Briare canal advice

[Grehan]

It's true that I am an enthusiast for France and the waterways. I do however feel no desire to "rush to the defence of VNF" and I think my post was fair - they are not perfect, as I said.
So far as the Marne lock is concerned whilst I can see no rescinding of the Notice, the Notice does say that the VNF team are working to address the problem swiftly (or words to that effect). You seem to be convinced otherwise, that this large lock has, in fact, been out of action for the last 6 weeks or so, but by 1st June the VNF was issuing a Resumption Notice #02619 for the ecluse, after the flooding problem.
Ca suffit.

[except to add]
corfubound's situation is very very unfortunate and I'm sorry that this has inevitably soured his/her view of the network. No escaping that and of course, going around the outside would have meant not getting 'shipwrecked on the Briare'. With any calamity there is always the 'If only' sentiment but it doesn't make the calamity any the less painful. You have my sincere sympathies - is there no insurance reimbursement possible?

 

[boatmike]

Hey Grehan, I am not getting at you personally but this situation is **** frustrating for a newbie like me trying to plan ahead. I am actually very happy in France and have many friends there. In fact I have imposed on one of them to phone VNF on my behalf to attempt to get some guidance regarding the likelihood of the problems being resolved by the time we get there. They have said, with typical French charm (I can even see the Gallic shrug coming across on the phone) that they get a different answer on a Monday and Wednesday to the answer on Tuesday and Friday. No one at the VNF office is prepared to give any useful guidance. They have also tried as I have to download the information off the website but it generally does not work. Either the downloads don't download or if they do they don't give any useful information beyond, "we are working on it". Its very similar to when I used to live in Cornwall when things were done "d'rectly" which generally meant " like that Spanish word Manyana but not we th' same sense o' urgency..... So here is the challenge. I shall be in Honfleur on Friday. (there's confidence for you!) Perhaps Rouen on Monday. In Rouen I shall visit the VNF office and get an update (if there is anyone there who has patience for my poor French and actually has any information) If the Marne ecluse is still "indisponable" I can with 1.1 metres draught go the "pretty route" down the Bourgogne. But can I get past this problem on the Yonne? PK 24 Pont Laroche to Ecluse Villevallier is closed, but can one bypass this by going around this diversion on the old river? No one at VNF seems to be able to answer this question even when asked by a Frenchman on the telephone! Do you know? I just want to know what my best plan should be.... If all else fails I can go through the Somme and take the Ainse and go down through Reims but it would be really nice to have some nice person tell me ahead of getting there which b****y way I should go!

 

[blampied]

Hi Mike

Rouen VNF?
A huge big office block, How to get at them if they are closed!

A couple of years ago we arrived at Rouen,
all the VNF websites and guides listed Rouen as the place to get the VNF canal licence.
Together with crew from another English boat (4 of us) we went to the office only to find a notice on the door that it was closed for a month for annual holidays, it gave the dates it would be shut, we were only one week into the month and would have to wait 3 weeks until it reopened.

The notice had Advice that all services can be accessed on line. (Not much good when your on a boat in a foreign country without a PC or Printer to print off a licence.)
It was obvious that reception was shut but this is a big office building so someone must be here.
We waited around until the post man arrived, he pressed a buzzer in front of a camera and a few seconds later the door clicked he went in, we also made a dash of the door and burst into the closed reception.

A guy who came down to sign for the post was supprised to find the 4 of us, told us we must go as the office was closed, we refused, he shrugged his shoulders and walked off with the post.
15 minutes later someone else came down apologised turned on the reception PCs and sorted us out with licences.

 

[boatmike]

Hi Mike

Rouen VNF?
A huge big office block, How to get at them if they are closed!

A couple of years ago we arrived at Rouen,
all the VNF websites and guides listed Rouen as the place to get the VNF canal licence.
Together with crew from another English boat (4 of us) we went to the office only to find a notice on the door that it was closed for a month for annual holidays, it gave the dates it would be shut, we were only one week into the month and would have to wait 3 weeks until it reopened.

The notice had Advice that all services can be accessed on line. (Not much good when your on a boat in a foreign country without a PC or Printer to print off a licence.)
It was obvious that reception was shut but this is a big office building so someone must be here.
We waited around until the post man arrived, he pressed a buzzer in front of a camera and a few seconds later the door clicked he went in, we also made a dash of the door and burst into the closed reception.

