Ricochet: Cruising the Canal du Midi

April 12-29, 2019
Bienvenue a le Canal du Midi! Welcome to the Canal du Midi!

The Canal du Midi (in red) runs through
southern France from Sete to Toulouse.

A map of the Canal du Midi in southern France. You can enlarge any photo by clicking on it.

I joined SY Freyafrey and English Captain John in Carnon, near Montpelier, to help him bring the boat through the Canal du Midi as far as the medieval city of Carcassonne, France. The boat is a British- built 26' Heavenly Twins catamaran, with mast down for the canals. There was not much room to move on decks or below.

It was my first time in this lush region and the aroma of blossoming trees and wild flowers and filled the air.

We started off, moving through Sete, which is technically still part of the Canal du Rhone. On the first day of travel we traveled west through shallow estuary waters, where the landscape is very low and featureless, with tall marsh grass. We stopped first at Frontignan, a pretty quiet with typical French med houses painted shades of pink and pale ochre, with wrought iron balconies and rows of budding plane trees lining the streets. It was still early season, with no tourists, and though chilly, the locals sat outside in the sun sipping wine or coffee.

The next day would bring us to the lighthouse at Les Mougeres, the official end (or entrance, if you’re us) to the Canal du Midi.

First a bit of history, for this is an extraordinary feat of engineering. The Canal du Midi was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1996.

The dream of a canal went back to the Roman era, as far as Caesar Augustus. A canal leading from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic coast at Bordeaux would save ships and galleys, both commercial and military, from having to sail around the Iberian Peninsula, which could take a month or more to complete. Shipping was fraught with danger, from the treacherous currents and winds associated with the Straits of Gibraltar, to the more imminent threat of piracy and slavery presented by the Barbary Pirates.

British tars battling the Barbary Pirates in the 1800’s. The American Marine Corps hymn “From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli” referred to America’s first successful naval action, against the Barbary Pirates who sailed out of Tripoli, Tunisia. Sailors who were captured by the pirates were enslaved.
Barbary pirates conducted slave raids as far north as Iceland!

A major problem for canal architects was how to supply the upper sections of the Canal with water. All earlier plans for the canal failed to adequately provide for this necessity.

A profile of the elevation of the Canal du Midi.
Distances are in meters, starting at Toulouse; height is in meters above sea level.
1. Toulouse. 2. Seuil du Narouze. 3. Castelnaudary. 4.Carcassonne. 5. Trèbes. .6. Fonseranne. 7. Adge. 8. Sete/Etang
A reservoir lake was built above Seuil du Narouze which served to feed water into the canal in both directions.

Along came Pierre-Paul Riquet, a merchant-tax collector in Béziers, and a renaissance man who taught himself and mastered mathematics, engineering, hydraulics, surveying and other sciences necessary for the successful design and building of the canal. He conceived and created plans for the entire project.

He presented his detailed plans and specifications to Louis XIV, the Sun King of France, and after a thorough review and consideration, received the King’s approval to begin the project. The only hitch was, Riquet had to fund the project himself!

Undaunted, Riquet pressed on. Construction of the 240 km canal began in 1666 through 1681. It was completed as far as Béziers in 1680, but Riquet died before the last segment of the project could be completed. His sons inherited the Canal and completed the construction, managing it as a family and operating it efficiently until the French Revolution.

Nearly 12,000 workers labored for 15 years on construction. They were paid very well for the time, and employees were freely recruited. Women laborers played an important role. Many came form former Roman bath colonies in the Pyrenees, where elements of classical hydraulics had been maintained as part of the local livelihood. These women were integral in perfecting the water supply system for the canal and recommended the route through the mountains near Béziers, using few locks. A mostly female work force designed and built the extraordinary eight lock staircase at Fonserannes.

