where we were met by a very excited VNF man. “The lock closes at 7pm” he said. As it was only 6.45pm we were not sure what he was getting at. Peeking over the other side of the lock we could see a lovely parkland setting. “Can we moor here” we asked. He agreed but could not understand why we would want to knock stakes into the ground rather than breasting up in the port.

This turned out to be a great decision and the next few days were fantastic as the park was one of the nicest we had ever come across.

Our mooring in Montbéliard

Some interesting things from our journey

We often see shell casings used at a town's memorial to the world wars.

Shadows creating a spooky image on the back doors

Moorings in Choisey

Cost: Free.

Facilities: Water tap outside Mairie too far for a hose to reach though.

Location: Nothing in village itself but a walk to the top of the steps through the village brings you to a huge retail park with a supermarket. There is also ‘the best Chinese in France’ according to a fellow boater (we didn’t try it so can’t verify this).

Moorings in Rochfort sur Nenon

Cost: Free.

Facilities: None.

Location: Bar, small grocery shop and a boulangerie

Moorings in Besançon

Cost: Lock moorings free, town moorings €15.

Facilities: None at lock mooring, both electricity and water available on town mooring at €3 each.

Location: Large vibrant town with all the usual shops, bars and restaurants.

Moorings in Novillars

Cost: Free.

Facilities: Push tap at the top of the staging.

Location: Restaurant/bar/shop advertised on mooring but appeared to be closed when we walked past.

Moorings in Laissey

Cost: Free.

Facilities: None.

Location: Boulangerie approximately 1km away

Moorings outside Baume les Dames

Cost: Free.

Facilities: None.

Location: In the middle of nowhere.

Moorings in L’isle sur Doubs

Cost: Free for our mooring against the wall, town mooring €10 per night.

Facilities: None on our wall mooring but both electricity and water provided on town mooring (water €6 not sure how much electricity would be).

Location: Small town with a good choice of shops.

Moorings in Montbéliard

Cost: Free for our park mooring, there would be a charge in the port de plaisance.

Facilities: None at our mooring, the port offered both electricity and water for a charge.

Location: Good choice of shops, restaurants and bars (including a nice curry house).

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