Due to winter flood damage at Vialère ecluse – PK23 – the River Baise is closed to navigation above Nerac until at least 1st June 2013. The situation is naturally of concern to the towns and villages that will be affected by the loss of boating visitors during this time,…
The Petite Seine (above Paris, to the east) saw some superb cleaning-up work in November 2012. An amazing number of cars were scooped up from the river bed. All of them perfect examples of ‘Beyond Economic Repair’. Photos from the fascinating ‘Lockkipper’ blog of Fabrice, the lock-keeper (geddit?) at Villiers-sur-Seine.
Cruising details for the 313km long Canal de la Marne au Rhin (Vitry to Strasbourg) have now been added to the information available on french-waterways.com. One of France’s longest canals, built in the mid C19th through beautiful scenery, rolling hills and steeply wooded valleys, until quite recently the canal saw…
A fascinating voyage through the Canal de la Marne a la Saone (Entre Champagne et Bourgogne, the ‘Heuilly’) in 1975 on the peniche ‘Beecliffe’. Super 8 film transferred to VHS and then digital, so the quality is not perfect, but . . . From today’s perspective the canal scenery is…
More VNF news. Waterways are proposed by VNF to be divided into three classifications – Type 1 – designated for tourist/pleasure use only Type 2 – pleasure and commercial use Type 3 – commercial use only No implications yet understood regarding Type 3 and private plaisancier use, but a number…
Just announced by VNF – the 10% discount available for a full year’s licence to travel the rivers and canals of France has been extended to 30th April. It’s normally available up until 30th March, but changes to the VNF vignette charging structure for 2013 created some ‘hard case’ increases…
Recent updates to the information available on french-waterways.com – River Baise cruising in detail guide Information about this delightful river in south-west France that flows north to join the Garonne near Buzet. The Baise is attractively leafy and narrow, in some places twisting as well. In a suitable boat (including…
There’s a new pontoon mooring on the River Rhone at PK266, about 1km upstream from Tarascon. Unfortunately it’s for passenger boats only. There is a proposal to create a new port de plaisance at Tarascon, but its location (immediately north of the castle) is near the road bridge, on one…
Paul and Sheryl Shard, of the Distant Shores sailing adventure travel TV series that is broadcast in 24 languages worldwide, have released a preview from their forthcoming ‘Through the French Canals’ video. It’s a really excellent taster of what the canals are like and what going through locks is like:…
Cruising details for the waterway linking the Rhone and Saone with the Rhine are now available on french-waterways.com. The canal (opened in the early C19th and modernised in recent years) incorporates sections of the River Doubs and passes through picturesque historic towns such as Dole and Besancon and also some…
