After a pleasant couple of weeks in our winter port of Épinal, the French autumn sun rose on 18 May 2017 and we cast off to begin our second season of barging. Our first day saw us busy with 15 locks up the higher part of the Canal des Vosges, but we consoled ourselves with the thought that we had reserved a table at a very nice restaurant for our first evening on the water.

We had hoped to pull up to a small mooring in the village of Chamousey where the restaurant was located, but we found we had been beaten to it by an English couple on their narrowboat, so we continued upstream one more lock and a few kilometres to Trusey. No matter, we thought; we donned our evening wear, mounted our bicycles and trundled off in the direction of Le Clamosien, our destination for dinner. I thought I was very clever, having put the coordinates into my smartphone and let Google Navigation find the shortest route. The shortest route it was, but it turned quickly from a formed road into a barely discernible track through a paddock, then a deep muddy track through a dark forest.

We eventually made it to the restaurant, having managed to keep the mud from rising and splashing higher than mid-calf. Ah well, at least we were in a fine space with the prospect of fine food. And we were not disappointed: the service was fantastic, the food was magnificent.

Our lovely waiter even ventured out in the developing rain after dinner to show us a shortcut back to the canal towpath, a much better option for cycling back to the boat. It was a brisk ride through howling winds and driving rain, with lightning and thunder exploding all around us. We arrived back on board, our first night out of port, soaked and giggling with embarrassed, well-fed delight. The meal kept us in a great mood through the following day, as it bucketed down with unrelenting rain, keeping us inside as we decided to delay our next stage of the journey until it cleared.