The next week was spent in port at Montbeliard, so all of that will be described on this single page.

July 9

The day was sunny, with a market being held at the Rugby field, just along the canal to the west of the moorings. Around midday I watched the 2nd Rugby Test Match in Brisbane between Australia and England (on Channel 9 via a VPN service). It was a close game won by England 25-18, marred by over-officiating by the TMO (TV match official) who seemed intent on having her voice heard on TV. It's about time they changed the procedure and have the TMO heard only by the referee, instead of by all the TV audience, which might stop some of the grand-standing. In the afternoon, Rita went swimming at the piscine, while I listened to the car horns associated with two weddings in the town, and then went to inspect the campervan parking area near the port, which is free and unlimited (but paying for electricity and toilet/shower facilities). Looks like a possible option for longer-term parking.

July 10

In the early hours of the morning (like 0100h) some amateur fireworks display started up on the other side of the canal and continued until we were wide awake. Then they stopped. You'd think they could wait until July 14th.

Rita was off early in the day to go to a Medieval Fair with Rob and Anna at a castle near Clerval. They took the train to Clerval and then were going to cycle up a hill to the castle. Rob and Anna have eBikes, so it will be interesting to see how Rita keeps up with them. I realised I could never keep up with them, so wisely stayed home to watch the AFL and then the Wimbledon tennis Mens Final. The Hawks defeated the Crows 86-54, and showed no signs of the typical collapse they have demonstrated in recent games. At Wimbledon, after taking the first set, Nick Kyrgios collapred to be beaten by Novak Jokovic three sets to one. Not a bad effort againts the number one seed, but sometimes Nick is his own worst enemy. When things go wrong, he can't accept that it might be his own fault, or that his opponent might just be playing better; he has to blame someone else, including his own support team. Someone said he has a fear of failure, but i think he has a fear of success. As he admitted after the game, if he had won, then what more could he do? Where is the motivation, after winning the biggest tournament in the world?

One of the nice things about Port Montbeliard is the cafe that is attached to the Capitainerie building. It serves drinks all day till sunset, and also does lunches. It doesn't do dinner, which is just as well since we are moored immediately next to it, and this gives us some night-time peace.

Rita, Rob and Anna arrived home in the late afternoon, and Rita admitted that the uphill climb to the castle had been quite a slog. Not very steep, but unrelenting for over 5km. I'm glad I stayed at home, or else I would have been doing a lot of walking with the bike.

After all the amateur fireworks earlier today, we were hoping for a quieter night. But just before midnight, we heard loud voices on the quai at the front of the boat. We waited for them to go away, to no avail. So Rita got up and put some clothes on (instead of PJs) and went to investigate. It turned out to be three guys, one of whom had dropped his phone through a gap in the timber planks of the quai, where it was resting on some timbers underneath. They were trying to retrieve it, with much loud discussion and no success. So we tried to find something on board that might help, but as we looked, we heard a cry of relief, as one of them had managed to retrieve it with very long, slim fingers. All in a day's life in the marina!

July 11

The morning went as so many other mornings have gone recently; Rita reading and taking notes for her thesis/project, and me catching up on this blog. In the afternoon, we decided we needed to get off the boat, so we jumped on the bikes and headed for Mandeure, about 45 minutes cycling south of Montbeliard, where there was a Roman Ampitheatre. There seemed to be two ways to get there and we chose the western route, because we knew part of it from previous cycling trips to and from Dampierre. This turned out to be not the greatest decision, as it had a long uphill climb on a public road, followed by a shorter, steeper downhill run on a public road. We were relieved when we got back to the elevation of the River Doubs, near the ampitheatre. On first sight, the ampitheatre did not look all that impressive; just another pile of stones.

But closer inspection revealed an amazing structure, dating back to the first century. Since the remaining strucure is still in semi-original condition, it is not hard to imagine being back in those times, listening to a performance. The panorama from the back seats was something to behold.

After exploring and wondering for a couple of hours, we headed back through Mandeure, on the more easterly route to Montbeliard. This was a much better route, as it followed the Doubs for quite a while, then headed off on its own dedicated bike path, all the way to Port Montbeliard - a very delightful and relaxing ride.

When we got back to port, we went for a cool drink at the cafe, and saw that Rob & Anna and John & Frances had beaten us there. So we joined them for a couple of rounds, and then found out that the July 14th fireworks in Montbeliard were actually happening on the night of the 13th, and that the cafe was staying open late and serving food. So we booked in and found that they had run out of tables, but we could set up our own tables on the quai and take away the food from the cafe. So that sounded good to us.

July 12

After yesterday's bike ride, today was rather mundane. Rita read and took notes, and later went for a swim at the piscine, while I updated the blog. That's it. No more to see here. Let's move on.

July 13

We were awoken at 0730h by the guy on the next boat, who was replacing a window, and decided to use an angle grinder at this ungodly hour of the morning! But I couldn't be bothered getting out of bed to pick a fight. Later in the morning , his noise was joined by a workman/gardener on the far side of the canal who was presumably cutting whatever grass was there. But when he got to use his favourite tool, the grass blower, all the grass was gone and all that was left was dust!!

More reading and blogging in the morning, before Rita went in search of the public library to escape the heat. While she was there, I watched the Rugby League State of Origin match between NSW and QLD. It was a deciding third game, and the pressure was on from the opening minute, with three players taken off injured in the first three minutes. Queensland eventually won 22-12 in what many people say was the best-ever Origin game.

As evening came around and the sun began setting, Rob & Anna, John & Frances and ourselves settled down on the quai near Kanumbra and waited for the fireworks, while being entertained by a guitarist/singer at the port cafe.

Eventually darkness came after 2200h, and the fireworks started, after which the music played on till the wee hours.