Canal du Rhône au Rhin, travel report 2004: sixt day

Sixth day: from Saint-Vit to Choisey

Today we are baking our own bread in the oven. For the reason that we never can be sure to moor =near a bakery, we always have a pre-baked bread on board. We didn't need it this year but we won't take it back home. Besides, I love the smell of fresh baked bread.

We are navigating on the Doubs right away. The whether is cloudy and there is a strong wind blowing. Again we hear the waves dashing against the bottom of the boat. While we are navigating on the river Marga throws the fenders next to the boat. We had fetched in the fenders yesterday because we had a lack of space in the port. We were confined to a small space between the landing-stage and a half sunken rowing-boat. We loose one fender. Marga is yelling and I turn the boat quickly but the fender is floating rapidly to the shore. It sticks in the brushwood. Pepijn offers to get it and I put him ashore. Armed with two boat-hooks he succeeds in getting it. I promise him an award. I pick up Pepijn again half a kilometer further on. It is easier to pick him up there because the wind is blowing less strong and I can guess the depth of the water better.

Sections on the canal and on the river are alternating now. After Ranchot we are navigating on a canal section which is only separated from the river by a wall. Then we arrive at Moulin des Malades where a lockkeeper is opening a vivid blue lift-bridge for us. Then he speeds with his moped to the next lock.

We are navigating on the Doubs again and moor for lunch in a canal section near Orchamps. We are just in time to buy some bread at the bakery and to do some lst shopping in a little supermarket. After lunch the children are playing football again on a field we passed by.

After lunchtime we are navigating on. We pass Rochefort-sur-Nenon. In this place the contradiction between the wide river and the narrow canal is extreme. The Doubs is about two hundred meters wide here and shades off into a very narrow canal section. The contradiction is increased because we are navigating very close to a rocky wall.

Just before three we arrive at the lock of Baverans where we have agreed to meet Howard. His children wil be navigating with us the last kilometers. After we surveyed the village by feet I have enough time left to make a quick visit to Dole.

The arrival in Dole is impressing. The last section of the canal is bordered by centuries old plane-trees.

This section reminds us at the Canal du Midi. Going through a lock we arrive in the middle of the birth town of Louis Pasteur. Dole is an old city with a Notre Dame in the middle. We navigate on to the next lock which is located next to a watermill. In Dole I find here what I missed all the journey: history. I haven't seen this journey, Besançon excluded, many historic buildings. But here I see a lot of old buildings, bridges, quays, a watermill and a characteristic lockkeepers house.

This lock can be operated by turning a bar hanging above the water. Then we arrive for the last time on the Doubs. We pass through this river section to enter at the canal the Doubs is saying goodbye definitely. Canal and river go on separately. We navigate on to Choisey where Howard is waiting for us on the shore. We moor the boat and go to his house. First we try to see the Mont Blanc from his garden but the sight isn't clear. We are treated hospitable and take a look at his entire house. He has renovated this former farm of two hundred years old with the help of his father in four years. In his dining room we eat at a huge table raclette with the eight of us. It's very sociable ant the raclette tastes very good wonderfully. A very festive evening at the end of our holiday!

Sections on the canal and on the river are alternating now. After Ranchot we are navigating on a canal section which is only separated from the river by a wall. Then we arrive at Moulin des Malades where a lockkeeper is opening a vivid blue lift-bridge for us. Then he speeds with his moped to the next lock.
We are navigating on the Doubs again and moor for lunch in a canal section near Orchamps. We are just in time to buy some bread at the bakery and to do some lst shopping in a little supermarket. After lunch the children are playing football again on a field we passed by.
	After lunchtime we are navigating on. We pass Rochefort-sur-Nenon. In this place the contradiction between the wide river and the narrow canal is extreme. The Doubs is about two hundred meters wide here and shades off into a very narrow canal section. The contradiction is increased because we are navigating very close to a rocky wall.
Just before three we arrive at the lock of Baverans where we have agreed to meet Howard. His children wil be navigating with us the last kilometers. After we surveyed the village by feet I have enough time left to make a quick visit to Dole. The arrival in Dole is impressing. The last section of the canal is bordered by centuries old plane-trees.
	This section reminds us at the Canal du Midi. Going through a lock we arrive in the middle of the birth town of Louis Pasteur. Dole is an old city with a Notre Dame in the middle. We navigate on to the next lock which is located next to a watermill. In Dole I find here what I missed all the journey: history. I haven't seen this journey, Besançon excluded, many historic buildings. But here I see a lot of old buildings, bridges, quays, a watermill and a characteristic lockkeepers house.