Well the day had come,, our last night, 11th June.
and we say goodbye to the marina and the fisher men.
Before we start I have to show you all my herbs and flowers !!!!!!!
And Max’s view when he drives!!!! Max has been very tolerant of my expanding garden.
We head up the Saone River again and hang a right onto the Canal Du Rhone au Rhin, which leads eventually up to Strasbourg, alternating with the River Doubs.
Hello!!!! what’s this?? where’s the beautiful country gone??.. All the signs say ‘Don’t stop for the next 3 kms, and if the alarm sounds, move as quickly as possible away from this site.’ The Solvay Industrial Chemical Plant.
What such safe waters these French canals are!!!, if its not industrial chemical plants, then it’s nuclear power plants..
DOLE.
Joanna and David Lynch-Watson finally found us and left their campervan and joined us for a few days. We had a wonderful Sat night as Dole celebrated Bastille Day. There was hot air balloon racing where 30 of Frances best teams compete over 3 days, Les Montgolfieres. and the finale was an amazing fireworks display. The French love their fire works and you can buy bangers, and fire crackers and the whole shebang just off road side stalls… David relived his childhood and bought a whole heap of crackerjacks and a few pretties ones especially for us girls..
Dole is a beautiful town, often called the ‘little Venice of Jura’ as the river winds through part of the town and the narrow cobbled streets and a variety of old houses. From our last blog we mentioned the Louis Pasteur lived here.
Dole used to be the capital of The Frenche-Comte till it became part of France in 1678.
It used to be a thriving town, a centre of economic power in Jura, and had a parliament, a university and a mint.
The Hot Air Balloons taking off around 7 –8pm on the Saturday night.
The mini zeplin , that woke us up during the dawn flight that day as it circled above our mooring, being inflated again...
Sunday we took off and travelled along the canal or on the River Doubs. The bits of canal with locks bypass the weirs which allowed the commercial traffic of old to travel from the Rhine to the mediterainian sea. Now, luckily there are very little commercial big barges that use this this route.
We have finally christening the swim ladder and had a swim in the River.
OUR FIRST EVER SWIM OFF THE BOAT!!!
Our second night we moored by a weir and said goodbye to J & D.. We stayed on a few nights more and investigated the local area.
Joined by John and Lizzy from ‘Puddlestone’, for some music and drinks.
Went and visited some of the oldest tourist caves in the world ( apart from some in Greece) The Osselle Grotto . They have been visited since the 1800’s. Big brown caves bear bones have been discovered and are in the Natural history Museum in London. Only about 2km have been opened up to the public. The stalignites grow 1 cm every 100 yrs.
This area of France is really set up for cycling. All along the canal we are on The Velo.6. It runs from nr Strasbourg at Belfort, back to Dole, a total of 187kms of protected, smooth cycle path,, 2-3 m wide and mainly FLAT as it follows the sides of the river and canal. It has made it very easy for us to leap frog the car along with us. We can cycle 20-30 kms easily in 1-2 hours cos its so so so flat. ( luvly). I have a little computer on my bike that tells me my speed and distance.. great distraction for me.!! It is great to cycle as you get to smell the scents of the flowers and trees as you go along, esp as its been 28-33 degrees most days.
This is a tunnel that you pass through ( 450 m) that has a waterfall each end that is meant to turn off as you pass through!!! ( we hope it does). And lights that chase across the roof.
And we didn’t get wet.
All day long The Kiwi Rose gets passed by a variety of cyclists, runners and roller-bladers, of all ages, sizes and shapes, some squashed onto some amazing lycra cycle-wear… Everybody seems to be out and about using these paths.
BESANCON.
Arriving up river to the protected town of Besancon, with the Citadelle which has cited and repelled sieges since the roman times. Even with its commanding and high position in 1674, Louis XIV took 20,000 troops to lay siege and it took over a month to fall.
Old parts of town.
The new modern University of Besancon.
We stayed here 3 nights, and caught up with Michael and June, from Auckland, who we had met last year over a few beverages, so we had to have a few more and a BBQ.
