Canal du midi

[scoty]

Thinking about going up the canal du midi, anyone spent time there? is it worth 6 months and if so your public or private info/opinions, would be welcome.

Wish you all good sailing in 2014

with thanks

 

[mikewilkes]

Yes it is definitely worth it especially as you aren't going to rush it.

Can get a wee bit busy with "bumper" boats but you have plenty of time to enjoy the area.

 

[Andy and Lyn]

we live very close to the canal and if you have time to spare then this is the place to spend it. Plenty of places away from the bumper boats. Hope your draught suits - maximum of 1.4 metres!

 

[Grehan]

The Midi is a world heritage site with good reason and easily capable of absorbing six months . . . plenty to take slowly and savour.
Contrary-wise it's also a place, in July and August, slightly too full of boats anxious to get to the next place as fast as possible and impatient of anything that compromises that objective. It has also, unfortunately lost thousands of the plane trees that gave it so much character - and shade.
If you can get down here early in the season, and it's a bright sunny Spring, you can enjoy a magical time. Then maybe move on westwards.

And fair winds and following seas to you

 

[scoty]

Thanks for your replies sounds good, I·m spending this winter in a marina near Barcelona so plan to move in spring 2014 I fancy a more relaxed life ,after some years sailing.......... so now have a spanish built motor cruiser,

 

[kjempe]

We took our 33 ft sloop from the Med to Biscay in 2007. The canal is undeniably beautiful; plenty to see/do en-route, especially if interested in wine! However, we would not attempt it again in our boat; very frequently hit the bottom nearly all the way to Toulouse - our draft is 1.43m (around 1.5m in fresh water). Many of the canal pilots we studied quoted a min depth of 1.6m until Toulouse - we found that to be untrue. 1.4m is more likely, possibly shallower in places. If you can handle the depth, you'll love it.

 

[Grehan]

Canal du Midi - depth/draft?

Current, fairly longstanding, sources of advice as to maximum vessel draft (at the centre of the canal channel, and as noted, draft will be greater in fresh water than salt) quote 1.4m (Breil pilot book, Fluviacarte pilot book and french-waterways.com)or 1.5m ('Inland Waterways of France' book and also the VNF).

As I say on the Canal du Midi 'Cruising in Detail' page - http://www.french-waterways.com/midi.html

Approximate minimum depth 1.40m, headroom 3.3m, width 5.45m. These are the ‘book’ values and may vary according to conditions. The ‘real’ depth of the Midi is the subject of seemingly constant debate because it varies according to season (governing the amount of water available to feed into the canal), nature and location. Some stretches are highly prone to either silting or to falling leaves forming a ‘soft bed’ that can be ploughed through but which certainly reduces the actual water depth. As in most other waterways, the given depth is the middle of the channel; the sides may be noticeably less deep and this may affect ‘coming alongside’ especially if one has twin bilge keels or twin propellors. The final factor is that on the ‘down’ side of an ecluse the outgoing water scours a depression immediately outside the gate but then deposits that silt a short way beyond as a ‘bar’.

Sadly, since I composed that a few years ago, the liability of 'bottom mulch' from falling leaves has become lessened.

 

[vyv_cox]

We took our 33 ft sloop from the Med to Biscay in 2007. The canal is undeniably beautiful; plenty to see/do en-route, especially if interested in wine! However, we would not attempt it again in our boat; very frequently hit the bottom nearly all the way to Toulouse - our draft is 1.43m (around 1.5m in fresh water). Many of the canal pilots we studied quoted a min depth of 1.6m until Toulouse - we found that to be untrue. 1.4m is more likely, possibly shallower in places. If you can handle the depth, you'll love it.

As long ago as 2005 when we transited the Canal du Midi we touched several times, especially leaving locks downhill on the Med side. In one lock we stuck on a rock bottom, solved by the eclusier closing the gates and adding a little water. Our official draught is 1.4 metres.

 

[Jegs]

Yes it is definitely worth it especially as you aren't going to rush it.

Can get a wee bit busy with "bumper" boats but you have plenty of time to enjoy the area.

Our experience was slightly different - apart from some on hire boats who didn't know/care what they were doing - we were hit whilst moored at a hire boat marina by a vessel being demonstrated by a staff member to customers. Apparently it was the fault of the wind!

John G