The best walks and hikes around Botans

Well done for sharing this knowledge and thank you for taking the time to share it with us.

I noticed this highlight during my search. However, it is not on the Haute Saône Canal but on an independent river, the Savoureuse. According to Wikipedia: The Savoureuse is a right tributary of the Allan, around 41 kilometers long, in the French department of Territoire de Belfort in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. It flows through the city of Belfort and drains the western part of the department to the Mediterranean via the Allan, Doubs, Saône and Rhône water system. The Savoureuse catchment area covers an area of around 225 km². The river name comes from the Patois expression savour (saw). https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savoureuse

Memorial to the fallen of the two world wars 🕊️

Beautiful cycle route Coulée Verte along the canal. The name is a bit..., I suggested a change on Komoot.

“Each of these crosses can tell its own story and what prompted people to erect “their” cross at this point. (...) These wayside crosses were erected as visible signs and attract the attention of many people. The cross is a symbol of life. It stands as a sign of our Christian hope and wants to direct our gaze to Jesus Christ, who has overcome death (...). The cross is part of our life as it was in the life of Jesus. So I wish that many people … visit the crosses, whether as places of stillness and breathing space before God, whether as places for community gatherings, prayer and praise to God.” (Text source: Dean Rainald M. Ollig in: "Crossroads... small sacred monuments as a sign of popular piety")

It was after the loss of Alsace in 1871 that the government of the Third Republic decided in 1878 to build canals in Eastern France to allow the movement of goods, and in particular steel products from Lorraine to Franche. -Comté, between the Nancy region and those of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. One of the first projects concerned the construction of the Canal de l'Est which began around 1875 and completed in 1887, then that of the Canal de la Haute-Saône which was to connect the remaining French part of the Canal du Rhône au Rhine to the Canal de l'Est . The aim was also to serve the Ronchamp coal mines and allow the coal produced in its shafts to be evacuated. In 1881 the project was largely defined and received approval from the Administration. The first blows of the pickaxes were given in 1882 but the difficulties encountered during the drilling of the Châlonvillars and Chérimont tunnels, the enormous volume of excavated material, due to the deep trenches and the significant embankments, meant that the initial budget turned out to be under -evaluated. As sufficient additional funds were slow to come, the project dragged on and completion could not take place before the end of the First World War which returned Alsace and its waterways to France. As the usefulness of the canal was no longer established, the entire project was called into question and only the section (12.5 km) connecting the Rhône-Rhine canal to the port of Botans was completed and filled with water in 1926. This port, managed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, served until the 1970s as a coal port for Belfort. At the beginning of the 21st century, only rare pleasure boats still used it. On April 26, 2018, in view of the upcoming closure of the section, the last boats left the port of Botans. The banks are a place for walks appreciated by residents of the Belfort-Montbéliard urban area: it is the Coulée Verte of the canal which allows hikers and cyclists to go from the lock located between Essert and Châlonvillars (Haute-Saône ) at the Prés-la-Rose park in Montbéliard (Doubs), by taking EuroVélo 6 from a point located in the commune of Étupes. The Champagney basin initially constituted the water reserve (13 million m³) for regulating the water level in the canal. Currently, it is a lake very popular with local fishermen and swimmers.

The first mention of the name Bellemonte dates from 1147, in a charter confirming the possession of the church to the priory of Lanthenans (Doubs). From this period, the current parish church, dedicated to Saint Lawrence, only retains part of the choir, a polygonal apse in Romanesque style. This building, which dominates the Savoureuse valley, is an important landmark for local users of the A36 motorway.

Fort du Bois-d'Oye, also called Fort de Bermont (because it is located in the town of Bermont) and briefly Fort Eblé (its name Boulanger in honor of General Jean-Baptiste Eblé), was built between 1883 and 1887 by the company Adrien Hallier. It is a work that is part of the fortifications of eastern France of the Séré de Rivières type. It is an integral part of the stronghold of Belfort.