Thames not so bad?

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miket

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Joined others on the Canal du Midi for a week with Le Boat. Trebes (Carcassonne) to Narbonne.
Enjoyed the company, UTMYC.
The Canal was revolting. Full of liveaboards and effluent!
Excuse for effluent was that French government would not fund installation of pump out stations. So boats have holding tanks but pump into canal.
What a ......... open sewer.
Such a shame as s cenery is lovely as was weather.
Several towns/villages were choked with liveaboards boats so no space for holiday makers.

Made me appreciate Thames, Trotman et al.
 
Added to which many of the Plane Trees which offer such welcome shade along it's length are being felled due to disease. Blamed on a fungus they alledge was introduced by American ammunition boxes during the war!
 
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miket said:
Joined others on the Canal du Midi for a week with Le Boat. Trebes (Carcassonne) to Narbonne.
Enjoyed the company, UTMYC.
The Canal was revolting. Full of liveaboards and effluent!
Excuse for effluent was that French government would not fund installation of pump out stations. So boats have holding tanks but pump into canal.
What a ......... open sewer.
Such a shame as s cenery is lovely as was weather.
Several towns/villages were choked with liveaboards boats so no space for holiday makers.

Made me appreciate Thames, Trotman et al.
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Did you see the bloke swimming in it just past La Somail? Wonder if he's still alive?
 
It was a long held ambition to do the Canal Du Midi and planned for this Easter but we cancelled due to reports we had heard of the amount of effluent and liveaboards. A real shame that France has allowed this UNESCO World Heritage site to get into such a state. The plane tree loss is unfortunate but by itself shouldn't kill of visitor traffic and the clock can't be turned back. The raw sewage policy is another matter. That said - given that Trotman's multi-occupancy high-density housing projects are being permitted to pump raw sewage into the Thames unchallenged and a growing number of others are being encourged to join in by example and precedent - I fear for how long it will be before the Thames goes the same way.
 
I'm sorry to hear about the canal du midi, in fact I was just looking at boat hire for the school holidays. Please someone come along and say it's not that bad really and should be one everyone's bucket list.
The sewage situation sounds disgusting, aren't there EU laws to prevent pollution in inland waterways?
 
I've been following a blog of some friends on the Midi / Garonne, there is no mention of what is posted above, they seem to be having a great time.
 
Actionmat said:
I'm sorry to hear about the canal du midi, in fact I was just looking at boat hire for the school holidays. Please someone come along and say it's not that bad really and should be one everyone's bucket list.
The sewage situation sounds disgusting, aren't there EU laws to prevent pollution in inland waterways?
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We are booked with Le Boat in September on the Midi for a weeks one way cruise. I will let you know how conditions are.
We went on the Charante in 2012 with Le Boat and that was direct discharge of sewage into the river due to no pump out facilities, it was a flowing river though.

I believe, unless regulations have changed recently, that private craft on the Broads can discharge sewage directly into the rivers and Broads.

Not sure if I am looking forward to the trip as much as I was now.
 
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Google 'Canal du Midi sewage' and plenty of nasty smelly reviews pop up immediately. At least the Thames 'looks' clean :-)
 
"I believe, unless regulations have changed recently, that private craft on the Broads can discharge sewage directly into the rivers and Broads."

Very limited discharge now on Broads - private motorboats which routinely go to sea via Gt Yarmouth (odd, not Lowestoft but there it is), some sailing boats new and old, and mainly hire, plus the odd Cornish Crabber having trouble finding somewhere to dump it's porta potti..... (there aren't any sanitary stations as we on the Thames know them)

95% of boats moving on the Broads are hire and the vast majority of those will have holding tanks.
 
joejo said:
We are booked with Le Boat in September on the Midi for a weeks one way cruise. I will let you know how conditions are.
We went on the Charante in 2012 with Le Boat and that was direct discharge of sewage into the river due to no pump out facilities, it was a flowing river though.

I believe, unless regulations have changed recently, that private craft on the Broads can discharge sewage directly into the rivers and Broads.

Not sure if I am looking forward to the trip as much as I was now.
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We did the one way with Mike t

We did the one way with Mike t and co. The fact he eludes to is absolutely true and it's a massive pity it has to be that way. What's more of an issue is the quite poor state of the le boat craft. Don't set off without being 100% happy with your boat.
 
We researched heavily before booking and concluded that there are many decent alternatives to 'le boat' so don't let limited options of craft limit your decision. There are some excellent alternatives to the ''Centre Parks of Boating' out there with great well-maintained fleets (or owner managed boats).

Ultimately we cancelled as we prefer boating in water that you wouldn't fear falling in (i.e; not an officially open sewer).
 
miket said:
Several towns/villages were choked with liveaboards boats so no space for holiday makers.
Click to expand...

It's like that where I live. Almost all the houses are occupied full-time, leaving very few as holiday lets. It's appalling, and the government should do something about it.
 
I live a short distance from the Charente and the big difference between it and the CDM and the Thames is how few boats there are on it. While it appears that raw sewage is pumped out into it, there is, in effect, not enough to cause any problems. Even in high summer, it is quite quiet and a friend paddled his kayak from Angoulême to Port d'Envaux and remarked how few people he saw over four days. Probably one can walk across the Thames dry shod, as there are so many boats :o

(Why am I talking about this? might invite the crowds and spoil it..)
 
Thames is actually fairly quiet these days! Certainly week days and above Maidenhead.
I would be interested to hear fro others that have recent experience of other French waterways holidays, say, south of Paris? I understand that the Nivernais is pretty scenically, but are there boats to hire/ charter? Of reasonable quality.
 
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