The largest are 190m x 11.4 m  The middle ones are 91m x 5.7m   and the Little ones are 38.5m x 5.6

The Canal de Bourgogne was conceived in1680, work was started in 1783, and was only fully operational in 1833. It now carries no commercial traffic and is open only for the summer. it is quite busy with hire cruisers. It rises to a height of 375m above sea level (1220 ft)  In a length of 242km it has 189 locks and one tunnel with a vaulted roof airdraught 3.1m.

The mighty Rhone was canalised after the Second World War in 1948, work finished in 1984. until that time it was impossible to go upstream in safety. Even now it is dangerous for yachts in winter.
The hydro electric scheme produces 10% of France's electricity.

During construction 394 million cubic metres of earth was moved, and 6.7 million cubic metres of concrete were poured! Between Lyons and the Mediterranean sea there are 13 locks in 310km (194 miles)

The deepest lock is Bollene, drop = 23m and each cycling moves 50,000 cubic metres if water in 7 minutes.

For ourselves, the round trip from Calais to Grande Motte and back was a total distance of 1704 miles (2700km approx) we passed through 504 locks, and the engine consumed 1600 litres of diesel.

We left UK on 29th June and returned on Sept 17th. Would we do it again?  You bet!......

How about tomorrow ???

Talking about it afterwards we said to our friends, just for fun, when asked "Where next ?"
We said "To Switzerland"  they said  "Impossible"  .......................just wait and see.........

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