Following the local advice we planned to set off up the Seine one hour after low water Le Havre, in order to try and carry a favourable tide the 70M all the way to Rouen. This meant taking the 1130 bridge out of the Vieux Bassin and stopping at the old Plaisance quay to wait for the lock at 1330. The depth immediately outside the lock is marginal at this time, but with a close eye on the plotter and the forward looking sonar the least depth we experienced was 5' under our hull. Fortunately it was neap tides which helped.

There was a slight westerly wind blowing up the channel which seemed to have held up the ebb tide and made for some difficult steering conditions on the first reach as far as Pont de Tancarville. As we got round the first bend the conditions calmed down and we began to get some assistance from the tide, making steady progress at around 9 or 10 knots. Although we had been warned there were no stopping places on the passage to Rouen there seemed to be several town jetties with space available, and with hardly any commercial vessels making the trip at that time it would probably be possible to stop en route. There were certainly yachts taking this option, as the time of the low water meant they could not reach Rouen before the "sunset plus 30 minutes" curfew at their lower cruising speeds.

We had plenty of time to continue on and arrived at the Halte Nautique de Rouen around 9pm, around an hour before the sunset, and just in time to be greeted by the efficient and friendly harbour master. As well as helping us to moor up, he provided information and a map on the VNF office where we would need to buy our river license the following morning. We had opted not to stop at Rouen for the day as we felt we had seen enough fascinating architecture for the time being, and with another hot and sunny day forecast it would be a nice day to be cruising upriver.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 63 nm

Total to date: 1486 nm

Avg Speed: 9 knots

Duration: 7:15 hours

Diesel: 200 litres (est)

Mooring: €14/night

Electricity: Free

Bridges

Pt de Normandie

Pt de Tancarville

Pt de Brotonne

Pt Guillaume le Conquerant

Pt Jeanne d'Arc

Pt Boieldieu

Pt Corneille

Min headroom:7m

Min draught: 4m

Charts

AC2994

Navicarte 1