Traveling Down the Canal du Midi

As part of our downsizing project, I'm in the process of culling out old photos and came across this essay describing our trip down the Canal du Midi in September 2002.  I don't even remember writing it and I think it may have been for my law firm's newsletter.  I'm posting it just to have it in my electronic memory banks and I'm inserting a few photos taken from the 23 roles of film I shot.

Sunrise on the canal

The Pointy-End Goes in Front

The pointy-end goes in front was all I knew about boats when I talked two couples from our wine/dinner club, a fellow law firm administrator and her husband from Texas and my husband into going on a barge trip in France.  Among the group was a retired Navy commander and two competitive sailors, so I assumed they would know enough to help the rest of us.  The trip was originally scheduled to start on 9/12/01 and we were to meet two other couples in Paris who were going to join us going down the canal. Needless to say, no one left Dulles on that date and the other couples couldn't get home, so they went ahead and completed the trip.  For those of us still state-side, it took a lot of phone calls and visits to the travel agency over many months, but we managed to reschedule everything for the following year.

The term "barge" is somewhat misleading.  Think "cabin cruiser with a flat bottom."  There are companies all over Europe renting these boats to vacationers who prefer taking their chances on water than coping with European drivers on land, and the cost is less than staying in hotels, if you do a little shopping around.

Crew getting ready for initial cast-off in Castelnaudary

We selected the Languedoc region of France, which is sandwiched between Spain to the southwest and Provence to the east, traveling down the Canal du Midi between Castelnaudary, a village southeast of Toulouse, and Sete on the Mediterranean coast.  One advantage to selecting this canal was the absence of any commercial traffic.  People who have ventured into major rivers in Europe in the barges have returned with harrowing tales of near-misses with large commercial vessels.  Instead, it was just us and a bunch of other novices in the rented boats or those who own their version of a floating RV.  Another advantage was the canal's route took us through one of France's best wine regions that is just now getting the recognition it so well deserves.

My dear hubby, who is an avid student of history, was especially intrigued by going down the Midi.  The canal, which was an engineering marvel when it was built in the 17th Century, allows you to go from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean without having to travel around Portugal and Spain.  He had read a book that excerpts portions of Thomas Jefferson's travel journal that describes his trip down the canal's entire length.  Much of the scenery and many of the villages were little changed from the days of Jefferson's trip.  Of course, the trails beside the canal that were originally used by mules to pull the barges (they did not have Evinrude engines in those days) are now used by bicyclists who can go much faster than any of the modern-day barges (our Evinrude was not very powerful - 5 knots, tops).


Crew getting their exercise.

       

                              

                                     

Visiting a vineyard

Accidents Do Happen

During our seven day trip on the canal we had to navigate through 43 sets of locks.   Some were in rural areas but others came with an audience just waiting for crews to have problems.  It was considered cheap entertainment. 

A lock in a
lovely rural
setting

A crowd waiting for a crew to mess up.

                   Going through these locks required a lot of teamwork, rope pulling, gate opening on the few locks that are manual, and just plain hard work (note to file - next time take two teenagers).  We had been warned that everyone at some point during the trip will leave a crew member hanging from the lock while the water and boat drop out from beneath them.  Well, we managed to go one better than that - we managed to leave the boat hanging from the lock!  The water dropped but the boat's "lip" was up on the landing so the boat tilted and everything inside starting flying.  One friend who was taking her turn at KP in the gallery was pummeled by flying cantaloupe.  The boat was quickly kicked off the lock by two fast acting crew members and we were able to go our merry way, but with a bit of egg on our faces.  Several other boats were in the lock and their occupants witnessed this event much to our embarrassment and their amusement.

We also had one incident of "man over board" but it was one of the sailing pros and it was his own fault -- so, we were unmerciful in our reminders of his slip-up.  It did give us the opportunity to find out that the canal was only five feet deep but really smelly.  Who knew.

