Down French canals:- le Have to the Med, starting April

blampied

blampied

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Hi forum

We (Paul & Jane) will be starting off as new live aboard's in April.
We have a 33 foot Aquastar single engine motor boat
Having been made redundant we are now early retires (early 50's) with a plan to travel through the French canals all the way to the Med.
La Have
River Seine
Rouen
Paris (for a couple of weeks?)
Loire ( for the wine?)
Burgundy ( for the wine?)
River Rone
Lyon
Port st Louis
Not in any rush to reach the Med
(May take anything from a month to three months depending on how the mood takes us)

If there Is anyone else with similar plan / time scale, maybe we could meet up?

Regards
Paul
 
Did a similar trip in 09, take your time and enjoy the trip. If you are in no rush to get back out to sea turn right on to the Petite Rhone and explore the Canal de Rhone a Sete and the Etang. Whatever you decide you're in for a trip of a life time.
 
How long to the Med ? & recommendation where to over winter

John_d_Smith said:
Did a similar trip in 09, take your time and enjoy the trip. If you are in no rush to get back out to sea turn right on to the Petite Rhone and explore the Canal de Rhone a Sete and the Etang. Whatever you decide you're in for a trip of a life time.
Click to expand...

Hi John, thank you for the words of encouragement.

I know its a how long is a piece of string sort of question, but:- assuming we're in no hurry and assuming we stop off at most of the canal side Loire & Burgandy wine tasting opportunities (wife considers herself a bit of a French wine buff)
what's a reasonable time scale to reach the Med?

Come the winter, we've promised family & friends we'll be back over the Christmas period (probably Dec, Jan & Feb)
Do you have any recommendations, where to leave the boat over winter on the French Med coast?

Or in the unlikely event that the wine tasting slows the trip down so much that we don't make the Med before winter, where down south on the canals would be suitable to leave the boat?

Best regards
Paul
 
blampied said:
Hi John, thank you for the words of encouragement.

I know its a how long is a piece of string sort of question, but:- assuming we're in no hurry and assuming we stop off at most of the canal side Loire & Burgandy wine tasting opportunities (wife considers herself a bit of a French wine buff)
what's a reasonable time scale to reach the Med?

Best regards
Paul
Click to expand...

Never.
 
We went in April 2010. After Paris we turned left and went up the Marne route. We didn't see another boat till we got to the Saone! Peaceful. Water was not turned on at many of the stops, so make sure you top up when you can. We also found that the villages where we stopped were in many case ruined and not much other than bread was available.

Diesel - we used much less than we thought as you are going so slowly. The floating one in the Seine at Paris is eye wateringly expensive!

Great passage though.

Single engined? Do you have a bow thruster? Actually not a problem, the only bit which was awkward/difficult was some of the locks on the canal sections where there was a water rush right across the entrance to the lock - you need to take quite a lot of care in positioning and don't go too slowly. If you have fender boards try not to have them parallel; If they catch on entering you will have fun. So have them pointing very slightly in at the front - perhaps easier on a yacht than a power boat.
 
Hi Chris, thank you for the information.

Yes the boat is single engined (a 370 hp volvo) but as 95% of the Aquastar 33s came with twin engines it was built with the twin fuel tanks as per the twin engine boat design. I'm rather hoping that there is sufficient fuel at displacement speed to get most of the way to the Med. (hoping there will be some Hypermarkets with fuel near the canal, I'm happy to spend a few hours walking back & forth with my trolley & jerry cans)

Yes the boat came fitted with a bow thruster, thank god, (it's a pig to handle at low speed, even with the bow thruster).
I'd have liked a stern thruster to give us full control, but as it's a single centre screw boat there is insufficient water draft at the stern to fit one.

We don't have any fender boards yet, I will have to make something up closer to the time.

Do you have any recommendation for reasonable priced places to leave the boat come winter? Either on the canals down south or on the French Med coast.

Best regards
Paul
 
Last edited:
blampied said:
Do you have any recommendations, where to leave the boat over winter on the French Med coast?

Or in the unlikely event that the wine tasting slows the trip down so much that we don't make the Med before winter, where down south on the canals would be suitable to leave the boat?
Click to expand...

Would agree with others don't rush, also Languedoc has some fine and very affordable wines.

You will find places on the canals, inland, far more economical than the coast.

Above all ENJOY.
 
