Well – it is thanks to the shifting intervention of the passenger (reverse equipment) that the collision can be prevented with the bank. When the first bridge comes, we control our boat quite smoothly through the water. And in addition to a clash with James Bond, which scores us when it lies, in our long -term tour there are no incidents through the south of France on Canal du Midi.
It helps that on the channel there is a speed limit of 8 km/h. But mostly we are so leisurely on the road that even tourists go ashore. In the past, the drafts of horses there there. Because there were no motorized boats when the Du Midie channel was built in the 17th century. He crosses the southern French “midi” 240 kilometers between Toulouse and Mediterranean; So called, because there is almost always sunny, and the sun is at noon (MIDI) It stands in the south.
Despite the fact that the houses for loading the house usually begin in small places along the route in our case in Argens-Minervois-TGV-StHALT TOULUSE for travelers without a car, is a logical entrance to the channel leave. From the railway station, this is just a few minutes walk from the “source”: a large pool, in which the Du Midy channel meets its Western neighbors, which continues in the Atlantic.
The marble picture on the bank is noted by the union of two seas, which brought a lot of prosperity to the adjacent regions and saved the ships of a huge cycle throughout the Iberian peninsula. Only with the triumphal march of the railway did the waterways lose their importance.
In the 1960s, they discovered the first travelers for themselves. Early rest writers, as a rule, were free spirits, their boats often transformed themselves and modest comfort. At the same time, it has become a business model, numerous suppliers rent boats. Probably, it is the desire to recover from the masses, after calm and slowness, which makes tourist tourism grow at home.
In any case, most of the time you spend on the deck
However, he has little in common with a hobby in the first years. The interior of our boat looks like a luxurious house on wheels: heating, air conditioning and 220-volt sockets; a kitchen with an oven and a spacious refrigerator; The bathroom is more than in some city apartments. In any case, most of the time you spend on the deck, either at the wheel, or in the sunscreen, in the front of the ship.
Small villages along the canal also adapted to travelers. On the pier similar to camps, you can charge your batteries, replenish water and, recently, pump dirty water. In the past, this was usually carried out unstressed to the channel (in some places, so the bikini remains unused in the suitcase).
Unlike camping, an “anchor wild” with a floating house is not a problem. With the exception of curves and locking, you can attract your floating house everywhere. Then you sit with fried and wine on the deck in the evening, fall asleep with a wave of water and wake up early in the morning with a view of the canal or green shore.
Now in the late spring there is still little on the channel. It is good for us, because on the oncoming traffic on the canal on the channel, which has a width of only about 20 meters, it goes quite close, and a longer waiting time on the castles can occur.
Again and again, aircraft trees cover the channel like a green roof. In the past, this was much larger, but 20 years ago, aircraft crab began to eat for centuries of trees, after which it was necessary to knock down more than half. In many places, the new ones have already been planted – that they are still not large enough to sacrifice the shadows, is definitely welcome in the spring.
Over the next curve, the landscape suddenly extends like an overgrown garden. Trees of fear stretch their vast branches above the water. If the fruits were mature, you could choose them directly from the boat. Artistically painted and creatively equipped boats, which in some places – like a floating house – are amazed on the shore.
From time to time, boards appear to display in the bank Tasting, For tasting local products. Sometimes they promise olive oil and truffles, sometimes honey from bees with the sun, and again and again deep red wine, like in a chatea -parase. Here we stop, parking is not a problem thanks to a side trip from an investor, an attracted well, and mooring with boat lines now passes smoothly.
Full wines with low acid
The winery is put forward to the throne over the city of the palate. The Parisian couple, who dreamed of the sun and southern lightness, bought it almost 20 years ago. Today his children are managed. The drought and wind of MIDI provide full -fledged wines with low acid, explains Lucilian Dunglass. Nevertheless, you should actually only cost, because alcohol and hard bridges of the canal are not too good.
Superibly registered property was built at the beginning of the 17th century. “Pierre Paul Rickets lived here during sewer construction work,” the young owner says proudly. Rickets is the creator of the Du Midi channel. “We are celebrated in the region as a star.”
Pierre-Paul Ricket earned his money, collecting salt tax. He arrived a lot in this area, knew its hills and river courses and was able to find the answer to the decisive question in the construction of the channel: how could it guarantee constant water supply if the channel should overcome the “summit” about 190 meters at the highest point? Rickets created a system for feeding an artificial tank with water from nearby mountains, which at that time was the largest in Europe. From Bassin de-Sen-Ferreol, water flows without pumps, divided only in gravity and with locks west to Toulouse and east to the Mediterranean Sea. The construction of this technical masterpiece lasted 15 years.
In addition to bridges, it also includes tunnels. Our boat disappears near the village of Colombier 165 meters on a hill. Also, the experience is a staircase with a castle, which was built shortly before the place of birth of a Riquet in Besia, not far from the place where the channel reaches the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. More than seven chambers lying in a row, it decreases by almost 14 meters. When the water is drained, heavy iron doors and boat open, an occasion in his hand led to the next chamber. As if, according to the passenger, you would go for a walk with your boat. The spectacle lasts a little less than three quarters of an hour. 300 meters. A slow journey through superiority.
Ricket himself did not survive the completion of his masterpiece. He died in 1680, a year before the opening in Toulouse. There we return to the channel in an excursion boat before leaving. Slowly he passes around the city. There is a restaurant and floating houses on the bank. “Sale” on one. What will it be? Maybe at some point. In any case, the last few days they make you want more.
Notification of transparency: the trip was supported by Locaboat, along with Le Boat one of two major suppliers for trips through Canal du Midi. In addition, there is less rent and platforms, such as Samboat or Nautal, where boats from various suppliers, partly from individuals, are offered to rent.
