Kanalen n FrankrijkNederlandse versieCanal de la Haute-Saône

On a warm afternoon in July 2004 I cycle together with Marga along a section of the Canal de la Haute-Saône or, as it's called also, the Canal de Montbéliard à la Haute-Saône. The special thing about this canal is that it hasn't been finished. Only a short section of the canal has been used to navigate on. The decision to dig a canal as well as the decision to stop the work has to do with the French-German wars. In 1882 one started to dig the canal after Alsace-Lorraine was conquered by the Germans . The trace of the canal was planned from Montbéliard by Ronchamp to Conflandey at the river Saône. The canal should be about 83 kilometers long. When after First World War Alsace was again part of France one decided to stop the work in 1926. The canal wasn't necessary anymore.

The most difficult section of the canal was completed: the highest part from the Canal du Rhône au Rhin until the neighborhood of Ronchamp, about 30 kilometers. In this section we can find the dividing pound between the North sea and the Mediterranean. The easiest part from Ronchamp until Conflandey has never been constructed.

The beginning of the canal is situated 6 kilometers to the east of Montbéliard, only 4 locks away from the dividing pound of the Canal du Rhône au Rhin. One can still navigate on the first 10 kilometers of the Canal de la Haute Saône. It is called Embranchement de Belfort nowadays.  
We start our survey of the Canal de la Haute-Saône at the fifth lock (Bermont). The canal is navigable here. A beautiful iron aqueduct is crossing the river Savoureuse here. 
We cycle to the north. After 2 kilometers the navigable section ends at Botans. The motor highway A36 crosses the canal here. They made a subway for cyclist. We pass the subway and cycle on. Soon we pass some locks, situated shortly after each other. They are completely decorated, the lockkeepers house included. Until the sixties of the last century navigation was possible here.
As we go on and on the water level drops.
Most lockkeepers houses are habited but the made a fence or hedge between the house and the lock. So the lockkeepers houses turn their back to the canal.

One pair of the rusty heavy gates are usually opened, the other pairs is closed. The mechanisms to open and close the gates are still present. The are protected as valuables behind a fence.  

We cycle on on the cycle-track called : ‘la coulée verte’, the green flow. It's a good cycle-track. We are climbing up by a couple of locks. Sometimes the number of the lock is painted in large figures on the wall of the lockkeepers house. Lock number 9 and 10 can be seen from far away. We cycle on. We have passed the fortress town of Belfort and arrive at a narrow passage: une tranchée. A bridge crosses the canal and the towpath here by a bridge which is festively decorated with flowers.
I am counting the locks until the dividing pound which makes number 13.Some locks can only be noticed by the lock chambers but the last one again has a lockkeepers house again. Now the good cycle-track has come to an end. We try to follow the canal . The water has disappeared long ago and the bed of the canal is getting greener and greener. One can hardly see it's a canal. Then it's impossible to follow the canal by bike. I presume we are close to one of the two tunnels in the canal and I decide to walk on by a small footpath. Then I am sure I must be close to the beginning of the tunnel, ‘le souterain de la Forêt’. There's a red sign : Danger, access interdit à toute personne étrangère au service. This is the signature of the VNF. The tunnel must be about 660 meters long. I can see something of the opening of the tunnel through the green from above but I can't reach the opening of the tunnel. I decide to go back.  
In the afternoon we try to find the canal at the other side of the dividing pound. We are lucky to find a walking route which goes along the remaining parts of the canal. We find ourselves now in a wood with very high trees. We follow the route through the wood and descend on and on. At last we are down and I see some water glittering behind some bushes. We continue our path. Then the path suddenly turns left and we are crossing the water by a bridge. Immediately I see the remains of an old lock. It's l’écluse de Beuveroux, the first lock at the side of the Saône.

We are walking along the dividing pound of the canal. After a while we see a little lake at our right hand side which was meant as a water reservoir. Al our left hand side I see a widening which was meant to be use as a port: Port de l’Etang “Déchaudé”. The boats could wait here until they could go on in the narrowing of the canal and the tunnels. Navigation was only possible in one-way direction.

We continue on our path and I conclude again by a red sign that we are close to the opening of the tunnel. I am neglecting the warnings on the sign and walk on the towpath to the beginning of the tunnel. 
The towpath in the tunnel is closed but I manage to make a picture in the tunnel. The tunnel, le souterain de Chérimont, is as straight as an arrow. Despite the length of the tunnel (1330 meters) I can see the light  at the other end. Between both tunnels a channel for the water supply is situated. The water is transported from a special lake: the reservoir de Champagney.
A little bit of water can be found in the bed of the canal. Otherwise the bed is dominated by nature which is trying to conquer back this piece of culture. A ladder along the quays is disappearing in the green.

We are close to the village Ronchamp. On one of the hills above the village a famous design of architect Le Corbusier can be found: the church Notre-Dame-du-Haut.

It's a beautiful ending of our survey.