Bordeaux, la Rochelle, Toulouse & Garonne-by bike, self-drive boat & car
Apr 9th, 2017, 03:32 AM
#41
julies, you can congratulate yourself on having provided a public service by trying out this type of holiday for the rest of us. My DH was talking about doing this and i think that you have provided me with enough ammunition to put him off! so thank you.
Apr 9th, 2017, 05:13 AM
#42
Continues to be a great TR. So far on this boat trip the dessert cart is the only thing that has appealed to me! This will definitely make some stories for you to tell your family & friends. And I agree with annhig about providing a public service.
Apr 10th, 2017, 06:02 AM
#45
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My intent was not to bad mouth canal boat trips but to record our experiences with one.
I'm doing a "public service" LOL. I suspect the rental companies would think I am doing a public disservice.
I'm doing a "public service" LOL. I suspect the rental companies would think I am doing a public disservice.
Apr 10th, 2017, 04:16 PM
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Your experience re-affirms my conviction that it's been a good idea not to do a boat trip. As I think I mentioned before, I've driven along the Canal du Midi many times and asked myself what are these people thinking? I could walk faster than that! Thanks for the well-written, candid report.
Apr 10th, 2017, 06:57 PM
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In the morning we set out to walk the two parts of the town (old and new, not that the new was particularly new). Nerac is a lovely town, but other than the quick stop we made in the church there are not a lot of particular sights for a tourist other than just taking in the general ambience. This is one of those wander around for an hour or have lunch and then leave type of towns.
As we headed back up towards Buzet the steering was still extremely problematic--so difficult that we needed to call again and request that a mechanic meet us in Buzet. However, we managed to return to Buzet without incident and pulled into the same slip we’d had two days before. While we waited for the mechanic to arrive, the woman who was temporarily managing the place told us that when she first saw us two days previously and helped to pull us in, she immediately thought to herself that there must be something wrong with the boat. She was definitely right. Guess what? The hydraulic fluid needed to be filled! We must have had a boat with a huge leak in the hydraulic system. This second mechanic didn’t speak any English so we communicated in a mix of French and Spanish while he quickly sussed out what the problem was. One would think that something as important as reliable steering would be well-maintained in a rental boat. After all, lack of steering can affect safety while boating even if a boat is plodding along at about 8K an hour.
With good internet connectivity in Buzet, we quickly made plans for our last few days in France. We would forego one day of boating and our last two nights of sleeping on the boat and end up with three nights and two plus days in Toulouse rather than the one afternoon and an overnight we’d initially intended to have. On AirB&B I managed to find a nice apartment in the center of Toulouse whose owner was willing to make a last minute booking. We’d checked the train schedules and found a train the next day from Marmande to Toulouse, so we booked those tickets. We let the base know that we’d be arriving two days early and asked them to arrange a taxi transfer for us from the base to the train station in Marmande. After dinner we spent the evening organizing and packing up our belongings we’d spread out all over the boat in the week we’d been on the boat.
We had been in the midst of a cool front for the past several days, and when we rose in the morning the mists were once again heavily settled in on the water. Dressed in all of our layers we pulled out planning to make a direct run to le Mas d’Agenais and the LeBoat rental base. This last day there were only four or five locks to go through, we had our routine down pat, and most importantly the boat was operating smoothly. Near one town we encountered a type of obstacle course challenge for young kayakers (perhaps ages ten to fifteen) who it seemed were ending the season with a competition. When we approached, one of the most experienced young kayakers paddled up to us and led us through the route. Good thing the steering was working this day! So, we easily made the run, arriving in the early afternoon so we could catch our train.
Would we do another canal boat trip? It’s doubtful but possible. Some people just love these types of journeys and do them frequently. For us, it was an okay but not spectacular experience. We have had lots of great time on the water and on boats (not this RV-like sleep-on type though), so perhaps this experience wasn’t all that special for us the way it would be for other people who don’t get many opportunities to have time on the water. Even though we supposedly got a very significant discount (about half the normal price) for the base price before all of the essential add-ons like fuel and insurance, this was not a cheap trip.
Having our own little cozy place that could move with us was unique for a couple days, but the novelty wore off rather quickly. Not having to pack and unpack was definitely an advantage, but it was outweighed by all of the other factors. I know we could have had a rental car and rented a very nice gite or apartment for the same amount of time for less money overall. I know that if this had been a trip to actually “see” France, we would have been very disappointed. We’ve had perhaps six to eight other trips to France from the US, so we have already seen a lot of France.
The two of us talked about how maybe this would be a better experience if it were more of a social experience with a small group of friends doing it together. Really good friends who wouldn’t get on each other’s nerves in the tight quarters, especially if it were raining. The weather affected our perceptions a bit but not by much. And, we were lucky in that we didn’t really have to deal with rain while traveling. Although we’d recommend going a couple weeks earlier in the fall than we went, the weather wasn’t bad enough to radically impact our impressions of the trip overall.
The poorly maintained boat also wasn’t a huge reason why we weren’t all that impressed with the overall experience, so I can’t attribute our feelings to not be chomping at the bit to do a repeat trip to that. Certainly, we are very definitely less than impressed with LeBoat’s rental fleet (and how poorly it is maintained) and we definitely wouldn’t rent from them again even though their employees were all good. I suppose some people might comment that a boat with lots of problems should be expected at the end of a season when the boats have been heavily put through their paces all summer. But, I don’t buy that. A rental car company isn’t going to send renters off with a very poorly maintained vehicle (I hope) just because it is getting to the end of prime rental season. Why should a boat rental be any different? We are pretty laid back, and we didn’t come away seething (as some people might) that our entire trip had been ruined by the pretty significant hassles we had with the boat.
