Francis Joyon cruised 40,000km to set his new world record, but as the Cruising Association’s inland specialist Roger Edgar points out there are 100,000km of waterways just in Europe. It’s because of this under-utilised network that the CA has launched a new special interest section, ‘European Inland Waterways’.

Roger explains: “For every city-centre mooring in places like Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna or Budapest, there are hundreds of small towns and villages that offer a warm welcome to the inland cruiser.”

Finding accurate and up to date cruising information in these areas is not so straight forward, but the strength of the CA is the ability to gather and redistribute information from and to their thousands of members. Improving the effectiveness of that information transfer is the primary role for the new section.

The Section’s ambitions are not just limited to information though. The plan includes regular meetings of those interested in inland cruising, cruise-planning sessions and social events. Membership of the European Inland Waterways Section is open to existing CA members and to new members who are interested in either contributing to or benefiting from the information exchange. For further information contact mona@cruising.org.uk