Backwaters provides river day-cruises along waterways in France that are away from the regular tourist trail.

Its navigations of the French system take in places that might not be accessible to conventional hotel boats.

France and Belgium offer some 10,000 km of navigable inland waterways, mostly on more intimate rivers and canals not accessible to larger craft.

Backwaters explore these using day boat, with guests accommodated at a nearby hotel and a coach providing daily transfers and excursions to places of interest

In a typical cruising week a cruise will cover about 90 km at a very gentle pace interrupted by locks, lift bridges and even the occasional tunnel.

This makes each day within range of the one or two hotels used for the week.

One of its itineraries, Cathedrals of the North – a Gothic Cruise takes in some of France's great cathedrals on a trip between Péronne and Reims along the waterways of the Somme, Oise, Aisne and Marne.

It is 159km of mostly rural waterways, with the itinerary includeing guided visits to the cathedrals of Amiens, Noyon, Reims, Soissons and Laon, and the Basilica in St-Quentin.

www.backwaters.tours

Useful links

​www.backwaters.tours