The Vologne rises on the crest of the Vosges and runs down through granite pine forest with the kind of self-contained quietness that makes you forget the rest of France exists. The upper valley is managed with more care than most — fly-only, barbless, no-kill on the designated beats — and it shows in the fish. Wild brown trout of the local Vosges strain, educated by generations of dry-fly pressure and fully capable of ignoring a size 14 that is anything less than perfectly presented. Match the baetis in spring, move to caddis in summer, and keep a small emerger pattern handy for the slow glides where the bigger fish sip. Solitude increases upstream. The further you walk, the more it feels like the river has been waiting for you. Not a river for the impatient — one for the patient with legs.

• Granite