Doubs and Canal Rhône au Rhin - Saint Symphorien to Besançon

April 27 - April 29

In Saint Symphorien we leave the waterways for big ships (grand gabarit as the French say). Now it is back to the old Freceynet measures (5.05m wide and 38m long).
The Canal du Rhône au Rhin connects the Mediterranean Sea (Marseille) with the Atlantic (Rotterdam). In the 1970's there were big plans to build a large measure waterway connecting the Rhône and the Rhein.
The planned canal would have cut the distance from Port Said in Egypt to Rotterdam from 6250km to 4590km. Obviously big time savings to bring Oil from the Gulf to the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.
Detailed plans would have replaced the current canal allowing for barges up to 38m and 250 tons load with a new canal.
The new canal would have supported the new European standard dimensions of 185 m length and 4'400 tons of loading capacity. The waterway would have replaced the 115 locks by just 24  locks.
But due to environmental concerns and cost issues the plans were never put into reality.
Considering the savings in time and cost to bring good from the Mediterranean Sea to Central Europe it might just take a new effort and a different politicians to make the project a reality.
But for now we enjoy the small dimension canal and the navigation on the not so well marked Doubs river.

	Early morning in Saint Symphorien. We spend a night in the harbor of Bourgogne Marine. AvantiB spent many years in this port before the previous owners moved her to the South of France.
	While we wait for the lock doors to open Thomas is working on the `Signal' - the name board of AvantiB.
	Why is Betty standing on the side of the Canal? The French waterway authorities have converted many locks of the canal to automatic locks. When we passed the first lock we received a remote-control which operates the locks. Or should I say `is supposed to operate' the locks? After passing the 3rd lock for the day the remote control stops working - so we call the waterway authorities. They will send us an employee with a replacement - right after lunch. Murphy's law # 21: If anything breaks in France it breaks usually 2 minutes before lunch break starts and since France STOPS between 12:30 and 13:30 we wait. The VNF tells us to wait right above the lock - unfortunately the water is not deep enough to tie up and since we Betty went on land in the lock we have no way of picking her up. So will we continue to cruise without Betty? Stay tuned for the continuation of the story!
	Ok - we have a long sprig line tied to the tree and wait ......while Betty is turning us her back.
	Dole the Doubs river and canal pass through the middle of town.
	Palace de Justice and the Hotel-Dieu in Dole
	Hotel Dieu, and old monastery
	A narrow passage (not the last one) under a road-bridge
	A heron fishing in the weir.
	April 27: Our mooring for the night in Rochefort sur Nenon on the side of MS Anne.
	The next morning, April 28, we continue our voyage. Above Ranchot the canal is separated from the river by a small wall and runs about 1 m above the level of the river parallel to the Doubs.
	A look back to the section at Ranchot.
	Yet another broken lock! It seems that we have an average of one broken lock a day that whenever a lock breaks - it breaks right before lunch break whatever lock breaks - there is no place to tie up below So we wait for the VNF (again)! I have to say they are very friendly and show up quickly (naturally not during lunch break!). Since we have to wait without any mooring possibility we have to stay in the middle of the canal. Thomas finds the smallest bollard every used to tie 60 tons to! A 10 mm screw sticking about 2 cm out of the concrete wall below the lock and I keep the engine in low revs to push into it.
	The view from this house above the Doubs must be spectacular.
	The last lock of the day - leaving the Doubs to enter the canal
	Everybody needs to play once in a while! After a hard day on the Doubs and in the canal we see that even Thomas can relax!
	Don’t I look cute? Racine in the dandelions at the Thoraise lock.
	Thomas can't stop working and continues to paint the bow. Right now we are nameless.
	This is what expects us tomorrow morning - the tunnel of Thoraise.
	It is April 29 7:50 am and we just passed through the Thoraise tunnel and head back into the Doubs river. The canal is really fascinating. Stretches of narrow canals alternate with passages in the river. Lucky for us the river is quiet. The Doubs has a reputation of being able to raise 1 m or more within a few hours as it collects the run-off from the Jura mountains.
	We leave the Doubs to enter another stretch of the canal. It is a double lock and so the village is appropriately named "La Double Ecluse".
	A typical Doubs lock. The lock on the left bank passing around the weir on the right bank.
	The fortress of Besançon. The Doubs river flows around the hill, but only allows for a draught of 1.2m. For ships requiring more depth the engineers dug a tunnel under the fortress.
	The entrance to the tunnel under the fortress of Besançon. We see the first sign indicating our destination - the Rhine. But why ware we waiting here for the lock? You guessed right - the previous lock was broken and since it is lunch-time we have to wait before the Besançon lock (which has a lockkeeper tending to it). Just a little annoying is; that at 12:25 there is a young person talking to us about the lock, the schedule of the lock-keeper and the (mandatory) French lunch break. We tell him that the only reason we were not here BEFORE noon was yet another broken automatic lock. So after 15 minutes talking and waiting I realize that HE IS the lockkeeper. So instead of helping us through the lock he rather talks and takes his lunch break. Pressing a few buttons (remember these are automatic locks) would be too much. So he leaves for his break and we wait for an hour until he is well fed and able to press the right button!
	13:35 - Thomas drives through the tunnel of Besançon.

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