The canal de la Meuse runs from the Belgian border to the canal de la Marne au Rhin at Troussey, a distance of 272km. It has a junction with the canal des Ardennes at Pont-à-Bar.
There are 59 locks, overcoming a difference in level of almost 150m. The first lock, close to the Belgian border, has a length of 100m and a width of 12m, giving access for high-capacity barges to the port of Givet. From Givet to Verdun, lock dimensions are 48.30 by 5.70m. The locks above Verdun have the standard ‘Freycinet’ dimensions of 38.50 by 5.20m.
Locks 1-10 and 28-59 are controlled by the boater using a remote control unit. Locks 11-27 are operated by an itinerant lock keeper and the boater has to arrange with VNF (the canal authority) the days and times he wants to travel.
The following information is taken from frenchwaterways.com:
The Meuse is one of the great navigable rivers of Europe. It is canalised throughout most of its course in France and Belgium and bypassed by the Juliana Canal in the Netherlands province of Limburg, to continue as a free-flow navigation down to the Rhine delta. The canal de la Meuse is the name now given to the waterway which runs from Belgian border (where it is a high-capacity Class Va waterway) to the Canal de la Marne au Rhin at Troussey, a distance of 272km. The river offers spectacular scenery where it cuts deep into the Ardennes hills downstream of Charleville-Mézières.
History – The river Meuse was canalised as the northern branch of the ‘Canal de l’Est’, a strategic link connecting the country’s canals within the border after Alsace and Lorraine were occupied in 1871. The link was authorised by laws voted by the Assemblée Nationale in 1872 and 1874, and works began immediately. The canal was completed in 1880. The waterway is retained in the priority national network only up to the junction with the Canal des Ardennes. The remaining 180km is to be handed over to the regions Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine.
Please click on the following links for our pictures of the locks:
No comments:
Post a Comment