Small Craft Home : Cruising : Travels : Cruising The Charente
Canal Boating In France
Introduction
In the fall of 1998 we decided to take a trip back to France. We had spent a few days and nights there during a previous trip to Belgium to visit Julia's parents and sisters (who were living in Brussels at the time). This time around we thought it might be fun to do some traveling by boat and a bit of research led us to the world of canal boating (which we had always thought would be fun in the abstract but had not given much more thought to). In the early stages of our planning we decided that a good way to cut costs would be to share the trip with someone else. Having traveled with Julia's family before we figured that was the best way to go this time. So we contacted Julia's parents and arranged a time (the week before Easter) for the vacation.
Then began the process of real planning. We had found a number of canal boat rental agencies online and began corresponding with one via email. This agency, Crown Blue had facilities in Jarnac which was the area we were interested in exploring (being the region of Cognac and other fine wines near Bordeaux). Our correspondence was with the owners of the facilities in Jarnac. We communicated back and forth as we decided upon firm dates, a boat size, and so on. Then a deposit was sent and we were set.
We wouldn't have a rental car this trip so arrangments were also made to get us from Paris (we were flying in to Charles de Gaulle) to Jarnac. Fortunately for us, Julia's sister Caitlin happened to be living in Paris for the year as a student. Steve, Julia's father, asked Caitlin to reserve tickets on the TGV for us along with transfers to the local train from Angouleme to Jarnac. We were set!
At this point Caitlin announced that she'd have that week off from school and so she was invited along. Julia, with some trepidation, imagined a week on a small boat with her parents, one sister, and me.
The following narrative is taken from a log I kept each day as we motored along on the Charente. It is divided by day (since that's how my log was recorded) and, where possible, links are included to people, places, or things we found. Pictures will be included as well whenever I get around to scanning them. At the end of the log is a page of URL's collected together along with pertinent information relating to travel, reservations, and so forth.
Start the trip... (we'll fix these later...)