EURO STARS
Heidi Hasler recounts her four-month trip from Brixham to Torrevieja on her Sealine C330
t’s nearly a year since our long
cruise to Spain started and,
looking back, we have so many
fond memories.
We felt like James Bond
speeding up the Seine’s fl at
surface and basking in beautiful sunshine. We
took several days to head up the river, passing
through massive commercial locks and feeling
very small and a little vulnerable.
We stopped at Rouen, Venables, Ilon and
Cergy, which were all nice and reasonably
priced. At Cergy, our daughter Katy joined us
for her birthday to have a weekend in Paris. The
three of us were a little emotional motoring into
Paris, seeing all the sights from our little vessel,
in amongst the pleasure boats.
We moored at Port de l’Arsenal, in the centre
of Paris, which you enter through a narrow and
busy lock. We waited nearly an hour to get in.
Once we were in though, Paris was ours! We
became typical tourists and had a lovely
weekend with Katy before she headed home.
From Paris, we headed further down the
Seine to Draveil and Vigneux, both of which had
shops and restaurants nearby.
We met up with Licence to Thrill, which we
had met back at Ilon, and continued with them
until the end of our river section. We had been
told there would be bad weather and not to
start the canals for a couple of days. This gave
us the chance to look around St Mammes and
Moret-sur-Loing (one of our favourite stops on
the entire route), fuel up and get ready for the
190+ locks ahead. After two days and no bad
weather we decided we needed to move on.
With the fi rst lock, the keeper gave us a bleeper
(looks like a garage fob), which you press
heading to the lock and they get it ready for
you. We were totally amazed by this and it
really saved us time. We managed to do the
fi rst canal system in one day – not the three we
had planned! Although this was a great
achievement, it meant we didn’t honour some
of the moorings we’d already booked.
The second water system we entered was
called Canal de Briare. This was much slower
as we had lost the bleeper gadget and the VNF
guys, although fabulously helpful and friendly,
like a long lunch and the locks close duringtheir breaks. The weather changed and the VNF
closed off one section of the canal, forcing us to
stop in Montbouy; a strange little town with one
bar/restaurant which closes at 7pm.
The next day, we were allowed to continue as
the water had subsided. We went through a
lifting bridge, several locks, then onto Rogny
and the start of an incline.
It was so nice to go down in locks for a
change. Chilaxin’s hull shape is not good for
ascending locks and she certainly preferred
going down than up. It was at this point we
started coming across the lower bridges, some
of which were 3.5m high (Chilaxin’s height is
3.47m) – a bit too close for comfort! The recent
rain meant the canals were higher and there
was little room for error. Our hearts did skip a
beat a few times passing under those bridges.
Briare town is worth a couple of days’ visit.
They have a laundrette close to the marina,
so you can get bedding and clothes cleaned.
Once fi nished here, we headed out for the
last two canals – the Canal Latéral à la Loire and
then onto the Canal Central (which has a lock
every kilometre!). By this time we had got the
locks sorted...or so we thought! One thing you
can’t rely on are the holiday boats and the
people driving them. We followed a holiday
boat in to one lock and the occupants pulled
the cord to start the system, even though we
were not in properly and no one was attached
with lines! At this point we knew not to go in
with the rental boats in future. We, along
with other boat owners, nicknamed the holiday
boats ‘bumper boats’ because they bounce
off the verges of the canals.OUR BOATSI
Heidi keeps a close eye on
Chilaxin’s vulnerable topsides
as water rushes into the lockOne of many lifting
bridges on the canalsEn route from Spain to the
Balearics in their C330