Hi

Having spent many years cruising the Shannon, we have decided to try out the joys of cruising in France in September. Four of us are going to make a tour of it and drive around France and maybe into Italy. Therefore, the location of the cruising region itself is not a problem.
However we want to avoid areas with loads of locks or where travel is too limited. Would like areas that are good for stopping and enjoying local cuisine and Evian Water !

Does anyone have any recommendations for regions to go to or to "stay away" from, hire companies to use, and what to watch out for when hiring in France?

Thanks
Trish

One of the many pleasures of cruising in France will be that your enjoyment is not curtailed by the chore of having to pump out s-it tanks every few days like you do in Ireland. Strangely, although France is a fully paid up member of the European Union, France quite understandably said "non" to the hand wringing do gooders in brussels regarding the dangerous use of holding tanks on boats. It would certainly appear that french politicians put the needs of French people ahead of the manic decrees of brussels buffoons. Shame our Irish and N. Irish politicians are unable to learn from the French. So Trish, as you sit down to a fine french breakfast aboard your hire boat, you will not have the lingering smell of s--- in your nostrils, and you can thank common sense government for your pleasure.

Robbie, I reckon you have never been on nor near a French canal - otherwise you would know the smell of them on a hot summers day. I can tell you from experience, that no holding tank is capable of putting out such a smell as some of the French canals do!
And btw: the usage of holding tanks has absolutely nothing to do with the E.U. nor with Brussels and I cannot understand why you reckon that the use of holding tanks is "dangerous".
I take it you never use a ferry either, since they have huge holding tanks?
We use septic tanks on our boats for a long time and never experienced any major problems, nor did any of our fellow IBRA members, if my memory serves me right.
The usage of holding tanks is the least we can do to keep our waters clean and most (not only continental) customers have no problem with pumping out the tank every few days - it's part of boating nowadays.

But coming back to the original posting: Trish, there are loads and loads of locks on the French canals, no matter which area you pick. Most of the time you will be able to see the next lock as you leave one behind you! I'd recommend you a Penichette from Locaboat (http://www.locaboat.com/?lang=2&logolang=en) and if you would like to see what they are like, you could simply have a look at one of them at their Irish base in Ballinamore ;-)

