Toul

We arrived in Toul on 5th July and have decided to leave the boat here while we come back to the UK for Kev & Nic's wedding. We have some friends here so it was great to meet up with them again. They took us to the sound and light show at the cathedral which is amazing.

Toul is a medieval town with the old ramparts still intact and a huge cathedral. We've both found it really difficult to get our bearings here for some reason. Usually we pitch up in new town and orient ourselves pretty quickly - but we still keep getting lost in Toul!

I had hoped to spend a few days working on my tan but the weather has not been kind to us since we've been here - lots of rain. It even rained for the most magnificent firework display I've ever seen, on Bastille night. The display was co-ordinated from the ramparts with the cathedral in the background - very dramatic!

Nancy is nearby and was home to a flourishing art-nouveau movement at the turn of the century. I caught the bus into town for a visual feast at the Musee de l'Ecole de Nancy +, of course, some serious window shopping.

The Moselle

The Canal des Vosges follows the course of the Moselle and there have been several places along our route where we've been able to access it. So far, the river bed has been stony in contrast to the sandiness of the Loire. It's quite fast-flowing here but also shallow so, although we haven't been able to swim, we have been able to wallow (between thunderstorms).The jewel-like colours of the underwater pebbles fade to pastels on the shore, seemingly bleached by the sun.

We came across a fantastic ruined castle at Chatel-sur-Moselle. A huge place overlooking the river, dating from the 11th Century. It's an ongoing excavation and restoration project - not noted in our guide book but clearly a very important site. We arrived too late for a guided tour but they were happy for us to wander around on our own for a while.

Epinal

As we couldn't go into the port of Epinal, we stopped a few km outside and cycled in. The city is divided by the river with the old town on one side and the newer town and shops on the other.

While there, we finally took the plunge and invested in a dongle for internet access on the boat. Free, convenient access seems to be rare and we both like to keep in touch via email. Mobile broadband and phones cost a lot more here than they do at home. The cheapest option is to take out a contract but you can't do that unless you have a French bank account - and you can't get a French bank account without proof of a French address. Consequently we have 'pay as you go' access and you pay by the amount of data you download. So, we won't be using it to stream videos or surf for fun, but we should be able to email more regularly.

Les Orages

Dry weather - what were we thinking?! We have had some terrific thunderstorms, very heavy rain and no problems with the water level. We were in the middle of a chain of locks when one storm started and had to keep going. There was the loudest crack of thunder I think I've ever heard, right overhead - it made us both jump. I got soaked as I was managing the bow line in the locks, while David stood under the bimini at the wheel. My poor old DMs took a couple of days to dry out properly.

Canal des Vosges

We left the Saone and joined the canal on 15th June at Corre. It was a nice surprise to see some friends we first met in Tilburg a couple of years ago. They had left their boat in Epinal over the winter and the VNF had called them to come and collect it as they were about to close the port due to the low water level. The lock keeper at Corre did ask our draft as we came through and said we should be OK but the dry weather meant that water levels were down, especially along the top bief near Epinal.

The Mast

We always knew the top of the mast was a bit spongy and David effected a repair when we first bought Johanne. On closer inspection this year, it seems that the rot has spread and so David sawed off the top of the mast and made a weather vane for the bow.

Unfortunately, we also found some rot at the bottom of the mast...

...which had to be sawn off. Looks like we're going to be alright for firewood again this year!

Although we don't plan to sail Johanne, David has carried out a full survey of the mast so that a new one could be made in the future.

Foraging

It's a bit early in the year but so far we have found watercress, strawberries and cherries. The strawberries were tiny but really delicious. The cherries were also small and bit sour to eat fresh so, after a lot of stoning, I made jam.