Rick Stein's recent travels in his "French Odyssey" series featured a canal barge trip from Bordeaux to Marseille (well, almost). The first half of the trip to Toulouse is technically along the "Canal Lateral à la Garonne", as the Canal du Midi runs east from Toulouse to the Etang du Thau on the Mediterranean coast near Sète via the outskirts of Carcassonne, Narbonne and Beziers. Amazingly construction was begun in the 17th Century, providing an important economic and strategic equivalent of a water motorway.It remains a viable waterway, albeit mainly for pleasure use these days.
The Canal is largely tree-lined and can offer a quiet wonderful sanctuary from the summer heat, as well as diverting you off the main autoroute or major N road. The canal takes you through wine country, the land of the Cathars, the heartland of French Rugby and a gastronomic paradise of duck and goose dishes, including the legendary Cassoulet. The scale of the engineering involved was recognised in 1997 when the canal was created as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
There is an interesting website at www.canalmidi.com/ written by an enthusiast, but with an English translation and with info and links to almost anything to do with the canal.
Canals in France are managed by Voies Navigables de France (VNF) - the French equivalent of the British Waterways Board or whatever it is called these days. Their website is at www.vnf.fr where you can find maps of the network which is quite extensive in NE France, Loire, Burgundy, Rhone, Provence and Languedoc.
For an entertaining read about a narrow boat journey from the UK to the Languedoc see "Narrow Dog to Carcassonne" by Terry Darlington
For more on France, French Wine, Food & Travel visit www.frenchduck.co.uk
Keywords: France, Travel,Canal,Midi,Canal du Midi,Toulouse, Narbonne, Beziers