Best regards from Killinure Point
Sven
~~~~~ www.waveline.ie ~~~~~ www.wavelineblog.de ~~~~~ www.loughreemarineservices.com ~~~~~

Quote:

ROBERT McCLEAN
One of the many pleasures of cruising in France will be that your enjoyment is not curtailed by the chore of having to pump out s-it tanks every few days like you do in Ireland. Strangely, although France is a fully paid up member of the European Union, France quite understandably said "non" to the hand wringing do gooders in brussels regarding the dangerous use of holding tanks on boats. It would certainly appear that french politicians put the needs of French people ahead of the manic decrees of brussels buffoons. Shame our Irish and N. Irish politicians are unable to learn from the French. So Trish, as you sit down to a fine french breakfast aboard your hire boat, you will not have the lingering smell of s--- in your nostrils, and you can thank common sense government for your pleasure.

i have a holding tank and it has a charcoal filter so there are no smells.
i would rather empty mine a few times a year than sit in a harbour full of (sh)it.

Quote:

ROBERT McCLEAN
One of the many pleasures of cruising in France will be that your enjoyment is not curtailed by the chore of having to pump out s-it tanks every few days like you do in Ireland. Strangely, although France is a fully paid up member of the European Union, France quite understandably said "non" to the hand wringing do gooders in brussels regarding the dangerous use of holding tanks on boats. It would certainly appear that french politicians put the needs of French people ahead of the manic decrees of brussels buffoons. Shame our Irish and N. Irish politicians are unable to learn from the French. So Trish, as you sit down to a fine french breakfast aboard your hire boat, you will not have the lingering smell of s--- in your nostrils, and you can thank common sense government for your pleasure.

Its difficult to grasp what you are on about.
Should the effluent that you and your passengers are producing, be kept on board to your own disgust or ditched overboard to everyone elses disgust?
Perhaps you should be more careful where you are depositing your deposits and then its less of an issue for the viewers?

Interesting you mention the huge holding tanks on the ferries Sven. These are the same tanks that caused the deaths of two young sleeping children on the Cork ferry not so many years ago. I though you would be aware of the ever present threat of methane from a sewage tank. The laws enforcing the use of holding tanks in N. Ireland come from stupid EU rules. It is illegal to flush a marine toilet into the waterway, but it is quite legal to pump thousands or maybe that should be millions of litres of untreated raw sewage on lands that boundary the waterways. A farce you could only find in Ireland.

Hi Robert .

Would you recommend fishing for lunch before or after your ablutions ?

John

Hi Trish
We hired in France a couple of years ago and found the locks no problem. They were all electrified and attended by keepers with various types of hand held remote controls. they were very quick by comparison to here , I remember doing a triple lock in less than 20 minutes.The keepers expect each crew to look after their own ropes, they wont catch them for you.We hired from Le Boat (Emerald Star) from Castlenaudray and headed towards Tolouse in mid October. As this was end of season it was very quiet and location of restaurants on the route determined the overnight stops , these were all very good, even if we were their only customers that night. Some French in this part of the country is essential as it not a main stream tourist
area.Hope you enjoy the trip.

Hello Trish,
Four yeas ago we (2 couples) did as you are about to do and actually took the plunge a purchased an ex hire craft from Le Boat. We took delivery in the spring of 2009 on the Canal du Rhone a Sete at Saint-Gilles and of course named it, Le Grand Slam.
The Canal Rhone a Sete is about 100km with only 2 locks and one lifting bridge at Frontignan.
The 2 locks are at the eastern end at Beaucaire and Bellegarde both of these towns have hire bases as has Saint-Gilles. Here you can divert off course to Le Petit Rhone in the Camargue but hire craft are not allowed on the the River Rhone proper.
The next big tourist town is Aigues-Mortes which is stunning. Walled in the11th centuary and about 1.5km long complete with towers and loads of history, but beware overnight mooring here is about €30.
You have access to the sea from Aigues-Mortes by canal about 5km.
On route to Sete you will be cruising on canal at sea level and in view of the Med at times.Turning downstream on to the Latte river at Palavas you can moor up at a fee and enjoy boat jousting which is a local sport, every village has its own team. By going upstrean on the Latte river and going through one lock you woud arrive at Port Ariane which is situated in the Montpellier surberbs, and well worth a visit.
Frontignan lifting bridge opens twice a day and you had better be ready or it will be closed before you get the mooring undone.
After Frontignan you enter Etang de Thau, a small salt lake which produces more shellfish and wild sea bass that you could imagine and all the towns on its shore have wonderfull markets and eateries. The lake (16km long) is the start of the Canal du Midi can get rough by French standards, (not as bad you would experience in the Shannon lakes), as the on shore Med breeze cause short waves and as you have to keep to a channel tacking is not always an option.
Mooring in the towns is great, all services but again at a price.
The Canal Rhone a Sete is a working canal as well as a lovely cruising ground and the working boats can be huge, last year we overtook a 110 meter fully loaded penich (that had 2 big cars on the aft deck) and it took over 2 minutes to complete and was scarey as the canal whilst is wide enough, was have all the water sucked up by the penich and he held the centre.

As for your trip where ever you go, you will get loads of help and all the advice you can take from the many live aboards, and you will see them everywhere. They all love to share their experiences.

Michael

Quote:

Robbie
Interesting you mention the huge holding tanks on the ferries Sven. These are the same tanks that caused the deaths of two young sleeping children on the Cork ferry not so many years ago. I though you would be aware of the ever present threat of methane from a sewage tank.

I am fully aware of that incident, heard it many, many times as a reason for not having holding tanks on cruisers. And there is a huge difference, which the anti-holding-tank-folks don't want to accept: there is very little or no movement in the holding tank of a ferry or cruise ship, which causes the sewerage to form sort of a crust. And that crust stops the methane gas to escape through the vent(s) unless you stir the sh** everysoften, as it is being done in land-based sewerage systems. This problem simply does not exist on a cruiser, because it moves a little more than a ferry and the tank is being pumped regularily, as you stated yourself ;-) So are you now still using ferries, since the holding tanks on them are so dangerous ?

Best regards from Killinure Point
Sven
~~~~~ www.waveline.ie ~~~~~ www.wavelineblog.de ~~~~~ www.loughreemarineservices.com ~~~~~

