A series of 10 new, full colour guides to moorings on the French inland waterways has been launched by the European Inland Waterways Section (EIWS) of the Cruising Association (CA) and is now available to purchase.
The guides have been produced by Gordon Knight and currently cover the Canal du Centre; Canal du Loing and Canal de Briare; Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne; Canal Latéral à la Loire; Canal Latéral à la Marne; the River Marne; Canal du Rhône au Rhin; Canal du Rhône au Rhin (Nord) and Canal de Colmar; Canal de la Marne au Rhin (Est) and Canal de la Sarre and River Saar.
Details are provided on all the marinas, haltes and other mooring points (even picnic stops) along the waterways, together with information on facilities, shopping and nearby attractions. Each mooring point is illustrated by a colour photo, meaning that the guides are currently the only detailed pictorial reference available for cruising on the French rivers and canals.
The series will be added to in future years to gradually develop a complete suite of mooring guides.
The launch of these new guides comes hot on the heels of the latest edition of the CA's signature publication, Cruising the Inland Waterways of France and Belgium.
The series of French guides is currently the only detailed pictorial reference available for cruising on the French rivers and canals
New Guide to the German Rhine
A new 20-page, full colour guide to moorings along the German Rhine has also been launched.
The guide, which covers about 700 km of the river starting from the border close to the Swiss city of Basel downstream to Nijmegen just inside the Dutch border, has been compiled by EIWS members Dr Roger Edgar, who has cruised the area extensively, with major input from fellow member Rob Thomas, who lives in Germany on the Rhine.
As well as a helpful introduction to the hazards and highlights of cruising this beautiful river, the guide includes a detailed list of mooring points, fuel stations, ports and harbours along the river and a list of useful websites and sources of commercially published information.
Details of all the moorings are also included on CAptain's Mate, the CA's proprietary app, enabling them to be regularly updated by CA members posting online reports using the app.
All the guides, including further CA guides to Through the Netherlands by the Standing Mast Routes and The German Rhine, are available for purchase from the print-on-demand service Lulu at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/CA_European_Inland_Waterways.
The individual waterways guides and the German Rhine guide are each priced at £5.95 plus p&p. The Cruising the Inland Waterways of France and Belgium guide is £25 plus p&p, Through the Netherlands by the Standing Mast Routes is £10 plus p&p.
CA Members can also download the guides for free by logging into the website www.theca.org.uk and visiting the European Inland Waterways Section page.