contentedsouls

5 locks, 19kms

G is ‘hopping’ the car at the moment with the bike, so we are limiting our cruising to a maximum of 20 kms each day. The weather is glorious and the autumn colours sensational – the only fly in the ointment is the locks. They are very fast filling and, for the most part, with nowhere very handy to get a rope on. In one instance we had to move forward and lift the bar, then shoot back, cross sides, sling the front rope round a ladder and wrap it round tight before all hell broke loose as the lock filled. 4 consecutive days of this is not doing my, still hurting shoulder, a great deal of good. Everything else in the garden is, however, very rosy and extraordinarily beautiful; it seems to get even more amazing every day.

We left R-s-N and continued along a river section before heading through the first lock of the day.

When we popped up in the lock there was a very inviting looking restaurant and the car park was full of trucks – always a good sign – but there was nowhere to moor so it was a couple of biscuits and a coffee for lunch.

Back out on the river again and we encountered the strange phenomena of a narrow (by French standards) right bank navigation channel to the side of the Doubs. Guess what; just like bridge ‘oles, we encountered our first and only oncoming of the day in the form of a rather nice British barge.

Bearing in mind that the water levels at the moment are very, very, low I’m not sure I’d fancy cruising this bit – especially downstream – if the river levels were up a bit and running over. Approaching our destination for the day, it looked like the mooring had been taken by winter moorers but, on closer inspection, there was room for us once I’d slid down the slope on my bum to wrap the stern rope round a tree.

G was off to fetch the car and I walked the dogs as dusk fell

Amazingly we were able to get a satellite signal between these trees and banks.