A guy who came down to sign for the post was supprised to find the 4 of us, told us we must go as the office was closed, we refused, he shrugged his shoulders and walked off with the post.
15 minutes later someone else came down apologised turned on the reception PCs and sorted us out with licences.

Sounds like par for the course Paul! Very French..... But anticipating difficulties and wanting to be prepared before leaving I have already bought my licence on line so that's OK. I live in hope that if we confront a human being in schoolboy French we might get some information in Rouen, but perhaps that is wishful thinking. I have spent hours on the VNF website which is somewhat less than user friendly and still can't get any guidance regarding how long things might take to fix. The frustration is that the only route that currently has no "arret de navigation" is to bypass the knackered lock on the Marne by going north around the Ainse and down through Reims and if I am going to do that I may as well enter by the Somme at St Valery. My hope is that by the time we get there the Meldeuses ecluse will be open but as it has remained closed since May I can't be sure. There again if I press on to Paris perhaps if all else fails we can get through the Yonne and go down the Bourgogne...... Its not knowing that is the problem!

 

[Jegs]

but by 1st June the VNF was issuing a Resumption Notice #02619 for the ecluse, after the flooding problem.
Ca

Should that be 02704?

Thanks for the helpful input.


ATB,

John G

 

[boatmike]

Thanks for that but I am now even more confused. 02704 says it was open on 01/06/2016 after 02619 said it was closed. HOWEVER 02496 says it was closed from 26/05/2016 because of an electrical problem and seemingly still is....... Derrrrr!!!
Is it any wonder that a newbie like me gets confused??

 

[corfubound]

With ref to the insurance situation. No joy. Had the boat been damaged or sunk then they would have coughed up to get her moved. So I may have to wait until the canal freezes and puts a ruddy big hole in her side before they will help. I did get a letter from them asking me to renew my cover next month which I thought was helpful!!!!!
The canals are lovely and I under took this trip knowing that other boats from my club had done the same without problems, I brought my own bad luck with me I suspect, so if all else fails, she'll sit there until the canal is sorted and she's down in port saint louis or the boat is wrecked and the insurance sort it. My french outlook on life is coming on a treat. Just be nice if the VNF would sort out there information a little better.

 

[boatmike]

With ref to the insurance situation. No joy. Had the boat been damaged or sunk then they would have coughed up to get her moved. So I may have to wait until the canal freezes and puts a ruddy big hole in her side before they will help. I did get a letter from them asking me to renew my cover next month which I thought was helpful!!!!!
The canals are lovely and I under took this trip knowing that other boats from my club had done the same without problems, I brought my own bad luck with me I suspect, so if all else fails, she'll sit there until the canal is sorted and she's down in port saint louis or the boat is wrecked and the insurance sort it. My french outlook on life is coming on a treat. Just be nice if the VNF would sort out there information a little better.

Did you see my other post? This thread got a little off the subject so I started a new one. Basically things seem to be improving on the Briare and you just might get free soon if my reading of VNF is right....

 

[Tranona]

With ref to the insurance situation. No joy. Had the boat been damaged or sunk then they would have coughed up to get her moved. So I may have to wait until the canal freezes and puts a ruddy big hole in her side before they will help. I did get a letter from them asking me to renew my cover next month which I thought was helpful!!!!!
The canals are lovely and I under took this trip knowing that other boats from my club had done the same without problems, I brought my own bad luck with me I suspect, so if all else fails, she'll sit there until the canal is sorted and she's down in port saint louis or the boat is wrecked and the insurance sort it. My french outlook on life is coming on a treat. Just be nice if the VNF would sort out there information a little better.

Would not worry about the ice. Boats sit in the ice regularly every winter in Scandinavia and N America. The damage (if any) occurs when ice breaks up and is carried down by fast streams - unlikely in shallow canals.

 

[boatmike]

I would agree, especially as the ice on the canals is never going to be particularly thick. It's not quite the Arctic, but it still isn't an ideal place to leave a boat overwinter. I think corfubound is well aware of this however and I took his post as a cynical observation rather than a fear..... My heart goes out to him though. Rotten luck to be just at the wrong place at the wrong time.