Ranchot to Besançon and a little château hunting

September 9 – Monday

Early morning fog kept us running at slow speed and watching our chart. Still a very beautiful morning

Woke to a heavy fog that didn’t look like it was going to clear anytime too soon. We waited till about 8h30 before deciding to give it a try. After-all, we are on a relatively narrow canal and we can see both sides. As we came to the second flood gate the fog appeared to be so thick we couldn’t see anything beyond the opening. Fortunately as we can through it was only an optical illusion – we could still see both banks. As we moved from the canal to the River Doubs the fog remained, fortunately the channel was to stay within 15 meters of the right bank – close enough to still see it.

Cruising on the River Doubs can be amazingly beautiful

One of the prettiest places to tie up for a break, or a night - and it's free. Of course there are no amenities but the view.

Joan was running the boat throught the écluse this morning, so for once she's in the picture

By around 10h00 things began to clear and we were able to not have a chart open all the time. The sun eventually broke through into a beautiful fall day.

We reached our destination during the éclusier’s lunch break. Having done this canal once before we knew it was a really deep écluse, Joan got off at the pontoon to handle lines from above.

After lunch, as the only one on the mooring pontoon we took off on our bikes to again hunt châteaux. Saw the château across the river from a distance and found the one in the town of Thoraise, but like our previous find it was blocked from view by high walls and lots of vegetation. On for Château number 3, the Château de Montferrand – or at least its ruins. We had seen it from the River Doubs on our previous trip. We followed roads that appeared to be heading in the correct direction and finally found a Rue de Chateau, a sure sign we were close. There was a well designated trail leading from the end of the Rue, but no sign saying we were going the right way. Not sure if bikes were allowed on the trail and having no place to leave them we pushed them along the trail for quite a while, in what seemed to be the wrong direction, before meeting a large hiking group, through pantomime and single common words it appeared there was a way to the tour (tower) from the trail we were on. With fresh directions we struck out again, till the trail petered out to almost nothing and got a bit steep – time to dump the bikes. As we continued on this trail we ran into a lone hiker who verified we were on a trail that would lead us to the tour.

Pushing our bikes along this beautiful hiking trail, in search of the elusive château ruins

Arriving at the ruins we were treated to a wonderful view of the Doubs valley and once again we looked in wonder at how a tower (the one remaining piece) could be built right on the edge of a sheer cliff after hauling stones to the top of hill.

The tour (tower) is in sight. We started right below, but the trails we took lead us through the woods for extra exercise.

We found it. Not much left of the old fortress, but the challenge
and the view made it worth while

View of the River Doubs valley from the château. Well worth the climb

Going back was easy – coasting most of the way, once we walked our bikes back to the road.

The next morning we were enjoying our coffee watching the boat in front of us, not tied to the pontoon but to shore, trying to get free from the bottom. Apparently the water level had gone down overnight. They were trying everything in the book to get free. Michael, of course had to get involved. It came to the point of trying to push the boat off. Not thinking it would really come loose, especially with any speed, he positioned himself for maximum leverage off the bank. Well, the boat did come loose, and moved rather quickly into deeper water leaving Michael behind trying to catch his balance. Needless to say he didn’t catch his balance and was christened with canal/river water nearly to his neck. Guess next time he’ll show a bit more self preservation. The couple on the boat did reward the effort with the best bottle of wine we’ve had so far on the trip, so it wasn’t a total disaster.

The rest of the trip to Besançon went smooth – till the last écluse. It wasn’t working. We inched our way up to a ladder going up the wall and Joan climbed to street level to bring back help from another écluse that happened to be across the street. Easy going from there. Now a couple of days cleaning, washing clothes and provisioning before our guests arrive.