France barging
 

We are a party of 9 (4 adults, 5 kids...10-16) that are planning on travelling the Canal Du Midi (upstream) in late June. One concern our group had was the lack of air conditioning on the boat...any thoughts? Also, I understand there are 64 locks on the route...seems like alot, but would appreciate any insight from those who have done it (we are not seasoned sailors at all). Also, any specific places that you would say are an absolute must to stop? Thanks

This certainly is not a helpful response, but I just had to say that I will be eager to hear about your trip when you return. I received some info in the mail the other day from Le Boat, and it really whetted my interest in barging. I will probably never do it and therefore, refrained from asking any question here about it, but I would love to hear of others' experiences. The brochure made it seem like a lot of fun!

I hope you do get some helpful answers here! And have a wonderful trip!

We took a ride on a boat on the Canal du Midi in August. The plane trees (sp) provided a good deal of shade, but in the open areas it was quite hot mid-day.I researched the barge idea quite a bit a couple of years ago, and they seemed to run from the operate-your-own barge, all the way up to the crew-serviced, chef-engaged touring barge. I'm not sure how many offer air-conditioning, and I would think that you would lose something of the atmospheric experience by being closed in. On the other hand, if you could select a barge that had the capacity to offer AC, you could think about using it selectively, like at night for sleeping!As for activities, my preference would be to hire the bikes and to be able to have some of your party be able to ride through the villages and gather groceries, while the remaining crew stayed on board the vessel.

If you search the web, you'll likely find testimonials from some people who took on the charge of navigating the barge themselves. I know that I've read some of their impressions, but I can't recall enough to fairly characterize their experiences.
Howver it works out, bon voyage!

I have never done the Canal du Midi, but was on the nearby Canal du Rhone a Sete in August a number of years ago. Don't recall that the heat was all that unbearable. Anyway, you are going to be on a boat in the countryside. Why would you want to hide inside the cabin?

How long will your journey be? I have done 20 some locks in a hard day when they the locks are close together, and I consider that my personal upper limit with only a DW as crew. With all those agile youngsters aboard to scramble up slimy lock ladders you should have no problems in handling them.

Unless you have booked a one way trip, you can always spend more time in towns that you find delightful, and turn back early. After all, barging is supposed to be a leasurely crawl from one restaurant/vinyard/market/bar to the next. Seeing how many locks or kilometers one can do in a day is missing the point.

BTW, there is a thread on SlowTalk awhile ago, started by a guy that was going to be on the Canal Baise (off the Midi) this summer that might give you some insights. Don't sweat the boat handling. It is a snap. I know the Midi is not heavily used by commercial traffic, and most of the rental boat are skippered by folks with no more experience than you have. Sort of like bumper cars.

With nine people on a canal boat, I hope you are all very friendly even if it is a big vessel. My advise is take it slow and easy, stop often, and give everyone the freedom to do their own things on the towpath and in the villages.

That said, I'm sure you will all have a great time. Most of us that have tried "ditch crawling" become addicts. It is truly a wonderful way to vacation in France with a family.

thanks for the replies...we have a boat on hold with Crown Blue Line...anyone have any experience with them??

My friends and I hired boats from Crown Blue. 14 adults - 2 boats. Five or six of us were VERY experienced boaters. I was one of the Not experienced. We got the boats at St. Jean du Losne, and went west on the Soanne to the Canal du Centrale. Loved it.
We took our boat May 22nd of that year. It got very hot during the day but one is topside, in the breeze. We did not need it at all at night as it grew considerably cooler at night.
Either way, I believe the boats we took ("Classiques?") had an air conditioner in the salon.
Locks can be difficult. Doable, of course, but not easy. You have to secure the boat to the side of the lock, obviously, both upstream or down. And like someone before me mentioned, the kids will be able to help a lot..its quite safe.

Hi peter,

Hope you have great trip.

A word of advice: "You cannot enter a lock too slowly".

((I))

We're going on our 2nd Midi trip this week. We'll be on the boat Sat 4/ 23 - can't wait. Must see in Carcassone and we liked Canstleundry a lot too - cute little faux American resturant called 'Time to Eat' there. The owner have been to US many times.

