Toulouse to the Top (of the Midi)

The Canal du Midi begins at Toulouse and ends, 240 km later, at the Etang de Thau close to the Mediterranean. It is, by far, the most popular canal for holidaymakers and there are many, many boat hire bases along its length. At times it can be quite chaotic. Last year we travelled as far as Carcassonne in September and experienced queues at most locks and full ports. According to the capitaine at Carcassonne, September is the busiest month as the hire companies discount their rates and just about every boat is out. That is a lot of boats.To be honest, beautiful as this canal is, we weren't really looking forward to it.
The Canal du Midi is over 300 years old and characterised by curves: picturesque arched (low and narrow) bridges, oval locks and the winding waterway itself. The locks ( sometimes doubles, trebles or more) can be tricky to negotiate and during the summer you will usually need to share with one or two other boats. Going downhill is normally much easier than going up except that the Midi often has strong winds blowing and the lightweight, shallow draft hire boats are difficult to control in these conditions. Over the past week or two we've seen many boats being driven much too fast then bouncing off lock gates and walls and ending up sideways on with some poor crew member ashore hauling desperately on a long rope. Our strategy has been to hang back and just wait- sometimes quite a long time - until people get sorted. Much depends on how helpful the lock keeper is. I think that those we've met this year have, on the whole, been very good. Better than in previous years. Perhaps by September they've just had enough.

Oval lock - Midi

Treble lock

In order to safely pass under the bridges we have had to remove our windscreens, which we did in Toulouse. We still use our canopy but have it secured with elastic hooks which can be undone quickly. A shout of 'curvy bridge!' means get up here, undo the hooks and fold everything back, quick smart.
There aren't many hire boats on the the stretch from Toulouse to the summit and so far this section's plane trees haven't succumbed to the deadly fungus so it was a fairly quiet, shady, pleasant trip. Our only hiccup came after the very last of the uphill locks.
I know it's not like scaling a mountain but there's always a hint of a similar feeling of achievement when you arrive at the summit of a canal. It's been hard work just getting there and how much more difficult it must have been to actually build this in the first place - by hand. There is a monument to Pierre-Paul Riquet, the designer and engineer who conceived and realised the building of the canal, in a park at the summit. The 12 000 workers he employed (600 of them women) deserve our thoughts and thanks as well. A truly awesome achievement.

My hiccup may seem a minor one but not to me. I had left my boat hook at the aforementioned last lock. Some may think that's no big deal in the grand scheme of things but sometimes it's the small things that make a difference and the lowly boat hook is pretty important to me. My job (well, one of them) is chief rope wrangler and lock operator.  I could do without a boat hook but it would make my life that much more difficult. As a friend remarked it's like an extension to your arm.
Years ago, on the canal de Bourgogne someone stole my boathook. I couldn't believe that another boater would do such a thing (and sadly it must have been someone from a boat). Finding somewhere to buy a replacement took a long time (and there are so many locks on that canal). This time it was my own fault.
I didn't discover the loss until we'd arrived at the next lock - 5km away. I was pretty upset and so annoyed at myself. Rob, to his great credit immediately offloaded the small bike (mistake) and peddled off at high (-ish) speed. For anyone considering the long distance cycle route (I won't call it a path) along the Midi I suggest you stock up on padded shorts. From what we've seen of it since Toulouse it is often very rough and sometimes little more than a narrow track. (Tououse to Bordeaux is great). Also, as Rob discovered, the section along the summit was re-routed away from the canal and onto roads entailing quite a few extra kilometres. He wished he had taken the e-velo.
I remembered there was a lock keeper's house at the lock which is used as an office so it occurred to me that maybe I should try calling the keeper. It was almost the lunch break and I thought if the hook lay there for any length of time someone would take it. So, I took a deep breath, attempted to organise my thoughts into semi-coherent French and dialled.
Well, the keeper didn't speak any English at all. So we had a 'conversation' where I explained my problem as best as I could in French and then he replied in very fast French saying... who knows what? So, I did that that annoying thing beloved of politicians and just kept repeating the same statement over again. The keeper replied, probably also repeating much the same thing which, I guessed, was that he'd go and check, as the line went quiet for a minute. Then he came back on, rattled off a few more sentences to which I replied that my husband would arrive on a bike and thank you so much. Then I waited.
Eventually, the triumphant hero returned, aboard his trusty steed, lance in hand. (Sorry, but I was so pleased to see him and the boathook). The lock keeper had been waiting for him at the door of the cottage. So I was doubly pleased. We had the boathook back and I had, apparently, managed to make myself understood on the phone. No mean feat.