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A new canal age in Europe

A wind of change is blowing throughout Europe, breathing new life into canals that remained out of the public eye for decades. They were filled in, made over to other uses or abandoned to the forces of nature, never slow to fill a void. North-West Europe has been showing the way for 25 years. Today, the message on the benefits of restoring this infrastructure – complex and costly – is spreading throughout the planning zones of the EU and beyond, into Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.
The Deûle-Escaut link is far from being an isolated phenomenon, a mere Franco-Belgian curiosity! Through the work of the transnational experts group, the Blue Links project partners are kept informed of projects on other canals throughout Europe and on other continents. And what do we discover? No less than six waterway links will have been restored between 2008 and 2010, and all six are worth a detour,by boat or along the towpath, in the years to come. Discover in this Newsletter the ‘side road’ via the Greveling Canal in the northern province of Groningen (Netherlands). Dream of cruising Ireland’s ‘Great Loop’ once the last section of the Royal Canal has been restored. Take the ‘short loop’ in mid-Worcestershire via the Droitwich Canals. Rediscover the historic city of Ghent, thanks to restoration of a small canal through the old town; take a trip-boat through the cross-border Augustow Canal.

Six exciting new cruising itineraries, six projects to discover.