French canal holiday?

[Ian B]

Hi,

Looking at having a week next year with total group of 6 on one of the southern French canals, Big blank canvas , would be grateful for info ,Companies, websites, forums etc. must be self drive not a hotel boat,

Cheers

Ian

[pendle]

I did the Canal du midi about 25 years ago-we went from somewhere near D'Avignon to Carcassonne-across the Camargue-all locks re controlled by very bossy lockeepers! Great trip-it is though very much a working canal with some very large boats which have absolute priority Largely because of their size and bully tactics-well you are in France!!

 

Cant remember hire boat company's name but it may have been a Hoseseason boat. This was before internet access etc and I booked in the UK

[Guest]

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=58197&hl=french

[Laurie Booth]

We had a great holiday on the Canal de Midi 2005

 

 

Real French country side and lovely people.

We found one group of live a boards who had wired up their boats to the street lamps!!

[Aground]

There is a company called "Le Boat" based in Trebes, a few miles from Carcassonne in the Departement of the Aude (Dept 11). They have a selection of GRP cruisers of various sizes and they are popular with foreigners of all nationalities. The company have other depots on the Canal du Midi but I do not know whether it is possible to pick-up a boat at one and drop-off at another. T'internet is your friend for any further investigation. I hope that helps.

[Athy]

A vote for the Canal du Nivernais - the scene of our first-ever hire boat holiday, and largely responsible for our being boat owners today, almost 20 years later. I am not sure if you would count it as "Southern" France but it's fairly far South.

 

Th eMidi is impressive but can get boring after a few days.

[steelaway]

Hi,

Looking at having a week next year with total group of 6 on one of the southern French canals, Big blank canvas , would be grateful for info ,Companies, websites, forums etc. must be self drive not a hotel boat,

Cheers

Ian

Hi

We had a one week holiday starting from Joigny and finishing in ??? They can organise a taxi back for around £20 each. All the locks are manned and it is very rural.

You do pass through Auxerre and is well worth a stop over.

 

Alex

[Guest]

Athy, on 12 Mar 2014 - 12:34 PM, said:Athy, on 12 Mar 2014 - 12:34 PM, said:

A vote for the Canal du Nivernais - the scene of our first-ever hire boat holiday, and largely responsible for our being boat owners today, almost 20 years later. I am not sure if you would count it as "Southern" France but it's fairly far South.

 

Th eMidi is impressive but can get boring after a few days.

 

 

Mike in case you missed it the Nivernais is going to feature in one of the episodes of the Prunella Scales/Tim west programs - 'Great Canal Journeys'.

 

Though I'm not sure if it is the 3rd or 4th episode as the guide to the series doesn't seem to mention it.

 

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/great-canal-journeys/episode-guide

Edited March 12, 2014 by The Dog House

[Athy]

Yes, indeed I had seen that, but thank you for the reminder (or "heads up", as I believe those young people rather mysteriously say). Incidentally, it seems that The Great Controller did video the first episode so I'll be watching it tonight d.v.

Ian B., perhaps you should watch that programme as you may be able to see if the Nivernais (which is also the canal mentioned by Steelaway in post no. 7) appeals to you. All I can say is that if it doesn't you must be hard to please - but I am biased of course!

[lydfordcastle]

Th eMidi is impressive but can get boring after a few days.

 

