Exploring the forgotten canal

An inland voyage. Avel Dro sails down the eastern section of the Canal de Nantes à Brest in the Pays de la Loire and Brittany. I navigated between the River Erdre and the River Vilaine, together with Mary Dooley in her SCAMP dinghy. The passage starts with a few days participating in the festival of jazz music and small boats on the Erdre itself. ADDITIONAL CAMERAWORK Abigail Heard Mary Dooley PLACE NAMES IN BRETON There is much disagreement about how to pronounce these, between franco-phones and Bretons. As a non-native French speaker and an even worse Breton speaker, I did my best. But inevitably I expect I will be told I am wrong in the comments. MUSIC April's fooling no one - Martin Landström Footprints in the Sand - Roots and Recognition featuring Melanie Bell - both from Epidemic Sound www.epidemicsound.com INTERESTED IN DINGHY CRUISING? Read my book, 'The Dinghy Cruising Companion' for much more information about dinghy cruising - and preorder my new book 'Sailing the Shallows' - out in November 2025, just in time for Christmas. www.bloomsbury.com And join the Dinghy Cruising Association: www.dinghycruising.org.uk AVEL DRO - my own boat. Avel Dro is an Ilur designed by François Vivier, and built of clinker plywood by Les Charpentiers Reunis of Cancale in 1994. I bought her in France in 2003 to import her into the UK, and more recently returned her to France again. The design is based closely on the traditional inshore fishing boats of Brittany in the early years of the twentieth century – hence her simple boom-less lugsail rig and lack of a mainsheet horse, (sometimes controversial among my viewers). Although rare in Britain, Ilurs are relatively common in France. Modern Ilurs are slightly different from mine, as they have more built in buoyancy. The name Avel Dro is Breton, Avel = wind, Dro = to turn – so it means a whirlwind. Length 4.44 m Sail area 12.2 m² Beam 1.70 m Draught 0.25 / 0.86 m