Best route from Rone to Paris / Le Havre

[Windy_Stu]

Hi Guys

We are currently on passage from the med to Paris / Le Havre... at the moment we are spending a few days in Valence and looking at best options to get home for the end of August.

We are a small cat, and draw just under a meter, beam 4, meters,,, at the moment we sort of favour the the Marne route but we were wondering about the Bourbonnais route... wondered which is quickest and which is most pretty...

O and which is actually open

all advice gratefully received

Stu

 

[boatmike]

Same problem as us going the other way. Frankly it's damn near impossible getting anything out of VNF even if you compose a very polite e-mail in French. They just don't answer. The answer ( I think) from everything I have researched is that the route up the Lateral a la Loire is OK up to the Briaire which is impassable right now.(see other posts) You might be OK on the Nivernais, dunno. The Bourgogne is the prettiest (according to all I have read) and with your dimensions the reduced depth would be no problem but it has the most locks and there is a current problem on the Yonne which may or may not have a diversion. The Marne route should be OK but has a problem at one of the locks (see other posts) which may or may not be resolved by the time you get there. Frankly it's a bit of a lottery right now so we are going to set off for France on Friday and hope that all is resolved by the time we get there. If anyone knows any way to get more information out of VNF or anyone else in the mean time please let us know!

 

[Grehan]

Organisations in France are just not terribly email compliant, fact of life. Phoning is much more productive. There is a VNF single number 0800 863 000 for any questions, enquiries, etc. Naturally, some French is advisable but can be prepared in advance to a degree, courtesy of M. Google.

 

[Windy_Stu]

Hi Mike

yep seems a fluid situation... all we can do is give em a call as Grehan advice's... he is after all the oracle

Maybe will pass you on the way up as you come down... we are a small Cat... called Tarian... kettle is always on

good luck with your trip

Stuart

 

[boatmike]

Hey Stuart! Yes indeed I think either telephone or personal contact at one of the regional offices. Bloody nuisance that they don't reply to e-mails as that is the easiest way to correspond in a foreign language, but the VNF website, while it is not very user friendly, gives most information in general terms if you get the hang of using it. If you haven't yet, go there and click on situation hebdomadaire de reseau under the right hand column headed Capitainerie. Things coloured red are stoppages. Look under the appropriate stoppage and extract the Avis number. Then put this in Recherche des avis also under capitainerie and you will get the current notice that applies to the stoppage which you can copy into Google translate if you need to. You will then end up as confused as me! We intend to set off tomorrow for Honfleur then on to Paris. If the situation regarding the Marne lock is resolved by the time we get there, which we hope it will be, then we will go that way, which seems likely. If it is still a problem and the Yonne becomes navigable we will go that way. If neither are sorted by then we will open another bottle........ I have been a catamaran freak for a long time so will look out for you! We are in APPELA which is an Aquastar semi displacement 10 metre motorboat. If we keep in touch (possibly by PM on this site) we can update one another regarding any problems we see along the way perhaps and help one another out?
Mike

 

[blampied]

Hey Stuart! Yes indeed I think either telephone or personal contact at one of the regional offices. Bloody nuisance that they don't reply to e-mails as that is the easiest way to correspond in a foreign language, but the VNF website, while it is not very user friendly, gives most information in general terms if you get the hang of using it. If you haven't yet, go there and click on situation hebdomadaire de reseau under the right hand column headed Capitainerie. Things coloured red are stoppages. Look under the appropriate stoppage and extract the Avis number. Then put this in Recherche des avis also under capitainerie and you will get the current notice that applies to the stoppage which you can copy into Google translate if you need to. You will then end up as confused as me! We intend to set off tomorrow for Honfleur then on to Paris. If the situation regarding the Marne lock is resolved by the time we get there, which we hope it will be, then we will go that way, which seems likely. If it is still a problem and the Yonne becomes navigable we will go that way. If neither are sorted by then we will open another bottle........ I have been a catamaran freak for a long time so will look out for you! We are in APPELA which is an Aquastar semi displacement 10 metre motorboat. If we keep in touch (possibly by PM on this site) we can update one another regarding any problems we see along the way perhaps and help one another out?
Mike

Hi Mike
How did your channel Crossing go?
Are you now ar Paris?
The Paris Arsenel has to be done for one or two nights just for the atmosphere of being in the middle of Paris.
After the hectic Arsenel move not too far onto the Marne, Neugant sur Marne a third of the price and the altogether more tranquil a far nicer place, (as the crow flies you are still within walking distance of central Paris)