The Canal du Midi runs for 240km from the River Garonne at Toulouse via Carcassonne to the Mediterranean at Agde. It was the brainchild of Pierre-Paul Riquet, a minor noble and tax collector, who succeeded in convincing Louis XIV (and more importantly, his first minister, Colbert) of the merits of linking the Atlantic and the Mediterranean via the Garonne.
The work, begun in 1667, took fourteen years to complete, using tens of thousands of workers. The crux of the problem from the engineering point of view was how to feed the canal with water, when its high point at Naurouze, west of Carcassonne, was 190m above sea level and 58m above the Garonne at Toulouse. Riquet responded by building a system of reservoirs in the Montage Noire, channelling run-off from the heights down to Naurouze. He spent the whole of his fortune on the canal and, sadly, died just six months before its inauguration in 1681.
The actual canal was built on a grand scale with locks of length 30.5m oval in construction, being 6m wide at the gates and 11m wide in the middle. This was intended to resist the collapse of the walls as happened early in the project when he was using deeper locks, but the design’s success is dubious and it has not been copied in other canals. Many of the structures were ornate and survive to this day.
The flight out was uneventful – there are two flights a day to Carcassonne and we were all up early to get there on the first flight and off down the canal, except for those on our boat who decided they don’t do early mornings. So, on arriving at the airport the three taxis that were there when the first of us came out had gone by the time the others came, with no sign of replacements. So we took the airport bus to la gare SNCF de Carcassonne and repaired to the brassiere for a refreshment to await the 15h05 train to Castelnaudary. It arrived on time, did what it said on the destination indicator, in glorious 2nd Cl luxury of air conditioning. We then walked the half kilometre or so from the station to the boat yard on Quai du Canelot to sign in. So, first things first – what is the code for the heads? At least the lady behind the counter spoke English, and French and Dutch, and…..
The fleet was hired from Crown Blue Line, for which we would like to thank Stanley for organizing. There were two “Royal Classique” and one “Crusader 6” boats – three cabins each to accommodate two each, with shower and heads – per cabin. The Classique cruisers had electric bow thrusters, the Crusader a manual one – a boathook!!!!
Our boat, the Crusader, comprised Victor as Skipper, Robert as First Mate, Maureen as Competent Crew and Maryline and Gloria as Competent Staff. We had not pre-booked provisions, so, when the going gets hot, the hot go in search of refreshment, and then provisions. We were about to set off into town when those with a hatred for early mornings arrived, so we all went together.
So we had our coffees and beer and continued up the road looking for provisions that we found at a fresh fruit seller and the Spar supermarket next door.
Having sorted that out, we went to look for a restaurant for the evening meal – it was too late to consider going down a lock or two before they closed at 19h00.
It was hot relative to the UK; I remembered the sun tan cream, but not the sun hat – tactical error with a bald patch.
And so to the evening meal at Le Gondola – our boat and that of Bob and crew. On the way there we saw an otter – (which turned out in fact to be a water vole!) - eating some bread in the canal.
The evening meal was noisy, but tasty, and so to bed.
The French are quite civilized; the locks open between 09h00 and 19h00 and close for lunch for an hour at 12h30. The aim was to be at the first lock by opening time that we easily achieved. The only thing was, they let uphill traffic come through before downhill, so we eventually got out just before 10 – this first flight had four locks.
Going through locks on the downhill is quite simple –you get the hang quite quickly. Drive in slowly so not to damage the stone edge of the lock with the glass fibre boat or was it the other way round, park where the lock keeper tells you and downstream of the lip at the top gate that is still open. But because the lock is full of water you can’t see the lip, so they have painted white lines on the lock wall, jump ashore with mooring lines, remember to slacken mooring lines as water drops, remember to push the bow overhang of the boat away from the lock wall when the level drops, else the boat hangs there and then falls onto the boat next to it when it does release and the lock keeper then has to refill the lock to release it all – not us, of course. Jump back on board as the deck is level with the lock and bring the mooring lines with ready to slip on departure.
And so to the first piece of horizontal water – drive on the right, overtake on the left, don’t exceed the 8 km/h speed limit (approximately 2000 to 2200 rpm on the engine seeing as there was no speedometer). Quite simple really except these gin palaces were not very manoeuvrable, not like sail boats. That said, one can do a twenty three point turn in the canal without hitting the banks although the easy was is to nose into the bank gently and keep the power on to turn the stern, then reverse out and continue in the new direction desired.
