Harbour

Fontenoy-le-Château

Name: Fontenoy-le-Château
Address: La Haye, FR

Type: Harbour

Inland halte on the Canal des Vosges, formerly Canal de l'Est branch sud, at the village of Fontenoy-le-Château in the southern Vosges.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Accessed by the Canal des Vosges from the Saône at Corre, 9.3 NM to the south-west, or from the Moselle side via the summit reach. Gauge Freycinet, 38.5 m locks operated by VNF, maximum draught 1.8 m on the canal. There is good depth alongside the pier itself, over 2 metres.

Practical

The berth is a concrete pier along the canal with a handful of places, water and electricity, no fuel. The charge is about 15 euros a day including water and electricity. Showers and toilets are open only during office hours, weekdays until 1600 and at weekends until 1700, reopening at 0900, and a clean public toilet at the far end of the pier can be used at other times. A bakery in the village, open until the early afternoon, also sells a few groceries.

Ashore

Village of Fontenoy-le-Château with ruins of the medieval and Renaissance château on the hill above the canal. Musée de la Broderie documents the local embroidery industry active from the 19th century. Towpath walkable and cyclable in both directions along the canal.

History

Fontenoy-le-Château was a fortified seat of the Neufchâtel-Bourgogne family from the 12th century and later a centre of hand embroidery, an activity that employed several hundred women in the area during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.