Since the barge was moored in essentially a north-south orientation, I took advantage of the cooler, shadier starboard side of the boat to do some more Ziffing this morning. It's starting to look a whole lot better. Indeed while I was doing this, Shaun (from Elle) came up for a talk and asked what I had done to restore the shine. He asked if I had waxed the boat, and whether it left a "greasy" feeling. He couldn't believe it was just Zif, until he rubbed his hand along the paint for himself.

Once the sun had risen high enough in the sky to remove the shade from the starboard side, I stopped Ziffing, and took the chance to go for an extended town walk, while Rita had gone down the canal a little to do some Intermarche shopping for supplies. The first building I noticed was the school, whose bells we had been hearing every hour since we arrived.

I then reached the bridge over the main River Doubs. The water was pretty shallow, but at least it gave the ducks somewhere to sit on the exposed rocks.

A little further on, behind the Mairie, were the remains of the old factory which, in the 19th century, produced nuts and bolts that were sent around the world. Not much remains now, except for some old stone walls and some waterway structures.

Just behind the old factory, replaced last century, is a newer factory which fronts onto the sidearm of the Doubs which runs around the back of the town. This part of the river is also fronted by many old houses, and is very slow flowing.

The weed under the water is somewhat hypnotic as it waves slowly as the water wanders past.

On the other side of the sidearm river, was just a single street, between the sidearm and the ridge running parallel to the river; just enough for one row of buildings on either side of a busy street.

Having explored the town a little, it was now time to get back to the barge, because Rita had found a Night Market in a town which we could still reach today. So at 1500h we left l'Isle sur le Doubs to head to Clerval. Along the way I killed the engine and floated with the current just past le Goulisse, so that Rita could jump over the side and have an afternoon swim! As we got moving again, it was soon time to leave the river and enter another stretch of canal near Rang. But as we pulled out of the river and prepared to go through the flood gates at the entry to the canal, I saw the nose of another boat emerging from the gates. So I quickly threw the boat into reverse to bring her to a stop, then kept reversing back out into the middle of the river. This would then mean that they would pass us on our right as they emerged (the opposite of the normal situation). I was surprised when they then displayed their blue-board to indicate "passing on the wrong side", as if it wasn't obvious. As they passed us, they said they had sent a message on VHF channel 10 as they approached the gates. This is the first time I have ever seen anyone using VHF on such small canals/rivers. Sounding their horn might have been a better option!

As we cruised on toward Clerval, we saw lots of brown&white Montbeliard cattle, including this mob who were having a great drink/swim in the river.

We arrived at the last lock before Clerval just before 1900h, which was perfect timing, since we could then tie up at the waiting pontoon for the night, knowing that no one would be coming in either direction till 0700h next morning. We waited till after 1900h (just to be sure) and then walked around the bend to go to the Night Market. As we walked along the right bank, we saw the market site on the left bank, and it was clear that it was already in full swing.

So we walked along a bit further, crossed the bridge, and joined the party! The marquee was full, and there was also a good crowd outside. The menu consisted of Anything&Frites, although we both had savoury crepes. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, although Rita was disappointed there was no music (even though the local brass band was recruiting for members; what better way to attract them than by playing - on second thoughts, maybe not!)

As the evening darkened, the crowd showed no signs of wanting to go home. But we had to walk back to the barge in the dark, so we took our leave while the night was still young.