Libra Sail

Port Napoleon: stepping the mast

18th- 22nd July 2023 Reaching Port Napoleon felt like achieving a milestone. We were now through the inland waterways and into the Med.   If you'd never been anywhere else in the Med you probably wouldn't be very impressed. The approaches to the marina are through the

The Mighty Rhône: Part 3 The final push - Aramon to Port Napoleon

19th July 2023 Today would be the last leg of our journey through the French waterways. We have been on the rivers and canals for so long it seems odd to think that this section of the journey is nearly at an end. When we were just south of Paris

The Mighty Rhône: Part 2 Valence to Aramon

When we arrived at Valence l’Épervière marina we planned to take a quick trip back to the UK for maybe a couple of weeks. The marina office advised us that it would be cheaper to pay for a month. Just as well we did, as we didn't

The Mighty Rhône: Part 1

9th June 2023 My last post ended when we arrived at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône, leaving Lyon behind us.  I suppose I was expecting turbulent waters but the two rivers just flowed into each other, a line of buoys warning us away from the shallower water

The Saône part 2: Macon to the Rhône

Thursday 8th June 2023 The first day of our new plan! We woke at 6.45am, broad daylight. Igor turned on the engine, started making the coffee and slipped our mooring lines before I'd even had time to wash my face. It was a perfect morning - sunny,

The Saône part 1: Chalon to Macon

5th June 2023 As we exited the gates from lock 34 bis, the last lock on the Canal du Centre, it seemed like ages since we were in a river. When we started this journey, in April, the distance even from Brighton to Paris seemed immense. Going up the Seine

The Canal du Centre Part 5: Goodbye to the canals, hello to the river

Sunday 4th June 2023 Sunday morning was another hot one. We set off around 9.00am, promising ourselves that we would take it easy today. We were aiming for the town of Chagny, 4 locks and less than 14 km away.  Our first lock of the day, 20 St Leger

The Canal du Centre Part 4: Montchanin to Saint-Léger-sur-Dheune (or what a lot of bollards)

OK, the answer to yesterday's question: This sculpture is called 'La borne des 7 écluses' by Gilles Richard.  To save you googling it here is what the website La borne des 7 écluses ; monment commémoratif (canal du Centre) says after you translate it: "The work

The Canal du Centre Part 3: Montceau les Mines to Montchanin

Friday 2nd June 2023 Today was the day that the lads were traveling home. Matt had Cup Final tickets for tomorrow and, while he was enjoying the boating life, he didn't want to miss the match. By 9.30 they had set off on the long drive to

The Canal du Centre Part 2: Genelard to Montceau-les-Mines

1st June 2023 It was another beautiful morning with the promise of a hot day ahead. We had a logistical issue: the car was in Digoin where we had left the boat during our visit home, today we were heading further down the canal to Montceau-les-Mines and tomorrow the boys

The Canal du Centre Part 1: Back to the boat!

It was lovely to arrive home but it was even better setting off again. After about a week of flush toilets that were within our house, twenty (open) takeaways/restaurants within a five minute walk and everybody speaking the same language as us we were well and truly ready to

Did we stay or did we go?

Sunday 28th May 2023 To cut a long story short we decided to go and left Digoin on Thursday 18th May. There were good reasons to make the decision either way but when we arrived in Digoin we were relieved to find 1.6 metres of water under our keel.

The Canal Latéral à la Loire Part 5 (final stretch)

Wednesday 17th May 2023 For the last week or so we have woken to mist or even fog. There was no incentive to do anything other than drink coffee, eat cheese and wrap up warm. Today was different. A beautiful sunny morning and we weren't expected at the

The Canal Latéral à la Loire Part 4

Already at Part 4 for this canal, shows how much longer it is than the Canal de Loing or Canal de Briare! The evening of Monday 15th May saw us stranded on the wrong side of the lock gates at Vanneaux. This was nowhere near the disaster we originally thought.

The Canal Latéral à la Loire Part 3

When we last met I was prisoner on a pontoon. There was a locked gate between me and dry land. The nice German (Swiss?) couple in a hire boat, legitimately using the moorings, had a key but it was for the gate to the other pontoon. It was dinner time.

The Canal Latéral à la Loire Part 2

My last post saw us rafted to a rusty old barge in Saint Satur. The day, or at least the scenery, had to improve. Saturday 13th May 2023 We woke up bright and early as usual. A motorboat had passed us and we felt a slight wash. There was no

The Canal Latéral à la Loire: Part 1

The Canal Latéral à la Loire starts in the most impressive way possible, with the utterly breathtaking Briare Aqueduct. This 660m long bridge that carries the canal across the Loire is a marvel in so many ways that words almost fail me, or rather the opposite. If I got the

Some more 'marina' reports

I put marina in inverted commas as we have mostly been roughing it and some of the so called marinas we've been to haven't really met my expectations of what a marina should be. That sounds pompous. Shall I rephrase? To me a marina involves an

The Canal de Briare Part 2

Yesterday's post saw us moored in the town of Rogny, bowled over by the sight of the ancient Sept Ecluses. If you think that was overwhelming, wait until you see what we saw today (though a photograph barely does it justice). I was so gobsmacked yesterday I forgot

The Canal de Briare: part 1

Monday 8th May 2023 As my previous post noted, we did not enjoy our introduction to the Canal de Briare. To be stranded overnight in a shallow canal miles from anywhere worth walking to next to a slightly dodgy towpath would not be my first choice. We got up punctually

The Loing Canal

We left Samois-sur-Seine around midday on 5th May. It had rained heavily all night so we waited for the skies to clear a little before we set off. While we waited we did some boat housekeeping chores, there is always something to do (and it's often too disgusting

Port aux Cerises to Samois-sur-Seine

Some days you have a plan and everything goes beautifully. Other days you have a plan and everything goes pear shaped. On some, very lucky days you have a plan that goes pear shaped but the end result is even better than you hoped for. That was today. Yesterday we

Through Paris

Ever since we first considered taking the boat through the French canals rather than going through Biscay I have been really, really excited at the prospect of going through Paris. I visited the city as a child, and our recces over the last couple of days have made the prospect

Rueil-Malmaison and Paris (on foot)

Over the long cold winter we have watched a lot of videos about people doing the same trip as we are now undertaking. The only one we watched where they stopped at Rueil gave us cause to worry. The YouTubers said that the pontoon was a meeting place for feral

Port Ilon to Port St Louis

We set off to Port St Louis having only heard very negative reports. I'd like to tell you that these are misguided, but that would be a big fib. The trip up the river was only around 40km and we covered it in around 5 1/2 hours.