The Odyssée Artisanale project

Odyssée Artisanale is the brainchild of the association Terres d'Artisans, a meaningful project for artists and craftspeople. The aim is to create monthly craft markets in the municipalities along the Loire's banks. To get there, the stallholders will travel in an eco-friendly way on an old sailing ship which will go up the Loire using its sail and go back down pushed by the current. 

The project intends to host craft markets in the riverside municipalities along an altogether particular route: the Loire.  

Restoring to the Loire its former purpose as a trading route is not without its challenges. The river's moods swing from raging to calm. What the association therefore hopes to acquire eventually (i.e. have built) is a gabarot, a 15m-long timber vessel capable of carrying several dozen tons of goods. But the project could start out with a simple toue cabanée – another traditional Loire vessel, only more common. 

This is therefore an altogether innovative project, since the Loire has not been used for commercial purposes, other than for tourist outings, for a very long time.   

Like the toue, the gabarot is designed to sail up the Loire, propelled by the north-westerly sea wind which blows up from the estuary as far as Orléans. It then sails back down the Loire with the current. The aim is to rely as little as possible on the combustion engine (only for passing beneath the bridges, when the mast is lowered, for berthing or if a problem arises).   

By deciding to sail along it all year round, for monthly markets, the association hopes to give this river back its full due.  

Funds collected, for the 1st stage, will be used to launch the project and make the first four journeys (boat rental and payment for the bargee in particular). 

The financing will compensate devoted French craftspeople, committed to carefully executed work.  

To support the project: https://fr.ulule.com/lodyssee-artisanale/