Alouette is a Luxemotor barge built in 1910 in Zwartsluis, Holland. She was first used as a cattle transporter, and later as a shrimp fishing boat. In 2002, she was lovingly converted by a British couple into a liveaboard barge. We are her third owners - Randy and Deborah, two Americans from Colorado who escaped corporate life in search of an adventure. After a few years of searching for the right adventure, we discovered the barging life. Having sailed for most of our adult lives, it seemed a perfect fit. We spent another year looking for the right barge and in the summer of 2010 found her in Roanne, France. We've renamed her Alouette - the Lark. And so in her 100th year, together with our two Russian Blue cats, we're shoving off for a life on the canals and rivers of Europe.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Roanne and our cruising route in 2010.

We've had a few requests for a map locating Roanne and the route we took on our first cruise last summer.  Here's a map provided by the VNF of the navigable rivers and canals of France.  I've marked the location of our home port of Roanne:



Our cruising route was relatively short last year.  We took the boat from Roanne, up the Canal de Roanne a Digoin, hung a right onto the Canal du Centre to Chalon-sur-Saone where we entered the Saone River.  We headed northeast up the River to St. Jean de Losne.  After our week in dry dock, we retraced our route back to Roanne, taking time to enjoy the route on our way back.

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