Cruising the Canal de Briare: a Barger's Delight
Cruising the Canal de Briare: a Barger's Delight Travel & Tourism The picturesque Canal de Briare, which connects the valleys of the Seine and the Loire, is notable for a number of reasons apart from the delightful scenery through which it wends its way. A popular route for both private and commercial cruising vessels, the canal is renowned as one of the loveliest places for a barge holiday in France as well as being a highly impressive feat of engineering. A Pioneering History The canal is one of the country's oldest manmade waterways, built between 1602 and 1642 under the patronage of Henry IV. When first constructed, it linked directly into the Loire at Montargis, but later in the nineteenth century the building of the famous Briare Aqueduct created a bypass to La Cognardière, 2.6km away. Despite its name, the aqueduct actually forms part of the Canal latéral à la Loire. An Engineering Triumph The canal was also the first to be constructed at summit level using "...