A cool morning start in the canyon along the river with good walking out the door. In the shade of the trees I pushed back my hat to enjoy the air-it was gone!! - somewhere along here I lost it!
We past several shelters and signs of fishing.A large power plant is passed on the Swiss side with a huge cog railway almost vertically rises and shot up the hill as we watched.Past this the GR officially goes uphill however from my research I new this used to be a GR variant and the old GR stuck to the river. This we did and the old GR markers remain to be seen after passing earlier ones defaced. For two hours we walked in this narrow canyon with vertical white walls, rushing waters, on semi overgrown little used trail - essentially a highlight of the 2 days. If the upstream dam dumped water in some spots you'd be in trouble with no high ground to flee too. But you climb sharply from the canyon at last and work your way finally to the dam site. Past the dam I expected to reach the boats to Villers Le Lac quickly. But in fact it is an hour further along the lake. So we walked 30 minutes through the wind swaying pine forest and afternoon warmth before resting on rocks for chocolate snacks. Onwards the trial skirts along the lake on blasted out rock face with a railing. Tammy saw a large fish jump and this lake is known for monster trout. Two anglers were there trying their skills to get one. A steep climb comes to a viewpoint overlooking a waterfall the Sault de Doubs - probably the largest one I've seen so far in Europe. The long lake behind this cascade is natural result of blockage at the waterfall - not the previous man made dam. Fresh day tourists were thick here and the route is on sidewalk along restaurant /snack bars and trinket souveneer stands. And there was Nick in one sipping coffee! We had an ice cream while we visited then hustled further down to the wharf for the boats. Tickets are bought in the last shop just at the dock and the girl there laughed openly at my clumsy French. Always glad to amuse! The ride to Villers amongst the tourists was pretty and restful - wished it was longer. In town we immediately found a pizzeria for later and a grocery for supplies. I found a topoguide at the little "Presse" stand and cash machines were abundant. The hotel was very nice but our room faced the street and the traffic noise early the next morning broke my sleep. Tammy took a nap while I ran errands and shared a beer with Nick who arrived on foot - a easy road walk he said. We went to the pizzeria later which had excellent pizza and we ordered enough to save for lunch the next day.
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