Dick Dreselly is an adventurous sailor from Brunswick who calls himself an ancient mariner. In 1957, he sailed solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

His boating adventures include a journey through the waterways of France in 1956, from Le Havre at the mouth of the Seine River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Although he used sail power throughout his challenging voyages, he powered his boat by motor while traveling the rivers and canals of France. The low bridges of France don't allow for the height of sails.

His journey eventually brought him through Paris and by centuries-old canals to the Saone River, which joins the Rhone River at Lyon.

South of Lyon, Dreselly navigated the rapid currents of the Rhone through Burgundy and Provence to Arles. His 1956 riverboat journey took him through southern France along the same scenic route enjoyed by my husband and me during a recent riverboat vacation on the Rhone. Rather than sailing south, however, we went in the opposite direction, going north from Arles to Lyon.

Dreselly's descent of the Rhone 53 years ago is vividly described on his online blog at www.dresellysail.blogspot.com.

Dreselly, now 84, describes a journey much different from the luxury cruise we recently enjoyed on a 138-passenger boat. We benefited from modern amenities and the confidence of knowing the riverboat's captain was using high-tech navigation equipment.

Picturesque views of French country towns situated along the Rhone's banks are the singularly scenic feature of a trip on the Rhone River through Provence and Burgundy.

Nevertheless, technologically speaking, the Rhone is extraordinary because of the series of locks built to assist navigation up and down the river's steep drop from Lyon to the Mediterranean. Although 11 locks are in place along the Rhone today, with several more on the Saone, Dreselly says there was only one in place in 1956, when he took his boat trip.

I had never been through a lock before. Consequently, it was a mesmerizing experience each time we went through one. It was like entering an enormously narrow bathtub and waiting for the water to fill the tub. Once the boat was lifted to the height of the top of the tub, the lock opened and the boat sailed straight through.

During Dreselly's journey, he descended the world's highest single-lift lock at the time, at the Donzere Canal and the Bollene Lock, near of Viviers.

His travel, through the French canal system included some dating from the 1600s.

"The technology of canals in France is old, simple and ingenious," says Dreselly. "I got a sense of being in an impressionist painting each time I went through one," he recalls. Van Gogh painted "Pont de Langlois" in 1888, in Arles, depicting the horse-power technology used to navigate the canals.

Dreselly kept a journal describing the strenuous manual work he performed while navigating through the French canal lock system during his solo adventure.

"All the locks had lock-keepers in vigilant attendance at the time," he says. Often, these men were aging veterans of World War I or II. Therefore, the work of cranking the unmotorized lock machinery was usually up to him.

His details about navigating the ascending and descending locks are an excellent documentation of canal river travel before motorized technology.

I realize how the same voyage my husband and I enjoyed in a modern riverboat was extremely challenging for centuries of travelers who sailed in ordinary vessels before us.

Juliana L'Heureux can be contacted at: Juliana@mainewriter.com