The Canal du Midi

---

Good day all. Well, this will be the first installment of the Canal du Midi story. The short version is that Anne and I, and Vicki, (some of you know her) a friend from Ottawa, rented a houseboat for the first week of October to travel on the Canal du Midi in Languedoc, France. The long version begins a bit over 300 years ago.

A bit of history on the Canal itself-just because I can. The Canal du Midi (or Canal between two oceans) goes from Agde on the Mediterranean about 240 kilometres to Toulouse, where it connects to the Garonne River which in turn empties into the Atlantic Ocean near Bordeaux, France. It effectively makes it possible to take a boat from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic without having to go around Spain and Portugal-which are kind of in the way, at least that is how the folks along the south coast of France felt-the Spanish and Portuguese may have a different perspecitive on the matter. Anyhow, a guy named Pierre- Paul Riquet, who was from Bezier-just a few Km down the road from where we are staying, convinced King Louis XIV, or better yet, his finance minister, that building this canal was a great idea. This was in the 1660's. Think about that for a minute...so here they are, about 10,000 people or so-including over 600 women, in 1667-200 years before Canadian Confederation-with shovels, picks, I suppose some Oxen and horses too, setting out to dig a "trench" that was 18 metres (60 ft and change) wide, two metres deep (7 ft) and about 240 Kilometres long. Not to mention the 100 or so locks required to reach the highest point which is about 200 metres (650 ft) above sea level, finding the water to fill it-which must be higher up, and about 130 bridges to cross it so that "non-boat" people could still operate around it. It was, and still is, a rather substantial "infrastructure" project. None-the-less, Mr. Riquet was pretty determined and by 1681-a meer 14 years later it was opened-just six months after Pierre-Paul Riquet died. How's that for a bummer. Anyhow, it was quite busy for the next 200 or so years (oh and it takes boats up to 30 metres long) moving mostly grain and wine from various parts of the Languedoc to the adjacent oceans and so on. Then in the mid 1800's along came the "Railroad" and, like so many other canals, they went out of business pretty quickly. Fast forward to the present.....now it is mostly used for recreational purposes, with hundreds of boats rolling through it in both directions spring, summer and fall. Winter too but not as many. You can take your own boat, rent one and drive it, or take the luxury option of going on a hotel barge and being waited on hand and foot for the week (money is the only factor!!) Anyway you look at it, the canal is quite spectacular as a bit of engineering but, more than that, a beautiful way to see a portion of the South of France in a leisurely way, going through lots of Cities and towns, countryside, etc.

So, there is the beginning of the story! Feel free at anytime to just skip all the natter and go look at the pictures. Anyhow, we started with our boat in Adge-almost on the coast and sailed through to Carcassonne-about 100 kilometres and 35 lock locations (some multiple locks-more about that later)
(For further info check http://www.midicanal.fr/)

So, Anne, Vicki and I picked up our huge boat-bigger than we had anticipated as the company substituted when there were some mechanical issues with our original boat-in Adge late Saturday afternoon. After our "how to run this boat" and a quick trip up and down the canal, Anne and I "provisioned" and we headed off. Didn't go to far the first day as you have to be off the canal but sunset. We tied up on the side of the Canal-to a couple of the lovely "Plane" trees that line the canal for most of both sides and had dinner-Roast Chicken, potatoes, veggies, and of course some wine. It was a beautiful evening, almost a full moon, etc. See photos below. The one complication to the beginning of the journey was that when Vicki flew into Toulouse to meet us, her luggage didn't come with her-don't you hate it when that happens. More luggage stories later. Anyhow, this will be the first of several installments on the Canal.

Cheers!!

---

Photos

Relaxed on our Yacht
Celebrating the end of our first day!

Vicki relaxed on our Yacht
She too, is celebrating the end of our first day!

Moon rising over the canal
We stopped just before
Portiragnes the first night. This was sitting at the taqble on the back deck

Hotel Boat moored near
This was across the canal from us our first morning.

Crowd in the lock!
There were four boats jammed into our first lock. For most of us it was the first lock and you could tell we needed the bumpers!!

Vicki as Grace Kelly
What more needs be said

Will this boat fit!
The first few bridges were a bit nerve wracking. Not entirely sure we would fit under them. They looked very small. We did-though the driver had to duck!!

Captain Anne
No dispute who is in charge!

The Canal
Just a canal photo-you can see the tow path on the left-lots of walkers and people on bicycles.

Comments

[Rose Hayden]

Hi
Hi Guys, How frigging cool is this! So excited for you! What a great experience! Can't imagine renting a houseboat. I must say, I'm a little envious. How long are you away for? Enjoy! Rose Hayden

[mcturner]

Retirement
Rose, You can do this anytime now...sorry to have missed the retirement dinner but we were kind of tied up. Hope you are enjoying yourself. We're home Dec. 15! Cheers