Three ways to drift through Europe
Every itinerary is built around slow mornings, short cruising days, and a mooring worth staying for. Pick your waterway, pick your pace.
Route One
Canal du Midi, 7 Days
Plane-shaded water, pastel villages, and the slowest locks in France.
01Toulouse
Board at the Port de l’Embouchure and settle in beside the pink-brick quays before your first night aboard.
02Castelnaudary
Cruise past sunflower fields to France’s cassoulet capital, mooring within the great fourfold lock basin.
03Bram & the Lauragais plain
A short, easy day through open farmland with a stop at a roadside market for melons and duck confit.
04Carcassonne
Moor beneath the floodlit medieval citadel and spend the evening wandering its ramparts.
05Trèbes & the Fonserannes flight
Ease through a run of stone locks shaded by two-hundred-year-old plane trees.
06Béziers
Descend the famous nine-lock staircase and wander the hilltop old town above the canal.
07Agde & the round lock
Finish at France’s only circular lock, where the canal meets the Hérault river.
Route Two
Friesland Loop, 5 Days
Open lake water, windmills, and villages that only exist on the water’s edge.
01Sneek
Depart from the yacht-harbour town and cross the wide Sneekermeer under open sky.
02Hindeloopen
Moor in one of the Netherlands’ prettiest fishing villages, famed for painted furniture and quiet quays.
03Workum
A gentle lake crossing to a Hanseatic town of gabled facades and a working pottery.
04Sloten
Enter the Netherlands’ smallest fortified town through its narrow canal gate.
05Back to Sneek
A short final run past grazing cattle and reed-lined banks to return the boat by noon.
Route Three
Mecklenburg Lakes Circuit, 6 Days
A thousand lakes strung together by narrow, forested channels.
01Waren
Start on the Müritz, Germany’s largest inland lake, with an evening arrival beneath the old town spire.
02Röbel
Cross open water to a fishing town of red-brick churches, quiet since its herring-fleet days.
03Malchow
Pass through the island town’s lifting bridge into narrower, reed-fringed channels.
04Plau am See
Moor beneath a hilltop castle ruin and swim from the boat before dinner.
05Fleesensee
A forested, lock-free run through beech woods and past a lakeside manor estate.
06Return to Waren
A last open crossing at first light, with mist still lifting off the Müritz.
Choosing your route
First time aboard
Wide, forgiving water and only three locks make this the gentlest introduction to canal cruising.
Classic canal scenery
Plane-tree tunnels, stone locks, and a UNESCO listing — the itinerary most guests picture first.
Nature & quiet
Forested channels and open lakes with far fewer boats on the water, even in July.
Printed route maps, sent on request
Every itinerary comes with a downloadable chart marking locks, moorings, and recommended stops. Ask us and we’ll send yours ahead of departure.