Canal du Midi

The great technical feat of the Canal du Midi was achieved by Pierre-Paul Riquet and involved transporting the water from the Black Mountain down to the foot of the Naurouze (189 m), the highest point in the course and connecting the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. 42,000 plane trees line the canal, each spaced 7 to 8 metres apart to form a colonnade. It was and is a marvel of engineering.  The banks have not changed much in all that time and it is easy to imagine the people and vessels of the past using these waterways

We woke to a grey day but it barely rained and was very pleasant mooring quietly along the Canal. We started with a scrape under a tiny arched bridge for which we all had to duck our heads and headed for the first set of locks. It turned out to be easier than we thought, but still requires attention. As you throw the rope over the bollard and hold it firm the lock keeper closes one gate and opens the next, the water level drops and you with it, keeping the rope firm but allowing it to slip down with the boat, eventually were given the go ahead and we slip the rope and head off between extremely narrow stone gateways and into the canal. Sometimes there is a series of locks and you proceed from one to the next dropping over 60 feet or so before once again sailing off along the canal.
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We found a quite bank near an old arched bridge on the edge of a village and settled in for the night. We enjoyed a few laughs over gin, beer and red wine trying to guess the names of songs and artist....we were pretty hopeless at that, and off we went to bed.

25k and 19 locks today!