Le Somail
Le Somail is perhaps the prettiest and the most substantial in terms of size of les petite villages on the canal.
A bit of history to explain: The canal was constructed between 1666 and 1681, and at 240 Kms, it is the longest canal construction of the 17th century starting in the west at Toulouse and terminating in the east at a place called Les Onglous, where the canal opens into the sea at Sete. The purpose was as an efficient transport alternative for transporting goods (wheat in the first instance), with the added bonus of security from pirates who roamed the Iberian Peninsula. which was the alternative route. The boats carrying goods were towed by horses along the tow paths, which is where cyclists now ride. It is about 20 m wide and about 1.6 deep. I know this because I have fallen in when rowing a skiff and was surprised when I found I could touch the bottom. The first time I rowed this event, there was a long briefing in French, which was simply translated as 'don't fall in, you could die' - this reference to the quality of the water - definitely not potable.
(Confession - I did fall in this year trying to cycle past a boat being walked along the tow path, and suddenly there was a huge bite out of the towpath which my bike tyre avoided, but my reaction tipped me in to the canal. It was more a pride damage thing, although a stick from a tree went up my nose a bit, and I had a bit of a bleeding issue for a few minutes! Embarrassing. but not fatal).
Toulouse is the highest point of the canal and to make sure the gravity/ flow thing works (water being what it is) water is fed from the mountains to keep the canal full - and thereafter there are a waterfall of different levels towards the sea as the profile of the land drops towards the sea. Sometimes there is only 500 m between the locks.
The canal is no longer used for transporting goods, just for transporting holiday makers on barges. I have decided that I would rather have needles in my eyes than vacation like that - incredibly hot, slow, no way of cooling off, diesel smell. And judging by the yelling as ropes are thrown to secure boats at the locks, not entirely stressless.
At one lock, a boy of about 10 leapt (mountain goat genes) to secure the boat in the ecluse for his dad- he thought he was doing the right thing to help, but there are, of course, dangers of falling. His father yelled at him, his mother yelled at the father, we all pretended nothing was happening. My dear friend Josette walked over and quietly explained to the boy that it was good of him to be helpful, but that it was dangerous, and that he could be squashed like a fly between the walls of the ecluse and the barge - and that his father had yelled because he loved him and he had scared him. All very gently and calmly. What a lady.
Back to Le Somail then - on Thursday morning we stopped at Ventenac to eat lunch, and then the crews were directed to row 5 ks more to take advantage of a visit to this pretty village. Samuel, one of the green shirt people (l'organization) is a historian and works for VNF, the organisation which maintains the Canal du Midi (given that it has UNESCO recognition), explained over yet another panache (shandy to kiwis) that Le Somail was a resting place, a place to refuel with ice, buy provisions, sleep for a night.
It has the prettiest bridge and ivy covered buildings. There are geese in the cafes which I swear to god think they are guard dogs.
By the way, each lock, and there are 91 of them, has an eclusier who lives in the beautiful building at the lock - this is a paid role from April to the end of October and you can see on the face of the building a sign which confirms the distance to the next lock in either direction. These buildings are so pretty with pastel green or grey/blue shutters.
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