Each year more and more Americans are discovering France, at a new speed, 4 mph, through her vast network of beautiful canals and waterways.

It often begins, as it did with us, with a week on one of the luxury hotel barge canal cruises. French Hotel Barge.com offers significant discounts to vacationers on Continental Waterways, the company that started luxury hotel barge vacations is France. They offer unique weeks on boats carrying as few as 6 and as many as 50 passengers. Some are Bed and Breakfast only with other meals taken in canal side restaurants. Most offer gourmet meals, open bars, and air-conditioned tour buses used to see attractions not located directly on the canals.

All hotel barges offer comfortable sleeping accommodations, quaint village visits, guided chateaux explorations, and of course, stops to sample the local wine. Most offer bicycles and hiking opportunities along the towpaths and meals equal to a Michelin starred restaurant.

The larger river barges even offer piano bars, jacuzzis, fitness rooms and suites with balconies instead of rooms. They go a little faster (8mph) but still offer incredible detail of the passing countryside.

Then there is a special group of canal boats designed for those people who prefer to do it themselves. There are dozens of companies in France that do "self drive" charters on boats built specifically for this type of activity. Many can be easily booked in the USA and paid for in American Dollars. French Hotel Barge.com is one of these companies as is its sister company French Canal Boat .Com. They specialize in Crown Blue Line French Canal Boats. That company offers the most boats, the best possibilities for a one way charter, the best maintenance.

My wife and I began 7 years ago with a cruise on a luxury hotel barge operated by Continental Waterways. It was one of the most glorious weeks we ever had. They forgot to tell us to bring along an extra set of clothes, a size larger, to use to travel home.

What we liked the most about our luxury hotel barge experience (other than the gourmet food) was the detail we saw each mile we traveled. You really see a lot at 4 mph that you miss at higher speeds. The interchange with lockkeepers, villagers, and shopkeepers along the canals was an entirely new experience for us. It was one that we really enjoyed.

It was on that luxury hotel barge trip that we saw some of the rental boats and had a chance to talk to some boat operators. What we saw, we liked very much. The boats were clean and well equipped. They looked easy to operate, as the engines were governed to keep them at the legal speed limit of 4 mph. How much trouble can you get into at 4 mph?

The next year we booked two self drive boats on the Burgundy Canal with a group of clients and friends. The experience was incredible. For the most part we bought already prepared foods from take out places along the canals and heated them up later on board. We had the best of wines each night with our almost gourmet meals.

There are such "take out places" through out France. Most are owned by trained chefs who do not want to spend evenings in restaurant. So they open a shop with take out food of restaurant quality. The French people often stop by their favorite Traitaur for take out on the way home. The choice is often between 6 or 7 meal items with full trimmings. That is what we did on our first self drive charter. Such prepared meals are also available in major super markets.

On our second self-drive canal boat charter we joined with 16 other clients and chartered 3 boats on the Canal du Midi. We became a small flotilla. It was even better than the first cruise and we did the beautiful Canal du Midi. The third year of self drive charters we again did the Midi, this time in the other direction with two more boats in our flotilla. The Midi is one of the most beautiful regions of France. English is widely spoken there, as it is a retirement mecca for the English.

Then the next year we did a flotilla on the river Soane. Again, it was fantastic. We found one village with antique store after antique store. We even bought a few antiques to bring home. The prices were very low.

Life on board is what you make it. Stop when you want, see what you want. We always rent bicycles to take along. This gives us a range from the canal of about 3 miles in either side. The charts you can buy, in English, are very complete, telling you what to expect in each village and mapping where to find grocery stores, bake shops, water etc.

Money is no problem as the canals are lined with ATM machines where you can uses your ATM cards with Plus or Cirrus to get local currency. No more lines in banks and steep bank commissions.

The average time of cruising each day is only 5 hours, which leaves plenty of time for explorations on shore. This canal system was designed and built in the early 1600’s so hundreds of villages line the canals, the ancient center of French commerce. There is always a bakery for fresh bread for supper or fresh croissants at breakfast.

The locks are simple to go through and by the third one you are an old hand. The lockkeepers have unique personalities. They often sell local products to the boaters. Some sell ice, ice cream,  wine,  freshly baked pies. One sold tee shirts.

The most interesting lockkeeper so far was on the Canal du Midi. He had his lockkeepers home decorated with flowers and unique carvings from local woods of everything imaginable from monkeys in trees to snakes in the grass. Some were unbelievably funny. Many were for sale.

Another llockkeeper had trained his dog to catch the rope from the boater and pull it to a lock post. Many had dogs who knew the softhearted boaters would offer a tidbit to them. All were friendly and helpful.Most had a sense of humor.

One day we were following a group of boaters who were all dressed up in fancy, new, sailor suits. They had been drinking wine all day long and were certainly feeling no pain. As they went into the lock ahead of us they banged from one wall to another. They did not speak English. When the lockkeeper overheard us speaking English, he said in perfect English, "They sure are pretty, but they can’t drive a boat worth a damn."

At night you simply tie up to a municipal dock, or the towpath. Generally it is all free. Your boat is totally self contained with stove, refrigerator, and hot water showers. You do not need the facilities of a marina. Most of the time we just put our 2-foot stakes into the ground along the towpath, tied the boat to them, and settled in for the night. There is no charge for this and no charge for using the locks. Water is generally free along the canals but some areas did charge a minimal fee to refill the water tanks. The diesel engines are so economical that you never need to refuel during a weeklong cruise.

This year we also began to look for a converted steel barge home. Retirement is only 1 year away. Maybe we can spend several months on the vast canals of France and discover more of the detail that we skipped over in past French visits by car and train.

Try it. Start as we did on a catered hotel barge. You may decide to this each year, but at least, one year, give the self-drive a try. It is truly a great experience. And, you have the gratification of doing it yourself.

Our yearly flotillas are limited to 18 persons including ourselves.   For 2001 our flotilla will be September 21 again on the Midi. We have two cabins left out of nine cabins. The price is $695 pp dbl for the boat portion only. We will use Classic boats with six on an eight person boat. Email to edechant@compuserve.com if you are interested.

Ed and Ona DeChant                                   added 4-10-01

back to home        to the map of bases and regions

Please Contact American Dream Vacations

1 973 729 9195----cell 1 973 216 4317

e-mail edechant@compuserve.com