Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne (and La Saône) 3rd to 23rd October 2024 This is one of our favourite canals, despite the 71 ascending locks and 43 descending locks over its 224km length. The first section out of Vitry-le-François is rather straight and although mostly through countryside it is not as scenic as the kilometresContinue reading “Hivernage 4 – last stage to our home port”
Category Archives: French canals
Hivernage Bound part 3
From Reims South to Vitry-en Francois 30th September to 2nd October 2024 Canal L’Aisne à La Marne Courcy We had been waiting on this canal for 5 weeks, due to the canal closing upstream of Reims for maintenance on a lock. Now, with our son aboard to help us make up time with longer daysContinue reading “Hivernage Bound part 3”
Hivernage Bound – part 2
The Wait 25th August to 29th September 2024 Canal L’Aisne à La Marne Berry-au-Bac We arrived at Berry-au-Bac on Sunday 25th August after quite a long day’s pleasant cruise from the other side of the Canal L’Oise à L’Aisne summit. We were now on the Canal Lateral à L’Aisne, moored up just below the écluseContinue reading “Hivernage Bound – part 2”
Hivernage Bound – part 1
On the Escaut, & canals Sensée, du Nord, plus 3 linked to la Oise and l’Aisne 17th to 25th August 2024 BovenSchelde/Escaut Planning for our return to Saint Usage and our winter mooring had begun sometime before, partly to fit with the end of our French 5 month visa, and partly to get through ReimsContinue reading “Hivernage Bound – part 1”
Le Canal des Ardennes – both gentle and demanding.
7th to 10th June 2024, but deserves longer Two things – WordPress offers AI to improve my blog (scary) but this all my own work,, plus the Captain’s additions. And my Captain says I should try to make the blog posts shorter, so here goes …… Heading north from Saint-Jean-de-Losne on the Saône to BelgiumContinue reading “Le Canal des Ardennes – both gentle and demanding.”
From the Marne to the Ardennes – 4 days on 2 canals
Canals L’Aisne à La Marne and Lateral à L’Aisne 4th to 7thJune 2024 Starting from Condé-sur-Marne We had arrived at Condé from Chalons-en-Champagne at about 1pm. That gave us time for a walk round the village in the afternoon. This was a quick walk round part of the village, because the ankle I broke aContinue reading “From the Marne to the Ardennes – 4 days on 2 canals”
Northwards on the Lateral à La Marne
29th May to 3rd June 2024 We are just traveling a short distance on this canal, which follows the winding Marne Westwards towards Paris for another 19kms after we turn off towards the north and Belgium at Condé-sur-Marne. Compared to the 224 kms of the Canal Entre Champagne et Borgogne which we had just leftContinue reading “Northwards on the Lateral à La Marne”
Down the 71 locks on the Marne side
of the Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne 12th to 29th May 2024 [It took more than 3 times as long to go down the Marne side of this canal as going up the Saône side. Consequently this blog post is rather long and you might want to read it in chunks rather than all atContinue reading “Down the 71 locks on the Marne side”
Up the 43 locks on the Saône side
of the Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne 7th to 11th May 2024 This canal links the Marne river to the Saône river and originally was named le Marne à la Saône, but tourist traffic and an interest in wines from different regions led to it being renamed in 2005. The T-junction towards the bottom ofContinue reading “Up the 43 locks on the Saône side”
Salon Fluvial 2024 here we come!
For one weekend every April Saint Jean de Losne in France becomes the lively home of Salon Flauvial, a major French inland waterways boat show. We knew about it for years before we finally managed to be there at the right time. The trick for us is to winter in Saint Jean de Losne –Continue reading “Salon Fluvial 2024 here we come!”
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