We have been boating on the sea for many years, but this was the first time we have been on the canals. We chose the Canal a la Loire in France for our first experience as the canal was not to far for us to travel. Locaboat operate hire boats from numerous locations in France and other countries. We decided on a Linseen Grand Sturdy 34.9 which is a steel hull Dutch cruiser with a single engine.
The plan was to take two weeks to travel from the Locaboat centre in Briare to the Locaboat centre in Dompierre sur-Besbre being about 170 km. We arrived in Briare the day before be were due to collect out new home for the next two weeks and enjoyed the local restaurants and relaxed in the small town.
There is secure parking at the centre and after some paper work we were shown on to our vessel. The Linseen was new that year and in very good condition. There was plenty of space for the two of us with a central saloon area with seating a small study area and galley. The stern cabin had a double bed with an en-suite heads to Port with wash hand basin and an en-suite shower to Starboard. The forward cabin had a double bed with an en-suite heads with wash hand basin and shower cubicle to Port. The saloon is access via a hatch off the stern deck where the helm station is located. There are safe wide decks leading forward and steps leading down to the stern swimming platform from the stern deck. These boats have relatively small engines than those we are used to on sea boats but is more than sufficient for the 6kmph speed limit on the canal. There is a stern and bow thruster which make life very easy to manoeuvre the vessel. It was clear to see by the bumps and scrapes however that even with the bow and stern thrusters previous skippers have found the close quarters manoeuvring a little challenging.
The staff took us out on the vessel to show us how to use the vessel as I had been boating for years the tutorial was short. I am guessing that they spend as much time as necessary to give instruction to those who have never skippered a vessel previously. Rather than leaving the basin straight away we decided to stay there for the first night and enjoy the local restaurants again.
The following day we started our new adventure, leaving the basin through a narrow entrance and under our first bridge through the Briare marina and heading towards our first lock. We were given a telephone number to the first lock keeper. In this part of France all the locks are manned by lock keepers and the operation of the locks is closely guarded, although we did find that they will allow you to help with some of the operation, but with permission being asked for first. We did however find that the first lock keeper was a little awkward. I had the feeling that he was pretending not to understand us. Having said that we have found that in Normandy and Brittany where we visit most of the time, we have no problem with our French being understood, but in other regions in France we do have some difficulty.
After entering into the Canal Lateral a la Loire from Briare I nearly missed the first turning, which would have taken us to Paris, but we decided to leave that trip for another time, so we turned around and headed South towards the Briare Aqueduct which was an amazing experience crossing over the Loire River. The Aqueduct is 662 meter long being built in 1890. I was so impressed with the aqueduct that I made a separate video of the crossing. It is amazing on the canal, time slows down to a slow place. The speed limited is 6 kph and we travelled at 4 kph, walking speed!!! The landscape is brilliant with time to enjoy. We did not go to far on our first day staying over night at Chatillon-sur-Loire.
This is part 1 of our journey. Please enjoy, thank you for watching.
The following equipment is used in the making of my videos. If you are interested in any of products they can be acquired at Amazon.
Canon 80D https://goo.gl/L3JuHT (Amazon Affiliate)
Canon 18-135 lens https://goo.gl/XSnhUj (Amazon Affiliate)
Muvi K Series Action Camera https://goo.gl/C6WuqG (Amazon Affiliate)
Rode Wireless Microphone https://goo.gl/Ls14ve (Amazon Affiliate)
Hahnel MK200 Microphone https://goo.gl/sEGFcP (Amazon Affiliate)
Manfrotto Tripod https://goo.gl/ivzJFi (Amazon Affiliate)
MagiDeal Pro Fluid Video Mini Head for Manfrotto Tripod https://goo.gl/BJA71d (Amazon Affiliate)
Koolertron 24″ DSLR Camera Slider Video Track Dolly Rail https://goo.gl/8yi8sF (Amazon Affiliate)
This is the useful book used on out trip and covers all of the French Waterways.
Inland Waterways of France https://goo.gl/7K6X2v (Amazon Affiliate)
This is a useful book
The European Waterways https://goo.gl/GoFpzK (Amazon Affiliate)
