The last of the summer’s dragonflies skimmed the river and the shuttered Midi village dozed behind a leafy canopy of plane trees.

We had hurtled through 600 miles (965km) of France at nearly 200mph on the TGV to spend a week meandering 100 miles or so at little more than 5mph along the Rhône. A few miles east, cars were streaming down the Autoroute du Soleilto the glitter of the Côte d’Azur.

Awaiting us, moored alongside the quay at Tain l’Hermit-age, was the pride of Orient Express’s hotel-boat fleet, 129ft (39m) from end to end, the Napoleon, which sleeps 12 holidaymakers.

Like the little corporal, her origins were humble — she was built as a working barge in Belgium. But it’s doubtful whether grizzled bargees would now recognise her en suite bathrooms with heated towel rails, her frescoed dining room, sundeck whirlpool bath and fresh flowers in the cabins.

Or indeed the free-flowing champagne and canapés with which we were all greeted on arrival by the handsome young crew. Graduate Luke Lewin came out to France from England to study for his pilot’s licence and has been navigating its waterways ever since. Chef Trevor Forbes trained at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford, Viviane and her partner Piero had hosted on luxury yachts, John Cherry, our tour guide, was from Sheffield.

Veterans of family boating, we were virgins at luxury hotel-boat cruising and little realised the importance of group dynamics on this kind of holiday as we were introduced to our fellow guests, all American: Robert, retired from the army, and his wife Nancy; young lawyer Peter and his medical researcher wife Emily; and Susan and Herbert, the latter an environmental scientist. But after an early evening’s liberal tasting of Hermitage wines at a local family cave, and a vicious game of boules, we recognised that we’d struck lucky.

The Rhône itself is a star turn. The unchallenged king of France’s 5,000mile network of waterways, and the only one to link the Med — via the Saône — with the Parisian basin, it was navigated by Greeks bringing tin from Cornwall, the Romans carrying wine, and even today great commercial juggernauts bully their way downstream sweeping aside frivolous craft such as ours.

By contrast, our days on board assumed a placid rhythm. In a world reduced to 5mph, often confined within a framework of poplars, details linger; the silhouette of a heron standing sentinel in the reeds, the gradually changing landscapes as you float from the lush richer pastures in the north into the bleached Provençal hillsides straight out of an Impressionist canvas.

Emily, a fan of seagoing cruises, became converted to small river boats early on. “Here there’s time to get to know people, the service is personal and the places are not overrun by other tourists. We’re really getting to know and understand the country rather than dipping briefly into it.”

Locks, excursions and eating punctuated the routine. From a tiny galley, Trevor conjured up confit of duck, roast venison, snails in pastry and other feasts, while John gave us talks on the vintage wines and regional cheeses (18 in all) that accompanied each meal.

At Bollãne, one of the world’s deepest locks, we descended 16ft in six minutes into a dark, dank abyss of churning water — surprisingly topped by a jaunty Art Deco control tower.

Every excursion was a highlight. We watched a gangly labrador puppy learn to search for truffles at the Domaine Bramarel, a working truffle farm, did some serious sampling, and carried away recipes for cooking with the precious tuber.

At the Château de Grignan we toured the holiday retreat of surely the world’s most redoubtable mother-in-law — Madame de Sévigné used to spend months at a time here with her beloved daughter and wrote 764 letters to her during the eight years they were apart. Just a short stroll away from the riverbank, we discovered a magic little hilltop village, Viviers, a tangle of ancient streets huddled around a soaring 12th-century church — and vowed to keep it a secret (oh dear!) lest it became a tourist honeytrap like Gordes or St-Paul de Vence.

At Avignon, where the river loops around the famous pont, we felt we’d floated into a walled Camelot, but when we went ashore, felt immensely superior to the landlubbers and their traffic jams. Our 5mph odyssey was insulated, cocooned and pampered. No late nights or bright lights — just France at its sleepy best.

Need to know

Jill Crawshaw travelled with Orient Express (0845 0772222, www.orient-express.com), which operates a fleet of luxury hotel barges on the French canals and waterways. Napoleon can be booked from £2,720pp based on two adults sharing a double cabin, or privately hired (for eight people) from £25,340 for a week-long cruise between Arles and Tain l’Hermitage in Provence and the Rhône Valley. Prices include first-class Eurostar and TGV rail connections, full board with wines afloat and private sightseeing tours. Cruises run from April to October.

The slow lane: barge and boat breaks

La Dolce Vita

Rick Stein sailed on a European Waterways barge on his foodie voyage in southwest France. But if you prefer pasta to pâté, choose a six-night voyage on La Dolce Vita (just three cabins, six passengers, three crew). Get a close-up of Venice from the lagoon and intimate views of Murano, the glass-blowing centre, and the Palladian mansions of the Brenta River. Bicycles are on board. Departures are from April to October and prices start at £1,400pp excluding air fares.

European Waterways (01784 482439, www.gobarging.com).

History buoys

Float back into history on an eight-day voyage “Undiscovered Andalucia” down the Guadalquivir and Guadiana Rivers. Use your ship, the M.S. Belle de Cadix (90 en suite cabins) as a floating hotel from which to explore the cities of Seville, Córdoba and Cádiz. The ship will also drop anchor at the Portuguese frontier town of Vila Real de San António, and there’ll be optional visits to Gibraltar and Jerez. Departures are from March to August, fully inclusive prices starting at £749pp.

VFB (01452 716830, www.vfbholidays.co.uk).

For art's sake

View the paintings of the great Dutch Masters, including Rembrandt, on an eight-day cruise in Holland and Belgium. MV Serenade I (68 en suite cabins) sails from Amsterdam, before heading for Antwerp, the pottery town of Delft, the harbour of Veere and the quintessential Dutch fishing village of Volendam. The cruise departs on May 22, with prices from £899pp for flights, transfers, full board afloat and some excursions.

Page & Moy (0800 0430234, www. pageandmoy.com).

Reform yourself

The Elbe, flows from Saxon Switzerland to the Hanseatic city of Hamburg. On board the five-star MV Katharina von Bora (41 cabins) on sevennight, “Prague and the Treasures of Saxony” cruises you’ll pass through the cradle of the Reformation, Martin Luther’s Wittenberg, as well as the porcelain town of Meissen, the gardens and palaces of Worlitz, Pillnitz and Dresden. One itinerary sails from Hamburg to Dresden, including Prague, another from Berlin (Potsdam) to Prague via Dresden. Departures are from April until November and prices start at £1,150pp fully inclusive.

Peter Deilmann River Cruises (020-7436 2931, www.deilmann.co.uk).

Other operators:

Viking River Cruises (0870 8501690, www.vikingrivercruises.co.uk), Crown Blue Line (0870 1605634, www.crownblue line.co.uk), Cosmos Tourama (0800 0839837, www.cosmostourama.co.uk), Assam Bengal Navigation (020-8995 3642, www.assambengal navigation.com).

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