RIVAL (pro­nounced REE-VAL) is a 15 meter (50’) riv­eted iron Lux­e­mo­tor built in The Nether­lands in 1925. From pic­tures and dia­logue col­lected from peo­ple famil­iar with the boat, it has been deter­mined that RIVAL began her career as a mail boat deliv­er­ing the post and light freight between the islands in Fries­land. About 1945 she was recon­fig­ured into a 30-passenger ferry adding a new ele­ment to her duties as a mail boat. RIVAL con­tin­ued in that line of work until 1984 at which time she was con­verted into a ‘live­aboard ship’ with the same lines as she has today. A fur­ther refit was under­taken between 1999 and 2001 to update her inte­rior and machin­ery spaces. Except for a very brief period in the ‘90s, she has always been named RIVAL

In 2013, RIVAL will revisit the Niver­nais and the Bour­gogne Canals but will add a brief stint on the Canal a Rhône au Rhin for a visit to the UNESCO Her­itage city of Besançon before return­ing to our home base in Gannay-sur-Loire (click map to see a larger version.)

Dur­ing pre­vi­ous summers aboard RIVAL, we cruised exten­sively on the canals of Bur­gundy (Canals du Niver­nais, de Bour­gogne, du Loing, du Bri­are, Lat­eral a la Loire and du Cen­tre). We trav­elled on the Marne River in the Cham­pagne region and we vis­ited Paris. We also cruised up the Petit Saône into Alsace-Lorraine. Won­der­ful sights and sounds everywhere!

Move through the inter­ac­tive pages of this web­site to see how you can be part of the adventure.