June 22 - Monday: Joan, Michael and Julie (Joan's sister) Flew via Aer Lingus Seattle to Dublin THEN to Paris (Charles de Gaulle). All connections and flights went smoothly. The new Entry-Exit-System now active in the Schengen Countries also went smoothly; passport and face scan but no fingerprints this time.
June 24 – Wednesday: We’re up early to catch the 9:11 TGV (fast train) to Épinal. Caught a city bus to the marina. Arrived about 1pm, checked in at the port office, hurried to board Juniper and dumped our baggage in our staterooms and were underway by 3pm. We had to have the boat out of the Embrachement d’Épinal by 7pm that evening because it was closing that night for the remainder of the season due to lack of water. At this point we thought we had to have Juniper off the Canal de Voges by June 29. Juniper was the last boat at the port. 3.3 kilometers to the Canal des Voges and 6 kilometers on the canal with 14 stair-step écluses (locks) going up to the top. It was helpful the stairstep écluses all were ready for us, but also meant we couldn’t stop for a much-needed break. Around 6pm we finally wild-tied (pounded stakes into the side of the canal to tie to) not by choice. The first dock we passed was too high for us to use with the water so low, the next was taken up by Syrah, a Peniche about 20 meters long. We were EXHAUSTED from jet lag and the temp was in the 90s. So thankful Karen & Bill left groceries aboard as we had no time to provision in Épinal. Dinner was a bag of potato chips (craved the salt) and mushroom paté on crackers. Hard to drink enough water in this heat!
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| Julie puilling hard on our bow line as the water level rises |
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