Choose Your Traveling Companions Carefully

Our happy crew on the last night

One of the amazing facts of this trip was we had eight adults living in very close quarters for seven days and not one cross word was exchanged.  It helped that the weather was perfect, the food, either  on board or on shore in one of the small villages we passed, was unbelievably fantastic, and so was the wine, but the real key was our ability to laugh.  If laughter is healing, my immune system was good for a couple of years.

We were fortunate to have our own chef on board.  Here he is with one of his typical hors d'oeuvres spreads.

Did I mention close quarters?  The showers (at least we had two) were so small you could not take your clothes in with you.  We all mastered the art of the fast-dash from the shower to our stateroom wrapped in a rather small towel provided by the boat company (note to file - next time pack a large bath towel).  We also tried to time our showers while everyone else was on the upper deck.  The only time our "captain" (the Navy guy) got a salute was when he made a dash in front of me and one of the other female crew members.  Since he was carrying his soap and shampoo, etc., in his left hand and tightly holding his towel in the other, he refused to return our salute.  We forgave his lack of military decorum (salutes should be returned) because we had accomplished out goal - - he was the most embarrassed we have ever seen him.

The captain has the CONN

Planning Ahead Does Help

Everyone is encouraged to fly their national flag on their boat and it was marvelous seeing flags from all over the world sailing by us but we had other plans - we flew the Jolly Roger.  The reason was we had hoped to stage raids of our friends on the other boat but 9/11 had changed that but at least we were readily identified by the lock masters.  We also had a large stash of mimi-bottles of Jack Daniels and cigarette packs.  After tipping a few of the lock masters it became obvious word had spread and they were waiting for us as we approached.  We discovered that the younger ones wanted the cigs and the older ones wanted the whiskey.  We actually managed to get through a lock one day after it was official closed for the day.  Lesson learned - be nice to your lock masters.

Arrrrrrrg!

One of the younger lock masters and the only one who was a minority.  He was also one of the few who could speak English.  Each master is provided housing next to the lock.  His home is the building with the shutters seen behind him.

To pass the time, many of the masters had lovely gardens.  Apparently the master at this lock was a sculptor with a sense of humor.

We had enough camera gear to open a floating store.  Definitely before smart phones.

Yes, French women wear two-piece bathing suits.  Get over it.  

Remembering 9/11

We were very mindful of 9/11 and how concerned people back home were that the day would pass without any incident and we knew of the various services planned for that day.  When we woke that Wednesday some went ashore to visit the local church, hoping there was an 8 AM mass.  There was no service, but just sitting on the church steps watching the village wake up offered a quiet moment for reflection.  Later on we docked for lunch in a tiny village called Argens-Minervois.  What attracted us was the location of a winery right at the dock, and since we were traveling during harvest season, there were trucks lined up to deliver their loads of grapes.  After watching the process for awhile and going inside for a tasting and the purchase our daily provisions, we followed the drivers to an outside restaurant - sot of like assuming truck drivers know the best roadside diners.  Turned out it was the only restaurant in town.  As usual, the food was great and cooked on a grill right before our eyes.  The only distraction was the radio turned to some rock station - rap in French!  I couldn't believe it.

We were the only Americans in the place, and as we were about to leave God Bless America in English by Celine Dion came on the radio.  We looked at each other and quickly figured out that the time difference meant that it was time for the first period of silence in NYC.  We stood up and did not move until the song was over.  Everyone else, including the rather boisterous truck drivers, stopped talking.  We found the unexpected remembrance of the events of 9/11 in a rural village in southern France extremely moving.

Lunch on 9/11

We were most fortunate to have good weather (some parts of France were having terrible floods while we were there), no missed connections or other travel mishaps, except for the Captain losing his billfold to a pickpocket in the Paris subway on our last day in Paris (before and after the trip down the Midi we had a few days in Paris - how can you go to France without going to Paris?!  This will long be remembered as our trip of a lifetime.

Sete, a working class port city on the Mediterranean, was our last stop before returning to Paris.

The French fast trains are marvelous.