I was lucky. When I started ski-ing, the UK's Colin Murison Small had just invented the chalet party concept. In each resort, he'd take over one or more complete chalets, each providing about ten two-bed rooms, a communal area, a dining area and a kitchen. He then hired two girls with Cordon Bleu cooking certificates to look after the chalet and its occupants. It wasn't expensive food, but it was good - and for one day each week we'd take the girls with us to a restaurant in town to give them a break.

I don't really know the US ski vacation scene, because I worked near Hunter and just used to go there in the daytime, or spent one Saturday night in Breckenridge on my way to or from the West Coast. If US citizens did have something equivalent to the European chalet party, then they, who form about 85% of its customers, should see the luxury barge cruise as a natural extension of that concept to adventurous but less energetic vacations as they grow older.

There is one big difference, though - my chalet parties were about the same price as cheap hotel accommodation. A barge cruise is more expensive than full board in a five-star hotel, but the cabins are much smaller than hotel rooms and they don't have TV or telephones. However, very few hotels (or even independent restaurants) can match the quality of the food, and they certainly don't give you exclusive access to the chef for a party of 24 for a whole week! And they don't provide both unaccompanied and guided access to a variety of fascinating experiences right on your doorstep every day.

I had already done a fair bit of research among the operators of barge holidays in France. I was about to write an article when I came across a firm that acts as a broker for many of them, and maintains its own staff in Europe as well as having a head office in the USA. The Barge Experts is a part of Elations Travel group, LLC, and their web site contains excellent information about barge cruising in general as well as details about the cruises they handle in the UK, the Netherland and France. There should still be space available on some cruises in 2002, but the good news is that 2003 prices have been frozen at 2002 levels.

Unfortunatey, I shan't be in France until October/November of this year, but I plan to visit and photograph at least one of the barges, even if it is laid up for the winter by the time I arrive. Next year, maybe I'll have a chance to talk to passengers and tell you what they say about the experience.