Just done similar trip. best place for winter is ashore at Port saint Louis ( navy yard) Don't forget the Rhone flows fast, going downhill is fun but be sure your engine is reliable and that ( just in case) you have a good anchor!
mooring canal side can be an issue in a 'plastic boat' and a keel ( Slow-Boat) adds to the problem. A good long boat hook with marks is good for sounding. We also prepared a kedge anchor with short chain to help hold the stern away from the bank when we had to moor in at an angle.
I think I still have some useful charts on the for sale section!!
Enjoy
 
blampied said:
Hi John, thank you for the words of encouragement.

I know its a how long is a piece of string sort of question, but:- assuming we're in no hurry and assuming we stop off at most of the canal side Loire & Burgandy wine tasting opportunities (wife considers herself a bit of a French wine buff)
what's a reasonable time scale to reach the Med?

Come the winter, we've promised family & friends we'll be back over the Christmas period (probably Dec, Jan & Feb)
Do you have any recommendations, where to leave the boat over winter on the French Med coast?

Or in the unlikely event that the wine tasting slows the trip down so much that we don't make the Med before winter, where down south on the canals would be suitable to leave the boat?

Best regards
Paul
Click to expand...

We took the whole summer to get to Valence. We went via the Nivernais, beautiful but very remote in parts. As others have said keep fuel tanks full and if you get chance to visit a supermarket with your cans all the better. Prepare the boat for cruising in hotter weather, sun screens, mozzy nets on windows etc. make sure your batteries are good before leaving and consider increasing capacity. Solar panels are a good idea particularly if you want to stop bank side. Bikes are also handy for shopping and the morning baguette, in addition to exploring.
Fill up with water whenever you get chance and keep an eye on water consumption. Cruising the coastal marinas can work out very expensive compared to inland and nowhere near as relaxing IMHO. It is nice to have the option of doing both though. If you want to leave the boat for the period mentioned you need to start making enquiries before the summer as places get booked up quite early. Once again you will have more chance on the inland than coastal. Agree about the Languedoc wines, very nice and cheap. I could go on but feel free to PM me if you want to ask specific questions.
 
Slow_boat said:
One question; is there a problem with mosquitoes, gnats etc on the canals?
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Water in the canals does not generally move very fast and there are relatively shallow areas, so yes there is some insect life including mozzies. But not noticeably so.
More noticeably in the evenings. And much more noticeably down in the Camargue (in the triangle Arles - Port St Louis - Aigues-Mortes) where biting things can be a right nuisance.
Obviously, you'll need to think about netting and general 'management' of the potential problem, including Deet/Skin so soft/etc.
And if your partner is in serious dramatic danger from any kind of bite then you'll have to give even a modest inland waterway risk a miss.

oh, and thank you, Fusu :)
 
Certainly as you get down south. My wife has the same issue, our stay on the Canal Sete and Rhone was marred by the need to be so careful especially in the evenings. We also found getting a berth was very difficult and very expensive in the south.
Enjoy the trip!
 
I wouldn't let the mozzies put you off unless you have a violent reaction when bitten, everywhere around the med that i've visited has mosquitoes in some degree and the South of France between the Rhone delta and Spain is not the worst. We were bitten whilst cruising the Nivernais but again it was more a minor irritation than a major nuisance. We have nets on the windows so they can be left open at night for ventilation. I have one of those UV light insect killers which i'm not sure if it is effective or not. We spray with mozzy killer bought from the local supermarket if we suspect we have a guest! Otherwise we have some cream which we buy in Boots which seems to take the itch away. One other thing i've noticed is the itching and swelling has decreased less over the last few years so perhaps your system adjusts. Perhaps your GP could help with anti-histamine injections.
 
Suggest you join the DBA (Dutch Barge Association).
This will give you access to their website and the Waterways Guide, with virtually every mooring in France, Belgium etc shown on Google Maps and downloadable as a pdf listing.
Each entry gives details of rating, cost, facilities, local services etc.
Takes all the guesswork out of travelling and avoids spending the night in a really grotty location, just to find a real jewel of a place 5 mins away around the next bend.
 
changeman said:
Suggest you join the DBA (Dutch Barge Association).
This will give you access to their website and the Waterways Guide, with virtually every mooring in France, Belgium etc shown on Google Maps and downloadable as a pdf listing.
Each entry gives details of rating, cost, facilities, local services etc.
Takes all the guesswork out of travelling and avoids spending the night in a really grotty location, just to find a real jewel of a place 5 mins away around the next bend.
Click to expand...

Can't beat the "Grehan" website in my opinion been up/down the canals from the Channel to the Med 4 times now using various routes and its all there for me!
 
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