With some 7500km of navigable rivers and canals, boating can be one of the best and most relaxed ways of exploring France. Except on parts of the Moselle, there is no charge for use of the waterways, and you can travel without a permit for up to six months in a year.

For information on maximum dimensions, documentation, regulations and so forth, ask at a French Government Tourist Office for their booklet Boating on the Waterways, or contact Voies Navigable de France, 175 rue Ludoic Boutleux, 62408 Bethune (phone 03.21.63.24.24, fax 03.21.63.24.42), which has information on boating throughout France, and lists of firms that rent out boats. British companies organizing boating holidays include Hoseasons (phone 01502/500 555), Crown Blue Line (phone 01603/630513) and Abercrombie & Kent (phone 0171/730 9600). The most attractive boats, based on a scaled-down version of real commercial barges, are run by French Country Cruises (phone 01572/821 330, fax 821 072), although Locaboat (phone 03.86.91.72.72) also has good modern vessels (expect to pay between 5250F/?800 and 10,000F/?1500 per week, depending on season, for a 3-5 person boat) .

For a full list of rental firms operating in France write to the Syndicat National des Louvers de Bateaux de Plavisance, Port de la Bourdonnais, 75007 Paris (phone 01.44.37.04.00, fax 01.45.77.21.88).

The primary areas for boating are Brittany, Burgundy, Picardy-Flanders, Alsace and Champagne. Brittany's canals join up with the Loire, but this is only navigable as far as Angers, with no links eastwards.

Other waterways permit numerous permutations, including joining up via the Rhône and Saône with the Canal du Midi in Languedoc and then northwestwards to Bordeaux and the Atlantic. The eighteenth-century Canal de Bourgogne and 300-year-old Canal du Midi are fascinating examples of early canal enginevering.

 The latter completely transformed the fortunes of coastal Languedoc, and in particular Sète, whose attractie harbor dates from that period. Together with its continuation, the Canal du Sète à Rhône, it passes within easy reach of several interesting areas.

The through-journey from the Channel to the Mediterranean requires some planning. The Canal de Bourgogne has an inordinate number of locks, while other waterways demand considerable skill and experience - the Rhône and Saône rivers, for example, have tricky currents.

The most direct route is from Le Hare to just beyond Paris, then south either on Canal du Loing et de Briare or Canal du Niernais to the Canal Latéral de la Loire, which you follow as far as Digoin in southern Burgundy, where it crosses the river Loire and meets the Canal du Centre. You follow the latter as far as Châlon, where you continue south on the Saône and Rhône until you reach the Mediterranean at Port St-Louis in the Camargue.