Crusing on the river Sarthe

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200

ALLAN ROGERS GOES BOATING IN THE WESTERN LOIRE ©

We were on the car ferry and bound for a boating holiday in France. In the gathering dusk England was left behind and as we made out to sea we passed the gleaming lights our Brittany Ferries’ sister ship The Mont Saint Michel making her return trip from Caen.

Arriving in the morning with plenty of time in hand we decided to tackle France the quiet way avoiding the main roads.

As we undertook this without maps of the appropriate scale, we swiftly became expert in the joys of being “lost in France.”
Each village we entered into seemed to offer little five roads leading out, all labeled for places that were not on our big map. Invariably we took the wrong one and meandered further than we intended. But it was fun and we met a lot of friendly folk along the way.

We stopped for coffee in sleepy places and got used to the local custom of ordering coffee in a bar and bringing in croissants from the baker next door.

We were almost surprised when we arrived at the River Sarthe.

France is well served with waterways and in the “Vallée de la Sarthe” in the Western Loire you can use rental boats from Angers to almost Les Mans (the latter being more readily associated with the racing of fast cars than messing about in slow boats.)

At Sable-sur-Sarthe below Chateau ColbeI we found the base for Anjou Navigation and met with Francois Peiffer who showed us how to handle a Nicols cruiser. It was 9 metres long, with big windows, positively gleaming, very comfortable and easy to handle.

Once we were under way bird song replaced traffic noise and we were immediately aware of just how peaceful life on the river could be.

Our new floating home had the added advantage of two steering positions.

The one up on the roof had a definite appeal. From there we watched the dragonflies skim over the lily pads and supped our wine as we listened to the sound of the bells from the Abbey of Saint Pierre drifting over the meadows

at Solesmes.

The Benedictine Abbey there has its origins in a priory that was built by the river back in 1010.
The monks are still there and it is possible to visit each day. If you are fortunate enough in the timing of your visit you may hear an Office being sung in Gregorian chant.

With 270 km of river waterways available, free from commercial traffic the Sathe, and the easily accessed rivers of the Mayenne, and L’ouden are ideal places for the first timer to try out a boating vacation.
On the River Sarthe there are only about a dozen locks, they are small and easy to go through.

They are free and worked by the lock keeper, usually a lady.

A toot on your horn as you approach usually brings her out to ready the lock. (If it is lunch time be prepared to wait!)

All you have to do is to hang on to the dangling rope and steady your boat as you fall or rise to a new water level.

We particularly liked the experience of ‘going up’ as it usually dramatically revealed an attractively tended garden beside the lock keeper’s house.

There was always something new to feast the eyes on and in one lock we went through was shared with a somewhat anxious mouse adrift upon a log.

We hope that he made it to dry land and that his “tales of the river bank” had a happy ending.

The river is wide and the only large boat we encountered was
“The Sabelesien” which does lunch and dinner cruises or day trips from Sarthe.

You can also rent bicycles with the boat. It can fun pedaling along by the river, trying out your French on the fishermen, exploring the tracks and generally imaging just what it would be like to live there.

We were surprised to find that the French seemed to place no extra value on riverside properties and they were by UK standard quite affordable.

I particularly liked the little village of Parcé sur Sarthe where in the Rue Moulin we found a 14th and 15th Century house with round and square tower. It was the old prison.

Just up from there was the Tower of Saint Pierre, the oldest building in village and nearby the ‘Place de la Republic’ where you can sit out in the square watching village as you have a meal or a coffee.

The whole boating thing is very easy and part of the adventure is shopping in the riverside villages.

If there was a problem, it was that it all seemed to pass too quickly and so, all too soon, with our nautical skills polished by our few days afloat we neatly docked our boat back at the Anjou Navigation base at Sable-sur Sathe.

The river was the ‘old road’ back in Roman times when the only connection between the villages was the river.

Newer towns may have prospered and fast frenetic traffic may have arrived but the quiet way to the little villages still remains. It is a route well worth following.

Anjou navigation

Crusing on the river Sarthe