River Cruise in France?

For a more intimate adventure, look at taking a barge canal cruise. They range is size from 4 to 50 passengers.

For a truly memorable trip, rent a drive-it-yourself barge. You essentially float down the river (or canal, depending on where you are we did the River Baise, in southwestern France). You stop wherever you want. Minimal boating experience needed. You navigate through the locks, visit little towns that normally do not get tourists, wake up on the river in the morning to complete silence ... maybe a duck or two outside your boat waiting for a handout. We spent a week on the barge in the middle of a 4-week trip to France. One of our best vacations ever.

Charlene - What a fantastic idea! That sounds like something my husband would be all over. Was there a specific company you went through? We are boaters but never negotiated a lock before. Was it difficult to figure out? Thanks for planting the thought in my head for this spring.

Beware that self-driven boats are not really that easy, they require basic knowledge of water navigation laws and reasonable physical effort to maneuver around the locks for a fit adult.

"basic knowledge of water navigation laws": stay to the right and don't run in to stuff "maneuver around the locks': use forward, neutral, and reverse so you don't run in to stuff "fit adult": when my kids didn't have enough weight to swing the gates, they ran the boat while I pushed the arms You get a bit of instruction. The boats zoom along at three knots. It ain't that hard.

I loved the suggestion to look at barge cruising. I've been focusing my search in that direction, but, wow, those are expensive! Has anyone heard of last-minute deals on barge cruises, or are these trips that simply have to be purchased well ahead of travel?

I haven't heard of last-minute deals on barges, but you could contact the barge companies and ask. We went through Locaboat. We also picked up literature from Aquitane Navigation; we liked the looks of their boats. I don't remember it being horribly expensive when you consider it's your lodging and entertainment for the week. It was definitely worth every penny to us. We went in September; there could be seasonal differences in price. We were admittedly a little nervous when we started out. The Locaboat people took my husband out in the boat for a short lesson, while I got a lesson on how to manipulate the locks. Then we were off! And asking ourselves what in the world we'd been thinking! After we successfully navigated our first locks and managed to park the boat at night, we felt very proud of ourselves. By the end of the week, we were pros and were actually looking forward to the next lock. You do need to be reasonably fit to be able to climb up and down ladders, and in and out of the boat, but we were both in our late 50's and not serious athletes, and we didn't have any trouble.

Thanks, Charlene, I'll look into the DIY route. Hubby and I had a sailboat we crewed together for many years - pre-children! We've also managed the large commercial locks in Seattle, so I don't think we would have any problems. It's not something I had thought of. I will definitely look into that option. Thanks - Kathy

I haven't done any locks in France but helped open a similar lock on the south canal in Dublin (that hadn't been opened in decades). They're pretty easy to figure out, not nearly as intimidating as a commercial lock. Assuming they are in regular use, an average adult is plenty strong enough to open/close them.

You are all very encouraging. I'm liking the idea of a bareboat, DIY canal trip. I'll start researching that today.

Most of the locks we encountered were really easy. I was given a magnetic key card to hang around my neck (like a hotel room card). I would just insert it in the lock mechanism to open and close it. (The whole process was a little more complicated than that. When we approached a closed lock, we would pull up to the shore, I would get out and tie up the boat, then climb up to the lock mechanism, open it, walk back to the boat, untie it, walk back to the lock, wait for my husband to drive the boat in, re-open the lock, climb back on the boat and ride out.) We did about 60 locks in seven days and got really good at it. If you search the Helpline archives you'll find more information about barges, including this link, which I think perfectly captures the experience. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=20020208&id=XzIzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iggGAAAAIBAJ&pg=6807,2229568 The details will vary depending on which river you choose (the Baise was almost empty -- we went hours without seeing another boat, and never any large ones; also we never saw a lock-keeper).

Not trying to hijack the thread, but thanks to all (especially Ed & Charlene) for the heads-up on the DIY boat cruise. Loved the newspaper article too....very realistic & fair. My husband was honestly getting bored with the whole Europe thing (I know, how's that possible) and I showed him this idea and he's suddenly very interested. You all just saved me from diving with Great Whites off Mexico. I owe you all an appendage. For those who have been, what would be a great 1st timer's cruise in France? I looked at the routes and the whole SW France looks cool to me. I've only been to Paris (many times) and Provence (just a couple). Any input appreciated! Otherwise, I'll lurk through Kathy's responses :)

Leslie, Welcome Aboard! I'm loving all of the information here. Keep it coming!

I have only done one, but thought it was great for beginners. Very little traffic, and wonderful little towns. We started in Agen, took a canal a short distance to Buzet, where we got onto the River Baise. We were there in mid-September, which was a great time of year. Writing about it makes me want to go do it again!