Our computer decided to no longer talk to our camera so it’s
been a couple of weeks since we have been able to post anything. During that
time our friends, Dick and Jenny, spent a week aboard with us traveling from
Besançson to Montbéliard. From there the four of us rented a car and explored
the Alsace region, took a one day cruise on the Rhine through the castle
section then spent three days in Germany. I’ll attempt to get some posts about
these adventures soon.
We now have Michael’s mother, who happens to be a spry 95
years old, and his niece who is her traveling partner, on break from being a
wife and mother of three for ten days (thanks to my sister and brother-in-law).
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| Megan, mom and Joan heading for Montbéliard to explore town |
Joan and Michael had spent the week between Dick and Jenny’s
departure and Mom and Megan’s arrival kicking back, then battling the flu for a
few days before having a couple of days to check out the French train museum in
Mulhouse and the Eco Musee de Alsace before picking our guests up at the Basel
airport and driving them to Montbéliard.
Once aboard Juniper we
served them our house special: wine, an assortment of local cheeses, fresh
bread and Dutch chocolate before turning out the lights.
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| Mom's portable backrest, or why grand daughters are special. |
Our day in Montbéliard began with croissants, fresh from the
boulangerie, and good strong coffee. We did a walking tour of the old town
including the Catholic church built in the 1840’s, St. Martin’s Lutheran church,
the oldest Lutheran church in France (built in the 1600’s) and of course a stop
for a late morning café au lait. Mom took the afternoon to kick back aboard the
boat while we took Megan back out to explore the local parks and walk the back
streets of the old part of Montbéliard.
Saturday morning it was time to get back on the canal. Joan,
Mom and Megan hit the local market, for local cheese and fresh veggies, while
Michael got the boat ready to go. With the whole crew aboard we were able to
shove off and cross the canal before tying up to exchange our empty butane
cylinder. Chores done we got our new crew members up to speed handling ecluse
lines and lassoing bollards. As a hold over from previous trips mom had been on
with us we stopped for lunch, even though the ecluses being automatic don’t
take an hour break.
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| Mom handling the bow line and Megan making Kodak memories. photo by Joan |
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| Megan takes over the bow line from the housetop as the water drops |
Our first day ended in l’Isle-sur-le-Doubs where we
completed one more chore; filling gas cans and carrying them across the street
from the closest gas station to the water on the entire canal to Juniper then gently pouring them into
the tank using a funnel.
Sunday started with a pleasant surprise – the local
boulangerie was open and we had fresh croissants with breakfast before
traveling 31km and operating 14 ecluse to end up at Baume-les-Dames. Joan and
Megan made the trip to town while Michael and Mom stayed on the boat.
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| Colorfully tiled bell tower in Deluze - one of the things unique to the French Compte region. |
Monday was a bit shorter day getting us to Deluze in time to
do a bit of exploring.
Megan, Michael and Joan found the trail leading to a small
chapel overlooking the river and town, while mom spent the afternoon aboard Juniper reading and journaling before
all getting together for dinner, wine and lots of talking and teasing.
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| The rewards of driving in the rain - the rainbow when the sun finally comes out. photo by Joan |
Tuesday Deluze lived up to its Juniper nickname of deluge – again we got soaked with pouring down
rain for most of the day. The sun finally popped out just in time to show
Besançon off in all its glory as we took the tunnel under the town, then
followed the river back through town to our moorage.
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| Besançon is beautiful from the water - photo by Joan |
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| The harbor - right in the middle of the old city |
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