Prior to deciding on this trip we’d done a lot of research and decided to take this route rather than the more popular Canal du Midi because in ways the Canal du Midi sounded even more monotonous. If we were to do it again, we’d seek out a different type of environment than a canal (a small river probably), and we’d look for a route that really has interesting towns all along the route. Unfortunately, in France a true river route oftentimes that means the driver has to have a captain’s license—not an easy accomplishment. A number of years ago someone on this forum said they’d taken four such self-drive boat journeys in France, and the most interesting of all was the Macon to Epinal route in Burgundy. If we ever have any inclination to do this again, I might take deep look at that route. Being further north, it, of course, would need to be done earlier in the season.
As we headed back up towards Buzet the steering was still extremely problematic--so difficult that we needed to call again and request that a mechanic meet us in Buzet. However, we managed to return to Buzet without incident and pulled into the same slip we’d had two days before. While we waited for the mechanic to arrive, the woman who was temporarily managing the place told us that when she first saw us two days previously and helped to pull us in, she immediately thought to herself that there must be something wrong with the boat. She was definitely right. Guess what? The hydraulic fluid needed to be filled! We must have had a boat with a huge leak in the hydraulic system. This second mechanic didn’t speak any English so we communicated in a mix of French and Spanish while he quickly sussed out what the problem was. One would think that something as important as reliable steering would be well-maintained in a rental boat. After all, lack of steering can affect safety while boating even if a boat is plodding along at about 8K an hour.
With good internet connectivity in Buzet, we quickly made plans for our last few days in France. We would forego one day of boating and our last two nights of sleeping on the boat and end up with three nights and two plus days in Toulouse rather than the one afternoon and an overnight we’d initially intended to have. On AirB&B I managed to find a nice apartment in the center of Toulouse whose owner was willing to make a last minute booking. We’d checked the train schedules and found a train the next day from Marmande to Toulouse, so we booked those tickets. We let the base know that we’d be arriving two days early and asked them to arrange a taxi transfer for us from the base to the train station in Marmande. After dinner we spent the evening organizing and packing up our belongings we’d spread out all over the boat in the week we’d been on the boat.
We had been in the midst of a cool front for the past several days, and when we rose in the morning the mists were once again heavily settled in on the water. Dressed in all of our layers we pulled out planning to make a direct run to le Mas d’Agenais and the LeBoat rental base. This last day there were only four or five locks to go through, we had our routine down pat, and most importantly the boat was operating smoothly. Near one town we encountered a type of obstacle course challenge for young kayakers (perhaps ages ten to fifteen) who it seemed were ending the season with a competition. When we approached, one of the most experienced young kayakers paddled up to us and led us through the route. Good thing the steering was working this day! So, we easily made the run, arriving in the early afternoon so we could catch our train.
Would we do another canal boat trip? It’s doubtful but possible. Some people just love these types of journeys and do them frequently. For us, it was an okay but not spectacular experience. We have had lots of great time on the water and on boats (not this RV-like sleep-on type though), so perhaps this experience wasn’t all that special for us the way it would be for other people who don’t get many opportunities to have time on the water. Even though we supposedly got a very significant discount (about half the normal price) for the base price before all of the essential add-ons like fuel and insurance, this was not a cheap trip.
Having our own little cozy place that could move with us was unique for a couple days, but the novelty wore off rather quickly. Not having to pack and unpack was definitely an advantage, but it was outweighed by all of the other factors. I know we could have had a rental car and rented a very nice gite or apartment for the same amount of time for less money overall. I know that if this had been a trip to actually “see” France, we would have been very disappointed. We’ve had perhaps six to eight other trips to France from the US, so we have already seen a lot of France.
The two of us talked about how maybe this would be a better experience if it were more of a social experience with a small group of friends doing it together. Really good friends who wouldn’t get on each other’s nerves in the tight quarters, especially if it were raining. The weather affected our perceptions a bit but not by much. And, we were lucky in that we didn’t really have to deal with rain while traveling. Although we’d recommend going a couple weeks earlier in the fall than we went, the weather wasn’t bad enough to radically impact our impressions of the trip overall.
The poorly maintained boat also wasn’t a huge reason why we weren’t all that impressed with the overall experience, so I can’t attribute our feelings to not be chomping at the bit to do a repeat trip to that. Certainly, we are very definitely less than impressed with LeBoat’s rental fleet (and how poorly it is maintained) and we definitely wouldn’t rent from them again even though their employees were all good. I suppose some people might comment that a boat with lots of problems should be expected at the end of a season when the boats have been heavily put through their paces all summer. But, I don’t buy that. A rental car company isn’t going to send renters off with a very poorly maintained vehicle (I hope) just because it is getting to the end of prime rental season. Why should a boat rental be any different? We are pretty laid back, and we didn’t come away seething (as some people might) that our entire trip had been ruined by the pretty significant hassles we had with the boat.
Prior to deciding on this trip we’d done a lot of research and decided to take this route rather than the more popular Canal du Midi because in ways the Canal du Midi sounded even more monotonous. If we were to do it again, we’d seek out a different type of environment than a canal (a small river probably), and we’d look for a route that really has interesting towns all along the route. Unfortunately, in France a true river route oftentimes that means the driver has to have a captain’s license—not an easy accomplishment. A number of years ago someone on this forum said they’d taken four such self-drive boat journeys in France, and the most interesting of all was the Macon to Epinal route in Burgundy. If we ever have any inclination to do this again, I might take deep look at that route. Being further north, it, of course, would need to be done earlier in the season.
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Sep 18th, 2016 06:30 AM