A rural scene from the 17th Century

There is much architectural brilliance in evidence along the way. The oval shape of the locks brilliantly employs the use of the arch to withstand inward-pressing forces. There are spillways to divert flood waters in crucial places, to prevent damages by the region’s seasonal torrential rains. There are aqueducts which conduct the Canal over wild rivers like the Aude.

Canal barges were pulled by horses along the tow paths. Originally it took four days to go from Toulouse to the sea, but that time was reduced to 32 hours with frequent changes of relay horses along the way.

Products shipped along the canal were mainly wheat and wine, permitting local products to be sold far and wide throughout the Med. This enriched the producers as well as the Riquet family. As with American canals, the heyday was in the mid 1800’s, and their usefulness was eclipsed by the development of railroads. Freight traffic along the canal ceased entirely in the 1970’s.

Today the Canal is a major tourist destination, with distinctive motor boats seemingly available for anyone to rent! Most visitors are from Germany, Switzerland and Britain. The canal is from 16-20 meters wide, and is designed to be 2 meters deep, though there are shoals which make it shallower in places. For boats, the maximum length is 30 m (98 ft) , maximum beam isn5.5 m (18 ft) and maximum draft is 1.5 m (4.9 feet).

Now, back to our trip...

On to Les Mougeres, where we moored for the night near the lighthouse which marks the entrance to the Canal du Midi. First, we motored nearby Marseillan, where we tied up for two hours with the permission of the port captain, since it so was early season. Captain ran some errands, so I explored the village and stopped at the Spar grocery store, where I stocked up on fruit and veg, since the captain was a typical British meat-and-potatoes man and didn't eat much greenstuff.

The lighthouse at Les Mougeres, marking the entrance to the Canal.

"No mooring."

The old customs building where freight shippers on the Canal paid their fees.
It is now a very active sailing club.

Freyafrey moor alongside for a few hours in Frontignan.

You know you're in France.....beautiful food.

An attractive building in
Frontignan,flying a pirate flag ....porquoi??

Near Marseillan I met Linda, the master of the MV Linda,
who lives aboard and single-hands.

Lush red wine and artisan boar sausage from Corsica.

Inside one of the early locks, the level nearly filled.

Here the boat ahead of us has exited the lock.
We haul in our lines and motor through.

An abandoned farmhouse amid the vineyards.

The cobbled streets of Marseillan.

A lock, approaching Agde

A stately home in ruins near Agde. It had dates and high water
levels of historic floods carved into it's cornerstones.

The eclusier’s garden

The charming home of an eclusier. The Canal, the eclusiers’ homes and
other associated buildings, are owned and operated by the French Government
agency VNF (Voies Navigable de France), which manages inland waterways
and associated facilities.

A pretty view of Adge

A house along the canal at Agde.

Preparing to enter the lock. A green light tells us when to enter.
The collapsible bikes were very useful and allowed us to cover a lot
of territory while sight-seeing. John had made a clever tool from a
wooden coat hanger with hooks on each end, fastened to the end of a
long stout pole. This tool allowed us to loop the dock line over it, reach up and
drop it over the bollard when the lock walls were very high. It was handy.

”Go that way, Skipper. ”
Captain John spoke French and Spanish fluently; I speak very little French,
and understand only a bit more. It would quite possible, but a bit of a challenge,
to cruise the canal without understanding at least some French.
A sense of humor and a cheerful demeanor will always serve you well !!

The lock opens and we go on our way.

Strawberry fields along the canal near Portiragnes.

Plane trees supporting the canal banks near Portiragnes

The lowest bridge on the Canal

The lowest bridge on the Canal, near Capestang

Passing under the lowest bridge at Capestang.
You need to be right in the middle!

An old farmhouse

The iconic alley of plane trees that we think of when picturing the Canal.
Their roots form sturdy and enduring reinforcement to the banks.

Unfortunately they have been decimated by a fungus said to have been
introduced by WWII ammo cases from America. In reality the infection
was detected first in the mid-1990’s. They are being cut down in
an effort to prevent the spread . Notice the tarps underneath to capture
and protect the roots of neighboring trees from contamination.

