Canal du midi

amanda704

amanda704

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Who has done the Canal du Midi and canal du Garonne recently? We are currently in the Garonne canal with a long keel boat official draft 1.37 metres. Official pubs say there is more than enough water for us but we keep going aground. We believe this is due to a large amount of weed uncut and debris near the lock opening. We are making friends with the lock keepers! However it has made us concerned for the canal du midi where max draft is 1,4 m. Do we have an impending problem for CdM? Thanks for your thoughts.
 
We did it many years ago with 1.4 metres draught but touched quite a few times. I understand that silting has occurred since then. In the Midi our most common grounding was in the locks, which lock keepers could solve easily.

However, on top of that rainfall has been very low this winter. Some parts of our department are currently under a hosepipe ban. We live about 2 hours from Bordeaux.

In the year that we did it at this time of year the level fell so much by August that boats with less draught than us could not get through.
 
amanda704 said:
Who has done the Canal du Midi and canal du Garonne recently? We are currently in the Garonne canal with a long keel boat official draft 1.37 metres. Official pubs say there is more than enough water for us but we keep going aground. We believe this is due to a large amount of weed uncut and debris near the lock opening. We are making friends with the lock keepers! However it has made us concerned for the canal du midi where max draft is 1,4 m. Do we have an impending problem for CdM? Thanks for your thoughts.
Click to expand...
1.37m in salt water or fresh water??
 
We did the ‘Midi in May 2015 in a boat that supposedly drew 1.35m but according to one eclusier was actually 1.47m. We touched a few times, but got through. Weed was a problem in the pounds closer to Castets en Dorthe, but not too bad further south. Of course it may be very different seven years later!
 
In France rainfall has been a lot less than normal over the last 6-9 months - although it has been raining here today.
This might impact water levels on the Canal du Midi.
 
vyv_cox said:
We did it many years ago with 1.4 metres draught but touched quite a few times. I understand that silting has occurred since then. In the Midi our most common grounding was in the locks, which lock keepers could solve easily.

However, on top of that rainfall has been very low this winter. Some parts of our department are currently under a hosepipe ban. We live about 2 hours from Bordeaux.

In the year that we did it at this time of year the level fell so much by August that boats with less draught than us could not get through.
Click to expand...
 
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