South of France/Perpignan/canals?

guydickinson

guydickinson

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This, I guess, is a rather specialised question...but does anyone know much about navigating the River Tet to Perpignan in the S of France. Also any advice on whether it is worth considering the canals through France as opposed to sailing round (34 ft yacht with 4ft 6ins draft). I bought a book on canals once but it was a v expensive and v thin paperback with not much in it (lost it now - wasn't impressed!). Thanks. Got to get out of these non summers we have now!
 
I don't think you would stand any chance of entering the river from the coast, as the mouth is extremely shallow.

Since you say Perpignan, there is the canal de la Robine from Port la Nouvelle passing through Narbonne, however your draught is probably too much for that also.

You could get through the Midi alright but not always at the edge and would have no problems with the main canal system which is deeper.
 
Modestly, I suggest you look at
http://www.tagweb.co.uk/grehan/_learnings.html
which has got links to book reviews and also useful web links.

As for exiting the system, my own recommendation is to get to Agde, then drop down to the Herault River, then go down a couple of kilometres for re-masting to Chantier Aleman who are first class, then a couple more kilometres and into the Med.
The alternative, which many people also do, is to go down the Rhone to the end (almost) then through the big lock to Port St Louis and go see Naval Service yard. They're also very professional. You exit further east than the Agde/Herault option.
Horses for courses.
 
Through the French Canals . . .

It's on the website, but, well unless any latest edition is better than ours (c.2003) I can't say it's that great.

You need to get Navicartes for the journey, them or the new A4 size colour guides (French, but with English and German translated bits) whose details escape me for the moment. I will try to remember to look 'em up and return to this thread in the next couple of days. They both detail every kilometre of the waterway, similar to a nautical chart, with brief notes about places and info. such as fuel, pontoons, shopping etc. (not always accurate or up to date). Some people use Guides Vagnon but I don't like them, they put the waterway details into an odd sequence that I can't get on with.

The best guide that tells you about the waterways, the history, the places, is undoubtedly Hugh McKnight's book "Cruising French Waterways". Not for navigation (although it is quite detailed) but should have you drooling and impatient to get floating through the French countryside, towns and villages . . . .

Oh, and thanks for the compliment. I've got a bunch more material that needs to be put on, and make some updates, which has prompted a re-think about the site, which means I haven't done the changes, which means the site is not quite as I'd like it to be, but I somehow need to put in the time to do the work, but other things get in the way, dee, dah, dee, dah, dee, dah . . . .
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Re: Through the French Canals . . .

Thanks a lot! Very roughly (and I know this is a bit of a daft question) but how long would it take a yacht going along steadily to get from the channel to the Med?
 
Re: Through the French Canals . . .

hmm . . and length of your piece of string is?
I'm on battery power tied up in Avignon tonight. A great place but [--word removed--] for boats by the way. Done the first Rhone bit. Will think of an answer termorrer. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
RE how long Channel to med

We took 4 days from Honfleur to Paris. Then 2 weeks from Paris to the Saone through the canal de Bourgoigne. Down the Saone/Rhone to Port St Louis took 5 days. All this was done pretty hard. Up as soon as the canal open. Lock keepers start around 7.00 depending on the time of year/canal and finish around 7.30. Your boat speed is mainly irrelevant as there is a speed limit and also the locks are really what take the time. We found that 4 locks or 8km an hour was a good average. (meaning a lock takes on average 15 mins to negotiate. However we broke our journey into 3 stages staying 5 months in Paris and a couple of weeks in Dijon. It was exhausting, (the middle section anyway) and retrospectively I regret not having enjoyed the trip for its own sake rather than just as a way of getting to the med. Nothing about the trip was anything other than straightforward. The enormous Rhone locks look terrifying but are fantastically smooth, the commercial traffic is minimal and what there is perfectly courteous/helpful. Facilities on the canal de Bourgoigne are quite few and far between. The draft issue is an issue but not as much as you might expect.
 
Re: RE how long Channel to med

In 1974 we took 4 weeks from Le Havre to Port St Louis at the mouth of the Rhone. The Rhone flowed much faster then and you were advised to take a pilot (too expensive for us though).

In 1970 we failed to go the other way as the flow was 7 knots and we could get no further than the Petit Rhone. We took that and then via the Midi. In those days we had no problem through the Midi with 5ft draught, but the wine barges were still running then.

LaBollene.jpg


The pic is the La Bollene Lock on the Rhone and the far gate is fully raised for exiting.
 
Re: Through the French Canals . . .

We went in via the Seine and emerged into the Med at Sete.We were on the move for a total of 28 days.You could do it in less time but you would miss out on a lot.I wish we had gone a hell of a lot slower but our draught was 5'6' which limited where we could stop a bit.With your draught you should have no probs.I would recommend the Navicarte books for the trip.If you have the chance to do it then just go for it you won't regret it.The search facility on this site is rubbish I know but you may get lucky as there are loads of posts on this subject - one by a Forumite called Bernie (I think) which led to a longish thread with plenty of info.
 
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