Self-drive Canal Boat - France or Elsewhere?
 

Anyone here ever done this?

Self-drive canal boat

I've wanted to for years and this summer will be the one where we actually make it so. We plan to visit friends in Paris and Colleen has to teach in Amsterdam so, my task is to integrate the boat holiday with the remainder of the trip putting the days in Paris at the beginning of the time and Amsterdam at the end. I'm having a hard time deciding where to hire but, the Loire-Nivernais-Bourgogne area or Alsace-Lorraine sure look tasty.

This forum is the font of all knowledge, someone's bound to have done this. Input?

I haven't done it but it's been on my list for a long time. The definitive book which you should check out is 'Cruising French Canals and Rivers'. There are also a number of books of people's experiences doing it. I have a couple somewhere I could dig up. The last one I read was of a family in a small cruising sailboat who started in England, came to France and then when completely thru Europe to the Black Sea. My recollection is that the journey on the canals from Calais to Paris was not that interesting. I have another account of a couple in a traditional canal boat who travel from Greece, up thru France, and over to England.
You could do a similar thing on British canals.
I have on my 'to do' list a circular trip on the Erie Canal, Champlain Canal, St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, and Oswego Canal.

I've never done it in Europe (or anywhere else for that matter) but I had friends who rented one of those canal boat/barges on the Erie canal a few years ago and had a blast.

Sounds like a great idea to me!

Hi Kerry! Thanks for the tips! Believe it or not, I have that book...and, it has a lot of great info geared towards individuals (mainly Brits) exploring the canals or, making a trip through to the Med on their own boats. It helped me better understand the locking protocols and some of the issues that you must be aware of (closed canals, etc) if transiting the country. Unfortunately, it's a bit limited information-wise on the boat-for-hire outfits renting on preset sections of the canals/rivers as we plan to do.

"Through Europe at 4 Knots' and "Watersteps Round Europe" are the other books I had in mind. They won't help much with the decision about what section to do, but they do give a lot of first hand information of the kinds of journey and problems to expect.
I'll be anxious to hear about your experiences if it all pans out. From what I have read, it is not cheap. I've considered purchasing a small trailerable sailboat in Europe with a small outboard and going that way to save some money (like the 4 knots family).

i have a friend who is a brit citizen and is married to a yank. they have a board game design firm and rent from me. he is a car nut so we naturally talk a lot. he has done the canal boat in england thing and says it is fine and not too expensive if you have a bunch of folks to share costs.

guess this doesnt help the poster much.

sorry

tom w

Cool. I have friends that live on a (motorless) houseboat in Amsterdam and have cruised the canals off the Amstel in their tender(john boat:D ). As comfortable as I am with boats, I would be nervous about bareboating my own canal cruise in Europe. I remember being in Delft one time and a huge barge was pushed by--there seemed to be mere feet on either side of the canal, and there was a lock about 1/4 mi. from it. All I could think was, "holy $h!t--what if I was in a boat in between that barge and that lock--how do they control traffic?" Maybe go to Cruising World's(magazine) website and email one of their editors--they periodically do articles on this sort of thing.

No ICW on your list?? It is a pia keeping up with the bridges if you are in a sailboat or a large powerboat, but a lot of fun in a smaller boat from the Chesapeak (Dismal Swamp) South.

I'd think you could get the same aural effect of a canal boat if you ran a 240Diesel without a muffler.

Yep, that's on my list too. Great Circle: Erie Canal, Great Lakes, Mississippi, ICW, Hudson River.

My too...

About 5 years ago, I came damned close (money was about to change hands...that close!!) to commissioning a boat builder to build a custom, outboard-powered, 25' semi-displacement pocket cruiser just for the purpose of cruising the ICW, great circle and Tenn-Tom waterway.

Bought the farm instead.

Self Drive canal boating
 

Hi Leo,
I have done the Canal de Nivernais about 6 years ago over a 2 week period.
You will need 2 weeks to do a complete round-trip. ITs fantastic with great little towns/villages, friendly locals and good amount of locks (not too many). Its very easy. Suggest you rent bikes as it can be a reasonable distance to get fresh bread in the morning or visit some towns. One of the best holidays we had done. PS, make sure you get a good sized boat, its normally pretty cramped as is, it pays to pay a few extra bucks to get the next size up from what is recommended.
Good luck.
Peter

Thanks Wisler,
It is good to hear from someone who's done this. FWIW, we've hired a boat from Locaboat for a 10-day out and back starting at St Legere sur Dheune on the Canal du Centre. There's just four of us and we have a Pénichette 1020FB which I think, with the two separate cabins, will work out pretty good.

Randy-

Did you get your Amsterdam/night train dilemma sorted?

Rick

After the boat, we're overnighting at De Tassche in Bruges and then on to Amsterdam the next day. I still need to sort-out the train stuff but have been hellishly busy the last few days.