I don't have time for much detail now, since I'm wrapping up work stuff. But e-mail me and I'll answer all questions.

we did a trip in Alsace 2 years ago with Crown Blue Line - 4 of us on board. There were problems with the fridge which they eventually fixed and were very slow to get us going on departure day. Otherwise fine and our boating partners have done multiple trips with them. No aircon and was very very hot - June 2003 was especially hot. We chased shade rather than pretty places as result and tho outside on boat you don't move quickly enough to cool down.

That's when we were there well, first week in June 2003 on CrownBlue...
Well, maybe Burgundy was cooler.

At locks, the key (no pun intended)
to their ease are the bollards. They can be stationary (hence having to nimbly climb up or down slimy ladders.) or they "float"... heaven those.

We are scheduled on French Country Waterways in Sept. It is a crewed hotel barge traveling on the Canal de Bourgogne and Canal du Centre. Any thoughts on this itinerary or company?

Ira:

I beg to differ with your, "can't enter a lock too slowly" comment. I have had eclusiers get really annoyed if I didn't enter quickly enough; especially if traffic was heavy. Learned some choices phrases in French from them.

Another time I went ahead of a penniche into a lock on the Rhone. He was annoyed at how slowly I was going. (We were on a 25 ton ketch that stopped only reluctantly.) He came charging in behind me, and had I not scooted ahead smartly he would have run me down. We ended up sideways against the lock gates, glad for our big fenders.

I used some of those choice phrases myself, at that point.

I guess We have been lucky, as we never were botherd by the heat, except when my Practice Wife roasted a chicken in the oven. We had to evacuate the boat until things cooled down below.

We will be on the Saone in mid September. Hope we don't have either a hot or cold spell.

Eight of us went on a self-drive barge trip on the Midi a couple of years ago. We used the Locaboat firm, but saw plenty of Crown and others. We collected our boat, complete with four bicycles for use on the towpaths,from a depot near Montesquieu-Lauragais, just south of Toulouse, and went through Castelnaudry, Carcassone and La Redorte to another depot at Argens. The trip occupied a week, and was sensational. The Canal Du Midi is one of the oldest canals in France, and therefore the locks are of smaller size than on newer canals, having a top capacity of four barges. There is no commercial traffic on the Midi any more. There are a lot of locks, most of which are old-fashioned and have to be worked by hand. The lockkeeper is always grateful for assistance with this task which is time-consuming but not onerous. There may have been barges with airconditioning but we did not see any. Nor did the conditions warrant it. Experiencing the current temperature is part of the whole ambience of the trip. From Toulouse, locks open upwards as far as the Col de Naurouze, where the waters that replenish the whole canal system enter. Locks then open downwards all the way to the Mediterranean. Castelnaudary is the home of the cassolet, a dish seemingly made with goose fat, beans, goose fat, meats, goose fat, other ingredients and goose fat! It is delicious, but probably not as a staple diet! La Cite at Carcassone is sensational to view, but probably less attractive to visit, being possibly one of the most densely-arranged tourist-tack sites in Europe. There are wonderful local restaurants in the villages near the canal, and supermarkets at which you can replenish supplies of food and wine. We enjoyed it so much that we have done another barge trip since, and our next is in Burgundy in 2006. We have always done all our arrangements via internet from Australia, and everything has always worked out fine.

thanks for everyone's great information. Adeben, we lived in Sydney for 4 years and are meeting another Australian family in France for the trip. Did you book the trip on a specific Australian site or the general Locaboat site? Thanks

I'm from Melbourne, but I forgive you for living in Sydney. We have always dealt directly with the Locaboat site, and the only possible problem is the possible extra cost for a one-way trip: i.e. from one depot to another depot. Sometimes no charge is quoted: sometimes one is. We have always been able to negotiate 'No Charge'. Incidentally, theoretically, if you are travelling on the Midi TOWARDS Col de Naurouze, you are travelling 'upstream', no matter from which direction. Port Lauragais is near there and it is a largish boat harbour complete with shops etc. In Castelnaudry, mooring is done in a large lake in the centre of town with easy access to Centre Ville: At Carcassonne you would be well advised to moor away from the usual area which is noisy, but still stay within the town confines. We ate at the Relais de l'Ecluse at Carcassonne, and it was cheap and cheerful. Ditto either of the two auberges at Homps, if you are near there. However it is not hard to get a reasonable meal at any of the villages on or near the Midi. You will have detected that I'm not the world's largest fan of Carcassonne. It's a bit like Aigues Mortes: very spectacular to view from the near distance, but less enchanting to visit due to over-commercialization. You might also be well advised to purchase the Navicarte publication 'Voies Navigables du Midi', which is a book of very detailed maps of the Midi, with towns, locks, distances etc. We bought ours from the depot when we collected the barge. Can't remember the cost, but it was worth it. Have a great time.

