Two Boat Trips in France

We took two short boat-trips in France this year (2026). For the first of these we flew to Bordeaux and then, after enjoying the sights of this beautiful city and also spending a day visiting the oyster farms of Arcachon on a small boat, we spent a beautifully peaceful time cruising the 3 rivers of the region: the Garonne, the Dordogne, and the Gironde. We visited many chateaux, sampling their delicious wines and even having a magnificent gala dinner at one of them.

NOTE: if you wish, you can view a slideshow of these photos in the album on my FlickR site, which is also particularly effective if you are viewing this on your phone or tablet.


Bordeaux is a beautiful city, with an extremely historic feel to it. The ancient facades of the buildings are all preserved with no modern additions or changes.

This Region is called Cadillac. The car brand is named after it.	The oyster farm at Arcachon, a small town and a beautiful sandy bay on the coast near Bordeaux	Debbie clearly enjoyed tasting the oysters	We were lucky enough to have perfect weather for the whole trip

We saw many beautiful Chateaux, visiting several of them for guided tours and wine-tasting

Examining this wall shows how the sandstone is dissolved by the weather, adding character to the soil which is reflected in the beautiful flavour of the wines of the region. We saw a great many cellars full of Bordeaux wine, but managed somehow to avoid the temptations of the gift-shops (as shown here)

After 3 months at home, during which period we had our magnificent Golden Wedding celebration party, we set off for France again. This time, however, we travelled by train to Strasbourg to explore the waterways of Alsace and Lorraine in a barge on the Marne-Rhine canal. We were worried that the water level in the canal may be too low for travelling, but in fact the only hiccup was that a temporary technical issue on the Inclined Plane at Arzviller had left the barge stuck at about an hour's coach-ride from Strasbourg. This turned out not to be a big problem, as we were still able to travel every day and to visit all the places that we had intended to visit, and (as an advantage for me at least) we rode the plane twice, both downwards and upwards. The barge carried just 21 passengers, and the on-board hospitality was superb with magnificent meals (including an evening barbecue on deck, and a candle-lit lunch as we passed through a tunnel) and a great variety of drinks. We travelled home by TGV to Paris and then by Eurostar from the chaotic Gare-du-Nord station back to St Pancras.


Our cabin was compact but very well appointed	We passed through a couple of tunnels ...	... whose towpaths had abandoned rail tracks ...	... where small engines used to tow the boats.	Our boat had a small pop-up wheelhouse

The canal was peaceful and in many ways quite similar to our own Shropshire Union Canal	Debbie found the hot-tub to be a very relaxing way to pass through the locks	We visited a glass crystal works ...	... an 18th century communication tower which used an early type of Semaphore ....	... and a church with beautiful stained glass by Marc Chagall

On an inclined plane the boat travels sideways up or down the hill, in a giant bathtub (the 'caisson') on rails. The plane replaced a flight of locks in 1969.	At the top of the plane, the guillotine gate leads into the caisson WATCH A VIDEO OF A BOAT GOING DOWN THE PLANE	Here you can see the caisson descending the plane WATCH THE COUNTERWEIGHTS RISE UP TO BALANCE THE DESCENDING BOAT	Our boat waits at the bottom of the plane. WATCH AS WE ARRIVE BACK AT THE TOP OF THE PLANE	At the other end of the summit, the flight of locks was also replaced in 1969, by one very deep lock