(coming soon)
Self-drive boats
Although perhaps less luxurious than holiday cruising on a canal barge, for some a self-drive boat can be a lot more fun. Since the Loire River itself is free of dams and locks, its waters rise and fall with the seasons — raging at times and dwindling to a mere brook at others. If a boat’s draft is shallow enough, however, it can go places where the long barges cannot. We did see some fairly small houseboats on the Loire as far upriver as Nevers, although they were no doubt locally owned. Navigating among the sandbars at that point in the river would call for far more experience than would a leisurely cruise on the Canal Latéral à la Loire.
One main advantage of a self-drive boat cruise is that you have the benefit of being in control of your itinerary. Of course, this control also implies responsibility for negotiating — both nautically and monetarily — the locks and canal bridges. Shown below and inset above are private vessels crossing the Allier River at Le Guétin, between Apremont-sur-Allier and Nevers.
