Our first experience on the French Canals began in April, 2017. We had just purchased our sailboat “Ice Floe deux”. We bought her in Cherbourg, situated in the north of France on the English Channel.

On this voyage we passed through beautiful villages, vineyards of great distinction, the very heart of Paris, Lyon, and other beautiful cities and towns. Our trip on the canals ended in Nice, on the Mediterranean coast. The trip took 3 weeks.

We flew through 189 locks, and crossed 2 aqueducts as we bisected France from North to South following a brisk itinerary that involved joining guests and family at specific locations.

There are quite a few Blogs on this site detailing this amazing journey. We knew we must come back. This time, we would immerse ourselves in all France has to offer at a snail’s pace.

Speaking of Snails…

Snails, we have concluded, thrive in France – with little to no sense of boundaries.

It is well known that many snails are eaten in France prepared as escargot. I cannot personally verify that the small garden snails we have been entertained by are eaten, but I do see some reference to that in my reading.

The snails we have been observing are most active in the rainy season. They are known to display a very interesting behavior during very dry and hot weather. We saw this shortly after we arrived. It did not rain for a solid month and temperatures were a stifling high 90s and low 100s.

During hot, dry spells, these snails climb up a tree or stalk, cover the opening to their shells with a thin membrane, and remain dormant until weather conditions improve. This behavior is called “aestivating”

We have also seen larger snails that appear to have partially buried themselves in the soil.

These, and many more interesting things await our discovery as we canal our way through the miles and miles of French canals.

After spending two seasons in the Mediterranean (detailed in blogs on this site), we had Ice Floe shipped from Genoa, Italy to St. Thomas and have been exploring the Eastern Caribbean and ABC islands (Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire) for several years.

We always knew we would someday return to canalling.

As our travel schedule took us away from home for a good portion of the year, we began considering, the wisdom of selling our home in the US. It was, for me, an agonizing decision. George built our beautiful home, almost single-handedly, and I will always feel a little ache at the thought of never living there again.

My ache has been somewhat assuaged by our decision to purchase a canal boat in France, and a beautiful vacation home in Carriacou.