Cruising in Burgundy, France

I had heard about cruising the rivers of France and thought it sounded like a great way to celebrate Art’s 75th birthday. After reading all the information it sounded easy enough, and the literature stated “no experience required”; you simply rent your boat and take a short one-hour training. Even though Art and I are former naval officers neither of us were ‘boat drivers’; but we had the classes in our basic naval training, so we figured we’d be fine.

There are several companies that offer these boat rentals, but since I knew someone who had a good experience using le Boat, I decided to go with them.

Where to Cruise?

Although we already knew that we wanted to cruise the rivers of France, I was surprised to find that le Boat offers boat rentals in numerous other countries; Italy, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands and England as well.

Le Boat offers canal and river cruising in nine different areas of France, so the next decision was what area looked the most appealing. Since none of our crew were experienced boaters, I looked for the location that appeared to be the easiest. When I found the words “easy to navigate and suitable for beginners” under the Cruising Advice tab for the Burgundy: Franche Comte area, I knew I had found the right location.

Renting the Boat

The actual rental process was simple enough. I made all the arrangements online at the le Boat website. Since we had invited two of Art’s brothers and their wives to join us, I wanted a boat with three cabins, each with its own bathroom.  Unfortunately, the type of boat I had originally wanted, the Royal Classique, was not available for the dates we were traveling. The only boat that met our requirements and was available was the Crusader, which was in the budget category. It wasn’t that much different, just a little smaller, and since it was the only boat that meet our requirements, I booked it.

The price was reasonable, with our early booking discount and with the extras that I added which included the collision damage waiver, 30 engine hours, boat cleaning, 2 bicycles, six deck cushions, and Wi-Fi the total came to $3062.80 for the week. When we got there, we simply placed the deposit of 250 Euros on our credit card, which was refunded when we turned in the boat.

Our Arrival at the Marina

We were provided with an introduction to the maps and information in our packet with recommendations on where to stop along the route to our destination. Then we had an orientation on the boat with a member of the le Boat team. After explaining the basics of the boat, he took us out for a brief check ride and then through one of the manual locks to show us how it worked. When he left us, we felt woefully unprepared; but at that point what could we do but continue onward?

Cruising up the river was beautiful. In mid-September the weather was quite warm, in the mid 80’s the first couple of days, but cool at night. A cold front came through resulting in two very windy days. Unfortunately, we were cruising into the wind. However, we had bright sunshine which made the wind bearable. Even with the wind and temperatures in the low 70’s, we stayed up on deck most of the day, with brief trips down below to warm up when needed. The last couple of days were cooler, but the wind had died down, so it was quite pleasant and fall like.

Traversing the Locks

Although we managed, the locks were more of a challenge than the le Boat literature made them out to be. Getting on and off the boat at the locks was not always easy. The large automatic locks were intimidating. We had a total of seven locks we had to go through, four manual and three automatic. Now, I must point out that our entire crew was over the age of 62, so that made a bit of a difference as well. I think if we had been ten years younger we might have been more comfortable with the process.

When we arrived at the first manual lock that was closed and we had to open, we pulled up to a mooring platform so that two of our crew could go to open the locks.  During our orientation the guy explicitly warned us that when using the mooring platform, “do not jump from the boat onto the platform. The platform is on pontoons and will act as a springboard.”

Art’s Birthday Swim

When Art went to get onto the platform so he could go open lock, the boat was about 18 inches higher than the platform. There really wasn’t any other way to get onto the platform other than to hop down that short 18 inches. Well, even that height was enough to send Art, with a perfect heel over head flip, off the other side of the platform and into the river. Fortunately, the rivers’ edge dropped steeply into the water and he did not hit bottom.

Unfortunately, with that steep edge Art couldn’t just walk up the bank of the river. Since the platform was on pontoons, it sat about a foot out of the water and there were no steps or rails to grab onto to pull himself out. One of his brothers managed to get onto the platform without going over. After a couple of tries he pulled Art up out of the water. So, Art celebrated his 75th birthday with an unexpected swim in the river.

Docking; Harder Than it Looks

The other difficulty we had was putting into the docks at the marinas. With one exception, we had to back the boat into the slips at the docks; not an easy process for beginners. It took us a while to figure out how to do it, and even then it wasn’t pretty. Other boaters would give us a hand when they could, which was nice. But once again, we felt rather inadequate.

Food

We did pick up items for sandwiches at the markets as we traveled. With one exception, we had fresh croissants every morning and picked up a fresh baguette of bread each day. It was pleasant to have lunch on the deck as we were sailing.

Any time we found a town with a supermarket, we would buy bottled water and any other items we needed. So, even when we could not find a restaurant we had enough food to eat.

Few Restaurants Open

We found that many of the towns’ restaurants were closed for the season, which came as a surprise to us. It was mid-September and the weather was still pleasant.  In several of the places we stopped we found only one restaurant open; which made choosing where to eat easy. 

One day we found the only restaurant open in the little town where we stopped was a pizza place, and it was a good distance from the dock; too far to walk. Fortunately, we had stopped at a small town for lunch that day. Since we had a nice lunch we just made sandwiches on the boat for dinner.

Cruising the Rivers of France

Most days we only spent two to four hours actually cruising, but we did have one very long day. On that day the first marina we stopped at was in the middle of nowhere and the restaurant was closed, so we just kept going. The sun was beginning to set as we pulled into the next marina, and even though it was full, we were able to tie up on the breakwater, we just didn’t have any services available to us. It turned out to be a great town, lots of restaurants and a large market the next morning.

My Recommendations

I really can’t say I would recommend cruising the rivers of France for a group of beginners. Having at least one experienced boater would make it much easier. We were just uncomfortable with the locks and pulling into the docks.

There are other companies you can rent boats through, but I was pleased with le Boat. Not having tried the others, I can’t say if they are any better or worse. The boat was clean. It was older, but certainly had everything we needed. A few minor repairs were needed, but nothing that we weren’t able to live with; things like door latches needing adjusting.

I would recommend going earlier in the season, when things are a bit livelier in the towns. We found Chalon-sur-Saone and Seurre to be the best stops. Gergy was pretty well deserted, even the marina was unmanned. Louhans was closed-up on Sunday evening, but the Monday morning market was amazing.

Plan Ahead

One last recommendation, if you will need a cab to take you to and from the marinas; make arrangements ahead of time. We didn’t pre-arrange for a cab to take us the four kilometers from Louhans to Branges. Our thought was we would grab a cab at the train station or call one of the two cab services we had numbers for once we got to Louhans. Big mistake!

The train station was deserted. We tried the numbers we had, and one was an answering machine and never called us back. The other taxi service turned us down flat. We were finally able to find the number to the le Boat office in Branges and after a little pleading, they called a cab for us.

Based on our arrival experience, we made cab reservations a few days before our arrival in St. Jean de Losne. We needed two cabs to take us to Dijon, which is about 30 minutes away. This worked out perfectly, and gave us a little time to walk around Dijon before catching the train back to Paris.

Final Thoughts

Am I glad we did it? Yes, cruising the rivers of France made for a memorable 75th birthday celebration for Art.

Would I do it again? No; I learned that I’m not really a boater. I am much happier with a crew and staff to take care of my needs. Now, I did see a barge with a staff and crew upon which people were cruising down the Saone; that looked appealing!

Are you getting ready to plan a vacation? Be sure to read my blog post How to Plan a Vacation in Five Easy Steps. You can also request a copy of my free vacation planner while you’re there!

How about you? Are there any areas of the world you would recommend a boat rental? What kind of experiences have you had with  boat rentals? I’d love to hear about them!