Seeking a tranquil harbour PK 103 to Epinal

Having been evicted from Epinal last year, and failed to enter at all earlier this one, perhaps it was an anti-climax to simply motor down the branch canal in glorious sunshine and secure ourselves in the calm of the port this afternoon.

The "calm" of the port implies some sort of storm from which we were seeking refuge I suspect, but we weren't seeking refuge or even respite from anything but our drive towards Toul, and perhaps the unforgiving summer sun in a cloudless blue sky.

We arrived tired but happy of course, and in time for a snooze and a cup of tea as well as to greet the evening hordes as they magically appeared with their children and bicycles along the waterway, seeking some respite of their own from the heat of the city.  The port here is like that, a kilometre or more from the centre of town, with a restaurant and and apparently endless supply of waterside gardens and pathways, yet the crowds when they arrive are quiet and happy enough and normally do not  disrupt our own comings and goings or sitting stills.

Unlike the roadworks crew who completed their job by half-past very early, just in time for the street lights to be turned off and to allow us a few moments of sleep before the morning traffic began its serenade.