The Pontivy Community Tourist Office welcomes you all year round in an atypical place: the Duchesse Anne barge. You will be able to discover an extraordinary welcome place while having at your disposal brochures and maps of the territory and the Brittany region.
The Duchess Anne is the only barge in France to accommodate a Tourist Office. It welcomes the public all year round, at the dock, but has retained its navigation capacity! Approximately every 5 years, we unhook it from the quay and set off to meet hikers and locals on the banks of the canals of Brittany.
This barge happens to be one of the last ladies of the canal from Nantes to Brest in Brittany.
History of this barge
Before bearing the title of Duchess, this boat was assigned to the transport of goods which bore the name of Ideal. It was launched on November 21, 1929. It is a barge-type boat decked with a propeller made of iron. Its hull length is 26,38 m and its width is 4,55 m with an average empty draft of 0,40 m and a maximum loading capacity of 130,787 tonnes. Norman Riddle undertook numerous rehabilitation works and gave her the appearance of a small yacht, until the engine change (260 HP) which gave her the ability to sail at sea. At that time, she sailed on the Nantes to Brest canal. with a wealthy American clientele on board. Ronald Reagan's bodyguard was one of his guests from across the Atlantic. It was Norman Riddle who named it “Duchess Anne”.
