Hi All

I am thinking about hiring a cruiser in this part of Burgundy. Hire charges
seems incredibly cheap from a base in Briare so I was wondering if there was
a catch...

Is it bleak? Miles from any villages?

Any info gratefully received.

Stuart Reed

There's no 'catch' other than the Briare Canal is one of the oldest man-made
canals in France, and so like the Canal Du Midi and the Niverness can only
accomodate relatively smaller and lower hire boats.

Charmes Navigation rents out of Briare, and while most of their boats are
older and smaller, they have a decent reputation for keeping them in good
repair and supporting their users.

There are few fancy 'Hautes Fluvial' - so be prepared to be self-contained,
and make sure your boat has bank-stakes, and you know how to use them.

The region is pretty charming with smallish towns every 3-6Km, but do rent
bicycles if you can, many places are served only by mobile bakers and
butchers, so if you miss them you'll need to pedal to the next town.

I'm not sure what the Briare's current state is, but a few years ago it was
mostly hand-locks with student keepers - be prepared to lend a hand and keep
fit....

Cheers

Jim

"Stuart Reed" wrote in message
...
Hi All

I am thinking about hiring a cruiser in this part of Burgundy. Hire
charges
seems incredibly cheap from a base in Briare so I was wondering if there
was
a catch...

Is it bleak? Miles from any villages?

Any info gratefully received.

Stuart Reed

Hi Jim

Thanks for your reply.

I'd be grateful for a little more info on the cruising areas north & south
of Briare if you could spare the time.

The ideal situation for our group would be to find at least one mooring
place every day where we could find a bread shop and a restaurant for an
evening meal - the problem being that one of our number is not able to walk
more than about half a mile.

The Charmes Nautique website suggests these for a week's return cruise:
north to Nemours & south to Nevers. Do you think this would meet our
criteria?

The attraction is a very large boat at about two-thirds of the price from
other companies in other regions.

Thanks again for your help.

Stuart Reed