Canal du Midi

Appleyard

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As we no longer have the big boat with flappy things,and having watched Tim &Pru's programme the other week re the Canal du Midi,it would seem a good way to spend sometime afloat later in the year.
There looks to be plenty of companies doing charters, so any suggestions on who to go with and who to avoid?
There would probably be only 2 of us, me and the admiral , both with sailing experience , not on canals though. Any tips and advice will be appreciated.

Apologies if this has been done before on the forum.
 
We did it with a company that are now Le Boat a few years back. We've also used them in Scotland, Ireland and the Broads and never had any issues with them.
You can find them through the Hoseasons site and check boats, price, availabilty and suggested cruising routes with distances and times.

We selected a one way route and they transferred my car to the destination marina for what seemed a reasonable fee.
 
As we no longer have the big boat with flappy things,and having watched Tim &Pru's programme the other week re the Canal du Midi,it would seem a good way to spend sometime afloat later in the year.
There looks to be plenty of companies doing charters, so any suggestions on who to go with and who to avoid?
There would probably be only 2 of us, me and the admiral , both with sailing experience , not on canals though. Any tips and advice will be appreciated.

Apologies if this has been done before on the forum.

There is aforumite,poss on Scuttlebutt who can give you chapter and verse on that part of the world,may even be domiciled down there.
Be warned that the hire charges are eye watering,although the sterling euro rate may have moderated the costs to merely outrageously expensive.:)
A gorgeous part of the world to hire a boat and would love to do mesself.
 
Many thanks everyone, Grehan, you have given me plenty of info! We should be able to get organised from here .
 
Amazingly we had a very poor response to our enquiries . I used the online enquiry form to submit our details..what and where we were looking for ,and.had to do this three times before anyone bothered to reply, and when they did their suggestion was for a different area and boat. Not what we were after. :disgust:
However a direct enquiry to Minervois Cruisers,who seem to be an independent co. , saw us booked up for 2 weeks at the time we had in mind, at a very reasonable cost.
We look forward to our trip ......... something different!!!!:D
 
I'm, sure you'll enjoy it :) Where are you starting from and aiming for?

Make sure that you take the time to stop off at the various vinyards along the way and if you're driving down, ensure you have enough room in the car to bring some back ;)
 
Starting from Le Somail,no ideas yet on route although a canal does not have a lot of options! however vinyards will certainly be on the agenda ! We wont be driving down unfortunately ,but I was in France earlier this year with a van and did take the chance to stock up.
 
Yep, not too many options on direction :) Sometimes its nice not to have a plan.
When we did it, we opted for a one way cruise, which does mean that you have to cover a certain amount of distance per day, or make it up later.

Oh well, you'll just have to make sure you've consumed it all before you hand the boat back ;)
 
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