The Canal du Midi and the round lock

The Canal Royal du Languedoc : a monumental labour, a construction that is unique in the world !

Since 1997, the Canal du Midi is classed as World Heritage by the UNESCO. It is a testimony of XVIIth-century France's ingenuity and spirit of enterprise.

The Canal du Midi is the work of Baron Pierre-Paul Riquet, a French engineer born in Béziers who devoted his fortune and his career to the construction of this workpiece. His intention was to dig a channel that would join the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, so that it would be possible for trade ships to avoid the costly and dangerous Strait of Gibraltar. In 1966, after six years of fierce struggle against general scepticism about the project, Louis XIV finally signed the Royal Edict that gave Pierre-Paul Riquet the permission to start the construction of this waterway.

Its achievement was an incredible feat. The main obstacle was the shortage of water on the Mediterranean slope : Pierre-Paul Riquet had the genius idea to capture the water of the rivers that spring near the line of waterparting but flow towards the Atlantic, and, by means of an unprecedented system of underground gutters and storage lakes, to divert this water to the boundary line from where it can feed both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic side.

• A total of 240 kms of channel was digged between Toulouse and Sète, moving 7 million cubic metres of earth and rock
• 12.000 workers, of whom 600 were women, took part in the construction 
• 328 constructional works were built (bridges, dams, locks, aqueducts, tunnels…)
• 450.000 plane-trees and cypress trees were planted along the tow-paths 
• The works took 15 years to complete, from 1666 to 1681 ! But Pierre-Paul Riquet never witnessed the inauguration of his masterpiece, because he passed away a few months too soon
• After the Revolution, the channel was renamed the Canal du Midi

The digging of the "Canal du Rhône à Sète" in 1829 and the "Canal latéral à la Garonne" in 1856 finally connected the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. 

The Canal du Midi in present-day Agde

Today, the two main activities of the channel are river tourism and irrigation (300 million m3/year).
Agde is the last stop on the channel before reaching the Etang de Thau and Sète. It's not only a stopping-place, with its inland harbour where still stands the old "Hôtel de l'Administration du Canal", but also a starting point for many cruises : self drive boat hire, mini-cruises on passenger boats, organised to the Etang de Thau or Béziers (half day or full day), to reach a timeless world of green and restful landscapes.
River tourism professionals : have a look in the directory.
Moreover, the restful and shady tow-path upstream and downstream of the harbour is much favoured by walkers, cyclists and anglers alike.

The river port on the canal
The port was created on a broadening of the canal just before the lock and, in the 17th Century, was given the loveliest building ever built on the canal: The Canal Administration House.
It was once made up of other buildings that are now closed: stables, shops, guardhouse and one of the 5 chapels found along the Canal du Midi, where a chaplain was allocated, paid by the Canal.

The Agde boatyards
As the other regions crossed by the canal did not have a boat-building tradition, Agde became the leading builder of flat-bottomed boats from the 17th Century. 
The canal was used to transport goods to and from the ports of Agde and Sète: cereals from Haut-Languedoc, colonial goods from Bordeaux, cloth from the factories in Carcassonne, etc. The new waterway brought prosperity and wealth to Agde and the region.

Navigation and the discovery of the region and its art of living
With surprising ease, navigation on the channel is restricted to 6/8 kms/h, to prevent damaging of the riversides.
No need for a permit to pilot a boat : the professional who puts it at your disposal will teach you the basic skills (mooring, passing through locks…)
Navigation is only limited by the opening times of the locks. Apart from that, you can navigate freely, but there is a break of a few weeks in winter. Ask for details at Voies Navigables de France : www.vnf.fr.
Cruise ships travel at the pace of improvised stops that will show you the region's heritage : environment, villages, traditions and local produce…

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