Wooden raft reaches Paris
Tradition of floating logs from the Morvan forest in Burgundy dates back to 16th century
A RAFT of wood 72metres long has travelled down the canals and rivers to reach Paris and pass under the Eiffel Tower in a tradition that dates back nearly 500 years.
At the beginning of the 18th century around 3,000 trains de bois a year would be floated down from the Morvan forest to fuel the capital’s house fires – and reaching 5,000 by the beginning of the 19th century.
The giant rafts were first used in the 16th century and in those 300 years an average of a million stères or cubic metres of wood were floated down each year – until the operation was overtaken by the arrival of the more efficient ... steam train.
This historic train de bois left Clamecy in Nièvre, Burgundy, on June 6 and over its 21-day journey travelled 267km, through 74 locks on the Nivernais canal and then the Yonne and Seine rivers before reaching the gates of Paris at the port of Bercy.
From Bercy, it took four hours to reach the port of Boulogne-le-Grand passing the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame on the way at the weekend.
Gérard Durand, president of the Flotescale association which organised the event, said “this Paris crossing was a historic first”.
However, the event does not end there as the raft is being dismantled and transported back to Clamecy – named the ‘Cité des Flotteurs’ on two lorries. It will be rebuilt and put afloat again for Flotescale’s Fête du Flottage at Clamecy on July 18-19 with an exhibition on the historic re-enactment.
Screengrab photos: Jérémie Fulleringer/L'Yonne Républicaine
La traversée de #Paris par le #traindebois en images ! http://t.co/uPQbyAEV8O pic.twitter.com/nXSqugFDXP— lyonne_fr (@lyonne_fr) July 5, 2015
#TraverséeDeParis#TrainDeBois pic.twitter.com/s1FadDgTIu— Stéphane Robert (@Steph_R89) July 5, 2015
Un exploit rare #traindebois de 72m 200 stères venant de Clamecy dir. Paris 267 Km 64 écluses à franchir !!! pic.twitter.com/3ivpKnN9ye— Jean-Paul D-M (@91DJP) June 22, 2015
