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Canal du Midi

Silvermomma

VP 2021 CP 2022 CF 2023 CdN 2024
Time of past OR future Camino
aspiring to be always on camino
Would anyone like to tell me about the Canal du Midi? Could I combine walking, cycling, boating? I'm just starting my investigation, so any ideas are welcome. I'm 73, have walked 4 caminos alone, can stay in dorms or private rooms, and want to eat well! Thanks in advance.
 
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There is this website: https://www.canal-du-midi.com/en
All I have ever done is walking along it.
...me too, except for the last 5 kms before Carcassonne. I'd eaten something dodgy and was about to collapse. Just when I couldn't walk any further a canal boater said, Jump on!
Canal walking is serene...
 
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Yes, thank you. I've been to the websites. I'm looking for some personal reflection. What part did you walk along? What time of year? Anything special to note?
Hello @Silvermomma
I've walked the length of Le Canal du Midi and Le Canal des Deux Mers in springtime, when wild irises bloom in yellow masses. It was a pretty sight.

With a bicycle one could easily visit outlaying villages. On foot the distances seemed too far...
 
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Hello @Silvermomma
I've walked the length of Le Canal du Midi and Le Canal des Deux Mers in springtime, when wild irises were blooming in yellow masses. It was a pretty sight.

With a bicycle one could easily visit outlaying villages. On foot the distances seemed too far...
Thank you so much! If you want to share your itinerary (especially lodging) I would love that. DM is OK. I loooooove iris
 
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Thank you so much! If you want to share your itinerary (especially lodging) I would love that. DM is OK. I loooooove iris
My itinerary and lodging? Oh dear, what to say....

In 2013 I set off for Jérusalem from a hamlet in Le Lot et Garonne, France. I carried a 13L lumbar pack with a silver flute tied on the back, Leki poles, a pair of boots, a pilgrim credenciale and not much else. I had nothing in my pocket to budget with so played the flute for an hour each day or just until I had enough cash for food and accommodation. I slept in all manner of place -religious communities, Gîtes de Pélerins, Gîtes d'étape, youth hostels, shacks, dirt floors, out in the cold, with families and individuals and even in a palace! Booking ahead wasn't an option.

Along Le Canal du Midi and Le Canal des Deux Mers it was much like that, too. I walked as far as able each day then set about finding somewhere to sleep. The return journey which ended in Amsterdam then a leap to England was much the same.

Happy planning, @Silvermomma.

Ultreia e Suseia!
 
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Good morning @Silvermomma

I have had a look through my diaries for 2013 and 2014 and made a list for you of where I stayed along le Canal du Midi and le Canal des Deux Mers.

Some of the villages along these canals coincide with various Chemins de Saint-Jacques (Caminos to Santiago de Compostelle). For example, Voie de Vézelay (GR 654), Voie de Tours (GR 655), Voie du Puy (GR65), Voie d'Arles (GR 653) and the Voie du Pièmont (GR 78). In spring and summer there are always a few pilgrims passing through. Sometimes there were volunteers welcoming pilgrims at a bureau.

Regards
Lovingkindness
 

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Good morning @Silvermomma

I have had a look through my diaries for 2013 to 2014 and made a list for you of where I stayed along le Canal du Midi and le Canal des Les Deux Mers.

Some of the villages along these canals coincide with various Chemins de Saint-Jacques (Caminos to Santiago de Compostelle). For example, Voie de Vézelay (GR 654), Voie de Tours (GR 655), Voie du Puy (GR65), Voie d'Arles (GR 653) and the Voie du Pièmont (GR 78). In spring and summer there are always a few pilgrims passing through. Sometimes there were volunteers welcoming pilgrims at a bureau.

Regards
Lovingkindness
Thank you so much! You are the best. Very helpful. Yes, I first became aware of the canal walks through the various caminos in France.
 
