Report Review
At first I was very excited about the way the check-in to the port went, very orderly and a nice port captain.
Then came 2019 and the lock to the canal was often broken. We came from Hamburg once and friends from Berlin once and could not leave the port because of the broken lock.
But it got worse, it came 2020 and this virus, - and the lock broke completely. There was no way to leave the harbour with the boat.
And over the summer it got worse and worse because of the algae under which mosquitoes were breeding in millions, so that even staying on the boat in the harbour itself was not bearable.
Nevertheless, the harbour administration insisted on the payment of harbour dues by the boat owners who were basically denied the use of their property because there was no way to escape from this harbour.
The harbour management and administration is pushed by a right-wing extremist mayor. The boat owners were put under pressure. Their accounts were seized.
The repair took two years, - and the French waterways administration, VNF, which is responsible for the lock, tried to get out of the affair in countless cases with protective claims, knowing that legal proceedings in France are usually decided in favour of the state authorities and even legal protection insurances often refuse to cover the costs of legal action against state authorities.
To make matters worse, the usual inactivity of the authorities leads to procrastination instead of solving the problems.
In our case, as a result of this inaction and the two-year blockade of the harbour, we had a total loss of over 10,000 euros to get the boat out of the harbour.
We can only advise against ever docking in a French port that is connected to the sea by only one lock, because the authorities in France blame each other once this lock breaks down which is very often the case.
Further more: There has been a very strong nationalist trend in France since 2015. According to Radio France International, 8 out of 10 French people want to "get rid of foreigners".
https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/occitanie/gard/beaucaire/prisonniers-beaucaire-quand-vie-reve-plaisanciers-se-transforme-cauchemar-1864824.html
https://lasocietemoderne.com/230-bateaux-prisonniers-dans-le-port-les-plaisanciers-de-beaucaire-perdent-espoir/
https://www.midilibre.fr/2021/08/15/a-beaucaire-les-plaisanciers-attendent-la-reouverture-de-lecluse-9732721.php