A Secret Passage Through Europe!
August 19, 2025
by Brandon Ahearn, JD, LLM, CFA
Relocation Consultant at YourPlaceInEurope
YourPlaceInEurope.com
Biography: Brandon Ahearn is a US and Swiss dual citizen and holder of a BA and a Juris Doctor from the USA, a Master in European Laws from Germany plus a CFA Charterholder. His career as a lawyer has been largely in financial services and in technology. He resides in Lugano, Switzerland and speaks six different languages.
“Through the Heart of Europe by Boat? The Secret Passage That Few Even Know “
——-
What if I told you that it’s possible to travel by boat from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, right through the very heart of Europe? It sounds almost mythical, and yet, this network of rivers and canals exists, hidden in plain sight. Even lifelong residents along these waterways often don’t realize the full scope of what’s possible on them.
My obsession with Europe’s hidden routes began years ago, on a different kind of journey: the kind powered by pedals. Back then I was a young, adventurous lawyer and writer, who liked to escape the office as often as possible by loading my bicycle with a tent, sleeping bag, camp stove, and laptop, heading out across the continent for weeks – and sometimes months – at a time.
My longest ride took me from Zurich to the Black Sea city of Odessa and back, over four months. Prior to that, many shorter one-week and two-week trips wound back and forth across France and Germany, often along the banks of rivers and canals.
The long-distance cycling paths of Europe often run parallel to rivers and canals, making use of the towpaths that were once used to pull barges from one centre of commerce to another. On those trips I would see and meet many boaters who revealed a fascinating truth: you can traverse much of central Europe by water, connecting villages, cities, and cultures in a way lost to most modern travelers. What is more, there is an entire subculture of boaters that spends the summers venturing north and south through these waterways, making and meeting friends and living this unusual boating lifestyle. The idea of docking in a sleepy village, stepping ashore for bread and coffee while my boat is tied off to the local quayside, began to form a dream.
Two decades later, I finally acted on that dream.
I bought an old sailboat in the north of Holland. Given that I spend much of my life a few steps from the Med, buying a boat in Holland probably made little sense. However, there is a particular model of sailboat that I wanted and there are not many of them. I found one thousands of miles to the north and told myself this was the chance to combine dreams – buy the boat I always wanted and bring it south to the Med through the canals.
After spending two summers on the canals in Holland, which was an afterthought and something we did when we saw how amazing the boating life is there, in 2024 I decided it was time to bring the boat to the Mediterranean, so I dropped the mast, filled numerous extra diesel tanks and lashed them to the deck and headed south. I left the timeless hamlets of Woudsend and Sloten in Friesland and over the course of seven weeks, spread out over two summers, began the slow journey through Holland, Belgium, and France toward the Mediterranean sun.
Was it all my heart and hopes wanted it to be? Find out more in the next edition.
Happy to have you along for the journey!
