Self drive canal cruise France

[art4u]

My husband and I are considering a self drive boat rental in the Brittany region Sept 2022 for about 10 days - we hope that there might be a few of you that have done this in the last few years that could share your key learnings/experience 🙂 and company's to consider - right now we are looking at booking via Le Boat or Nicols - has anyone used either of these companies and your thoughts/recommendations and the type of boat you might have booked for a couple (and was it roomy enough for the 2 of you so you didn't consider a divorce at the end of your adventure 🙂 ) ? Thanks in advance - April and Rob

[Gourmet Gal]

Sounds fun. I’ve never done it but have considered it.  I have a friend who owned a boat and lived on it several months a year touring the canals of France and she loved it.  Be prepared to operate the smaller locks yourself.

 

Would love to hear how it goes!

[Canal archive]

We should be on the Canal du Nivernais as I write this is the second year we have postponed it until next year. There are four of us going our friends have been before and still own a narrow boat in the U.K. and we owned one for over twenty years. There are several companies who hire out boats ours is from Vermenton. One of the best things is that on French canals the locks are worked for you. It’s good fun don’t get the smallest boat you can definitely get bots with separate bedroom cabins. Do an internet search.

[LouCoop]

We have done a few canals on our own with Nicols. We did the Charente, the Sable sur Sarthe and canal de Bourgogne. Those were quite a few years back though (1999, 2000 and 2001).

We loved it.

I would guess Nicols have plenty of new boats since our time but anyhow we rented the Duo. It was fine for us. If you prefer more room the was the Quatro and a lot more I do not remember the names.

Its a very different kind of trip and not for everyone, but we found it very enjoyable. 

As you can see we come from Quebec so it was very easy for us to get around and talk to people even in the smallest of villages. 

But still if you like visiting small places, buying your own food at markets, sipping wine and eating cheese at sundown on your deck, you will enjoy this kind of vacation.

[LouCoop]

On 8/5/2021 at 3:23 PM, art4u said:

My husband and I are considering a self drive boat rental in the Brittany region Sept 2022 for about 10 days - we hope that there might be a few of you that have done this in the last few years that could share your key learnings/experience 🙂 and company's to consider - right now we are looking at booking via Le Boat or Nicols - has anyone used either of these companies and your thoughts/recommendations and the type of boat you might have booked for a couple (and was it roomy enough for the 2 of you so you didn't consider a divorce at the end of your adventure 🙂 ) ? Thanks in advance - April and Rob

See my post further down, we have done 3 canals with Nicols.