Boating in Narbonne

This will be our 'craft' in France

Although I am enjoying my time here in Narbonne, I am really looking forward to the canal boat trip we have planned after we leave here. We have a week-long adventure on the Canal de Midi and our son and his partner are joining us for some of the time. I discovered that I really like canal boating and enjoyed the four trips we took in Narrowboats in the UK, and this trip in France will be on similar canals but in a different style boat. 

Down the Canal de la Robine

We discovered that there was a little business down on the Canal de la Robine here in Narbonne that rents little electric boats that you can take out on the canal. Yesterday we booked one of the boats for an hour’s tour of the canal. We had walked down the canal in both directions, and hoped to venture a bit further down the canal on the water. 

The boat was very easy to operate, with a steering wheel and a forward/back adjustment. It took the attendant all of two minutes to give us instructions on the boat operation. The speed on the canal is a maximum of 8 kph, so it was no speedboat; more of a walking pace down the canal. 

Full speed forward!

After an initial weaving back and forth as we got the control of the boat figured out, we enjoyed a relaxing cruise on the canal. At the low speed, we did get past the distance we had walked but not by much, before we had to turn back to return the boat to the dock. I piloted the boat down the canal, turned it around and handed to wheel to Regis who brought us back into Narbonne. 

After this little boat trip here in Narbonne, I am now more keen to take the rental boat out for a week on the Canal de Midi. Look for some posts about this upcoming travel adventure in a weeks time.