French canals

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Vindleka

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We are planning to travel down the French canals in the spring of 2005 on our way to the Med. The boat is 10.6 metres long and has a draft of 1.6m. Does anyone have any information/experience of a recent trip down the canals, particularly the canal du Bourgogne?
 
Hi We allso are planing a trip in the spring we leave le Harve 1st week in April, sorry no experience,our boat is allso 1050 1.5 draught.we are going by way of canal du long down to the rhone ,good luck might meet up sometime,

Happy new year /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Thanks for reply. We have heard that the canal du Bourgogne is closed, so maybe we will be going that way too! Where is your ultimate destination? We are going round to Italy, but taking our time getting there!
 
we did this trip two years ago in april and although we draw only 1.2 ran aground a couple of times. The trip itself is very enjoyable although locks do get on your nerves, and the canal is very quiet, our experience was that it was hard to find bars, restaurants or shops in the villages along the canal. Since the industrial traffic stopped a decade ago the canalside villages have become quite depressed economically. We have since been on the canal de midi and the Vilaine and despite its physical beauty the bourgogne would be our least favourite, but at is because we enjoy experiencing french provincial life as well as the countryside and on the bourgogne you generally get one but not the other. I would also be a bit worried about your draft.
 
Hi Michael

Thanks for the reply. We have looked at your site in some detail and found it extremely useful. But it is still hard to decide which way to go! We don't want to rush things but the canal route is obviously much quicker and spending the summer cruising the Balearics is very appealing. If we go the coastal route it will obviously take us most, if not all, of the summer getting there, and we are not particularly keen on the look of the stretch between northern Spain and Malaga.

However, sailing is what appeals to us, and the boat is not very suitable for the canals, so we are trying to get an accurate picture of whether a trip that way would be a delightful and memorable experience, or a pain in the bum - leaving us wishing we were out sailing!

Both options have appeal and we will probably only do it once so it's not easy to decide.
 
You can get through the canals with few problems with 1.6m draught - which is the same as ours. I would suggest though that you measure it to make sure. Our draught on paper is 1.4m but with added stores and floating in fresh water we have added 0.2m.

We took the Canaux du Centre - an absolutely superb route. Once you get south of Paris, life slows down and you should enjoy the life - we certainly did. Personally, we didn't find the locks a nuisance, though the larger locks on the way down to Paris on the Canal du Nord were sometimes a challenge.

Occasionally there is a depth problem between locks due to leakage - on one stretch on the Canal Lateral a La Loire it was apparently down to 1.4m but we ploughed through and we saw two yachts manage the same stretch drawing 1.8m.

If you need any more info let me know.

I was put off the Bourgogne route because of the sloping lock sides in the Yonne - I had heard some worrying stories about people getting into difficulty. I gather that all but three of the locks now have floating pontoons to moor to, so maybe not as much of a problem as I feared. The Marne I discounted because it has longer stretches of water between habitation and has more locks. One of the joys is stopping at the frequent villages to be found on the Canaux du Centre.
 
Although have not been down the Burgonne for some years try vnf website for up to date details re chomages (closures) next years not yet posted, however you can sign up for the latest by e maiil.
when I last traveled the region in the mid eighties there was little commercial traffic, approx one barge a week. I imagine there are probably more now in the form of hotel boats. 1.8 mtr was not a problem then.

truly a magnificient french canal, definately not to be rushed.
 
Michael hi,

The canal route is absolutly lovely - I have done the atlantic route lots of times and as an experience it is pretty boring - a sort of delivery trip but the canals are something else -

By the sound of your boat you should not have any trouble at all going down the main canals the 'Classic' route is in at Le Harvre (excellent crane facilities) enjoy Paris - motoring through the 'city' in a boat is un-missable - then the Canal sur Briare, canal lateral a la Loir, Canal du centre into the Soan then the Rhone.... This route is a little longer but has fewer locks so is quicker - I have done it in two weeks coast to coast but you should take much longer as it is lovely.

Well worth the detour to Avingnon and the other places - once you get to the Soane you can decide if you want more and head North or north east for a while before heading south...

regards

Michael
 
The canals are a must. Plenty of sailing to be done at the other end.
Early spring usually means higher water levels, late summer is a no no especially if the farmers still use the water for thier fields. but this was back in 91. At 1.6m I felt the keel sliding through the very soft silt a few times but proved no problem. A must have (Small car tyres wrapped in lots of brown packing tape proved to be the best type of fender which were given to Med boats returning north).
 
Hi. We sailed the full length of the French canal system in '99 so things may have changed a little. One of the first things is, if you get advice either encouraging or more likely discouraging always ask the provider if he/she has actually done the trip themselves. There were so many myths, horror stories and tales of woe related by 'experts and those in the know' before I set off I was quite terrified, virtually all of it was balderdash. My route was from Calais (cheapest mast removal in the northern hemisphere the equivalent, then of £4.50) Although I had to do most of it myself. Through various canal systems to Paris where we stayed in the Arsenal Marina close to the centre. From there it was Orleans and the mighty Rhone to Port St Louise on the Med. If you want to leave a boat in this area I can recommend the town run boat yard a little way across the Gulf du Foss at Martigue. You can walk to the town and it is close to the station where we caught a train one morning and after several changes arrived at our local station (in Cambridgeshire) that same evening. The canal trip itself was one of the best things I have done and as other people have said, take a long time over it. If possible 3 months or more. I did fender up well and did use old car tyres. I wound duct tape around the tyres and it worked fine, no one questioned me on their use. My boat draws 1.5M but I travelled with two boats who each drew 1.85M and they got through. I and they, did run aground but it is generally very soft silt and if you are sensible you will get off, or someone will give you tug off. I heard and read many horror stories of the Barges operating some of the canals but I had no problems, in fact one pulled me off previously mentioned silt when I foolishly tried to cross from outside of one lock to a parallel one. Big hump of silt between the two! The best advice when dealing with Barges is simple, they are working boats so always get out of their way and always let them go first. The only damage I sustained on the whole trip was a very small gel coat knock on the transom, I've received much worse since sailing around the Ionian. To conclude I would say that, for me, sailing through the French Canals was a 'doddle' thoroughly enjoyable, and I would recommend it to anyone. All the best Chris Howe.
 
Just completed the tripfto Port St Louis. We saved a load of plastic milk cartons prior to departure and filled the car tyres with them prior to duct taping the whole thing up. Had no problems whatsoever but heard stories of lockkeepers checking. The VNF merely insist that all fenders need to float to avoid blocking locks (which is where the mostly fall off the boat) so no real problems.

The trip was fabulous and thoroughly recommend it to all.

Chas
 
Have been following this thread with interest, including the many diversions.

We have been running through the same options as yourselves for a trip south starting early May. Current favourite is the canal route as it should be less weather dependant and hopefully a bit more laid back, but reports of lack of water cast a bit of a shadow. One report I found suggested there was only one route South from Paris, via the Marne (in 2003). We only draw just over 1.5M but just recently had our encapsualted keel repaired so not too keen on using as a plough.

Be interested to know if you have made your decision yet and whether and significant pieces of information came to light that sealed it beyond doubt.

Gut feel is we will probably go for it. The route we are thinking of is Seine, du Loing, de Briare, Lateral a la Loire, du Centre, Saone and Rhone. We have a work related 13 week window and hope to get to maybe Corfu to leave the boat until next spring.


Steve
 
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