…in a
manner of speaking: we left Dole in a hurry and rather unexpectedly on Sunday
morning, even though we had paid for the berth for Sunday night. Fairly early
there started to be rumours that the floodgates had opened, and a great deal of
telephoning – French offices do not function at the weekend – confirmed the
news. So off we set, preferring to take our chances on the river than settle
down to do the washing.
The trip
was not uneventful: the canal cuts are full of weeds, which block the fresh
water intake to the engine, so that the strainer has to be cleared very
regularly. The river was definitely still in spate: the current extremely
strong, cutting our speed to walking pace or less at times. And there were some
vicious rain storms, one of which cut visibility to about 50 metres.
However, we
made it to a useful mooring at Thoraise, just before a tunnel, and had a
peaceful night. We had expected to share the pontoon with a pleasant Dutch
couple who had been our neighbours in Dole, but they too got delayed by weed
problems and didn’t make it. This morning we set off early, reaching Besançon
by lunchtime, heading through the tunnel there too, rather than taking the
scenic route around town, and after more laboured struggles against the
current, found a quiet Port de Plaisance at Deluz, which is where we now are –
with the washing machine doing its stuff, and the sun finally shining. For the
past few nights we have been running the central heating in the evening, but
not tonight, I think.
It is good
to be on our way again, and despite the various delays, we are really only a couple
of days behind schedule – which anyway had quite a lot of slack built in. I don’t
think there will be any problem getting to Germany in good time.
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