Mediterranean through the French canals

Thanks again Bill. We're on the River Lot this summer - first time and it's as good as we've been told. Very quiet, peaceful, scenic, good wide river, very few boats indeed. Free water and electricity, in the main. Might over-winter here.
My knowledge of the northern (north of Paris) and north-eastern canals is limited (we know the Marne-Saone very well) and is guided by helpful comments and reports from friends. I was already aware that the C du N and the Grand Gabarit were not places to dilly-dally, now you've greatly added to that.
I'm in the process of re-vamping the website and changing to Wordpress, greatly to aid adding and amending information (when I've finished learning how to use it) and I'll amend the page about the Canal du Nord, etc.
Best wishes, health-wise, to you both. Regards to Tam and Di, although never met them face-to-face . .
Grendan? Grehan! (O'Greachain) :)
 
Lot draught

Grehan,

Looked on your most informative site but was unable to find details of your boat.
We might get as far as the Lot next year & hope that our draught - 1.2 m - would not cause problems, what do you think?

You mention overwintering on the river, is your boat permanently manned?

Thanks for your time.

John G
 
River Lot navigation information

Grehan is 12m x 4.15m and .9m draft. 1.2m should be just about alright for the two critical bits - crossing* the Garonne (not possible for anyone during July and August, usually) and the first 'canalet' (narrow canal) from the Garonne up the Lot to the first lock at Aiguillon. Thereafter, no problem.
* 'crossing' involves a 1-2km trip along the Garonne from the River Baise junction to the River Lot junction.
There are 2 places on the river where permanent manning is not necessary, one of them a small inland harbour. Interestingly, one's boat might need to be able to 'ground' without damage. When heavy rain happens higher up, the big hydro-electric sluices (e.g at Villeneuve and Castelmoron) are opened in advance of any additional flow, lowering the water level significantly and thus acting to preclude the intermittent flooding that used to be a feature of the river in winter and early spring.
 
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engine...

I could not read any experiance about engine cooling system...

Is there any one who had bad experiance about fresh water cooling system in canals?

Thanks.
 
osmanaktuna said:
I could not read any experiance about engine cooling system...

Is there any one who had bad experiance about fresh water cooling system in canals?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Yes, on several occasions, particularly on the Canal de lateral a Loire, I had the problem of navigating shortly after the banks had been strimmed and huge rafts of grass cuttings were floating on the surface. My intakes were completely clogged several times, cutting off water to the engines. Keep a look out for this, especially when leaving locks and if necessary, cut your engines and tow the boat from the banks by rope until past the weed rafts.
 
Over

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You will encounter all manner of locks on your way but if you take the Canal du centre route beware of its "automisee" locks. These are fully automatic and only designed for one boat at a time. In the high season the VNF staff push two or more boats at a time through to save water. Be aware that the lock doors close automatically 40 seconds after the first boat has exited the lock. We had our boat badly damaged when the lock doors closed on us whilst the roving lady lock keeper sheltered from a thunderstorm rather than over ride the system!

Charles[/QUOTE]

Don't count on 40 seconds; we had similar problem last year & the lock keeper gave the red pole some strenuous tugs - just kept closing!

John G
 
dcr

We are hoping to travel down through France via the canals to Med starting in the spring of 2012 from Honfleur after boat delivered from Scotland the preceding autumn by road. Our query is can we offload from the lorry at Honfleur and overwinter on the hard there, or is it necessary to go to Le Havre? We expect to carry the mast on board. Yacht is 32ft and weighs about 5.5tonnes. Thanks for any advice/thoughts on this.
 
If by 'overwinter' you mean just leaving the boat on the hard then I would have thought this might well be possible at Honfleur (although I've not encountered anyone who's done that) - there are what look like 'empty' areas all round the basin where the boat/mast-unstepping yard is. Contact TEO to find out (see links below). Leaving the boat at le Havre should definitely be possible, or try the large and professional Torpilleurs yard at Tancarville. Leaving from there gets you past the widest, most prone to fog, section of the lower Seine.
> Information about Honfleur and le Havre as entry ports into the French canal system < > the Tancarville canal < and the > River Seine <

Plus . .
Information about engine cooling problems on the French canals, caused by 'clogging up'.
 
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Grehan said:
Plus . .
Information about engine cooling problems on the French canals, caused by 'clogging up'.
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I do wish we had come across you and your sterling assistance before our transit through the canals 4 years ago. - we could have saved ourselves a lot of hassle. What a great service you provide. That's a great idea with the dinghy bellows to clear the intake pipe. Our only tool was a length of heavy duty semi flexible electrical cable that we scrounged from a lock keeper! - Did the job many times but the pump would have been much easier.
 
