Wednesday 31st May - L'Isle-sur-Le-Doubs to Montbeliard

We had thought of staying for two nights as the heat was getting to us a bit but decided to move on to Montbeliard and stop there for a couple of nights for a well earned rest.  We slipped our lines at 10 a.m.  The first two locks were nice and easy and Crew was about to extol the work of the VNF when our poor engine changed tune meaning that we had a filter problem and no water was coming in to cool the engine.  Sure enough, no water was coming out at all - just steam.  We had just exited the lock and unfortunately there was no landing stage around so Skip had to land Crew in the greenery on the port side of Aphrodite. As Skip was having trouble getting both ends of the filter pipe free, we had to take the floor up for easier access.  When Skip had finally cleared the blockage (with a wire coathanger!) the whole operation had taken an hour.  Luckily the Canal cleared soon afterwards and all went well until just before our 6th lock and were confronted with a lifting bridge that Skip hadn't registered.  We tied up on the waiting pontoon.  Not seeing any informative signs we consulted the chart to find a phone number.  Unfortunately Skips' eyesight is not what it was and he first called a restaurant, completely confusing the man on the other end, being asked to lift the bridge for us!!!  We realised that, as it was lunchtime there was no use in calling yet, so settled down to a bite of lunch ourselves.  At 1.30 Skip called the correct number and was informed that a man would be along soon. A few more locks - crossing the Doubs river (unnavigable) and we arrived in Montbeliard just after 4 p.m.  We moored next to a nice English couple with a lovely Airedale, called George and chatted a while with them.  Unfortunately we didn't take note of the direction of our mooring and had the hot sun facing us, so we had to fix up a makeshift sunscreen (we have bespoke sun curtains for the other three sides!).  Not sure whether it's our age or the heat but we were both very tired on arrival and decided to relax for the afternoon........makes a change!!  We ventured into town for dinner and found a delightful Thai restaurant, where we enjoyed a delicious 3 course menu for €26 and a 50cl pichet  of good Sauvignon for €7.........bargain!!  Tired happy crew.......early to bed!

23 km  11 locks  6 1/4 hours