As mentioned in our last post, we were immensely relieved to arrive in Épinal, a haven from the winds, close-spaced locks and tensions of the past week of travel on the Canal des Vosges. How relieved, and how happy we would come to be in Épinal, would only gradually be revealed in the coming days and weeks.

The Port itself is well-situated, well-equipped and well-serviced. A broad basin at a dead end of the canal embranchement, it has a long stone wall on one side and a long low stone quay on the other, facing a broad, flat park. It affords ample opportunity for mooring of large and small boats and ready access to power and water, plus a capitainerie with cafe, toilets and showers. There is a resident capitaine, the dapper Pierre, who lives on his boat in the Port, walks his friendly little dog and collects the mooring fees each day, armed with a ready smile and a keen eye for beauty. The fees are astoundingly cheap, being a mere €5 per day for a boat of our size.

The city is prosperous, with a multitude of shops, big-box stores, restaurants, cafes, boulangeries, patisseries and epiceries. There is a marvellous covered market three days a week.

It’s an attractive city, on the banks of the Moselle, with a handsome central square (the Place des Vosges) lined by cafes and boutiques.

We fell in love with the place very quickly. We were aided in this by the rapid forming of friendships that happened within 24 hours of our arrival. A BBQ was organised on our second day, where we met and fell in love with some of our fellow boaters, including Knud and Erica (Australia), Fredi and his dog Willi (Switzerland) and Ron (US). These people became very special to us over the next few weeks and proved to be generous, open, interesting and helpful companions.

Two of the most helpful among our new friends were Knud and Erika. It turned out they are from Albury, less than 2 hours from us; also, that their son is a baker, just like us. Pretty extraordinary, the way you meet people on the other side of the world with connections to your life back home.

They are also extraordinarily generous, open people, happy to share their experiences of cruising in France and Europe for the past 14 years. Knud in particular is forthright, honest and kindhearted in his advice, and he it was that persuaded us that we should abandon any thought of plodding on to Roanne, our planned winter port.

It was already the end of September, and we knew that the Canal de Roanne would likely close by early November. It was a long way to go to get there. And Knud bluntly reminded us that the wind we had experienced for the five days or so before we arrived in Épinal would persist for the rest of our trip, not to mention rapidly-dipping temperatures. No, he said, you are not going any further, you are staying here. He was pretty persusasive. And we were pretty persuadable.

Knud also proved to be a wonderful source of advice and practical demonstration of setting up one’s boat – electrics, hydraulics, spares, winterising – which we were able to call on and emulate or adapt when the time came for us to prepare Eben Haezer for hibernation and our return to Australia at the end of the season.

Fredi and Ron also turned out to be great companions – friendly, generous and honest. They each had large boats they were cruising basically single-handed, though frequently with friends or family to assist. Each of them also had a car, and they were pretty keen shoppers, so it was easy most days to persuade them to go for a drive with us to pick up various bits and pieces from hardware stores and electrical or plumbing specialists, always with a detour to the supermarché for a load of wine/beer on the way back!

Speaking of hardware stores, we were amused by the difference between the sausage sizzle stalls we were used to outside Australian outlets like Bunnings, and the food stalls we found at the Épinal equivalents… fresh crêpes with a beer were definitely out of our home zone!

Food generally in Épinal was fabulous… nothing fancy, and we didn’t eat out terribly often… but with a fabulous fresh food market every couple of days, an excellent supermarket only a pleasant bike-ride-through-the-park away, and a great boulangerie around the corner, we enjoyed wonderful simple meals. Lunch generally was salad with cheeses, pâtés, terrines and, occasionally a tourte Lorraine or pâté Lorrain. And always baguettes, of course. Dinners were kinda similar to what we cooked at home, with French variations, and always with lovely fresh ingredients.

Among the many fabulous offerings at the Épinal market, fresh wild mushrooms were prominent. Whether it was a bag of fat, juicy, dirt-covered cèpes (porcini) or a mixed bag like the one below which we used for a delicious risotto one night, they were all outstanding. For the most part, the mushrooms were wild-picked in forests and fields by licensed mushroom-gatherers, and many pharmacies in France are specially licensed to identify and certify them as suitable for consumption. The other lovely discovery at the market was milk. It is surprisingly difficult to buy fresh milk in French supermarkets, which sell masses of UHT and tiny amounts of the real thing. We were delighted to find a cheese seller/dairyman at the marché who, when we asked, undertook to bring us lait cru (raw milk, i.e. unpasteurised) to us, packaged in sealed plastic bags. It was divine!

Sometimes, we couldn’t help ourselves, we just went for a bit of indulgence.

There was always something to see just outside our window in the Port, whether it was the advance of autumn reflected in the colour of the trees, groups of valiant citizens doing their morning exercises, kayakers going through their watery routines, or more unusual events like the pink run/walk for charity that took place one cool day.

We knew that our time in Épinal was drawing to a close as September became October and November threatened, but we were determined to make the most of every day. We prepped the boat for winter, made minor repairs and all manner of other chores, but we also made time to explore the region and visit other towns and villages – which we’ll cover in a separate post.