Inland Waterway Cruising; Boats, Barges, etc.

We did a week on Canal-du-Midi (and saw Roi Soliel), absolutely one of the best weeks boating I've had. It's on the retirement list to buy a canal boat and spend shoulder seasons cruising. Apparently it takes about 5 years to cover the majority of France. France is very easy cruising, Germany and beyond means jostling with much bigger commercial traffic.

It's a wonderful dream, thanks for starting the topic!!

Go nowhere at slow speed and high expense..?

Heard good things about the canal cruises however, wish I had time and money to sample some of it. French country side sure is pleasant..Been there, done that, sans barge.

Mom & Dad did a cruise through Ireland a few years ago. A beautiful Dutch barge restored to a high standard and a young French chef among the crew.
The other passengers were a couple from Texas with an eye to buy some horses for breeding.

The days sort of melted away over the 2 weeks. The 2 Dads disappeared after breakfast to buy some bread and ended up in the pub to see if the 'Black Stuff' had changed flavour from the day before. They wobbled back to the boat on push bikes with the bread missing some crusty bits from one side.

The girls, however, had planned a little ahead. In the mornings a dapper young Irish lad was waiting for them in neat tweeds and an embarressment of a flat-hat that had seen a bit too much 'farm' (it had it's own microclimate apparently). As they clambered into the back of the rusty Range Rover, a bloodstock agent was waiting to sell them "..some of the finest horses in all Ireland. Perhaps one of them has only t'ree working legs but very, very fine..." sort of sales blarney. They too returned to the barge after some aromatic 'working tea' from the yard owner.

After long lunches on deck and local foods for supper, they bimbled towards Dublin and just wanted to turn it around again and go back.

Can you blame them?

Dad can't really remember going to Ireland!!!!

Now we are talking about the kind of cruising that really appeals to me!

Here are some pics taken on the Midi and the Rhone not too long ago. For those with more interest in the lifestyle and techniques, there is a series of books written by Bill and Laurel Cooper, an older English couple who cruised the inland waterways of Europe for years and written in amazing detail about how to do it and what it's like.

Here's one of the tourist shuttles provided by the Blue Boat Company in Amsterdam. If you ever visit, I recommend taking the tour....

Hundreds of barges line the seawalls in Amsterdam. Many of them converted to live aboards, offices, or even retail businesses. Unsure of the status on this one...

Taxis in Amsterdam have class...

Flower Power...

Is that a rudder on the bow? Sometimes hard to tell if they are coming or going...

Traveling one country north, we found ourselves high atop a building having a late afternoon ale and overlooking Bremen, Germany. Below, the "Oceana" awaited Weser River sightseers...

My favorite barge is the Bannenberg design Tigre d'Or or later named Tigre Rose. Here is a story about a trip on her in two parts.

http://www.marinesurveyor.com/simex/01.html

http://www.marinesurveyor.com/simex/02.html

England

Photo is from our trip to England a few years ago, extensive canal network and charters.

A few favorite links to fuel the canal barge fantasies...

The key is to get into the brokerage areas, and then select "Converted Barges" or similar... that gets to the good stuff.

http://www.h2ofrance.com/
http://www.luxe-motor.com/
http://www.bourgogne-marine.com/Home.html

I've heard of folks that have actively sailed the world retiring to this lifestyle. No fog, no navigation worries, fall overboard... just stand up and walk to the edge of the canal!

And to the comment "going no where slowly at great expense", the operational costs are dirt cheap compared to ocean going yachts. A 100' foot converted barge is typically <$10K/yr for maintenance (not counting fuel etc.).

I think canal barges are a "must" chapter for boaters... wouldn't want to spend a lifetime there, but 5 years... absolutely!

Hybrid Erie Canal Boat Doing the Great Loop

Here's a couple that have converted a 40 foot canal boat to run on electricity as well as diesel. Supplemental power is provided by solar panels. They are taking a year-long sabbatical to ''do the loop" (at speeds as fast as 6 knots ).

www.slowboatcruise.com

Nice little canal boat

Closer to home, I was just reading the latest Epoxyworks magazine and they had a couple articles about a 30' classic-looking diesel/solar/electric boat that will mostly be used for canal cruising in Canada and the US:

http://www.epoxyworks.com/32/index.html

And here's some more information and a ton of construction pictures on the builder's web site:

http://www.bearmountainboats.com/launch.htm