Barging in Franche-Comte and Lorraine, France

It's getting close to that time of year.

 We went searching for Roman Ruins that we heard were in the area.  The signs weren’t clear. We found a parking lot with some cars in it so we parked, and started walking up a muddy road.  The ruins weren’t there but the scenery along the ranch road was worth the walk.

Cows watching us watching them.

Grapevines at the end of the road.

Back in the car we started driving up and down the road searching for the ruins.  Tom figured out that a barn set off the road might hold the ruins. The excavation of the Gallo-Roman site was started in 1968.  It appears that the site was constructed at the end of the 1^st century.  Along with these Gallo-Roman baths there once existed a ceramic workshop.  One was for pottery and the other for tile.  In the museum we saw many objects that have been found on the site including utensils and tools.  We were able to get a good idea as to the daily life of these people.  We saw the museum first then explored the ruins.

Gallo-Roman coins and jewelry.

Ancient Gallo-Roman pottery

Old bones that were excavated and displayed.

We saw the boiler room, dressing room, cold room, hot room, and the prize which is a magnificent design made of tiny multicolored mosaics.  The center medallion consists of four fishes, with flowers, dolphins and more.

Gallo-Roman ruins protected from the elements.

Beautiful Mosaic

In another building is an exhibit of the tools from the last two centuries used for agriculture and handicraft, as well as a reconstructed cheese-dairy, which shows the different production stages of Emmental cheese.

Old farming equipment.

Showing how Emmental cheese was once made. 

Continuing along the Vosges Canal was challenging with its twists and turns.  Being as narrow as it was we certainly didn’t want to meet anyone coming from the other direction.  Tom was blowing our horn quite a bit to warn anyone who wasn’t within sight of us.

Garden on the lock wall.

Repairing the tow path.

We find beauty everywhere.  We even see wild flowers stubbornly clinging to a crack in the lock wall.

Cruising the Vosges canal provided us with dramatic views and a twisting, winding waterway.

The beauty of the Vosges canal.

Bridge we cruised under to enter Fontenoy-le-Chateau.

Repairs on the ancient walls to keep them from collapsing.

The vegetation along the canal is trying to grab us.  The turns were extremely tight for Rabelo.

This canal doesn't get barges our size these days, so the vegetation is overgrown.

Workers repairing the wall along the canal.

A sign warning of falling rocks.

The rocks just missed us.