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Last month we reported that our plan was to move onto Mulhouse and that is precisely where we are updating the web for the month of July. Very pleased to say that the months boating has been pleasurable and without major disasters. We set off from Ranchot feeling as if we had made some friends in the village. we did not boat very far. We needed to be in reasonable proximity of a supermarket as stocks were low. Having restocked we left Salans in dry weather but the heavens opened and we boated for the morning in wet weather. There was not enough rain to help the gardens as since the beginning of June, temperatures have been constantly high and there has been virtually no rain. Paul has managed to find a way of fitting a parasol on the stern of the boat to give shade at the tiller.

On this stretch we had some locks that were quite vicious with the surge of water entering the chamber. It was hard work to hold the boat into the lockside. Also, because of the position of mooring bollards, there were several occasions when roping up and then being able to reach a blue bar that needs to be pushed up to activate the lock required some acrobatics. In the main we found it easier if Diane moored to the ladder (not usually recommended) in reach of the blue bar. All the efforts were worth while as we moved from the canal onto the River Doubs and back onto canal. The scenery, especially on the Doubs was spectacular with cliffs, trees and houses nestling amongst them. On the river we also had some welcome breeze. We climbed and climbed through the locks with the occasional difficulty when a lock did not respond to the radio control 'zapper' but it would seem that we were fortunate. our longest wait for a lock keeper to come to our rescue was 35 minutes. We heard horror stories about people waiting 3 hours!!

Now, for football fans you may remember that France was in the final and we happened to be moored up at Besancon for that weekend next to a boat well decorated with red, white and blue ribbons. The man on the boat also had a horn which he used from time to time in response to the pilot of the trip boat who were wagering on the number of goals that France would win by. We will say no more about that but will mention that Besancon, the capital of the Franche Comte region is a lovely town dominated by the citadel. There were wonderful views of the town as we approached it and as we moved on to Norvillars. We actually had to operate a lock ourselves to leave the port at Besancon and we proved that we hadn't lost our touch but it took 50 minutes to got through the operation.

For the firework celebration that takes place all over France to celebrate Bastille day, we were at a relatively new port, Baumes les Dames. It was well arranged and had facilities specifically for Camping cars spread over quite a wide area. The firework dislpay was from the bank of the River Doubs and there was a prime view from a bridge called Pont Bleu which you may have guessed is painted blue. Our next stay of consequence was at Isles sur Doubs where Paul once again did a marathon with the jerry can to fill with diesel. Intermarche was a bit closer this time and he was able to use the little trolley to help take some of the weight. We boated onwards and upwards to Montbeliard where we had a weekend stay and it was at Montbeliard that we handed back our 'zapper' as from that point on we were with lock keepers. At Montbeliard we had the enjoyment of a full youth orchestra playing in the park nearby. They were excellent and their music was very varied. The conductor could be proud of their performance. In the same park during the day people can make their own music and of course we joined in. Hands on tubes, walking through picture frames and playing hopscotch produced some lovely musical sounds and was fun. There was also colourful displays of flowers, shrubs, bridges over water and sculptures of insects.

It was also at Montbeliard that we had another 5 minutes of fame. As we were mooring up two people jumped out of a car asking if we spoke French. There was a gentleman with a camera taking lots of photographs and when we had the boat sort of secured they asked if they could interview us and do a feature in the local newspaper. They spent around 25 minutes with us and loved having a brief visit of the boat. Well, to our surprise, two days later the article was published (Sunday morning). We had become friendly with a woman called Odile who had visited us several times. She enjoyed talking English and we enjoyed her company. She had spent sometime with us on that Sunday morning showing us photographs. Suddenly Odile was back at midday with the newspaper which she kindly gave us. The interview was complimentary of the boat and even made mention of the cherry tomato plants on the roof of the boat which incidentally have been giving us tomatoes since early June.

On leaving Montbeliard we soon reached the summit of Montreux Chateau boating with a British owner of a boat called 'Sasiki'. The lock keeper was a young student doing a summer job to earn some cash. She worked really well. From that point on it was all down hill to Mulhouse with a lot of locks. The first stretch took us through 15 locks over 10 kms taking us to Dannemarie. Then the final stretch was a longish day of boating with 24 locks taking us to Mulhouse. We boated with Horst and Vera on a sailing boat called Ursa. We seemed to work well together and there was plenty of room in the locks for the two boats. Unfortunately Ursa had an engine problem and so we moored up a bit earlier than required for the lock keepers hour lunch break in the hope that the problem could be sorted out. The boats are programmed the previous day for the locks so if things have to be reorganised it can be a problem. Well, Horst solved the problem and declared that he was a happy man. We set off again at the prearranged time and arrived safely at Mulhouse. It is a good secure mooring complete with BBQs and gazebo's for shade. One of our priorities was to sort out train tickets to go to Charles de Gaulle airport to collect 14 year old, Vicki. All went according to plan and we know have Vicki with us for 3 weeks, an extra crew member for our return trip to Besancon, Dole. We will do a little more sightseeing of the various stopover points on the return journey now that the weather is set to cool a little. There will be more to report next month.