11th - 13th August. On past Deluz and Chaleze to Besançon, then on to Thoraise.

Beyond Laissey, the cliffs still dominate the right bank of the Doubs.

At Deluz, it is an attractive mooring for cruisers, but we are too long for these jetties.

On the canal section before Chaleze, we found some superb blackberries. However it was quite shallow here, so Sally was dropped off to pick them, while Andy skilfully manoeuvred The Puzzler in the narrow channel!

Back on the river, the reflections get better and better.

As the hot weather has returned, we are under the trees again, but with cows for company this time.

Approaching Besançon , we will take a sharp left turn after the bridge ahead, to go underneath the citadel!

This tunnel is a useful short cut, to avoid the large meander of the Doubs around Besançon .

At the far end of it is lock 50, which leads back on to the Doubs. Once through the lock we turn a sharp right to moor at this end of town, on the free jetty. Today is “see the town” day, as we visited the citadel last time.

In Besançon there are many fine buildings. This one used to have a fountain in front of it, but not any more.

Eglise Saint-Pierre was built between 1782 and 1786, although the first church on this site was built in the 4th century. It is very dark inside. Its high steeple served as a bell tower for the town hall.

This Roman arch is nearly 2000 years old, being built in 175 AD in honour of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor at that time. It now leads through to Saint-Jean Cathedral.

Inside the cathedral the stained glass is very impressive, and creates a much lighter feel to this building.

Leaving Besancon, we have a long afternoon sailing with 14 kilometres and 5 locks to reach the tunnel of Thoraise, mooring just beyond it. The waterfall over the entrance does stop for us to go in, and there are light effects right through the tunnel.

4th - 10th August 2015. Map of France. An exciting week for Shannon, as we sail on to Baume-les-Dames. Next stop Laissey.

As we are only a few kilometres from Switzerland here, it seems the right time to locate us on the map of France. Access to the internet is poor here, so apologies for the delay with this post.

Since turning round, we have been making our way slowly back down the Doubs navigation. We had one very wet day, moored at Colombier-Chatalot, before shopping and refuelling at Isle-sur-le-Doubs. Then it was on to moor below La Goulisse lock, where we originally moored the other way round. In the evening we walked about half a mile further on, when Shannon decided it was time for her evening dip in the river. Ignoring the fact that there was no way down, she launched herself over the edge, to land in a heap in the shallow water below. That was fine, until she tried to climb back up to us, and failed! If either of us had gone down to her, then we too would have been stuck, so eventually Andy went back to get The Puzzler, as it was getting dark. Shannon was even more upset at this point, feeling abandoned, so cried loudly, until she realised that I was still there, above her. Andy returned in about twenty minutes, and beached the bows of The Puzzler, just downstream of Shannon. She refused to swim to the boat, so he climbed into the water to retrieve her. By now it was pitch dark, which is why we moored the other way round, on our return to the jetty!

Next day we located the bank where all of this happened. It was a brick wall, supporting the bank, which had created the problem. Twenty yards either way would have been OK, but it was too dark to see that last night.

She spent Friday afternoon relaxing on the front of the boat, with Andy. Later on that evening we were treated to the best display of sheet lightning we had ever seen, with thunder rolling all around us. Saturday brought more thunder too, so we stayed put. The cyclists keep on coming past on this long distance cycleway from Nantes, on the Atlantic coast, to Budapest. Today a couple went past on a tandem, with a trailer containing two sleeping children.

In each herd of cows, there are a couple with bells on. These bells are not very big, but can be heard for a long way.

Another picturesque village, which spreads up the side of the valley, is Hyèvre-Paroisse.

This is Grand Crucifix lock, with the weir behind it. Shannon dropped the apple she was carrying over the edge of the concrete slope, at the near side of the lock, and reached too far for it, with the predictable result! She went head first down the slope to the reeds below .

Here are her skid marks, outlined in black! It has been an eventful week for her.

Monday was a misty morning, giving the forests an eerie look.

In Baume-les Dames we visited the old part of the town.

In the old Abbey there was great anticipation, as the World Cup of Draughts, Round 5, takes place here this week. There are 16 competitors, of whom 12 are French and two are Russian, with one each from Poland and Germany. The afternoon competition was a friendly speed draughts contest, with 24 draughts and twelve minutes each, in which to beat your opponent.