Adeben....thanks for your insight

Yep.. DO rent the bikes!

Have fun! I was not complaining above - I WILL do the self-drive barge again...

But that other poster's comments about hotel barge.. oooph... sounds great as well!

We did a Midi Canal cruise with FranceCruises.com last year and we had A/C both in the salon and in the cabins.

It was a hotel barge though and we had a crew of 4 (guide, chef ...) looking after us...I'm not sure about the self drive boats.

Olivia

We did the Canal du Midi from Beaucaire to Homps last (late) July. Temperature was not a problem but we felt lucky because just before we arrived the temp dropped from near 100 to 80. Our boat (a top of the range Connoisseur) had what passes as A/C but it was close to useless.

The trip itself was fantastic. It's just a matter of a "roll of the dice" on the temperature!

The locks are not an issue. Our kids were praying for the next one. They're lots of fun - and add to the excitement of the trip + they're a great way to meet people. The only problem is if the canal is busy. You could spend a whole day getting through one lock. July was French holiday time and we didn't experience problems with this but it was a close run thing. In June I reckon you'll be fine + the chances of the really "hot heat" are lower.

As to canal boating itself, you don't need experience, just common sense. The going would be too slow for some folks so whether you enjoy it very much depends on who you are! We loved it and so did our kids (9,15 and 17) + they love taking turns at driving - esp. the 9 year old! (Don't tell the gendarmes)

I read through this rather fast so if I'm repeating, please ignore.
When we were considering doing this and we spent quite a bit of time looking at boats, the best advice we were given was to get a barge that you can drive from the outside. Too many couples get one where the pilot has to be completely "down below" all day piloting, and it is not as great an experience as being more in the open where you can share the scenery.

What a great idea for a vacation. But, I notice that all the mentions are of the Canal du Midi - although I love the Midi, are there other canals just as nice? Did you choose the Canal du Midi for a specific boating reason - better locks or something? Or, because that's a region that you want to visit? And, why did you choose the outfitter (if that's the term) that you did? Sorry for the questions, but I think that a seed has been planted here for a future vacation!
Have fun!

Ten years ago we did a trip on the canal de Bourgogne from St. Florentin to Monbard. I chose it because it was one of the one-way itineraries that passed by a greater number of "old stones". We went through 50+ locks in a week. Only one person one the two boats had some experience with boats. We had no problems, even if at the beginning we were weaving from shore to shore like drunken sailors. We used Rive de France.

We have used Locaboat in the Alsace-Lorraine area (canal de la Marne) and were among lots of Crown Blue rentals. Locaboat seemed to have more of the traditional "pénichette" style boats and Crown Blue had more of the Fly Bridge styles.

We have driven along the Canal du Midi from Toulouse to Carcassone (as feasible) with the intent of doing the Canal du Midi next time. Just be forewarned that the water is a sort of murky brown (just in case you were envisioning clear azur-blue!)

These companies have manuals that you can order in advance or purchase at the time you pick up the boat. Other resource material: "Through the French Canals" by Philip Bristow, revised by David Jefferson (in it's 10th edition). And there is a Californian couple (sorry-don't have access to my library at the moment) who has written a guide book specifically for the Canal du Midi, rich with little do's & don'ts and what days the markets are where, what to order at which restaurant, etc. They own a pénichette that they keep year-round in Le Midi.

Definitely rent at least 2 bikes! They are fun and are a great way to get those fresh croissant/pain au chocolat every morning.

Whatever the color of the water in the canal, you do not want to swim in it. On our boat, the wastes from the head were ground up and went directly into the canal. We looked for a tank that would be drained and found none.

crownblueline.com
We rented the Tasman in 2001 and loved it.

Our group chose 2 Crowne Blue lines "Classiques". We chose the Canal du Central... cuisine and wine.