The morning dawned sunny, but we sadly left the barrage mooring at Le Maroc around 1000h, even though we felt we could have stayed for much longer. We ambled around a few bends on the river and soon reached the entrance to the Thoraise Tunnel. This tunnel is famous for its waterfalls at the entrance to and exit from the tunnel, and "light-show" within the tunnel. Unfortunately, on approaching the tunnel, it was too dark inside (and too bright outside) to get a photo of the waterfall before it turned off, but once inside a bit more, the feeling of entering the tunnel was almost womb-like.

On approaching the end of the tunnel, before the exit waterfall turned off, it was again too dark inside (and too bright outside) to get a photo of the waterfall. After leaving the tunnel we hung round for a while, but the waterfall did not turn on again. So I have cheated and borrowed an internet photo to show what it looks like at the exit of the tunnel.

The riverside terrain was starting to become more rugged as we progressed, with wooded hills on both sides. We realised that sometimes it's just as interesting seeing where you've come from as looking to where you're going to.

We stopped for lunch at the waiting pontoon just short of the ecluse at Gouille (which auto-correct spelling had great difficulty getting right). After lunch, Rita found space among the weeds to go for a quick swim.

As we approached Besançon, we stopped just after Ecluse 52 at Velotte for Rita to take another river swim (it was a hot day!), and here we glimpsed our first sight of the Citadel above Besançon.

At Velotte, we also saw that some French graffiti artists have a strong political leaning ("Make Love, Not Walls").

We then moved on to Besançon proper, and passed through the lock from the river up to the canal that gives access to the city, and then proceeded to wait outside the lock to enter the tunnel under the Citadel. This was a somewhat confusing experience. Initially, we pressed the zapper to activate the lock, as we had done previously, Then we saw the "No Zapper" sign on the bridge and on re-reading the Guide Fluviale, we saw it said "Do NOT use the zapper" or you'll crash the system (or words to that effect). It said to phone the eclusier, which we then did but got no response. So we just hovered around, waiting.

As we hovered, we saw a little work boat behind us with a neat name, given the waterway.

Eventually, we saw some activity in the lock, and from the size of the boat therein, we realised it was a tour boat. So we backed off to give it room to leave the lock. But given than we were at a "t-intersection" and that the tour boat could go either way, we had to choose one of the arms in which to "hide" and naturally we chose the wrong one! As we reversed into that arm of the waterway, the tour boat chased us. We hastily tied up the bow to a handy pontoon, but that left nowhere to tie up the stern. So I just held onto a ramp structure leading down to the pontoon. But my arms were no match for the suction exerted by the tour boat as it went past, so I had to let go and return to the wheelhouse and try to control the stern using the motor and the rudder. As the tour boat passed us, the suction turned into a strong push in the other direction and the stern was pushed onto the ramp. Naturally the ramp was at the wrong height for any protective buffering, and crashed into the bimini. After a few seconds of ugly noises, the stern left the ramp and we were able to move to the centre of the waterway. Then like a swan, we did a graceful turn and lined up to enter the ecluse, as if nothing had happened. But now we had a different problem. With the front gates open, and the tunnel pitch black, and entering from bright sunshine, I couldn't see the back gates of the lock. I was navigating purely on instinct, expecting to run into the back gates at any moment. Luckily, Rita, up the front, must heve been able to see the back gates and with hand signals was able to tell me when to stop going forward, and we tied up in the lock without incident. Once we rose in the lock, I could see over the back gates and see the tunnel exit at the far end, which gave some sort of perspective.

Soon we were leaving the tunnel on the other side of the Citadel, and re-entering the Doubs where we would moor...

The passage through the tunnel was fairly easy, with some overhead lighting and the use of the Anchor Lights on the barge to light up the sides of the tunnel.

...in the shadows of the new Conservatorium of Music.

By chance, we moored tail-to-tail with another Piper barge, and hence got the full address of "Kanumbra, Port of Melbourne, Victoria".

After a long day, it was good to sit on the rear deck with a cold beer. But the day's adventures were not yet finished. As I drank my beer, I felt a strange sensation in my mouth and immediately recognised what it was. So I spat out the beer, including the wasp that had entered the bottle! I had heard of such incidents many times but had never experienced it. Luckily i recognised what has going on very quickly and did not swallow the beer, and the wasp. It has made me more careful with beers over here, using glasses wherever possible.

As I sat there, I was also following the First Test Match of the Ashes Cricket in England, and was pleased to see Steve Smith bring up his second century for the match. Maybe the Barmy Army will now stop booing him at every opportuunity, but given the class and intelligence of that mob, I doubt it! Still, one more day to go in the match, and the result is far from certain.

In the evening, we went for a walk around the old town. Unusually, I forgot my phone (which was on the charger), but I saw many things that would be good subjects for later photographs.

When we returned to the moorings, we realised that we didn't know the code for opening the locked gates to the pontoon. But as we approached the gate, I heard someone say "Tony", and then proceed to come off his boat and show us how to open the gate using a credit card to slip into the rear side of the lock. We then had a long talk with Lon Wojtowicz from C.A.R.I.B II, a barge he bought after reading our Kanumbra blog (hence the reason he knew my name). We talked for some time about his cruising adventures in the north-east USA before he bought the barge, and later met his wife Pat.

We had a relaxed dinner on board Kanumbra, and adjusted to the sights and sounds of our new "home".