ABOVE: River rhythm.

Brittany by boat

The funny thing about boating on a canal is that no matter how close you are to a road or a railway, a city or a major town, you’re in another world. Life flies by across the divide at a tremendous pace while you float slowly along in a parallel universe.

The feeling begins the minute you step from bank to boat and continues right up until you hand over the keys at the end of the trip. For us that meant a 122-kilometre stretch of water from Nort-sur-Erdre, in Loire-Atlantique, along the River Erdre, the Canal de Nantes à Brest and the River Vilaine to our final destination; Messac, in Brittany’s most southern département Ille-et-Vilaine.

The full story can be found in pages 73 - 75 of this months magazine.

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