Mooring outside Marinas in France

[Bealtaine]

Hi folks,

 

Having cruised in Ireland for many years hubby and I have set our sights on France as our next challenge. Doing lots of research - it seems a lot of people book in to Marinas along their routes but this seems to be expensive - €15 to €25 per night. See also that a lot of people opt to greenbank along the way - finding an area anywhere along the bank and mooring up.  I wondered if anyone has done this in France and did it feel safe? We wouldn't have much experience at this as in Ireland there are free marinas along the rivers in towns and in remote areas but they are designated and predominantly people moor there. Just asking from a personal safety aspect. Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Mac of Cygnet]

When we hired in France (Canals du Nivernais & Midi) I don't recall ever booking or staying in marinas overnight.  We mostly stayed at free moorings in towns and villages, and occasionally mooring bankside on pins (what a great term - 'greenbanking'!).  Why would you be concerned about personal safety in France more than anywhere else - is Ireland a dangerous place?

[Bealtaine]

Hi Mac,

 

Thanks for the reply and for the information. It is good to know that there are free marinas. I wasn't suggesting France was in any way unsafe - it is just a case of being a bit nervous of something we are not so used to. As the river/canal network in Ireland is on a much smaller scale - though may I say immensely beautiful and well worth a visit! - it would be rare to find yourself moored up on your own unless you drop anchor somewhere. So I just wondered what other boaters experiences were. 

[Onewheeler]

It can be difficult in France to find anywhere to moor other than at recognised places or marinas. The canal and river edges are usually shallow and commercial traffic will pull out anything but the most substantial pins. Where there are bollards or rings they're often spaced at 40 or 50 m for commercial barges.

 

If you are hiring you should be provided with a list of places to moor. If in your own boat join the DBA to access their essential waterways guides which are maintained by members and will identify most places where mooring is feasible.

 

A lot of village moorings are free and sometimes have free water and electricity. (In Belgium you'll pay a lot for both).

[Bealtaine]

Thanks so much for this information. This is very useful to know. It will be our own boat. Good to know about Belgium to as we hope to go there at some point also. 

[Onewheeler]

What sort of boat have you / will be buying?

 

(Our boat in France is still available - see boats for sale!)

[Bealtaine]

Hi,

I had a look at your boat. It is lovely. We have a single engine cruiser which we love and we don't want to sell that. We couldn't take that to France by sea because it would mean coming from Limerick all the way around the south coast of Ireland across to Dover and then across to France. We have a friend who did that trip in a twin engine cruiser and even he says never again! The cost of taking our own boat over land is very expensive also. So at the moment we are looking at buying an older cruiser maybe ex-hire in France. We would welcome your thoughts given your experience.

[Onewheeler]

What you need to remember is that, more and mor,e France is geared up for 12 or 15 m boats, partly to satisfy the hire trade. Being France, you can take out a hire boat with no experience and minimal instruction. To use your own boat you need to pass exams - it used to be ICC  and CEVNI but there's a simpler french qualification now. Not sure if it covers the other EU countries. Winter mooring and licences are cheaper in France, insurance seems a lot more expensive.

[Bealtaine]

Hi - so our thinking around buying an ex-hire was that the draft, length etc would most likely be geared towards the lower bridges and lock dimensions. Also a reason why we wouldn't bring our own boat as the draft would be too high for a lot of the bridges. Thanks really good to know that the insurance is more expensive. We weren't aware of that. We did know about the ICC qualification so we will get that done as soon as we can. I know there are probably huge variations in what you can expect to pay for winter moorings depending on facilities, location etc but what would be an average ball park of what we could expect to pay for winter mooring?

[Onewheeler]

We usually pay a bit over a thousand for the winter, but it very much depends on where you are. That's for a larger boat than you are probably looking at. 

 

Worth noting that boats are generally more expensive in France than in the low countries.

[Bealtaine]

Thank you so much for all this information. It is all really really useful to know. We will look further afield than France now that we know about the price difference also. Hope to be sorted for next summer. 