Canal du Centre

Jegs said:
. These are fully automatic and only designed for one boat at a time. In the high season the VNF staff push two or more boats at a time through to save water.
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This is not quite true. The locks are Freycinet standard and thus able to accommodate barges 38m x 5m; quite big enough for two plaisanciers. It may be, however, that it's the contemporary 'magic eye' that's set to recognise the exit of just one boat and shut the gates too promptly 40 seconds afterwards. I'll add this interesting piece of advice to my Canal du Centre page - it already has a warning about the awkward operation of some deep locks and that some 'fill to the brim'.
 
dcr

Grehan, many thanks for the info. It probably means LeHavre as we will need a cradle in a yard that is secure but accessible, with fresh water and power. However, I will follow your links as we would prefer to be at Honfleur if at all possible. I'm not sure though of what/who you mean by "TEO"? Please advise further.
Appreciate the link to the cooling system data. We have a saildrive and intend to fit a cooling water intake filter next summer during an engine overhaul, so will ensure it's accessible for regular declogging. Cheers!
 
TEO is the name of the boatyard at Honfleur. Someone on here will hopefully prompt the name of the bloke that runs it, that I've forgotten. I would suggest you also do consider Tancarville - it's a pretty good yard, especially if you're arriving by truck and therefore don't have to run down the Tancarville canal to get to it.
35117.jpg

[link to Google satellite image - "B" marks the location, on the canal, just off the Seine]
Cuts out an uninteresting few hours of the lower Seine from Honfleur or le Havre and/or a potentially rolly mastless trip from le Havre around and into the Seine entrance (using the Tancarville canal is, however, an alternative option). Honfleur is, of course, pretty and worth visiting (by car if not by boat), however.
 
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Grehan said:
TEO is the name of the boatyard at Honfleur. Someone on here will hopefully prompt the name of the bloke that runs it, that I've forgotten. I would suggest you also do consider Tancarville - it's a pretty good yard, especially if you're arriving by truck and therefore don't have to run down the Tancarville canal to get to it.
35117.jpg

[link to Google satellite image - "B" marks the location, on the canal, just off the Seine]
Cuts out an uninteresting few hours of the lower Seine from Honfleur or le Havre and/or a potentially rolly mastless trip from le Havre around and into the Seine entrance (using the Tancarville canal is, however, an alternative option). Honfleur is, of course, pretty and worth visiting (by car if not by boat), however.
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He's called Frederick Challe.
The TEC Ocean boatyard in the Bassin Carnot - +33 (0)231 895 589.

Much better to go from Honfleur than Le Havre. The thought of carrying the mast on deck in the open sea is just too much. Make sure you secure fore and aft really well. and then increase it. Use Cargo straps and not ropes.

Earliest you can leave the lock after low tide is perfect for the start of the tide up the seine with the correct tide. We left about 8 am.

Rouen - do not even think of dismasting there, not unless you have done it before and know what you are doing.
 
Thanks for the reminder about Frederick Challe and TEC (yes, and I even had it correct on my website!). I am not sure about that yard's facilities for winter storage nor for lifting-in, whereas the Tancarville Torpilleurs yard is fully capable (secure hardstanding, travel-lift, chandlery, etc.) on both counts.
Using the Tancarville canal from le Havre to by-pass the sea/estuary is quite possible, albeit that planning for tides, lock opening and avoiding peak period commercial traffic is necessary. When we were in le Havre, being re-masted (having used the Tancarville canal to get there) two yachts de-masted there and went round the 'outside' - all survived ok, but I can't say I would find the prospect that attractive unless the sea was very flat. A third used the Tancarville and over-wintered at Torpilleurs.
There are no facilities for de/re-masting at all in Rouen, although the new 'harbour' port de plaisance is good.
f-honfleur-250e.jpg

Grehan being de-masted at TEC, Honfleur - Sept 2003
 
Chris_Robb said:
Much better to go from Honfleur than Le Havre. The thought of carrying the mast on deck in the open sea is just too much.
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that's right, it doesn't look much at first glance butyou have to go out quite a long way from the harbour entrance to pick up the Seine channel back in. We were in a motorboat and no problem for us, but the chances of a completely flat sea are pretty low. even if sea is calm the wash from the many passing ships could easily cause problems.
 
Barcas said:
Thanks for all your replies.
The more people I speak about this project the more positive and negative reactions on my draft I get.
One of my greatest worries is in my opinion the bottleneck at the “canal de Marne ala Saone” especially the loaded oncoming traffic.
But I still assume that the Marne à Saone option is a safer one then the Loire option if Paris isn’t a necessity.
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Did the Marne a la Saone last year (south to north) and found the shallowest patches between Vitry and St Dizier. Barges were sometimes a bit of a nuisance, but there were probably only a couple a day on average. You normally get a bit of advance warning from your friendly travelling VNF man (woman) anyway. Keep your eye open for VNF vans hurtling down the towpath in the oppsite direction to the way you are going as well; there's normally something on it's way.
 
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