After passing the village of Ougney-les Champs, the forest continues ahead of us, along the valley of the river Doubs.

We had a very enjoyable evening at Laissey, drinking champagne on our new friends boat. I even received my first kiss from a Frenchman, who was seven today!

29th July - 3rd August 2015. On the Doubs to Clerval, Isle-sur-le-Doubs, Colombier-Fontaine and Dampierre.

Every evening a train full of new Peugeot cars go down the valley, from the factory in Montbéliard. We counted ten cars per carriage, and there were 24 carriages on the train.

The river Doubs continues to impress us with the scenery, with cliffs amid the forests, which line the banks of the river.

We had thought about mooring in Clerval, but were surprised to see a no mooring sign by the mooring. All became clear later when we walked to the jetty, to find so little water depth there that even a rowing boat would have problems with mooring.

We continued on up Clerval lock, walking back to see this attractive village. There were at least ten large lorries parked along the road, and all the eating places in town were open for business.

The church in Clerval caught the evening sun.

This seems to be a good area for mistletoe, with some trees laden with balls of it.

This parasitic plant actually grows within the bark of the host tree, as can be seen here. I always thought that it was like ivy, just clinging on!

Just before Isle-sur-le-Doubs, the river Doubs leaves us, and we continue on the canal. This may be a high wall to moor to, but on the other side of the road is a large supermarket, and also a garage, both of which are a welcome find. Food and fuel were running low! The canal side villages may be pretty, but they do not have many amenities for the passing boater.

Cruising on, this line of trees along the canal are all walnut trees. They are laden with walnuts, all ready for the autumn. We will look forward to that, as there seem to be a great many walnut trees along all the canals in France.

At Colombier- Fontaine we reached the lift bridge at lunchtime. A train arrived at the adjacent station, so the road barriers came down. However, the train did not move for about twenty minutes, by which time there were some rather impatient car drivers! Once they had all gone, we went through the lift bridge safely.

On to Dampierre, which was very attractive, and looked better than this print shows!

On the next stretch, the canal bank was lined with wild flowers and was really pretty. There are several different yellow flowers, but sadly most of them are foreign to us, so I cannot name them all.

When we reached the point in the canal where it is crossed by the river Doubs, we turned round to retrace our steps. We have come 100 miles/ 160 kilometres up the Rhone to Rhine Canal. We are nearly at the summit but, as it is the mighty river Rhine at the other end of this navigation, we are now returning to the Saône. The Puzzler is not a suitable craft to take on to the Rhine.

25th - 28th July. On along the Doubs to Novillars, Laissey, Fourbanne and Baume-le-Dames.

Mooring at Novillars, we were treated to the “Dutch light” on the far side of the Doubs river.

Going up the double lock at Deluz, it still seems very strange when even this lock is fully automated. We do have to push the blue pole to continue, but the dark mark on the wall tells us how high we have to rise, before continuing into the next chamber.

Our next stop is at Laissey, where the old part of the village, by the well, is very attractive. In the rest of the village the roads have been dug up, ready for resurfacing. At the cafe several people are having their Sunday lunch, and the epicerie is part of the same building, so we went in, to be told that it was closed. It would be open later on, but as to what time, well, that was answered by a Gallic shrug!

Carrying on upstream, the cliffs are even higher, and it is rather like the river Meuse in the Ardennes.

The village of Fourbanne climbs up the valley side, with individual houses, each with a fantastic view of the hills beyond. We followed some brown signs to Fourbanne Grotte, across a field and into a wood, but did not manage to find a single cave!

There are pastures here, to our right, as the valley opens out, and cows, with cow bells, which sound lovely.

Every so often we pass small villages, nestled below the wooded sides of the Doubs valley.

We stopped briefly at Baume-le-Dames, where the supermarket, for once, is not too far away. As it is a paying mooring though, we move on out into the country.

Above Baume-le-Dames the canal goes through a narrow wooded section.

Rejoining the river Doubs though, it is really wide again. It flows to the left, below the hill ahead.

There are very few moorings generally on this river, so we are on a lock mooring, above La Raie aux Chèvres lock. Literally translated, this is “the stripe on the goats”.