Didn't find the Midi boring, far from it. It's true some of the lockkeepers can be a bit bolshi but that just adds to the charm. We hired from Minervois Cruisers (Napton Boats) based at Le Someil and much of our trip can be seen on Laurie's excellent slide show above. Lots of lovely little villages to stop at and one not so lovely town (Beziers). Food everywhere was superb with plenty of choice of restaurants at all our overnights. The only substandard meal we experienced was at an English run restaurant in Homps. The one thing you have to watch out for though is the fuel charge as this can really bump up your holiday cost. On the Midi, Minervois charged per litre for refilling the tank at the end of the hire period. A fair way of doing it but the cost per litre was about 25% above the local going rate. We could have circumvented that problem as just down the cut from the hire base, a marina was selling waterside diesel at the same price as the local supermarket so if you go that way, fill up at the pump on your last day. We have also hired from 'Le Boat' but came home feeing really ripped off as that company's method of charging for fuel was by engine hours and the fuel bill for six days cruising at 5 hours per day max. was over £450. We weren't too impressed with the boat provided by Le Boat either, from a comfort point of view. Although it was one of their supposed 'luxury' vessels (over £2,300 for a 4-berth for one week) cabins were tight with very little clothes storage space but a massive kitchen and day lounge area. Both cabins were advertised as 'en-suite' but they weren't. Overall a poorly thought out design, the Minervois boat being half the cost and much more comfortable. Needless to say I shan't be hiring from Le Boat again.

[Athy]

Oh, there are some delightful spots along the way - but "the way" with its mile after mile of plane trees can, in my opinion, become tedious. We also hired from Minervois, a narrowboat which we were thinking of buying as a sponsored boat but in the end did not.

[Laurie Booth]

 

Didn't find the Midi boring, far from it. It's true some of the lockkeepers can be a bit bolshi but that just adds to the charm. We hired from Minervois Cruisers (Napton Boats) based at Le Someil and much of our trip can be seen on Laurie's excellent slide show above. Lots of lovely little villages to stop at and one not so lovely town (Beziers). Food everywhere was superb with plenty of choice of restaurants at all our overnights. The only substandard meal we experienced was at an English run restaurant in Homps. The one thing you have to watch out for though is the fuel charge as this can really bump up your holiday cost. On the Midi, Minervois charged per litre for refilling the tank at the end of the hire period. A fair way of doing it but the cost per litre was about 25% above the local going rate. We could have circumvented that problem as just down the cut from the hire base, a marina was selling waterside diesel at the same price as the local supermarket so if you go that way, fill up at the pump on your last day. We have also hired from 'Le Boat' but came home feeing really ripped off as that company's method of charging for fuel was by engine hours and the fuel bill for six days cruising at 5 hours per day max. was over £450. We weren't too impressed with the boat provided by Le Boat either, from a comfort point of view. Although it was one of their supposed 'luxury' vessels (over £2,300 for a 4-berth for one week) cabins were tight with very little clothes storage space but a massive kitchen and day lounge area. Both cabins were advertised as 'en-suite' but they weren't. Overall a poorly thought out design, the Minervois boat being half the cost and much more comfortable. Needless to say I shan't be hiring from Le Boat again.

We too hired from Minervois at Le Someil. Very pleased with the boat and service. I just loved some of the "Basil Fawlty" lock keepers

We actually had a great time in a local tobacco shop in Beziers, where the locals were amazed that some English people were in the shop. Took us ages to get out as at the time Prince Charles was getting married and they kept doing impressions of him.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Laurie.Booth

[Graham Davis]

Who ever you hire from in France check their rules on the payment of fuel for their boats very carefully.

There was a thread on here last year after someone had been charged a very high figure as the company charged (I think) from the hour counter and not from the actual amount used.

[Athy]

I suspect, Graham, that this may have been "Le Boat", mentioned in an earlier post.

[lydfordcastle]

I suspect, Graham, that this may have been "Le Boat", mentioned in an earlier post.

 

It certainlly was and I'm still not over it !

[Bunny]

We had a week on the Canal De Garonne from Minervois cruisers. Great week , very quiet hardly say a boat 1st week Sept 3 years ago. Small villages , good local restrauants . Nice clean wide beam . We also had a day with her on the river. Bunny.

[Bee]

I don`t know how much felling has taken place yet but the midi is losing it`s plane trees, some sort of disease apparently so it could be really unpleasantly hot in the summer, personally I would suggest the Nivernais as well.