Boats Along the Canal du Midi
As I was going through the UNESCO World Heritage sites of southern France, I came across the Canal du Midi. I had problems figuring out how to get there since it seems to cover a large area. The Canal du Midi is a canal which was built to connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean. By building such a canal, it would be easier for small ships or boats to get from one side to another. If you look at the map, one would have to go around the Iberian peninsula to cross France by water. This canal helps to shorten travel time. Unfortunately for me, it also means that this is a very large structure and the lack of a specific location was confusing me. I was considering dropping the Canal du Midi since I couldn’t really figure it out.
Gates for Water on the Canal du Midi
When I arrived in the town of Carcassonne, I realized that there was a canal right in front of the train station. It turned out that part of the Canal du Midi passes through Carcassonne. I also found out that it also has parts in the city of Toulouse where I was staying. At least the Carcassone section was already right in front of me. What I see is just a river or more accurately, a canal. I noticed that the canal’s waters were very calm. Probably a result of the gates which were built along the length of the canal. These gates let water in. So by letting water in an enclosed area, the water level of the enclosure will go up. This means that boats can float up and down much like a elevator for boats. I think it is a very ingenious way of solving the problem of the unevenness of the terrain which the water passes through. This is just a tiny section of the Canal du Midi. There are proper trips which traverse the canal and it seems like it is a very interesting activity. If one has the time to do this, it seems the visitors would be rewarded with beautiful scenery along the length of the canal.
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