From owner-canals@blacksheep.org Mon Sep  1 07:55:45 1997
	id AA28273; Mon, 1 Sep 97 07:55:21 EDT
	for canals-nonews@blacksheep.org (canals@blacksheep.org)
To: canals@blacksheep.org
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 21:57:34 GMT
From: ~rthorpe@netcomuk.co.uk (Richard Thorpe)
Subject: Brittany Waterways - Trip Report

I have spent the last couple of weeks cruising the rivers and canals
of Southern Brittany. Thought this report might be of interest to
anyone considering a similar trip to France.

Hired a 35 foot by 12 foot cruiser - the sort you get on the Broads
(in fact the boat was made in Norfolk) - from Crown Blue Line which, I
understand, was the first boat hire company in France, set up about 25
years ago.

The boat was well appointed with two cabins, two showers and toilets
(one of them en suite) and plenty of room for my family of 6 which
included 4 teenage boys.

The trip started in Messac which is on the river Vilaine south of
Rennes. The Vilaine is a canalised river which runs south from Messac
and is not heavily locked. It is a quiet river with gentle scenery.
There are no big towns until it reaches Redon where it is bisected by
the Canal de Nantes a Brest.

Redon has a marina close to the town centre (and hence supermarkets,
laundrettes etc). Even in August, there was plenty of mooring space.

We chose to turn east on the Canal de Nantes a Brest which is more
river (L'Oust) than canal. You need to go through Redon lock which has
a tight left turn immediately you leave it. The canal/river winds
though some dramatic scenery, sleepy French villages and a couple of
towns notably Malestroit which is (lovely and unspoilt by tourists)
and Josselin which has a magnificent chateau which seems to rise out
of the river. Josselin is very pretty but somehat spoilt by tourists.
Mooring, however, was easy and literally in the shadow of the chateau.
A visit to the chateau was a little disappointing in that you only get
to see a handful of rooms as the rest of it is still inhabited. A
guided tour in English is available twice a day during the summer.

You can continue east from Josselin but when you get beyond Rohan
there is a staircase of 54 locks to Pontivy where the Nantes a Brest
becomes unnavigable but instead joins the Blavet which would
eventually take you to Lorient on the south coast. No I didn't attempt
the locks but I'm sure you keen NBers would enjoy it!

We chose instead to return to Redon as we wanted to go south on the
Vilaine towards the sea. But first we made a detour up the river Aff
which goes to La Gacilly. This is an amazing river about 10 kms long.
Although it starts off as a wide pool it quickly turns into a vast
reed bed which is about 1km wide. It's a bit like the Everglades and
is certainly not a good place to have an engine failure as it would be
very difficult to find solid land! The river then becomes very narrow
and atmospheric with overhanging trees and feels more like the Amazon
than a river in provincial France. The navigation ends at La Gacilly
which is a lively town with numerous craft workshops which make an
sell all kinds of crafts like pottery, sculpture, jewellery,
marquetry, leather, carpentry etc. Sounds like a tourist trap but it
manages to retain a good atmosphere - probably because the goods are
all high class and expensive. Well worth a visit.

Back at Redon we rejoined the Vilaine and went south as far as La
Roche Bernard. Here the river is 3-400 metres wide and takes on a
marine feel what with the large number of sailing craft moored here.
Although the river is relatively traffic free there is a large
passenger boat which takes day trippers to Redon. If you get in it's
wake you find yourself bobbing about in the water and can almost
believe you're at sea.

Our journey then took us back beyond Messac where we had started to a
small village called Bourg-des-Comptes. This was a delight. There is
an old wooden quay just past the lock. The tiny village was a perfect
backdrop.

The trip lasted two weeks, we covered just over 300 kms in a total of
70 hours cruising and negotiated 49 locks. Many of the locks are
electrically operated by a lock keeper although from Malestroit to
Josselin they are hand operated (again by the lock keeper). Most locks
provide mooring ropes and the lock keepers are generally very helpful.
One or two of them offer local produce for sale.

Plenty of audiences at locks - had over 30 people watching at
Malestroit.

Deisel is almost non existent although it is available at Redon for a
few hours a day and also at La Roche Bernard and the Crown Blue Line
boatyard at Messac.

Most of the boats inland from La Roche were cruisers although one
company hires out "Penichettes" (little barges) - they've got a web
site with pictures but I can't remember their name at the moment (let
me know if you're interested and I'll try and find them). Another
company hires out what are literally floating caravans. They look very
strange but are surprising popular.

Narrowboats were few and far between - in fact I saw only one during
the whole fortnight.

Mooring is free just about everywhere except for Redon and La Roche
Bernard. Both about 50 francs a night but free during the day. There
are a good many purpose built moorings at small villages. Water is
plentiful but in one or two places the tap was placed hopelessly far
away from moorings. Probably a good idea to take some sort of hose
adapter so that you can join yours with someone else's.

Towpaths are all well maintained, often being wide enough to drive a
car along them (if you wanted to!!)

Bikes are useful for shopping as some of the villages are sveral kms
away from the rivers/canals. Crown Blue Line hire out their own bikes
but these are small wheeled and looked decidedly uncomfortable. We
took a couple of mountain bikes and were easily able to secure them to
the front of the boat.

The whole of the infrastructure is on a grander scale than the  UK  as
the French canals were built for the huge "peniches" which are still
used commercially on some French (and Belgian and Dutch) canals but
not in Brittany.

This was a "first time" river/canal trip for us. It's got me hooked!

I hope this report is of some use to anyone considering a similar
trip. Please email me if you want any specific information (remove the
~ from my email address). 

RT