Cruising by barge

I was thinking adults only. Plus, I don't mind walking a few miles to get somewhere. The kids will enjoy the bikes.

Okay, Jonathan, I was hoping somebody with better knowledge would take this one, but here goes. My entire experience on the Midi consists of a single trip moving a sailboat from the Atlantic to the Med and that was a good while ago. I've crossed the thing a bunch of times. I've done a bunch of u-drive french barge trips, but none on the Midi since I'm anti-crowd and I've seen it look like bumper boats there in the summer. Hence, generic thoughts that you might miss: No directional right of way on locks, first-come/first-through subject to modification by the lock-keeper and his water conservation concerns. Most of the french boats have covered steering, but bring a rain jacket anyway. Stop early, especially close to Carcassone, or you'll be parked miles away and have to hike for seven evers. No running the boats in the dark. You'll need grub for one night and a couple of lunches/snacks in case you're nowhere near a place with food when you get ready to eat. Get if before hand or early on the trip - - the stores in the marina are super expensive. Stop every place you can, bypass nothing. You'll be offered bikes at an exta fee, they're a waste. If you need to refill with water, make sure it goes in the water tank and not the holding tank, else you will flood the boat with sewage (saw a guy do it once). The engines are governed down to a speed of about three knots - - a mile every twenty minutes. If there's no line, a lock also takes close to twenty minutes. Use miles and locks per hour to figure how long away from something you are. Each is a unit, so three units per hour. If anybody disagrees with me, they're probably right.

Thanks, Ed. You confirmed some things and brought up some other points I had missed. I'm hoping (nay, PRAYING) that since we're going in mid-June that the crowds will just be starting to grow, not like in July and August (please, oh PLEASE let this be the case!). - Hadn't even considered the rain jacket. Even though we have a boat with interior and exterior helms, we'll still need them for the two people working the ropes at the locks. - Our plan food-wise is to have at least two days' worth of snackage/meals available in case we miss a market (have heard this from several people!) - Someone else mentioned the water fiasco! Will make sure that we all know to avoid that one! (ick!)
- Had to laugh about the bikes comment. The friend who got me onto this journey had bikes and said they used them daily! We've already contracted for them, but our plan is to kick the kids (10 and 11) off the boat during the day to ride on the tow path while we sample the local wines!!!! Any other feedback is warmly welcomed!!!! Thanks!

My husband & I spent a memorable week piloting a barge down the Garonne Canal and River Baise (just northwest of Canal du Midi) in September a few years ago. It was a highlight of a month in France and something we are looking forward to repeating. Ed's comments were right on. A light fleece jacket might also come in handy; even in June, it could get cool at night on the water. Make sure you understand the speedometer (is that what it's called on a boat?). My husband got about 5 minutes of instruction, and we set out at what he thought was the correct speed (very slow). Our battery light came on after a few hours, which was a bit concerning. The next morning, he noticed a piece of orange tape on the speedometer. When he increased the speed to the tape mark, the battery light went out. Voila! Evidently we were just idling along at a speed too slow to charge the battery. I was in charge of navigation and locks, and was a bit apprehensive at the first few. But it turned out to be simple, and after Tom figured out how to steer the barge (it steers differently than most boats) the locks actually became fun. The food thing is crucial. Nights 2 and 3, the places we tied up happened to be closed for the day (one because it was Sunday, the other because it was Monday!). On Sunday night we used our meager French to ask some locals about restaurants and found a crepe stand about a 2 mile hike down the road. On Monday night we had apples, stale bread and wine for dinner. On Tuesday we finally bought some decent provisions. The people we met in the little towns couldn't have been more friendly and helpful. Few of them spoke English, and our French was minimal, but they were charming and welcoming. And once we finally found restaurants that were open, we enjoyed some of the best food we had in all of France. So enjoy! This will be a great adventure.