Saturday 8th June - Mulhouse

Another lie in.......life is good!!  Our 45th Wedding Anniversary today - where did all those years go??  Skip had booked us in for lunch at a 2 star Michelin restaurant, Il Cortile, which had a lovely courtyard dining area.  The food was superb, as were the wines......certainly not cheap though!  We decided to re-visit the main square for a coffee and a digestif and found it buzzing with life - a lovely anniversary lunch.
Another lazy afternoon, then Henk joined us for aperitifs at 6.30p.m.......a very nice Cremant d’Alsace.  Cremant is produced both in Bourgogne and Alsace - personal taste but Crew slightly prefers the Alsace version.
We had a discussion about our Rhine cruise, which is new territory to us, and decided that Henk would be leading us, as he has done this part of the Rhine before......a comfort to us!
Just a bit of TV then bed.

Friday 7th June - Mulhouse

Nice lie in for Crew......hurrah!!  Today is our lovely granddaughters’ 4th birthday - happy birthday Rose.....have a lovely day!
We went with Henk to a lovely little fish restaurant, La Marmite, close to the port......Henk in his element as he loves fish.  The Maitre d’ was very charming, food good quality and at a moderate price.
A lazy evening watching a DVD as the weather had become windy and rainy, so reception not so good.

Thursday 6th June - Heidwiller to Mulhouse

What a difference a day makes - we woke to much cooler weather and rain, so sweaters, coats and hats were in order!    Crew was not looking forward to ten locks in the rain, although at least the rain stopped after three locks.  Last time we cruised to Mulhouse, it was similar weather......must be something about Mulhouse!
The number of locks today was increased by one, as an ecluse de garde was not open as usual - a pain!  All went well until, when in our eighth lock, the lock keeper said we should wait in the next lock whilst he went for lunch - a bit early we thought but in the event, he returned to us at 12.45 p.m. Just three more locks saw us arrived at the port.  We were greeted by the Capitaine and a lady who helped us moor on the visitors pontoon, alongside.  A steady drizzle had started again so we got the canopy and sides up as quickly as possible. A fairly quick bite of lunch followed by usual siesta.
There was an important football match in the evening between Holland and the UK, but kick off was not until 8.45 p.m.  Of course we couldn’t get any TV coverage but Henk found it on French TV - he has a different system to us!  So after we had something to eat, Skip went over to Cornelis k. To watch whilst Crew watched a very good episode of Vera, going over to Henks’ boat afterwards to watch the sad end for England.....3 - 1!!!!

11 locks  2 lifting bridges 13 km 4 hours

Wednesday 5th June - Dannemarie to Heidwiller

The plan had been to go directly to Mulhouse from here but as it was a long trip with 22 locks to navigate, so we decided to break the journey and moor on what Crew calls a ‘country mooring’ with no facilities.  We planned on an evening barbecue as there are no facilities to be had.  To this end we had bought some prawns in the supermarket yesterday.
We had arranged with the lock keeper to be at the first lock at 9.30 - everything going smoothly until we caught up with a very slow going ex- restaurant barge.  The entire local fleet of the VNF were accompanying us this morning......four vans, a motorbike and around 6 men!
We caught up with the slow moving barge just three locks from our mooring spot and had the frustration of having to wait almost half an hour for him to lock through and for the lock to refill.  Even though we cruised very slowly, we still caught him up for the next lock and of course by now, it was lunchtime!  So frustrating!!  However the nice lock keeper said he would see us through our last lock and have a late lunch, so we arrived at the mooring around 1.30 p.m.
We got settled as soon as possible as it was easily 30c by then and not much breeze so we were all sweltering!  Cold beers and lunch followed.
After a siesta and cold showers, Henk came over with the prawns and we set about marinating them in garlic, herbs and oil.  Served with couscous, remoulade and salad, they went down very well.  A little while after dinner, the wind got up and we retired below.

