Hot air and swallows

During our travels we have come to know the differences between many towns and cities in France In our estimation some fare well, some not so well!

Dole would be one of our favourite towns. It is difficult to define what makes it so, probably nothing specific but all together we have grown to be very comfortable in its environs. The town is the birthplace of Louis Pasteur in 1822 but can lay claim to little else of importance. He was the son of a tanner. The tannery was on a mill feed canal at the bottom of town and the building is still there today. The canal still runs through the area which is now very touristy with restaurants and gardens.

The entrance to Dole along the Rhone-au-Rhin canal is leafy and very attractive.

On this visit we chose to moor against this high-sided quay. The town provides us with free electric power at this site.

Recently the town was the gathering point of those huge things invented by the Frenchmen, the Montgolfier brothers. Hot air balloons. For three days, morning and evening up to as many as twenty of these magnificent (but sometimes quite noisy) machines took off from the playing field nearby and soared away with the drifting air in the most romantic fashion.

Amongst them was this dramatic dirigible. An amazing balloon that had an engine and propeller for propulsion as well as heating gas for elevation. Quite fun!

During our stay in Dole, we decided to see some of the surrounding area away from the canal and river. We decided to take a train trip one day into the Jura ranges. We travelled on the Lignes des Hirondelles to St-Claude. All the pipe smokers amongst us know that St-Claude was the centre of the manufacture of wooden pipes – for smoking tobacco – in France. We are not too sure what keeps the town alive nowadays, but that is not the point. Probably the fact that it is the diamond cutting center for France makes up for the loss of pipe smokers. Unfortunately they weren't handing out samples on the day we visited.

The following story could be said to be for train enthusiasts only but the scenery that the rail line goes through is absolutely breathtaking and well worth the trip.

The town is serviced daily by this modern diesel – electric rail car. We departed Dole about 1015 on the route to Pontarlier and Neufchatel. At the township of Andelot en Montagne the train reverses direction and leaves the mainline onto a little used side track. The line runs through heavily undulating country and climbs steadily to a height of 903 metres near Morbier (of cheese fame) before descending to Morez at 736 metres. The train then takes off backwards again and runs mainly downhill to St Claude. The scenery in this area is exceptional and the steepness of the hillsides has required some wonderful bridges and viaducts as these pictures will show.

From Morez to St Claude the line goes through many short tunnels and the rail procedure in France is that the driver blows his whistle as the train enters and leaves a tunnel.

Our train of only one coach, had a large family group on board with a number of children and the train driver left his cabin door open and invited some of the children to assist him in sounding the horn. The train was only travelling at about 30 to 40 kilometres per hour at this stage and with more than twenty tunnels to go through, they all had a go.

After the recent rail accidents in France Spain and Switzerland, this assistance may now be a thing of the past.

An interesting thing here for rail enthusiasts, shows in this picture of the rail and points coming into St Claude station. You will notice the compressed gas cylinders by the points. They have a system of heating the point blades in winter to melt snow and ice that might get caught when the point is changed.

We returned to Dole after a very enjoyable day and were back on Matilda early evening.

There will be other stories to share so we will keep in touch.