May 25 – June 12, 2019
After Paris we traveled southeast on La Seine, the Canal de Loing, the Canal de Briare, the Canal Lateral a la Loire and the Canal du Centre. This section was a total of 496 km and 155 locks.
We finished the final prepping of the fenders in Saint-Mammes before entering our first narrow lock. Details…. https://sv-chinook.com/2019/04/preparing-for-the-french-canals/
This was the most challenging part of our trip with the width of these locks only .5 meters wider than Chinook. One day we traveled 19 locks, an equal number of narrow bridges and an aqueduct (water bridge over a river). The narrow canals made the passing of boats a challenge with Chinook’s twin rudders and sloping shorelines.
Despite travelling off season with light traffic there were many evenings where we found it difficult to find a mooring spot for Chinook.
Our timetable only allowed one night in most places along the canals. One exception was Paray-le-Monial where we spent 2 nights due to high winds. Strong wind and narrow locks are not a good combination.
