Tuesday 24th September - L’isle sur Doubs to Beaume-les-Dames

We left at 9.30 on a cool grey morning......a shame because the autumn scenery was beautiful.  The vague plan was to stop at Clerval one boat each side of a lock.  Two locks from Clerval we lost Henk!  In the lock he waved his arms at me and put five fingers up, meaning he needed time to do something but I misconstrued his wave as a ‘good morning’ wave, so we left the lock as usual.  To our dismay the lock gates closed, with him still in the lock!  He had to ascend the lock again, reverse out and start all,over again......sorry Henk!  So now we are cruising separately!!
There is technically a port in the village but we have notice of it being an unsafe mooring as there are sandbanks near the pontoon.  The ‘mooring places’ were actually landing stages for the locks and not strictly for use as overnight berths.  Also the river narrowed considerably on the pontoon we were to use after the lock, so we aborted that idea!  The official pontoon was actually sitting on a sandbank - so we moved on!!  It’s a shame for Henk as he has a friend who lives in Clerval.
It seems that there are no official stopping places apart from the landing stages, so Beaume-les-Dames it is!!
We arrived in Baumes-les-Dames at three o’clock and got settled to wait for Henk who arrived about an hour later.  We had drinks and a quick bite to eat, even though it was pretty late and decided to take a cab into town for dinner as it was raining on and off by now.
We assembled on deck for an apero and took the taxi into town at 7.30 to the Charleston restaurant wher we had eaten before with Henk.  It is a charming old fashioned establishment which serves excellent food.  The waitress greeted Henk with enthusiasm and two kisses!  Henk overwintered here three years ago and visited the restaurant many times during that time.
We had a lovely meal with excellent wines - home around 10.30 p.m.  a little TV and bed.

31 km 14 locks 5 1/2 hours