I do not know what way it is on theShannon Sven, but on the Erne, the holding tank legislation has been robustly enforced on hire cruiser operators, whereas the vast majority of private craft fitted with sea toilets, have no holding tanks, and the powers that be allow them carte blanche. Since the private owned craft constitute the vast majority of vessels on the system, I see this two faced approach by the authorities as grossly unfair. I am all for holding tanks and fully understand the benefits if the system actually worked, but in the case of the Erne, with the majority of vessels not complying and the authorities not bothering to enforce except against a small section of vessels, coupled to the fact that the sewage collected from the sewage pumping stations, is transported to enniskillen treatment works from where it is then pumped into lough erne, just north of portora lock gate. The water board would try to tell you that the sewage has been treated before it is pumped into the Erne, but if you have smelled the stink from the outfall as anyone passing by will have, one would take some convincing. Add to that the fact that it is legal to pump millions of gallons of slurry on any farmlands surrounding the lakes. The system that is supposed to protect the environment is quite simply, a total joke.

@ Robbie: we should probably have opened up a new thread for the matter of holding tanks, sorry for hi-jacking this thread.
The Shannon Bye-Laws 1992/1994 contain a paragraph dealing with the prevention of pollution from cruisers on the Shannon. Member of the Irish Boat Rental Association are using holding tanks voluntarily for a good few years now. I also don't like the fact, that a good few private boaters don't give a fiddler's about the current legislation and I also don't like that it is not properly enforced. But this does not change my attitude towards the usage of holding tanks.
All our boats and their holding tanks have been inspected about 4 years ago by WI personnel and I know that dye-tests were done in Leitrim. Here's an interesting one for you to read - and I would like to leave it at that for now, unless we open up a new thread ;-) . So here's the article for you to read:
[www.independent.ie]

Best regards from Killinure Point
Sven
~~~~~ www.waveline.ie ~~~~~ www.wavelineblog.de ~~~~~ www.loughreemarineservices.com ~~~~~



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2012 12:18 by Sven Neubert.

Hi Trish,

I will not comment on the South of France as we have not cruised there yet, but I understand that it is very crowded. We have spent 4 years in the rest of France, our favourite bit is the canal de Briare. There is a Le Boat hire base in Chatillon-sur- Loire. If you go south you are in the Sancerre wine region.
BriareCanalsa4.doc This attachment is a piece we translated about the canal and Briare.
There is a great shortage of water in France at the moment and the Canal de Centre will be closed for most of the summer. Look at www.vnf.fr for updates.

Mike & Rosaleen Miller
Aquarelle
Alkmeer
NL

Quote:

ROBERT McCLEAN
One of the many pleasures of cruising in France will be that your enjoyment is not curtailed by the chore of having to pump out s-it tanks every few days like you do in Ireland. Strangely, although France is a fully paid up member of the European Union, France quite understandably said "non" to the hand wringing do gooders in brussels regarding the dangerous use of holding tanks on boats. It would certainly appear that french politicians put the needs of French people ahead of the manic decrees of brussels buffoons. Shame our Irish and N. Irish politicians are unable to learn from the French. So Trish, as you sit down to a fine french breakfast aboard your hire boat, you will not have the lingering smell of s--- in your nostrils, and you can thank common sense government for your pleasure.

Robert, what a strange mis informed post.

Dave



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2012 15:40 by Dave McCabe.

Quote:

Trish
Hi
Having spent many years cruising the Shannon, we have decided to try out the joys of cruising in France in September. Four of us are going to make a tour of it and drive around France and maybe into Italy. Therefore, the location of the cruising region itself is not a problem.
However we want to avoid areas with loads of locks or where travel is too limited. Would like areas that are good for stopping and enjoying local cuisine and Evian Water !

Does anyone have any recommendations for regions to go to or to "stay away" from, hire companies to use, and what to watch out for when hiring in France?

Thanks
Trish

Trish, skip the canals and take to the coast, no locks, and unlimited travel, the cote d,azure and the Italian Rivera cannot be beaten

Dave

Just back from an Easter break. Thanks so much for your replies. There is some interesting information here re cruising to France and maybe not so surprised to hear the problems at the moment re water levels. Maybe the holding tanks debate is for another tread!

Regards
Trish