Barge Cruising Canal du Midi

Let me gently bump this up a bit so perhaps our Ed will see it and pop in with the skinny.

Full disclosure: I've bareboated most of the routes in France but not the Midi. The reason is twofold:
. I once helped a buddy move a sailboat (masts cradled) from Bordeaux to Beziers. It was absolute bumperboats from Castelnaudary all the way out to the Med.
. In driving the area over the years, I've confirmed that observation, especially in the area to either side of Carcassonne.

Observations:

As far as outfits go, I've always used LocaBoat, but friends have used LeBoat and been very pleased. I don't have any depth of knowledge of any other companies, or even if they exist.

Watch out for 'sleeps X'. Look at the interior diagrams and make sure somebody's not going to have to sleep on the converted dining room table or a fold-out couch that blocks the exit for early risers.

Get something with interior (not just covered) steering if you don't want to get wet when it rains.

The French locks are generally manned, so all you have to do is drive the boat. As best as I can remember the few unmanned ones had instructions in French of which buttons to push sequentially to operate the gates and pumps. (You might be thinking of the British Waterways systems where you operate the locks yourselves in many cases - - but eight year old kids work those with no problems. In the same vein, on the Caledonian, you don't power through the locks but tug the boat through with hand lines -- again, kids do it.)

At one place or another, I've waited an hour to lock, but I obviously don't know what it would be on the Midi. It's no big deal, fix lunch, walk around, gab with the other people doing the same thing. Very rough timing (since the boats are governed down to prevent erosion) is to figure that every twenty minutes you can either travel a mile or run a lock.

They'll give you the rent-a-bike option. Skip it since it's a pain in the tail and it's just as easy to walk into the villages.

Lay in your drinks and grub at a grocery store before you get to the marina. The marinas stores are more like a 7-Eleven - - expensive without much choice. Have enough food for several lunches/suppers - - there's going to be times when you just don't hit a village at mealtime, or the weather is so bad you don't want to go outside. Breakfast is generally onboard unless you're right near a bakery or something.

There's not much in the way of harbors, generally. You either tie up along the canal in the villages using the bollards along the quay or use the stakes in the provided mooring kits if you need to tie off to the bank.

I've had one caution about theft and that was in the Rhone Delta up around Saint Gilles/Bellegarde/Beaucaire. There the advice was to stuff the bikes in the cabin and don't even leave wet towels outside. Otherwise we just lock the hatch and don't worry about it. I don't think there'd be any problem at night if you were actually on the boat. In the UK, however, you close the hatch if you think it might rain while you're away, otherwise the hell with it.

It's not boring, it's not romantic, it's not hard, it's not nerve-racking. It's relaxing. We try to fit a trip in, tied to something else, every couple of years - - but it doesn't always work out.

Several years ago my husband and I rented a penichette from Locaboat in mid-September. We picked it up in Agen and took it down the Garonne Canal and then the River Baise. We chose this route rather than Canal du Midi because we too had seen the bumper-to-bumper boats near Carcassone. What we didn't appreciate until we were underway was the difference between a man-made canal and the natural beauty of a river. We loved waking up in the morning to absolute silence, with mist rising from the river and ducks swimming nearby hoping for a crust of bread. We could go hours without seeing another boat and only waited at a lock a couple of times in the entire week. There were charming villages, and lots of locks, most of which I opened with an electronic key-card (minimal exertion climbing up & down stairs & ladders). The first few locks were intimidating but by the end we were looking forward to them.

My advice would be to carefully look at the sleeping layout, as Ed mentioned. And even if you don't plan to cook much, buy some basic provisions in case you find yourself in a town on a night when restaurants are all closed (as happened to us once)! We tied up along the canal once, but mainly stopped at little towns. No concerns at all about theft.
Overall, it was an unforgettable, totally relaxing week ... Highly recommended.

Penichettes !

I'd forgotten why I got hooked on Locaboat.

I've spent most of my life dorking around with boats. Locaboat's the only one with that old hull form. It has enough beam to swing a cat and, with its rudder and prop configuration, it's simple for even a novice/kid to worm into tight quarters.

We loved the penichette for the two of us, but with four people, I would recommend getting a boat with an outdoor seating area. If you are not the driver or the navigator, it would be nice to have a comfortable place to sit outside and watch the world go by.

Locaboat may have some of the boats with outdoor seating, but I know that you can get them from Le Boat, which has a base in Buzet (which is at the beginning of the river Baise). We docked there on our way back to Agen and took a look at them. In sleepy little Buzet, by the way, we had one of our best meals in France: a huge bowl of shelled mussels in a butter-wine sauce, followed by sea bass in puff pastry, then warm chocolate cake with raspberries and ice cream, topped off with a Cuban cigar for my husband! All for a crazy low price. Not sure if it's still in business, but I saved the business card & would recommend looking for it if you're there: L'Auberge du Goujon qui Fretille -- phone 05.53.84.26.51.

Thanks, all.

I took the Canal du Midi cruise last year and it was absolutely amazing. We booked our trip with the Barge Connection and they walked us through everything we needed to know. These types of cruises are wonderful, full of action and a great way to get away. You will completely enjoy yourself. And yes, they are very romantic.

We just got off 10 days on Canal Du Midi. A nice time. I think a week is about right. several points: 1) almost everybody on the canal are in your demographic and have modest to no boating experience and wind up doing just fine after a little trial and error. Part of the fun! 2) 95% of the locks are staffed by mostly patient lockkeepers. We would give a 1 or 2 euro tip to the friendly ones. The other 5% are electronic, so no exertion necessary. 3) Timing is everything on the locks - most waits were short, but we also had a couple 2 hour waits. Note that the staffed locks are closed at lunch for an hour and boats back up. 4) we tied up along the canal, as well as stayed in port. No hint of safety or theft problems. 5) good comments in previous posts on boats. The 2 main companies we saw were Locaboat (that we rented) and Le Boat. Main difference is locaboat is more of a houseboat and LeBoat is more of a cabin cruiser. Most LeBoat vessels we saw had bow thrusters, which greatly aids maneuvering in the locks. IMPORTANT POINT - get a boat with a "flying bridge" or upper deck for steering the boat, sightseeing and dining. You want to be up and outside! You also probably want 2 bathrooms. 7) the canal from Castelnaudary to Argens-Minervois was the nicest. Be sure to visit Bram. Best coffee shop on the trip! Carcassonne is worth stopping for 2 nights to see the castle, dine and do laundry/shower at the port. Trebes and Homps were also fun visits. 8) regards your last question: We (2 couples) did it this first time. Had fun, but probably would not do it again for awhile. Cheers. Oh, and be sure and take a string of smallish American flags to drap across your stern. It is sort of a custom with everyone flying their "colors" and joshing each other.