The Pleasantest Trip
The good life in the slow lane on the Canal du Midi
by Chris Redman
FRANCE TODAY Magazine
March 2008
“There is nothing,” said Ratty in The Wind in the Willows, “half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” True enough. But add to that assertion “on France’s Canal du Midi” and it gets even better. A haven of tranquillity, this ancient waterway meanders lazily through countryside that has changed little down the centuries. And therein lies the canal’s special charm, for although its raison d’être was to link the Atlantic with the Mediterranean, its more magical role is to connect past to present. Afloat on its placid waters voyagers are transported back to an earlier age when Roman traders came to the Languedoc to buy the prized local wines—and were the first to dream of digging a canal from the ocean to the sea—or medieval pilgrims passed by en route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The panorama is much the same now as it was then: the towering peaks of the Pyrénées to the south and the imposing Montagne Noire to the north. In between, as it has done now for over 300 years, the Canal du Midi glides past fairytale citadels and threads through ancient towns and villages weaving its potent spell.
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My first rencontre with the Canal du Midi was in the 1970s when it was still a working waterway and holidaymakers were something of a rarity. The lock keepers sold us fresh vegetables, cheese, eggs and truly awful vin ordinaire. In the evenings we would moor up and cycle or walk to a local estaminet for absurdly inexpensive feasts. Getting back to the barge took longer than going, but the starry skies lit the way and the Canal du Midi was a difficult target to miss. During the day we chugged along, admiring the engineering triumph that the canal represented when it was completed in 1681, during the reign of Louis XIV—240 kilometers (149 miles) long and 10 meters (33 feet) wide, with 126 bridges, 105 aqueducts, 103 locks and the world’s first canal tunnel. On that trip we covered in 14 days what 12,000 laborers took 14 years to build.
In fact, although the Romans first had the idea and several French kings pursued it to no avail, in the end the construction of the canal was largely the work of one single man, Pierre-Paul Riquet, the Baron de Bonrepos. Riquet found the solution to supplying water to the canal’s highest point at Naurouze, channeling spring water from the Montagne Noire. Sharing expenses with the Sun King in exchange for concessions in operating the canal, Riquet spent most of his own fortune and the rest of his life on his grandiose project, and died a few months before it was finished.
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Today the Canal du Midi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is as magical as ever—perhaps more so since there’s little commercial traffic now and the pleasure barges for hire and the péniche-hôtels are more comfortable and functional than ever. My first péniche, like Dr Dolittle’s pushmi- pullyu creature, couldn’t decide which way it was going. The cooking facilities were rudimentary and the fridge was as likely to produce ice as a rooster to lay eggs. Today many boats boast bow thrusters for easier maneuvering, air conditioning, galleys that would not disgrace an ocean-going yacht and, yes, ice makers. But even the smallest and simplest self-drive boats are well appointed and user-friendly. And it’s fun to drive yourself—just take it easy, and remember not to tie up in a lock that is about to empty!
Alternatively, more than a dozen luxurious hotel barges, with captain and crew to work the boat and air-conditioned stateroom-style cabins for the guests, cater to those who prefer to enjoy the canal in style—with the emphasis on catering since many carry their own chef and are immensely proud of the gourmet meals served on board.
But whichever barge option you choose, the pleasures of the canal and its surrounding region remain the same. By the time Napoleon ordered trees to be planted along France’s major roads to shade his marching troops, the Canal du Midi was more than a hundred years old and already lined with some 45,000 graceful plane and poplar trees. Planted to shade the haulers on the towpath and slow the water’s evaporation, these signature trees are now a symbol of the good life on the canal. Although beautiful dappled light shimmers through their leaves, they provide enough cool shade to insure that even the hottest summer days on deck are a delight.
The canal starts in Toulouse and curves southeast past Carcassonne and Béziers to Agde, where it ends in the Etang de Thau, a vast basin on the edge of the Mediterranean. (In Toulouse the Midi connects with the Canal Latéral à la Garonne, which flows northwest to Bordeaux and the Atlantic. The combined waterways are often loosely, but incorrectly, called the Canal du Midi.) It’s a two-way canal, and the direction you travel—up or down, or round trip— is up to you.
The 14th-century town of Castelnaudary, situated at the canal’s highest point, is a popular starting point for barge trips, famed for its pottery and its cassoulet—the white bean, sausage and pork (or mutton or duck) stew whose parentage and recipe are fiercely disputed with Toulouse and Carcassonne. But there are many other places along the way to start or finish a cruise including St Gilles, the pretty wine port of Homps, and Port Cassafières down by the Mediterranean.
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Carcassonne is a must if your route takes you near the spectacular medieval city, intact within its towered and crenellated double set of walls. The ancient Cathar stronghold of Argens Minervois is a reminder that the peace and tranquility of the region was once shattered by the 13th-century crusade against the Cathar, or Albigensian “heretics.” More pleasant emotions are conjured up in the hamlet of Le Somail, an early stop for postal barges, where there is a charming “donkey-back” bridge, a floating grocery store and the wonderful second-hand and antique bookshop Trouve Tout du Livre. Nearby is the Pont-Canal de Répudre, the oldest bridge-canal in France.
Between Carcassonne and the sea, the canal cuts through the wine country of Minervois and Corbières, offering plenty of opportunity for vineyard visits and wine tastings of wonderful, characterful wines that have come a long, long way since my early forays into local vinordinaire. |
Just before the busy town of Béziers, one of the canal’s engineering marvels and most spectacular sights are the Ecluses de Fonséranes—a series of eight staircase locks 25 meters (82 ft) high. Closer to the sea, near Agde, the canal passes through the Etang de Bagnas, a vast wetland area that is home to an amazing variety of waterfowl—some 232 species at the last count—including the greater flamingo.
Once you have reached the Mediterranean you can traverse the Etang de Thau and at Sète—a canal-laced old port also built by Riquet—take the Canal du Rhône à Sète to the Camargue and the walled Crusader port of Aigues Mortes up into Provence and past Arles to join the Rhône south of Avignon.
But whether your waterway journey continues into Provence or not, first it’s time to remember that canal cruising is about slowing down. Whether you’re your own pilot or being pampered on a luxury péniche-hôtel, just relax and go with the flow, remembering what Thomas Jefferson wrote about the Canal du Midi back in 1787: “Of all the methods of traveling I have ever tried, this is the pleasantest. You should not think of returning to America without taking the trip I have taken.”
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