European Waterways is offering a series of cruises next April taking in the French and Belgium battlefields of the First World War. Three, 6-night, fully-inclusive cruises aboard the fully-crewed, 12-passenger hotel barge La Belle Epoque are available.

The departure on April 5, 2015 cruises through picturesque Picardy along the Canal du Nord from Compiegne to Lille, with visits to the Somme and Flanders Fields memorial sites. The April 12 departure makes the return trip. Highlights include passing through historic Lille, negotiating the 3-mile- long Ruyalcourt Tunnel and exploring the peaceful Picardy countryside.

Excursions include tours in Ypres, Belgium, to the medieval Cloth Hall housing the 'In Flanders Fields' museum, the Christmas Truce Cross and site where Lt John McCrae wrote the moving poem 'In Flanders Fields' and to the Ypres' Menin Gate for the daily sounding of the Last Post at 8pm. Other highlights include the Thiepval Memorial, a monument to 75,000 “missing” from the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and a visit to the clearing in the Forest of Compiegne, site of the November 11th 1918 Armistice signing.

Rates start from £3,150 per person, including: accommodation (based on 2 people sharing), all gourmet meals, fine wines, an open bar, daily escorted excursions, local transfers and admissions.

The April 26, 2015 departure cruises through Picardy along the Canal de la Somme and the Canal du Nord from Corbie near Villers-Bretonneux to Compiègne. The trip also includes visits to the Forest of Compiegne, as well as the hamlet of Villers-Bretonneux and the VB Australian WW1 museum and school. Further highlights will include visits to the Hindenburg Line, medieval Peronne and Mont St Quentin and exploring the tranquil countryside of the Somme and Picardy regions.

Rates start from £3,590 per person, including: accommodation (based on 2 people sharing), all gourmet meals, fine wines, an open bar, daily escorted excursions, local transfers and admissions.

About European Waterways
The hotel barging experience is different from large vessel river cruising. It offers a slower paced, “gentle voyage of discovery” along the more intimate canals and waterways of Europe, allowing a small number of guests to become more fully immersed in the culture, history and gastronomy of the region. European Waterways is Europe's largest all-inclusive luxury hotel barging group, offering vacations in nine countries and carrying over 2,000 passengers a year. Celebrating its 40th anniversary, today it owns and operates a fleet of luxury barges and market cruises in France, Italy, Scotland, Ireland, England, Germany, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Pioneers in hotel barging, it was the first company to offer a cruise on the Canal du Nivernais in Burgundy, and through the “chateau region” of the Loire Valley. It is also the only cruise company offering barge cruises in Scotland and in the Venetian lagoon and River Po valley.

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Full details: www.gobarging.com: Tel: +44(0) 1753 598555

For press information: Jill Faulds, JF Associates, + 44 (0) 1795 536446; jill@jfapr.co.uk 
Or: Chris Gant, European Waterways, + 44 (0) 1753 598555; chris@gobarging.com