If the past few years have taught me anything, it’s to treasure the value of reaching milestones. Far too many milestones missed their moments in the sun due to the pandemic, and despite being a bit of an introvert, the significance did not escape my notice. To that end, there’s no occasion quite like turning 40, to take a trip and to share that experience with friends, so it is with this in mind that I planned our recent trip to southern France.

The Canal Du Midi

If you’re never heard of it, I (nor any French person) am totally not surprised, but this gem of a UNESCO site should go on your exploration list. Built during later half of the 17th century, this marvel of a man-made ingenuity, links the Atlantic ocean to that of the Mediterranean, through a series of locks and water bridges that is not only beautiful, but also caught the attention of one Thomas Jefferson, while he was serving as the newly minted United States envoy to France.

River Vs. Canal Cruise

I’ll be the first person to admit that the idea of a “cruise” elicits very different feelings and mental images for people. I, for one, have no desire to spend my precious vacation time trapped on a floating city at sea, with a bunch of people that consider a three hour excursion to a port town, a cultural experience. However, I’m NOTORIOUSLY judgy, so ignore me, and lean into the concept that getting out of the house is better than nothing at all.

That said, outside of ocean-liners, there are those amazing river cruises that we advertised on television, which seem like the perfect opposite of the aforementioned travel nightmares, at least until you go to book one. Most cruises, ocean or otherwise, are basically all inclusive style resorts, but on the water. You can expect to pay upwards of $2000 or more (much, much more), per person, for a week. If the money isn’t a deal-breaker, you can expect a romantic vacation on the water and you have my envy. However, if you don’t have thousands of dollars to spend, or you feel like this option might still be a little too “manufactured,” a canal cruise might be just the ticket for you!

Canals are man-made waterways for the purpose of transporting goods from city to city within a country (think of them as a water highway). Largely out of service for their original purpose, canals are now a lovely way for people to leisurely travel at a much slower pace. In fact, many of the barges which are now retired from service as cargo boats, have gotten a new lease on life as small cruise ships, and when I say “small,” I mean small. For reference, a river cruise may have anywhere from 50 to 200 passengers, but a canal cruise would be a maximum of roughly 20.

So, if you’re looking to unplug and relax, but still want to spend the majority of your time off of the boat, a canal cruise is the perfect balance, and comes in a wide array of options from “self-drive,” all the way up to luxury excursion.

Before it retired and became a cruise ship, this is what the boat we took looked like while it still hauled grain.

A Seven Day Barge Cruise on The Canal Du Midi

If you’re still reading this lengthy post, good job, you finally made it to the reason why you probably clicked on this post, to begin with.

My experience while researching this trip, was that helpful reviews of french canal travel were in short supply, and even fewer were available from English speakers or fellow Americans. Adding fuel to my research frustration (where advice was concerned), where the sheer number of people I encountered that attempted to assist me with second-hand accounts of the "canal" trips that their friends had taken, not realizing that they didn't understand the difference between a river and a canal.

First and foremost, the experiences and bodies of water are different... full stop.

Another worry I had before this trip was my concern about the looming threat of water-induced nausea. I (like many) suffer from the dreaded travel curse of motion sickness. Motion sickness in the car, sickness on the water, and sickness in the air, which I’ve largely learned how to mitigate for the short duration of time in which conditions may aggravate my symptoms, but a multi-day water excursion made me nervous. The possibility of feeling nauseated for a week, or sleeping away the majority of a week (due to side effects of motion sickness medication), was a HUGE deterrent, for me, toward any water-borne adventure that had been proposed in the past, but this trip felt different. Ultimately, I chose to gamble that the proximity to land afforded by being in a small canal on a very large boat would help me find my sea legs, and fortunately, the bet paid off. Not a single moment was spent nauseated, and absolutely nothing on the barge had to be secured for movement.

I can’t speak for every kind of boat on the canal, but those converted barges are wide, heavy, and going nowhere fast, so in the words of our captain (who spoke very little English) regarding the movement of our boat, “she is big, but she is heavy,” and I'm inclined to agree.

Day 1 of 7 - Boarding in Trebes, France

After spending a few days in Carcassonne, we took cabs the short distance to the nearby canal port town of Trebes. Charming, with a small entertainment district facing the water, Trebes is also a hub for the very popular boat rental company, LocaBoat. Equipped with modest amenities such as a decently sized grocery store, Trebes also served as our meetup point to board Le Haricot Noir. Family-owned, this boat is not part of a fleet and is not managed by any large rental company, it’s lovingly cared for and maintained by the daughter of the couple that converted it from a grain barge in the 1970s, into what it is today (take a video tour HERE.

The cruise option we had selected for our week-long journey on the canal was that of self-catering. We would have a captain and a deckhand for navigation, but we were on our own for meals. I (being a bit of a cook) was very much up in arms about not knowing what the kitchen would be like or what our options at the grocery store would be before boarding, so I hope this helps you.

The market was great and we found everything we would need there, so don’t worry about that. We purchased all of our basic supplies, plus salmon and wine, and brought everything on board with us. The kitchen was chef ready with everything necessary. The fridge is large, a more than adequate freezer, dishwasher, coffee maker, oven, and stove, not to mention pots, pans, and even a mixer!