10 km 12 locks 4 hours

Tuesday 4th June - Dannemarie

We had decided to stay for two nights as Dannemarie is a pleasant town.  Crew put a load of washing on as it was already warm and there would be no drying problem.  The three of us had already decided to walk into town for lunch - there is a little controversy about the distance but Crew maintains that it’s around a kilometre and slightly uphill going!  We went just after midday - by now the temperature was about 30c already and not much shade to be had.  We checked that the Auberge de St.Leonard was not open.....they are still on holiday.  So we went across the road to a Chinese restaurant - a bit odd in France but we were met by a lovely cheery Chinese lady who not only kept us well amused but served us an above average lunch, with good wine.  Skip and Crew got the giggles when she said ‘flied lice’.....such an old cliche!
A little detour on our return to the port - Henk bought some good shoes in a shop here two years ago.  Crew felt that we ought to keep him company.......ooh, lovely shoe shop!!   Two pairs of shoes later (one pair of winter shoes for Henk and a lovely pair of red sandals for Crew) - Skip decided against. We then made our way to the supermarket for a few necessities.  The walk back was very hot and we were glad to get back on board.
Usual siesta and lazy evening.

Monday 3rd June - Montreux-Chateau to Dannemarie

As we had reached the summit, today we start going down in the locks - much easier.  We had arranged with the lock keeper to start the downstream chain of 14 locks at 9.30 a.m.  to this end we left the mooring at 9 for the 5 km run to the first lock.  We noticed a boat start off in our direction a little before we left - a bit of a puzzle as we thought there was a boat locking through at 10 a.m.  Unfortunately we caught him up travelling very slowly which held us up, making us late for our rendezvous!  As it happens we were only five minutes late.

Everything went swimmingly (and very fast) until our 8th lock.  The water went down as usual but as the bottom gates hadn’t closed properly, the top gates wouldn’t open, so the lock keeper raised the water level again and back up we went.  The operation was successful this time, so off we went again.

A very pleasant cruise in lovely sunshine again but today with more wind than before.  

We arrived in the port of Dannemarie around noon but it was  nearer 12.30 by the time we and Henk were safely moored, thanks to the wind deciding to increase just as we arrived.  In fact it was gusting quite hard now making mooring difficult.

We finally got settled, enjoyed a few well deserved beers and lunched on Parma ham and melon....just right for such a hot day.  After a siesta, Skip went into town for a few bits and, if possible to book a table at the Auberge St. Leonard for tomorrow lunchtime.  Sadly it was the restaurants’ annual holiday time and they didn’t re-open until later in the month. A shame because we remember eating there two years ago and it was very good.  Ah well......plan B as usual!!
We weren’t feeling very hungry at all so just picked on peanuts and cheese whilst watching a bit of TV.

Sunday 2nd June - Montbeliard to Montreaux-Chateau

We left the port at 9.30 as arranged and met up again with our friendly VNF man at the first lock.  Crew applauded him for his English and he said that he had only learned it at school and that it was a long time ago........the same for both of us!

We had a little trouble getting our zapper to work until we were almost on the lock gates with a couple of locks - we suspect that the trees and foliage were blocking the signal. 

Todays’ cruise is a little complicated, with changes of canals and a chain of five manned locks at the end.  Henk had started an hour behind us as usual but when we arrived at our 6th lock, the VNF man was there.  We had to relinquish our zapper as the last five locks were manual and then we were told that we must wait for another boat to join us........it would be Henk!  So Crew having risen relatively early, could have had another hour in bed!!!  Zut alors!

When the locks are manned, they close between 12.30 and 1.30 for lunch of course, so we had to tie off in the seventh lock and wait until 1.30 p.m., making it a longer day than we would have wished.  The plus point was that the weather was beautiful.....it could have been raining!

Our lock keeper arrived just before 1.30 in the event and it took us less than two hours to get to Montreaux.  The temperature had been steadily rising during the morning and by the time we were settled we were sweltering in around 30c......Crew now has flip-flop marks on her feet!!

Arriving at 3.15 meant a very late lunch since we needed some recuperative beers on landing!
Siestas were definitely in order today.....the heat has debilitated us all.
We dined fairly late on deck and scooted off to bed reasonably early.

22 km 11 locks 6 hours