Jul 10, Europe , France , Lifestyle , Travel 11 comments. Last Updated on: 8th August , am. In late August, Jonathan, me and a couple of our closest friends self-charted a canal barge and went cruising the Canal du Midi for two weeks.
Many people take just a week to go this distance, but we like to travel slow. These boats are larger than most and designed for slow and comfortable cruising. The EuroClassic barges are unique to France Afloat and attracted lots of attention in a good way! Jonathan has been toying with the idea of us living on a boat for a while. He is hoping that a two week trip along the Canal du Midi will change my mind.
After a lovely lunch in a street-side cafe, catching up on gossip, we headed off together to Campestang to pick up our boat! After asking a few people for directions in our terrible French, we finally found the right place. When in doubt, just head to the tourist office! After sorting out the formalities with the friendly helpful staff, we were shown to what would be our home for the next two weeks, the Escargot Bleu.
Much larger than we thought, with a decent size lounge, kitchen, three bedrooms and three bathrooms with electric flush toilets. We were hoping for two double cabins but alas some confusion in the booking, and we got one double and two singles! Or maybe my Jonathan was trying to tell me something! But with a little bit of juggling and rearranging, we soon had two cabins and somewhere to store the luggage! The boat came complete with all the basics such as bed linen, towels, kitchen items such as pots and pans, crockery, glassware, and utensils.
The two Jonathans were then shown how to operate the boat while Beryl and I unpacked. Us girls were more interested in taking walks alongside the canal and relaxing on board than navigating. We planned to leave that side to the boys! Once the boys had mastered the art of driving the boat, so now we know why they have rubber bumpers all around the boat!!!
