Self drive canal boats on the the French waterways

We have a friend who used Locaboat. There is also le boat. They both have broad areas of coverage. Companies like France Afloat are more specialized. All are "bareboats."

We ujsed Locaboat back in 2007 on the Nevernais canal between Joigny & Corbigny - about a 2 hour train ride south-east of Paris. It was a fantastic holiday. A few things: Book for a few days longer that the guides suggest. This way you can stay longer if you find some really nice place. Make sure you have a few meals up your sleve. We found that some villages are too small to either have restaurants, or they are not open every day of the week. But sampling the local delicacies is fabulous in France. We found that going 'up hill' was easier with the locks - and there will be many of them. We had 67 locks over 11 days, most of them manual. Most locks had lock-keepers, but if you helped out with the locks, they often recopricated with advising the next lock keper that you're coming. On our trip, I would say we had 90% of the locks in our favour as we arrived. We just had a few friends do the Midi canal. It was not nearly as enjoyable, since it is a more popular canal and very few villages within walking distance from the canal. Oh, and rent bicyles - you'll need them. But check them out before you depart.

Good info, we also though about the French Canal cruising thingy.
2 years ago we took an RV from Britanny to Paris over a 12 day period.
Although the small towns and campgrounds was nice, excellent food and wine etc, we decided not to do that anymore.
Wife is hooked on France so I don't have much choice, but the canal cruising thing may be ok. Is the locks time consuming and a Pain I the butt, or..?
(Only done the Panama Canal in the past and that was quite an ordeal)

The locks are a whole lot different to Panama, I'm sure. They're small, typically will fit only 2 40ft boats. They are mostly manual, though easy to work. The lift varies from .5m to perhaps 2m, but we had one where there were 3 locks back-to-back lifting a total of about 6m. There were also a few lift bridges, also manual. One I remember was quite heavy. But the locking is rather fun, becomes part of the routine of the day. The locks pretty much determine your daily schedule. They only operate at certain hours, so some advance planning is needed if you have a schedule to keep. Most of the locks and surrounding areas are absolutely beautiful, with lovely colourful gardens. It's also nice to meet the lock keepers. Some are gardeners, some artists, we even bought fresh eggs at another. A few pics here, with our rental boat in a lock.

Nice pics.
I will have to look seriously into that.
Mama will be happy because the cruise is in France and I will be happy because mama is happy

( for the foreigners on this thread: Old saying in the US: "If Mama ain't happy, nobody ain't happy."
In other worlds, a woman can make your life really miserable if she is in a bad mood . Same problem world-wide of course)

More canal boats and adventures here....
http://www.yachtforums.com/threads/inland-waterway-cruising-boats-barges-etc.15873/