FIRST EPISODE 2007 – HOW WE GOT TO WARSAW

We had planned to cruise to Russia in 2007. We got to Warsaw. We had left our home in Burgundy in April . The barge ”Xanthos” - was on dry dock in Saint Jean de Losne on the River Saone early in May. We finally left on May 12. On July 24 – we were looking somewhat bedraggled when we arrived at Zeran Sluza - some 5 kms. from Warsaw . The water level was too low to let us through the lock. The rudder had been damaged. Russia seemed far away. On August 24 freak rains caused the water level in the Vistula to rise by 80 cms. for about two hours. The Xanthos was towed up the lock and is now moored up on a lake 20 kms. from Warsaw. Springtime 2008 – the waters will rise and we will set off for Belarus – the Ukraine – we will skirt round the Crimea on the Black Sea…………….and so to Russia The journey through the Crimea and into Russia has perhaps never been done by a boat originating from France. – so the day we arrive in Moscow will be a very special day..

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR DETAILED LOG OF THE “XANTHOS” IN ENGLISH

SMALL BARGE ACROSS EUROPE

In April 2007 my wife and I plan to leave our home in northern Burgundy - France -and to head east to see how far we can get. In 1995 we cruised from Burgundy into Poland and finally moored up in Gdansk. We were lucky to come back thanks to a tow up the Vistula! We were then cruising with a 32-metre Dutch Tjalk. In 2003 we purchased a "luxemotor" barge which is smaller and more manoeuvrable and hopefully less likely to get stuck.

This type of waterways adventure is not new to me - as I owned a narrow boat in England with my brother in 1950's. We later purchased a French "péniche" which we converted into a hotel-boat in 1965. For nearly 40 years I was associated with "Continental Waterways" and we pioneered the concept of hotel-barging in France.
When I retired in 2003 our company had developed 15 river and canal boats operating in France and Holland carrying some 10,000 tourists a year. I have always been curious about cruising to Russia - even in the darkest days of the "cold" war I imagined that Europe stretched to the "Urals"! I have always believed that one day I would take my boat there. Why did I have to wait so long? Suddenly the opportuinity has arisen and we are busy preparing our departure.

DETAILS OF THE ROUTE

We will be leaving from the Burgundy Canal near to our home and travelling to the River Saone.
The Canal de l'Est takes us to Nancy and then to the Moselle and to the Rhine at Coblenz.
A pilot will then take us into Germany at Duisberg. From here we start crossing the long flat plains eastwards. The Mittleland Canal has only 2 locks in over 350 kms.- it now crosses over the Elbe at Magdeburg to join the Spree navigations through Berlin to the Oder. The River Oder defines the frontier with Poland. At Kostryn flowing eastwards is the River Warta which joins the canalised Notesh with some 22 locks to join the Vistula near Bydgoscsz. Here the Vistula flows north to the Baltic and east to Warsaw with only one lock at Wlaclowek. A tributary of the Vistula is the non-canalised River Bug which goes to Brest and makes the frontier with Belarus. The river into Belarus is the Mechkhavetch (or some name like this) which is about one metre higher than the Bug. There is a weir but there are also two sandbanks. These have to be dug out one after the other to operate as a lock!

We are then in Belarus on the "Dneiprosko-Bugskij Kanal". there are 14 locks before joining the River Pripryat near Pinsk. We are some 250 kms. south of the capital Minsk. The River is navigable with two locks crossing into the Ukraine some 80 kms. south of Chernobyl - site of the nuclear catastrophy.
We continue south on the Dneipr and pass through the capital Kiev before reaching the delta area and the Black Sea. We are now 600 ms. from the entrance to the Sea of Azov which is the gateway to the Volga - through the Russian town of Rostov. The Urals are still 1500 kms.away!

RESEARCHING THE JOURNEY

I was fortunate to travel east several times during the period of the "Iron Curtain". Istudied various maps and had a vague idea that there might be a way east across Poland. I went there by car in several times in the 1980's and met a waterways engineer who showed me the magnificent lock system allowing boats to sail from the Baltic into the Mazury. I also visited Gdansk - which inspired me to take my boat there in 1995. On entering Poland I had decided to follow the River Warta on the map. On crossing the river I saw the traditional navigation signs indicating the channel. I knew that boats were at least expected. I then saw a barge tied up and saw that it was registered in Bydgoscz - when I looked on the map I saw that this town was on the Vistula. I also visited Torun - the birthplace of Copernicus - and theonly river lock on the Vistula at Wlaclowek. This place became internally known during the "Solidarity" period - when the Polish priest was killed by the police and hurled into the bottom of the lock. In 1995 we were having problems navigating onthe Vistula - and had to be towed off the sandbanks. The man who was towing us continued on through Warsaw to the River Bug. In 1998 I had contacted the "European Humanities University" in Minsk and was able to visit the Belarus with some experts on the waterways. Belarus has historically been the waterways link between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. I was able to visit the town of Brest on the Polish border and to meet boat captains who had previouslycruised by barge to Warsaw. They also confirmed that it was possible to go to Russia by barge. In 2000 I was able to visit Moscow - the literature about the town states that Moscow is an important inland port with waterways connecting to the Baltic, the White Sea in the north - the Caspian and the Black Sea. The question is - does it connect to the Burgundy Canal?