Baltic to Med via Canals - Doable?

[Macblaze]

Navigable waterways - Fluviacarte

This website lists all the navigable waterways of France and locks. I use it for route planning...

[Ernest Skublics]

To Normanby:

I found what I think was a fairly final version of my book on the computer. If you give me your e-mail address, I'd be happy to send it to you.

Ernest

[Normanby]

Originally Posted by Ernest Skublics

To Normanby:

I found what I think was a fairly final version of my book on the computer. If you give me your e-mail address, I'd be happy to send it to you.

Ernest

Thanks Ernest, PM sent to you with my email address.
Did you realise my little Oscar Wilde quote earlier was from the play about you? My feeble attempt at a literary witticism.

[Tellus]

Beside french maps here is a german guide:
http://www.adac.de/_mmm/pdf/Merkblat...meer_57398.pdf

page 2: from Luebeck via River Trave, Elbe-Seitenkanal, Mittellandkanal, Dortmund-Ems-Kanal to River Rhine, near Mainz up River Main, Main-Donau-Kanal: Danube...

watch out: on River Rhine the currents are from 10 - 14Km/h ( 6 to 8.5 mph) against your direction, you should be able to move 12.5mhp

This guy did it in 2012 from Nuremberg to Black Sea in a nutshell
http://www.donauurlaub.de/englisch/index.html

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Normanby

This map looks promising:

The little blue line linking Briare with Nantes has "La Loire" written on it, that's the Loire river, right? Anyone know if it's navigable?

”

The Loire is not navigable between those points.

[Lars_L]

Those how have sailed on the canals from Sweden to the Med usually say that a draft of 1.5 m is no problem. With a draft of 1.8 m it’s possible but the number of ways is limited. Normally they start their channel journey in Kiel north of Lübeck. There are also companies that transport the mast on trucks from the Baltic to the Med.

World around sailors how goes up through the Suez Canal to the Med talking about that they can only be six months in EU. And then it is counted from the first checked in in Greece and until they checked out in the Canary. I think it is three months and then they can get another three months. Isn’t it the same for us Europeans when we sail in US?

Once I meet a small sailing boat with a 2 hp outboard motor without reverse gear that has gone on the channels through Europe. When he should go forward he start the engine, when he should go backwards he turns the engine 180°, and when he should stop he kills the engine. He said that the locks were difficult at the beginning but he got used to it.

[sy_gilana]

A friend of ours did London to Istanbul on the rivers. His next trick is to restore a boat called Memphis and travel from Mallorca to London via the canals, then he wants to circumnavigate Weastern Europe via the Black Sea and up to the Baltic.
he has a web page called manontheriver.com

[Normanby]

Such good answers - thanks a bunch.
I have more reading to do but it all sounds doable, with some ingenuity, patience, charm, and devious cunning - all in the sailor's behaviour toolbox.

Now, for my other plan of having the boat trucked to Lake Como so i can anchor at the Clooney jetty and get invited to the parties...

[RickDeSm]

I'm doing that trip right now, email or pm me about details. I'm in St. Quentin France right now.

[QuinnKarlsson]

Originally Posted by Ernest Skublics

I am delighted to see someone else planning an adventure similar to mine a few years back. I sailed from the North-West of England (Lancaster), down the Irish Sea, up the English Channel to Dover and then across and into the Rhein, motored up the Rhein, across the Main and Main-Danube Canal, down the Danube into the Black Sea and over to the Aegean, to the bottom of Turkey (Marmaris).

My boat was a Westerly Centaur with shallow bilge keels -- 1 m draft, and a very good Beta Diesel, which was decisive, as the Rhein at some points has a brutal current. People had advised me to opt for the French canal system, as they didn't think I would be able to make it up the Rhein against the current. But stubbornness and a good, tough engine conquered the Rhein. The freighters however often almost ran me down.

The locks are free.

It was a marvelous trip. I have written a book about it with all the details, but could only have it published/printed privately. But I'd be happy to tell much more, including about the Stalinist-style bureaucracy and obsessive police control in Bulgaria. All under the gaze of the icon of St Nicholas (whose feast was yesterday!)

Ernest

Hi Ernest,

Just planning our dream adventure and stumbled across your posts . Very inspiring !
I would love to read your book if it was available ? Sounds incredible .
We are based in Sweden and are looking to travel from the south coast down to the med through the inland waterways .
Always on the look out for seasoned advice .


Kind regards


KerryAnne

[Amigo23]

The quickest canal way from the Baltic to the Med is to go into the canals at Travemunde in Germany.



I did this trip this summer with a boat that is 1.1. meters deep. If your boat has a draft of 1.2. meters you wont have any problems. 1.8 meter is the max draft.


We took whats called the "short" or "standard" route among Swedish crusiers, from Travemunde to Lubeck, then the Lubeck-Elbe Kanal, a few nm om Elbe, then Elbe-Seiten Kanal, Mitteland Kanal, Dortmund-Ems Kanal, Wesel-Datteln Kanal, Rhein, Maas/Meuse, and into the French Canals at Givet. A number of small French canals then Saone and finally Rhone to Port St Louis.





This is the only map that you need. I bought a ton of pilots as well, but never used any of them:



https://unece.org/DAM/trans/main/sc3/AGN_map_2018.pdf




Our trip took 7 weeks I think. It would have been much nicer to have 10 weeks if that would have been an option. There is a lot to see and do. It would be possible to do it in 5 or 6 weeks, but not nice at all.

[Heather Lampman]

KerryAnne, this is Ernest’s daughter, Heather, answering on his behalf, as he is no longer here to do so. I was able to publish his book as an Amazon print-as-you go book. It is called “Across Europe in a Small Sailboat: The Story of a Solo Journey.” As it is print-as-you-go, I think it should be available from any country. (If I am wrong, please let me know and I will see how I can help you access it.) I am sorry that I have not gotten back to the project of converting it to an e-book, but if you are willing to pay the cost of printing, this will give you the account of the journey, with many photos, descriptions and reflections. It is not, however, set up as a guide-book with charts and that kind of detailed resource.

[JeanF73]

Absolutely, yes
Except for the Netherlands to/from Baltic section, I have done it from the Rhone to northern Netherlands, then via North Sea, Elbe to Kiel canal.
Looks like there is inland connection from NL to Germany but have not studied that part.