[Tam & Di]

I'd suggest you look at the DBA (Dutch Barge Association) site https://barges.org as you'll find lots of people actually doing what you propose and get up to date info. It is not mandatory to own a barge, and members own all types and size of craft. You can read the posts on the forum as a visitor, but have to be a member to contribute. If you are serious about the plans you describe you'd be well advised to join  - annual fees are minimal and you would have all the information you can think of - not only boating, mooring, chandleries, legal requirements for boat and crew etc, but also the nitty gritty of living there  - phone and internet services, getting a visa, banking, doctors and vets, and so on. Although the majority of members do cruise in France you will find all you need to know about cruising Begium, Netherlands, Germany etc as well.

Edited August 17, 2025 by Tam & Di

[Naughty Cal]

When we hired in Brittany we didn't pay for any overnight moorings, they were all provide free of charge by the local towns and villages. Some with facilities others just a safe place to moor up.

 

The boat we hired, a Broom 29 was not the most ideally suited for the locks and moorings over there and we wouldn't recommend that type of UK cruiser over there.

 

The Penichette offered by the likes of Loca Boat were far more suited to the waterways there.

 

https://www.locaboat.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/P1120R-GB.pdf

[Tam & Di]

Brittany is not connected to the rest of the continental inland waterways, but NC's recommendation of penichettes is spot on. A major snag with any ex-hire boat is that they are fitted out for a relatively simple life and summer weather, so insulation and heating to make them suitable for winter needs to be considered, and your present experience will guide you with the sort of additions needed for a more permanent occupation.

 

Hire bases will generally be in an area where supplies are reasonably available, and if you have a breakdown they will have an engineer you can call. Not so once you get more than a few days cruising away. Villages are far more spread out than in the UK, and probably than Ireland, so you need to plan shopping more carefully - smaller villages are likely to have a hair-dresser and pharmacy but no grocer or butcher, and even bread can only be bought from a mobile van once a day. It is often possible to get water at locks and village mooring places, but boatyards can be several day's cruising apart so unless you stop near a garage and buy fuel in cans that is something else to bear in mind.

 

Although you can moor in most places where you do not impede navigation you would need official consent if you were to spend a prolonged period at any site. Sadly commercial traffic has seriously declined, and the only standard 38m peniches you might meet on the smaller canals would be hotel boats. But on the rivers you can be interacting with ships of some 2000 dwt, and the CEVNI code - the rules of the road you learn for your ICC - is not just some inconvenient thing these foreigners dreamed up to make life awkward for Brits as is sometimes suggested.

 

Last but not least, remember you are not in the UK and they do speak a different language. You may already speak French, but if not do try to learn some basics. Unless you want to have converstions about philosophy the range of useful words is fairly limited.

 

After all that, there are several hundred boat owners cruising regularly, and catastrophies are remarkable rare.  ⚓😀

[Bealtaine]

Folks -Thank you so much for all this information. It is so useful. We were thinking an ex-hire boat based on their dimensions. We never really thought about the fact that it might not be suitable regarding insulation etc so that is something to consider. The first boat we owned was an ex hire boat that we bought in Norfolk. Hubby is quite handy so we did upgrades over the years on it - like adding a new kitchen - dealing with (but never quite winning with) leaking windows. It is really good to know about stocking up food wise and diesel etc. A lot to think about but as usual around boats the more challenging it seems the more determined we are to do it! We were out in our own boat yesterday about to enter a downstream lock. When the lock gates opened the boat in the lock coming upstream wouldn't start. Hubby was immediately out with tool kit and our battery to jump start them. Everyone delighted when they finally got under way again. Especially the lock keeper! It struck me that as boaters we enjoy the challenges almost as much as the successes!!!

One thing that we are wondering while watching YouTube videos of boaters in France - some of the canals seem to have a high volume of weed ( as we do here on our canals) but when we make enquiries about some boats for sale they don't seem to have weed hatches? How do they get around the weed problem?

[Onewheeler]

A good question! Some of the canals are very weedy. We've never had problems with weed around the prop that can't be cleared with some revs in forward or reverse. At this time of year jumping over the side is feasible, and our prop can be reached with a pole. There's much less rubbish than in the UK. 

 

I have worried about the raw water inlet, not so much with big pieces of weed as there's a grill over it, but in places the duckweed can be prolific. The mud box filter has never blocked in my time.

 

Incidentally, it's not unknown to be asked to show paperwork for insurance, ICC etc and to be inspected for fire extinguishers and buoyancy aids being in date.