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I went by boat with a friend in October 1998. We rented the boat in Agde, went all the way to Toulouse and back, then down to Narbonne and finally to Sète. My friend was extremely careful with money and not particularly interested culturally, so we did not visit many of the sights along the way. Even so it was a great experience. Accommodation was on the boat and we cooked our own meals. If I were to do it again I would hire bicycles as well as a boat and visit many more of the villages along the way. Among the highlights I particularly remember was the “lock stairs” in Beziers - a succession of 7 locks to overcome the height difference of the terrain and a canal bridge ie the canal flowed on a bridge high across a valley.

I think you cannot handle the many locks on your own. With two of you it is very easy and you can stop anywhere along the canal.
 
You may find something useful on the French Waterways website. It is from a boating point of view but does go into some detail about the towns along the way

For an armchair view of the Canal du Midi, take a look at Rick Stein's French Odyssey TV series.
 
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Would anyone like to tell me about the Canal du Midi? Could I combine walking, cycling, boating? I'm just starting my investigation, so any ideas are welcome. I'm 73, have walked 4 caminos alone, can stay in dorms or private rooms, and want to eat well! Thanks in advance.
My spouse and I walked it in 2011 - from Sete to Toulouse, and then onto Ste Marie Oloron. So long ago, so not sure how relevant.

It is, obviously dead flat and very easy to walk, apart from having to leap off the path frequently to get out of the way of bicycles. There were still plenty of trees so lots of shade. In the spots where the trees had been removed due to fungal infections it was much less attractive. I'm hoping that trees have been replanted.

If it were not for the fun of making friends with people in boats (they passed us but we would catch up at the locks) it might become boring. I was incredibly pleased once we got off the canal after Toulouse.

Accommodation was excellent but expensive, because we were staying in bed and breakfasts, not gites. I do remember excellent food, although often we would get the same meal at night two or three times, because the distances are set up for bicycles, rather than walkers ("this is cassoulet, the dish of this region", and the region would continue for two or three nights).
 
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2011 we had a week on a classic canal boat - found an advertisement for a room on a privately owned one by a New Zealand couple - just them and us.- who were exploring the canals for a couple of years. They had bicylces we could use but just enjoyed relaxing after a week of hiking in the Pyrnees, helping with the locks, reading, exploring villages, watching the scenery go by between Toulouse and Carcassone. 2018 wa
lked along the Canal for a day after Moissac on the Voie du Puy - nice flat walking.
 
You may find something useful on the French Waterways website. It is from a boating point of view but does go into some detail about the towns along the way

For an armchair view of the Canal du Midi, take a look at Rick Stein's French Odyssey TV series.
Thanks - sounds great. Trying to figure out how to watch from the USA....Don't have ROKU
 
My spouse and I walked it in 2011 - from Sete to Toulouse, and then onto Ste Marie Oloron. So long ago, so not sure how relevant.

It is, obviously dead flat and very easy to walk, apart from having to leap off the path frequently to get out of the way of bicycles. There were still plenty of trees so lots of shade. In the spots where the trees had been removed due to fungal infections it was much less attractive. I'm hoping that trees have been replanted.

If it were not for the fun of making friends with people in boats (they passed us but we would catch up at the locks) it might become boring. I was incredibly pleased once we got off the canal after Toulouse.

Accommodation was excellent but expensive, because we were staying in bed and breakfasts, not gites. I do remember excellent food, although often we would get the same meal at night two or three times, because the distances are set up for bicycles, rather than walkers ("this is cassoulet, the dish of this region", and the region would continue for two or three nights).
Thanks so much for this! I am learning that bike is maybe the best way to go. (Might make me more tolerant of cyclists on caminos, but we'll see, LOL.)
 
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2011 we had a week on a classic canal boat - found an advertisement for a room on a privately owned one by a New Zealand couple - just them and us.- who were exploring the canals for a couple of years. They had bicylces we could use but just enjoyed relaxing after a week of hiking in the Pyrnees, helping with the locks, reading, exploring villages, watching the scenery go by between Toulouse and Carcassone. 2018 wa
lked along the Canal for a day after Moissac on the Voie du Puy - nice flat walking.
Excellent! I remember the Pont Canal in Moissac, where the canal passes OVER the river. The NZ couple was exploring canals for "a couple of years"? This sounds amazing.
 

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