The day started foggy, which is better than rainy, and gave an opportunity for a nice photo to start the day.

Claude came by and said that he was going to fly back to Malta today, and leave yacht Kiwi in Besançon, and stay in Malta until rain had arrived in France and the water levels in the Doubs had risen. So, after a very relaxed breakfast, we did a u-turn and headed out of port at 1020h towards the tunnel under the Citadelle. Our timing was not good as the lights were red at the tunnel entrance, and so we hovered in mid-stream for about 20 minutes before entering the tunnel. When we got out the other end, we found more delay as a couple of boats waited to go through Ecluse 51. But it was nice to just tie up for a while and look at the water lily pads.

We headed south along the Doubs until we reached Thoraise and the "waterfall tunnel" (which unfortunately turned off early as we approached), and then continued on to Le Maroc where we stopped for lunch. After lunch Rita went for a swim in the Doubs, and in mid-afternoon we continued south. We were aiming to moor overnight at the ecluse at Roset, but when we got there another boat had already taken that spot. So we continued on past St Vit looking for another mooring. As we approached the ecluse at Dampierre, we realised that we had mis-calculated and that all the ecluses had now closed for the day. So we pulled over to the side of the canal to wild-moor. However, we couldn't get close enough to the bank for Rita to get off safely and drive in some mooring pegs. As we were contemplating our dilemma, a local French couple caame past on thoe evening walk with the dog. They recognised our problem and asked if they could help. So we threw some pegs and a hammer to them, and then some rope. Within 10-15 minutes, they had us tied up and we could put out a gangplank to reach the towpath. Rita got off and offered them a bottle of wine as a token of our thanks, but they refused our offer and said it was just nice to be able to help. A great example of hospitable country French people, and a real eye-opener for Craig and Ginger. After aa relaxed dinner on the back deck, we enjoyed a quiet night onboard.