[Tam & Di]

As Onewheeler says, a short sharp burst of reverse and back into head gear will generally clear the blades, or adroit use of your boat pole is good for most cases of rope. For something really serious like a wire (or worse) it is not unknown for the pompiers (fire brigade) to come out with a diver. They treat it as a training exercise and do not make a formal charge, but donations to their funds are reasonably expected.

[Bealtaine]

Ah thanks that's great to know. Thanks for all the advice and information. Definitely feeling more confident about the whole adventure now. I've even looked at evening courses for French. Don't think my school French from 40  years ago is going to get me very far!!!

[Onewheeler]

One of our partners has very limited knowledge of the French language. He seems to cope when having issues with a lock (a frequent occurrence) with ringing up and saying "écluse xx kaput". You have to know numbers to say which lock xx is.

[Naughty Cal]

59 minutes ago, Bealtaine said:

Ah thanks that's great to know. Thanks for all the advice and information. Definitely feeling more confident about the whole adventure now. I've even looked at evening courses for French. Don't think my school French from 40  years ago is going to get me very far!!!

You will be surprised how quickly it all comes flooding back to you.

 

We thought we would struggle with our French but it all comes back and you learn new words along the way. We manage just fine. People appreciate you having a go at the language even if what you end up saying isn't entirely right.

[Tam & Di]

24 minutes ago, Onewheeler said:

One of our partners has very limited knowledge of the French language. He seems to cope when having issues with a lock (a frequent occurrence) with ringing up and saying "écluse xx kaput". You have to know numbers to say which lock xx is.

Locks on the smaller French canals are mostly automatic - user operated - and always have a intercom phone somewhere. You will be speaking to a nearby VNF person. Locks all have a number and generally a name visible so it is fairly easy - the official wording would be "écluse 10 est en panne" sounding rather like "aicloos dees ett on pan". They will say something to the effect that a man will be along in xx minutes, to which you reply "merci". If the man at the other end is at a central control lock they will be able to see what lock you are calling from on their screen - look up at the camera and smile. 😀

 

Edited August 18, 2025 by Tam & Di

[blackrose]

On 17/08/2025 at 08:12, Onewheeler said:

It can be difficult in France to find anywhere to moor other than at recognised places or marinas. The canal and river edges are usually shallow and commercial traffic will pull out anything but the most substantial pins. Where there are bollards or rings they're often spaced at 40 or 50 m for commercial barges.

 

 

 

My experience of boating in France is probably more limited than yours, but that certainly wasn't my experience. We moored at a couple of free town moorings on the Saone and on smaller canals we just moored up overnight on the canal bank. I found French towns far more welcoming to boaters than most towns in the UK.

[Naughty Cal]

On 20/08/2025 at 19:44, blackrose said:

 

My experience of boating in France is probably more limited than yours, but that certainly wasn't my experience. We moored at a couple of free town moorings on the Saone and on smaller canals we just moored up overnight on the canal bank. I found French towns far more welcoming to boaters than most towns in the UK.

Equally with motorhomes, they usually provide motorhome parking (aires) as well.

 

They understand the concept that if you provide parking/mooring and possibly facilities that people will come and use them and while they are there they will spend money in the local economy.

 

This concept is alien in the UK!

[Laurie Booth]

On 15/08/2025 at 22:39, Bealtaine said:

Hi folks,

 

Having cruised in Ireland for many years hubby and I have set our sights on France as our next challenge. Doing lots of research - it seems a lot of people book in to Marinas along their routes but this seems to be expensive - €15 to €25 per night. See also that a lot of people opt to greenbank along the way - finding an area anywhere along the bank and mooring up.  I wondered if anyone has done this in France and did it feel safe? We wouldn't have much experience at this as in Ireland there are free marinas along the rivers in towns and in remote areas but they are designated and predominantly people moor there. Just asking from a personal safety aspect. Thanks in advance for any advice.

We rented a narrowboat on the Canal De Midi for two weeks. Never had a problem getting free moorings. The lifestyle is even more laidback. We came across some liveaboards in a village, who had taken the bulbs out of the street lights and plugged their boats in. 

[Tam & Di]

The only people we've seen doing anything close to that have been a Dutch couple plugging into the control panel below a street light - removing the bulbs is obviously much more obviously and antisocial, and I don't think they would get away with it for very long. The VNF do police the waterways much more strictly than C&RT, and maires have sufficient powers to move them on too. The police would probably soon be involved too as it is technically theft.