Inside a lock filling, near Villneuve-les-Beziers. This is a typical tourist boat.
John utilized mountaineering rope for hawsers, and loved that it had 30% stretch in it.
Passing through one lock, the current from the incoming water caught the bow and
pushed it alarmingly into the center of the lock, even though I had it securely cleated.
If we had been beside another boat, there would have been a crash.
I am not a fan of mountaineering rope for dock lines!

A stately home near the lovely public gardens in Béziers

Statue of Pierre-Paul Riquet, builder of the Canal
and prominent citizen of Béziers.

The whole end of this building has been painted to fool the eye.
The shopfront, balconiies , windows, are all painted.

The man-eating public latrine in Béziers. I could not figure out how to get out.
Help came from locals talking to me through the door.

A view of the high city in Béziers.

View from the high city of Béziers

Another beautiful mural painted on a blank wall.
The tree, shadow, windows and doors, man, are all painted.
Béziers is a waypoint on the thousand-year-old pilgrim trail,
the Camino de Compostella, ending in Santiago de Compostella in Spain,

The city markey of Béziers, filled with beautiful produce, flowers
nuts, dried fruits, cheeses and charcuterie.

The cathedral, where in the 15th century, a cardinal said
"Kill them all and let God sort them out".
A historical first. He approved the slaughter of the whole town
for being sympathetic to the “heretic” Cathars.

A lovely bakery which sold us special local pastries and croissantes.
Apricot tarts are a local specialty.

Medieval buildings, with streets signs in
French and Oc languages. Oc is closely related to Catalan Spanish.

Another spectacular mural in Béziers

The tow path near Béziers.

Looking back a Béziers , as we were motoring over the viaduct.

A boat crossing a river via a viaduct. Somehow counterintuitive.

West of Béziers, the trees changed from plane to cedars and pines.

A very French cafe in Poilhes.

Vineyards on both sides of the Canal at Poilhes.
Below, the old Capitanerie at Poilhes in soft morning light.

The amount of water we received through this metered tap was
less than was posted on the sign. Captain changed that by
updating the sign with his sharpie.

Yellow flag irises growing wild along the banks.

Beautiful fragrant roses nodding in the spring breeze.

A famous canal boat moored near Capestang.

A watercolorist working alfresco in Le Somail

Beautiful Midi house in Le Somail.

Typical local colors of periwinkle blue, terra cotta, ochre and limestone.

Wisteria vines flourishing in a beautiful way.

~~A cart made for hauling grapes in the harvest.~~

A lock filling, near Salleles-d'Aude.

An old horsetrough being reused as a planter in Roubia.

A video of the lock filling . I wish I could have taken more
action shots but I was linehandling .

L'Esperance, newly painted, was built in the early 1900's.
Near Homps.

The friendly eclusier in Azille.

The plane trees in Trèbes had been hard-pruned for compact summer foliage..

A man came to catch our dock line, from an antique canal boat flying the Scottish flag.
I asked where he was from...he said, “Tain”!! The same tiny village, way up in the Highlands,
as my good friend Captain Ron Ferguson!! Here is Ron Falconer, a daring Scots sailor from
another era, as we are laughing about such a coincidence (with his charming Kiwi wife!).
I arranged a phone call for them to chat. Turns out Ron Ferguson knows
Ron Falconer’s brother from school!
Small, small, world.

In a public garden in Carcassonne.

The local bagpipe troupe practicing in Carcassonne.
Celtic tradition is still strong.

Beautiful medieval stained glass in Carcassonne.

In the medieval Cite de Carcassonne

Early season was chilly and blustery,
not many visitors in the citadel at Carcassonne.

The cathedral inside the citadel of Carcassonne.

A delicious, piping hot cassoulet, in the heartland of cassoulet,
the Languedoc region.The old regions, including Languedoc,
have been consolidated into a new administrative region called
Occitaine. "The lands where Oc was spoken."