7/22 -Goumois to La Rasse

The weather was predicted good and it held true. We awoke to sunbreaks and clearing a sky Perfect walking weather. Nick was waiting for us on the bridge and off we went along the river Doubs. This day and the next were markedly and wonderful different from days previous. We walked in the canyon sometimes climbing over a cliffy spots then back down. Kayaking is big here but fishing is huge. But to walk beside the river was wonderful. A mixture of trees - some pines but otherwise elms, beech and hazelnut. Mosses dressed the trees occasionally drowning them. A walker in Olympic National Park in the US would find this very familiar . In fact I experienced some nostalgia while walking these two days. After three hours we stopped for lunch in a green bank of the river occupied by 2 donkeys. Past the electric fence they were amazingly docile. And after nosing around they moved off. Nick had promised to cook us lunch and this he proceeded to do with his stove and supplies he'd obtained the day before. Warm noodles with sausage and tomatoes complimented by a fresh salad made a nice shoreline pick nick.
We moved in climbing more up the canyon wall till finally breaking out of the trees at an overlook crowded with tourists. This was the eschalier du morts ( ladders of death ) - here steep but not vertical solid metal stairs descended in several flights to the valley bottom and river. There is also a via ferrata here for climbing types to work along the cliff edge. Fun to watch! Nick hung back to rest as we moved onward. We had a couple more hours of walking and we spent a good while along the now intensly moss covered landscape along the churning river. A dam is reached and the water backs up into a lake- along the edge abruptly there is a real vertical ladder - 15 ft or so initiating a climb away from the water and then a slow descent back to it. At a road crossing to Swiss. the lake and trail hook a U turn and there is easy trail 30 min to La Rasse. It's a big old farm type house beside rushing noisy water and a high red bridge to Swiss. The young woman who greeted us seemed a little put out by our French incompetence but a older woman appeared who spoke some English and we were fine. We invited Nick to join us for dinner. The proprietor came in a few time first with homemade wine ( so so ) and latter a glad with a homade yellow liqueur which I would better describe as paint thinner. Whew wee ! Discovering Nick was Dutch, he offered him some weed which Nick declined with furrowed brow. He seemed a bit sloshed and told us how he loved the river and fishing. He offered that he liked making babies over watching TV. ( alrighty then...! ) what a character!  Anyway the meal was homemade and delicious and we slept wonderfully to the sound of the river.