Meuse → Mosel → Rhine - France

Arriving at the French Border

After leaving Dinant, the journey toward France is surprisingly short. In just about 2.5 hours of relaxed cruising, you will reach the French border on the Meuse. This is at Écluse French for "lock" — a chamber used to raise or lower vessels between water sections at different levels. French inland waterways have many écluses, often operated by resident lock-keepers (éclusiers) or remotely. N°59 les Quatre Cheminees, located just a few kilometers upstream of Dinant. It is a quiet but significant (and important) milestone, marking the transition from Belgian to French inland waterways.

So, France, land of wine and croissants, is one of the countries where the route travels a lot of kilometers. Leaving Écluse N°59 les Quatre Cheminees, passing Givet, the route will lead over major french waterways

Once passing Écluse N°59 les Quatre Cheminees at the border, the character of the river subtly changes. The Meuse becomes slightly narrower and more intimate, with the landscape closing in a little. The banks are greener and more wooded, and villages tend to sit closer to the water. Navigation remains straightforward, but you will notice an increase in the number of locks. And not only locks! You will find yourself navigating tunnels too.

These French locks are generally smaller and more frequent than those on the Belgian stretch of the river. The vertical lift of the locks is considerably greater than that of the Belgian locks. Therefore we advise to keep long lines and fenders ready before entering those locks. While they are well maintained and efficiently operated, locks do influence daily planning. Even relatively short distances can take longer due to waiting times, the duration of the locking operation and lock operating hours. Preparing lines and fenders in advance makes transits smoother, especially for crews new to French waterways. (Although when you ended up here, you and your crew will be well prepared for the French waterways ahead of you!)

After passing Écluse N°59 les Quatre Cheminees we are now on the Canal de la Meuse and the planning is to make some stops, to see the beautiful places. This is where the mountains really start, and the route guides along bastions, castles and citadels. It is a very nice preview of what to expect later this journey. But it's not only mountains, there are also many historic towns and villages to visit!

Obtaining a 30-Day VNF Vignette

To cruise on French inland waterways, your boat must have a valid VNF Voies Navigables de France — the French public agency managing the inland waterway network. They operate locks, bridges, and tunnels, and issue navigation permits (vignettes) for recreational boaters. vignette. This is the official navigation permit issued by Voies Navigables de France. For visiting boaters, a 30-day vignette is a convenient option that allows unrestricted use of VNF-managed waterways for one month.

The vignette can be purchased online via the official VNF website. During the application process, you will be asked to provide basic details about your vessel, including its length, type, and registration information if applicable. After completing payment, the vignette is usually issued immediately as a downloadable PDF file.

Displaying the Vignette on Board

Once purchased, the vignette must be clearly displayed on board. French authorities and lockkeepers may check compliance, so visibility is important.

It is recommended to print the vignette, preferably in colour, and protect it using a waterproof sleeve or lamination. The vignette should be placed where it is easily visible from outside the vessel, such as inside a wheelhouse window, on a cabin window near the helm, or close to the vessel's registration markings.

With the vignette correctly displayed, you are free to enjoy French inland cruising, where smaller locks, quieter waterways, and a slower rhythm of travel define the experience.

The remote control

At the first lock you can ask for the remote control, which allows you to operate the lock yourself. This is a simple device that you can use to operate the lock yourself, without needing to wait for the lockkeeper. It is a great way to save time and have more control over your journey. However, it is important to note that not all locks may have this option available, and it is always best to check with the lockkeeper before attempting to use the remote control.

Worth the money!

While being Dutch, we always look for the cheapest proper solution available. And entering France, and paying (at first glance) serious money for a vignette, might be a semi unpleasant surprise. Until you start to notice what you get in return for this! Virtually you will have your 24/7 Technician/Lock master/Bridge master/Security guard assigned to you.

Along your way trough France, whenever there is something wrong, and your boat fits within the "Freycinet" measurements, the employees of the VNF will do anything within their power to make sure you can use the infrastructure. But not only that, they will take care of your safety too.

And besides this, they will come truly asap when you are stuck in/at a lock/bridge! But very important! Your boat has to fit within the Freycinet measurements. Also, when there is something going on with the object, they will do anything possible to fix the issue.

Pro Tip: If you want to show your gratitude and appreciation, the employees love to receive tokens of gratitude, rather than a tip in the form of money. Like in our case, a bottle of Harbor Water from Enkhuizen, might be one of those tokens. Naturally, comments can be found on the internet stating that they are unpleasant characters. However, a majority of people we spoke to are extremely positive about the employees. Points to consider are: Patience is a virtue, A friendly face brightens everything, Your stress won't solve the problem any faster, and You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, Hasty Hurry is seldomly doing you a favor. (Just a few important old sayings).

