We woke to a glorious Fall morning, and the early morning sun on the barrage was spectacular.

Clearly, the beauty of our surroundings was enough to distract both of us from the fact that it was September 1st, and neither of us tried Pinch'n'Punch until after midday, by which time it was too late!

Because we knew we would be returning here soon, we headed off fairly early at 0920h, to get to Besancon. Our first ecluse was at Thoraise, and as usual it was staffed by a student who had worked for VNF for the summer. We both had a good chat with him, because he spoke good English, and then we were on our way through the tunnel. As always on this stretch of water, the cruise was very pleasant, and we reached Besancon at 1245h. However, because the tunnel ecluse is manned, the prior ecluse (which is automatic) was also closed for lunch till 1330h. Because the river water level was fairly low, and we didn't want to do a u-turn and take the risk of running aground for the second year in a row, we reversed all the way (1 km) back to the VNF pontoon, where we tied up for lunch. After 1330h we set off again, for Take 2 of getting through the tunnel, and this time we were successful, and tied up at the rear of the long pontoon in front of the Conservatory of Music.

The main reason why we had been hurrying to get to Besancon was that Rita wanted to get to the University Library, where she could get a borrowing card and take out some books she was wanting, to finish her Music Therapy report. So as soon as we'd finished tieing up, she was off to the Library, while I just settled into the familar surrounds of Besancon, and watched the kids having fun on the river attempting to steer their rowing skulls, while going backwards. Great fun!

As evening approached, after Rita returned from the Library, we realised that the rear of the pontoon was much noisier than the front of the pontoon, where we normally moor, because of the railway bridge just behind us and the skateboarders using the concreted area in front of the Conservatory. So, since a few boats had departed since we arrived, we took advantage of that to move forward to our normal position further up the pontoon. Here we could settle down for a quiet dinner, and just watch the water patterns that had appeared with the freshening breeze.