The second and third sets of locks were both doubles, and the subsequent ones were one lock per set.
We had got ourselves into a group of three boats going through the locks, the others were faster than us so they sometimes had to wait at the locks – we just drove up, got in – a bit like the hare and the tortoise and traffic light racing.
After you have been through a couple of locks, they begin to look alike – gate, oval with 3 boats in it, gate at the other end and possibly a bridge as well that, from upstream, appears to be a river bank level. That’s because it is, and the boats go under because they have dropped about 3m to the next level down. In order, the locks were:
St Roch, Gay, Vivier, Guillermin, St Sernin, Guerre, La Peyruque, La Criminelle, Treboul, Villepinte, Sauzens, Bram, Beteille.
The only difference is that some are less than ½ km apart, so no sooner have you got sorted out than you are back on lock duty.
Quite early on it was obvious we were not going to get as far as Carcassonne, but could get a bit further than Bram with its Salon de The on the canal bank, a narrow bridge – they were all narrow, and its 4 kts/h speed limit. We were further slowed down by a bit of hat overboard practice – Phil, you will be pleased to know that the club caps float long enough to be scooped up in a cap-overboard drill, and yes, Maureen did wash it before wearing it again!
At the obligatory 12h30 everything stops on the canal because the lock keepers go for lunch. So, we had a very good lunch, rustled up by Gloria and Maryline.
Everybody got a turn to drive, some less drunkenly than others. The difference between canal boating and the Solent is that in the Solent the obstacles move, for example, the pilot boat, tankers, freighters and the like. Here the obstacles did not move – overhanging branches, part submerged branches, fishing lines, low bridges, tow paths that go under the bridges so the gap is narrow, and the like. On one occasion, just after the cap episode, we nearly had to go back for a cardigan draped over a chair on the upper deck that got caught by a low branch and landed up on the stern walkway.
We got as far as Villesequelande where we met Sandy and crew already tied up (their boat, not the crew), turned the boat round so that the passerelle could go straight to the port-side door, and tied up.
Another case of retail therapy for food and back to the boat. We ate at the Le Relais Romain, and, in a manner to which I would like to become accustomed, the restaurant picked us up from the boats because we had a reservation,. The food was about the same as the evening before, the wine flowed freely, and then they took us back to the boats.
The return journey was different. First of all, we decided to erect the umbrella now that we seemed to be travelling with the wind rather than against it. All was well until a gust came by, the umbrella took off like they do in a high wind at home. Fortunately, it did not land in the water, and nothing was broken.
Going up locks is a totally different ball game from going down.
You need a driver, a thrower, a catcher, preferably two. So, effectively, you need a minimum of four who know what they are doing. Now if you are on the boat approaching the lock, how does the catcher get to be on the lock, now about 3m higher than the deck? The French think of most things. Ahead of the locks there were wooden jetties to drop off the catcher (unless the French have rafted up and are having lunch there) who then goes to the lock to wait for the boat. While Victor and Robert shared driving into the locks (once the gates were open), and Maureen was almost always catcher, for which she deserves our heartiest thanks, braving the river bank a few times, high speed approaches, yet never getting her feet wet.
So the ropes are thrown ashore, placed round the bollards, and when the boat has risen sufficiently can be hauled back on board ready to slip on leaving the lock. The catcher then gets on board once the deck has risen to the level of the lock. Simple. Except – wash your hands after you handle the rope – you do know where it has been, and you know that even though the boats may have holding tanks they are not used because the marinas do not have pumping out facilities. OCD – no, just a desire not to get ill through water borne diseases.
The other advantage of going uphill is that you can see the lip in the lock, so you know to moor up before you get there. However, the water on the surface in the lock does not always go from the top to the bottom gates. In one lock the engine was at well over ½ throttle astern to stop going into the gates at the top of the lock.
Back to the lock at Castelnaudary – four in one. Awesome.
We again ate at a different restaurant in town from the first evening, the crews from all three boats together this time.
Monday morning was miserable – raining. So, the three of us who took the mid day flight home went back to the airport by taxi – 35 minutes rather than 3 hours by public transport, and came back to glorious hot weather here.
Once again, many thanks to Stanley for organising the cruise, and to Victor skippering.