Anekdote:The employees of the VNF will see if the next lock is opened by you. And if that is not the case, they will look along the stretch in between the two locks to see what is going on. Doing so, they found a boat on which the couple was overcome by CO2 and unconscious. The VNF employees arrived just in time to break the windows and get fresh air to the couple, while the fire department and ambulance had been alerted in the meantime. Thanks to this quick action by the VNF employee, the couple survived.

Permits, Certificates and declarations

ICC

International Certificate of Competence

BCMR

Basic Certificate Maritime Radio (Operator Certificate)
Radio Licence (Your registration of your Radio including callsign)

ICP

Internationaal Certificaat Pleziervaartuigen

PoO

Proof of Ownership or Purchase

Insurance

Insurance Policy

VAT

VAT Declaration

Waterways Permit

French boating permit (VNF vignette)
For anyone navigating the French inland waterways with a boat longer than 5 meters and/or motorized above 9.9 hp, a VNF vignette is mandatory. You can apply for this vignette in advance via Vnf.fr (on the homepage click: "Achetez votre vignette plaisance"), but you can also buy one while en route at one of the locks near the French border. A 30-day vignette for our 8-meter vessel will cost about €119,10.
Maybe a bit old, but here you find the English PDF and the Dutch PDF
You can also directly go to the site to buy your vignette: https://vignettes-plaisance.vnf.fr/paiement-en-ligne/. The site supports the languages FR, EN, DE, NL.

Make sure that you attach the permit on starboard frontside, visible under all circumstances.

Notice:

You cannot use any other permits (vignette) than the one provided by the VNF. Please read the PDF's for more information.

When you've watched the vlogs of the "Parel", you've seen that they had to make a detour because the Canal de la Meuse was obstructed because it was clogged with a lot of vegetation.... It added 140 km to their route. We don't plan to make that detour, but if needed, we have the information here. For both routes through France, we are going to put the (online) maps in the proper sequence here. One for the "normal" and one for the "detour" route.

Border between Belgium and France

Right before Écluse n.59 les Quatre Cheminees, the route takes us over the border from Belgium into France. At this lock you can also buy the formentioned VNF vignette. From this lock, we are heading towards Givet and therefore further into France.

Local stored information

We Dutch are not about re-inventing the wheel, so we are going to use the (very detailed) information found on french-waterways.com. This is a very nice site, with a lot of information regarding the french canals.

But we are also very aware that information can change, and therefore we have stored the relevant information from several sources here on our own site, so we always have access to it.

When you want the information we gathered ourselves, visit the local index page those routes.

Sources include, but are not limited to: EuRis, ElWis, VNF, waterkaarten.net and several local sources found on the internet.

Tunnels Tip: When entering a tunnel, report on VHF 10 indicating your direction, usually by reporting whether you are sailing upstream (montant) or downstream (avalant). In France (and Belgium), the standard call sign is for example:

"Bateau [Name boat], entre dans le souterrain de Ham, sens montant." (or sens avalant).

By doing this, you help other vessels in the tunnel to be aware of your presence and direction, which can enhance safety and coordination within the tunnel.

Complicated

From here on, things might become a bit complicated. Why? Let me explain. We have our information, and the information from a 3rd party website. (That is also very nice tho!) And there is the fact, that here is the normal route and the detour route:

• The normal route
  1. Our (local) information
  2. Third Party (another website) information
• The detour route
  1. Our (local) information
  2. Third Party (another website) information

Here we are, providing both local and online information. The local information is stored on our own site, so we always have access to it. The online information is from third-party sources like french-waterways.com.

So take your pick here:

These are the 5 (five) countries we are going to visit. Please use the links to get to the specific chapters (or routes, or legs) of each country.

We added, for good measurement, the ISO Country and the International country-code for calling. There are objects (locks, bridges, etc) that you have to call and do not have any VHF radio. (Or we could not find the VHF information.)

List of Countries

The Netherlands

NL - +31
Many canals & rivers (Depending on the chosen route).

Belgium

BE - +32
Mostly Zuid-Willemsvaart, the Albert Canal and the Meuse River.

France

FR - +33
Meuse River, many canals and the Moselle River. Many canals because of the chance of detours.

Luxembourg

LUX - +352
Moselle River. Shortest stretch.

Germany

DE - +49
The Moselle, the Saar and the Rhine River.

Back to
The Netherlands

NL - +31
Many canals & rivers (Depending on the chosen route).

Of all five countries, we'll only be in Luxembourg for a short stretch: just the section of the Moselle that lies wedged between France, Germany, and Luxembourg. It starts at Écluse d'Apach (FR) and ends at Wasserbillig (LUX), where the Sauer River flows into the Moselle. On this approximately 36 km long stretch, we'll be boating right along the border between Luxembourg and Germany. More about this will follow in the section covering this part of the route.

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