We were a party of eight adults (four couples), so we only needed four of the six bedrooms and had plenty of space to spread out in the 90-footlong barge but it still didn’t take us long to get unpacked and settled in after our initial orientation upon boarding the ship during the late afternoon. After boarding, we did just a very short stint of navigation on the canal, to get through the three locks (known as an “eccluse” in French) before they shut down for the day, after which we moored at the edge of Trebes and then got back off of the boat to walk into the village for dinner that evening.

Day 2 of 7 - Trebes to Marseilette, France

Our first full day on the boat was cool and rainy, but the excitement of being at the start of our journey prevented our spirits from being dampened by the weather. The crew began navigating us shortly after breakfast, and we made our way to the tiny village of Marseilette, which while being cute, is very small. It appears to have had other shops at some point that were now vacant, but it still had a scenic cemetery, a village church with excellent views over the countryside, a little tiny little convenience shop, and one cafe/tavern/restaurant. We did a quick walk around, ate lunch at the cafe, and then spent the rest of the day on our warm and cozy boat as we chugged toward our end destination for the day. Meanwhile, below deck, we cooked a family-style dinner and toasted my birthday in our pajama pants on a boat in France… I’ll treasure that memory forever.

Day 3 of 7 - Marseilette to Homps, France

The navigation pace of the previous day had been rigorous to ensure our arrival in Homps by 2 pm (not easy to do on a boat as it turns out), because I had made reservations for a cab, and a photography team, to meet us at the marina and then to travel to a nearby town for a wine tasting. Fortunately, the sun was out and everything ran like clockwork.

(I’ll discuss the winery experience in a separate post.)

Sadly, our time in the actual town of Homps was super limited, which was unfortunate because, by all observable evidence, Homps is a charming town with multiple restaurants and other amenities.

Day 4 of 7 - Homps to Le Somail, France

With the most highly planned scheduled day of our trip now behind us, we determined to soak up every last ounce of relaxation that the canal had to offer us. Despite my insistence on being the first of our group to rise each morning, sipping hot coffee and eating a croissant on the top deck of the boat as the crew started the motor and once again resumed navigating us down the canal, was a truly zen-like experience for me. On our fourth day, however, we arrived in the postcard-perfect village of Le Somail. This village has art galleries, boutiques, an AMAZING used book store, and charm coming out of every nook and cranny. We decided to take the recommendation of our crew, however and did a tour of a nearby olive cooperative (which we enjoyed much more than we expected to) and we’re so glad that they suggested it to us. Also in this town, is a small, floating, market barge, on which we placed an order for croissants to be collected the next morning (as is the case with many of the markets in the small towns, bread must be ordered a day in advance). That evening, we had a very lively dinner at a restaurant in town, followed by more late-night shenanigans on the boat.

Day 5 of 7 - Le Somail to Capestang

After collecting our croissant order from the grocery barge, we once again fired up the engines and continued on our journey down the canal. We passed through the final lock that we would encounter during our cruise (a bittersweet reality), which also afforded us the chance to try our hand at the captain's wheel. I was the only soul brave enough to give it a go, but the result was a newly found appreciation for the job that our captain performs. Our deckhand, Estelle, when not working on other barges, lives on a converted barge that she owns with her husband and their two children, which was moored right outside of Capestang (her husband was on their top deck as we passed and greeted us and his wife as we passed). Capestang is a town much larger than any of the other villages we had encountered in days past and was also much less focused on the canal as a revenue source. We enjoyed the more lively “city” feel, however, we were there over a holiday in which most shops were closed. Again on the recommendation of our crew, we visited a restaurant that did not disappoint, although we did get lost in the dark while attempting to make our way back to the boat later that evening. A challenge of mooring in a different place every day is that you never get the opportunity to familiarize yourself with where your home base can be found.

Day 6 of 7 - Capestang to Beziers through the Malpas Tunnel

Today, we passed through the Malpas tunnel, which is a marvelous feat of engineering, but was more than a little nerve-wracking. The tunnel was blasted through solid rock and allows only a single ship at a time to pass. Fortunately for us, all smaller boats must give way to allow larger boats the priority, but it can be difficult to see who might already be in the tunnel when you approach it. After a brief sojourn off of the boat on the other side of the canal, we continued to Beziers. By far the biggest city we encountered, Beziers was both exciting and a little overwhelming given the size and with a much more ethnically diverse population than any other place we had encountered on the canal to that point. After the boat was moored, we marveled at the Fonseranes locks, which are a series of 9 locks that our poor crew would have had to traverse if we had opted for the longer 12-day cruise option. While some of our party utilized the e-bikes available to us on the boat, half of us opted to trek to the highest point of the city, where we toured the cathedral and then mused over our regret at having not rented the bikes as we sipped cold beers at a small cafe. Eventually, we arrived back at the boat and then made our way to a nearby restaurant for the final dinner of our week-long cruise.

Day 7 of 7 - Beziers to Colombiers, France

The final morning was a rush of packing as we traveled back a short distance to a small port town that we had passed the previous day. Let me tell you, the experience of this barge needing to turn around was no small task and one which many passersby also chose to stop and watch. Eventually, however, we covered the short distance and then were whisked off the boat as the dock would not allow us to stay but for just a very short time. We were deeply saddened at our choice to have booked the seven-day cruise because none of us was ready to leave. The experience of having spent a week on this boat, with this crew, with these friends, was truly the most fun travel experience I’ve ever had the privilege of experiencing.