While we have thorougly enjoyed our few days in Soing, we were up early today at 0745h, and on our way out of port by 0830h, bound for a new mooring place further up river. We retraced our steps down the River Saone until we reached the merge point with the canal, and then did a sharp right turn into the canal. This led us into a section of canal with high stone walls. While the canal was still wide, the high walls tended to intimidate you and keep you in the centre of the canal.

Sun 23 July - up early, leave at 0830, green, St Albin tunnel, Scey, 4th Test, dinner

From here we retraced the path that we had taken on our bikes last night to get to the Night Market near the canal bridge between Chantes and Rupt-sur-Saone. It was a lot quicker riding our eBikes! As we approached the ecluse to the east of Rupt-sur-Saone, we were impressed by the two-storey eclusiers house on the left of the ecluse. Only when we got closer did we realise that the ground floor window was painted on the side wall. On the right of the ecluse was a little farmyard, with lots of chooks and a shy donkey looking around the barn door.

Once we got through this ecluse, we ran into a wall-to-wall covering of green plants covering the waterway (with leaves very much like maidenhair fern). While it looked impenetrable, it was no impediment to our progress, as the boat just parted the green and continued on.

Soon after this we entered a narrow, winding, high-walled section of canal (controlled by lights) which led to the St Albin Tunnel. Since there were several boats coming downstream, we encountered a significant delay here, so we tied up at a waiting pontoon and waited for a green light, before we wound our way through this section of canal and entered the tunnel (which was very similar to the Savoyeux Tunnel, including Rita playing her flute at the front of the boat).

After exiting the tunnel, we did a left turn into the river, then a right turn back into the canal, before soon arriving in the port of Scey. On first inspection, it looked like all the visitors moorings were taken. But we spied a small piece of unoccupied dock in front of a large peniche, and even though there was no electricity or water at that site, we decided it was the best (and only) option available. So we tied up the back half of the boat securely, and let the front half poke out the front of the dock. All in all, it seemed like a good compromise and gave a good view of the restaurant on the other side of the canal.

Since we had no electricity connection, that seemed like a good excuse to go out for dinner. So we phoned the restaurant ahead of us (Les Deux Port) to make sure they would be open and had space, and reserved a table for two. And we were pretty glad we did, because it turned out to be a good choice, and I thoroughly enjoyed my Magret Canard. There were several local families at the restaurant (always a good sign) with lots of kids, who went outside for a play as soon as they had finished eating. They played all sorts of games, but one little girl was quite happy to just sit in the grass and watch the boats. We also made friends with (i.e. bribed with food) a local cat who looked just like my son's ex-cat Bob.

After dinner, we went for a walk around the port to wear off a few calories, and then sat on the rear deck until darkness arrived and chased us off to bed.