Off the Beaten Path

The French region we are travelling through was, until 2015, known as Franche Comté.  In 2015 it was rejoined with Burgundy, the other half of the historic Kingdom of Burgundy, after a separation that had existed since the 15th century. The region is now called Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Burgundy (Bourgogne) is recognizable because of its association with wine; Franche-Comté is not so well-known.  Definitely not on the Rick Steves "circuit", we've not heard any American accents in this part of France so far.

As we've continued our cruise "up" the Rhone-Rhine Canal the landscape has been agricultural and/or natural in character. We will encounter manufacturing further east, but so far green and blue are the prevalent colors.

Seeing the Doubs from land on the way to Salans

While we were still in Ranchot on the 22nd, we took some time to bicycle to the village of Salans a few kilometers away to see the 17th century Château de Salans, which is listed as a Monument Historique. It was supposed to be open on the weekend, but the chain across the driveway told us otherwise.

Disappointment in Salans: the gate is chained. It's a good thing
we didn't cycle too far. 

As much of the property as we could see from the gate. Maybe
we'll have better luck on our return trip down the canal later
this summer.

We're trying to keep our cruising days reasonable in length to give us time to explore our stops and possible sites of interest near them. On June 23 we cruised a mere 12 kilometers to a very convenient mooring point just downstream of the village of Osselle. The "point of interest" for us in the area was the Osselle Cave, a few kilometers away and an easy bicycle ride.

Done up in true tourist attraction style, the Osselle Cave was
discovered in the 13th century. The opening was expanded
and tours of the cave began in 1504. In the mid-1700's the dry
parts of the cave were used for entertainments and dinners. During
the French Revolution, priests used the caves to hide from the
Revolutionary Committee.

Our tour group going through one of the
larger cave chambers. The chambers were
carved out by the action of various rivers in the
region. About 9 miles of cave are known; 5 miles
of "dry" chambers and 4 miles of "active network"
where the water is still flowing.

Detail of the stalagmites and stalagtites in the cave. The
formations were similar to what we have seen in the Florida
Caverns State Park in Marianna, Florida.

Cave bear fossils have been found. Fortunately, no live
specimens were to be seen on this trip, only some funny looking
recreations.

Our mooring site near Osselle. Easy in, easy out and adjacent
to the cycling path.

We started our cruising day on June 24 rather early for us. An intense heat wave that is expected to last for several days has moved into the area, and we wanted to do as much of our boating as possible while it was still relatively cool.

The remains of Montferrand-le-Château
 overlooking the Doubs.

The castle was first mentioned in records from 1230. It fell
into disuse as a fortification in the mid-1600's. Over the years
it was dismantled to build homes in the nearby village.

The Thoraise Tunnel. The upstream opening has a
"waterfall" feature that shuts off when its sensors detect
a boat moving through the tunnel.

There were interesting ceiling lights in the tunnel that blinked
on and off. The water feature at the tunnel opening was still
active at this point (but hard to see because of the brightness
outdoors)

The water reflected like glass during this part of the cruise on the
natural Doubs. The landscape is becoming more hilly.

Our destination for the day was the city of Besançon, the capitol of the administrative department of Doubs (and formerly the capitol of the Franche Comté region).

Approaching the city of Besançon, its famous 17th century
Citadel visible on the hilltop.

The city is located in a horseshoe bend in the river Doubs. Boaters have a choice when arriving at Besançon: take the tunnel carved through the rock under the Citadel, or take the "round the bend" route for a city view. "Take the city route" the guidebooks said, "it's very picturesque."  And so we did. It seemed like a good idea until we had to go through the St. Paul marina and lock. It was a tight fit moving through the marina, and the lock turned out to be manual, not automatic. I drew on my memories of operating the manual locks in Ireland in 2002 to deal with the issue, but the physical labor was not a welcome thing on the by-now very hot day.

Lon at the helm while cruising the loop; the Citadel
visible above.

Turning the wheel to open
 (or close) a lock gate door

Pat opening a sluice gate to let water out of the lock chamber.

We are planning to stay in Besançon for a few days. It has quite a few sites of interest, and we're also happy to be "plugged in" to electricity during this heat wave.