Canals Sambre, Saint Quentin and Lateral à L’Oise 5th to 7th September 2021 It took just two days cruising to go the final three and a half kilometres on the Canal de la Sambre from Beautor, the seven and a half kilometres on the Canal de Saint-Quentin to Chauny, and the eighteen kilometres on theContinue reading “A short trip East to West on 3 canals”
Category Archives: French canals
Canal de Sambre à l’Oise
A wonderful week on country waters 30th August – 5th September 2021 Robert Louis Stevenson was still with us as we moved onto the canal built in the 1800s to link the Sambre at Landrecies with the Oise at La Fère – both places mentioned by RLS in his book ‘An Inland Voyage’. To writeContinue reading “Canal de Sambre à l’Oise”
Carry on up the Sambre!
The French Sambre 26th to 29th August 2021 This is a nice short blog, especially in comparison to some of my recent ramblings. We had three nights and the best part of four days on this stretch of the 2021 voyage. Bienvenue en France! We left Erquelinnes on a blue and sunny morning, crossing theContinue reading “Carry on up the Sambre!”
Winding our way to our winter mooring
27 September – 10 October 2019 We were taking the long autumnal way round. We had left Kortrijk in late August and set off on a loop of northern Belgium and France, in order to arrive back where we started and tie up for the winter. Now we were on the last lap, crossing borders,Continue reading “Winding our way to our winter mooring”
The river Meuse – La France a Belgique
Initially it didn’t seem so different, the change from the Canal de La Meuse to the actual river, probably because a lot of the canal section is actually on the river itself. However as we progressed the geography changed hugely and spectacularly, as you will see. We left Stenay after my early morning mammoth cycleContinue reading “The river Meuse – La France a Belgique”
Heading north up La Meuse part 1
The waterways comprising La Meuse include the river itself, the Canal de la Meuse, called, prior to 2003, the Canal de l’Est Northern branch. At the same time the southern branch was renamed the Canal des Vosges. Together they formed a 245 mile long canal within the Franco Prussian border. This part, Part 1, isContinue reading “Heading north up La Meuse part 1”
June on the Canal de la Marne au Rhin – weedy in parts; ultimately glorious
June 10 – 18 2019 Monday 10th June – we had left Soulanges on the Canal de L’Aisne á la Marne in the morning and by lunchtime we had turned to port at the T junction at Vitry-en François and were heading up the Oest (West) section of the Canal de la Marne au Rhin.Continue reading “June on the Canal de la Marne au Rhin – weedy in parts; ultimately glorious”
Late start to 2019 – Sillery to Vitry
(Skipper’s note: Loose plans for this year had seen us heading further north towards the Lille/Cambrai area for next winter. However with two of the three canal choices we had to get up there currently closed half way through, we decided to go Route Four – and turn south – About Face . . .Continue reading “Late start to 2019 – Sillery to Vitry”
An unexpected sojourn in Chalons-en-Champagne
So with spirits high and buoyancy in our step and our ship we turned starboard out of one canal, and then port into another – the Canal Lateral à la Marne. We were on schedule to reach our Winter mooring in Sillery six days later, including two, or even three, nights in Chalons-en-Champagne. Little didContinue reading “An unexpected sojourn in Chalons-en-Champagne”
Over the top to Champagne
Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne 25th August to 11th September 2018 This is a seriously exciting and enjoyable canal. It is 224 km along with 43 locks on the way up and 71 locks on the way down plus a 5 km tunnel through the summit – the Balesmes tunnel. It passes through glorious agriculturalContinue reading “Over the top to Champagne”