A Luxury Canal Cruise Makes Great Home Movies
Guests on Meanderer’s luxury canal cruises often take lots of photos, of the scenery, of the sights on our daily excursions, of the delectable dishes we serve, of the wildlife we pass on the canal side. But these days, with every camera and cellphone capable of shooting video, our guests often become amateur cinematographers. And, happily, once they are back home they often share their edited videos with us. Here are some from recent cruises.
Passing through a lock
Meanderer passes through many locks during the course of a luxury canal cruise. And even though we navigate several every day, watching the pilot navigate the lock, the crew handle the ropes, and the lock keepers opening and closing the gates never seems to get old.
The Pont-Canal de Briare
One of our guests’ favorite passages during their luxury canal cruise is crossing the Pont-Canal de Briare. Near Châtillon-sur-Loire, the Pont-Canal opened in 1896, and at 662 metres long it was for over a century the longest steel canal aqueduct in the world. (It lost its title to the Magdeburg Water Bridge, which crosses the Elbe.) The masonry piers on which the steel channel rests were built by Gustave Eiffel. The steel channel on top carries 13,000 metric tonnes of water allowing barges to pass over the Loire, which could be hazardous to cross during times of flood. A magnificent achievement of engineering, the Pont-Canal is a registered historic monument in France.
Even though the crossing is done at a slow pace, it is remarkable to watch the pilot thread the narrow channel with only some sixteen inches of clearance on either side.
Meanderer’s interior comforts
Sometimes it is Meanderer itself, rather than the sights we pass, which serves as the subject of a video.
On a recent cruise our friend, the travel journalist Dana Freeman, shot this nice sequence showing the interior of the barge, and the exemplary furnishings which make Meanderer our guests’ home-from-home during their luxury canal cruise.