It was a marriage of village culture, a waterway, history, nature, and exercise. We were vacationing with our British cousins in the South of France, and were staying in a retrofitted barn alongside the Canal du Midi, in the picturesque village of Le Somail. The canal was just outside our front door.

The canal originated in 1666 and is one of the oldest canals in Europe. It connected the Mediterranean Sea, at Marseillan, to the Garonne River, at Toulouse, which then allowed navigation to the Atlantic Ocean via the port at Bordeaux.

The canal is 150 miles long and its primary function now is recreation. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

This essay is a compilation of two outings taken on sequential days in September 2025, one with the photographer on the a flat section of the gravel tow path, and one with my British cousins that involved a section of terrain not suitable to the photographer’s newly reconstructed Achilles tendon.

The starting point was the village center of Le Somail, which developed alongside the canal in the late 1600s. The first photo below is from atop the single lane stone bridge that crosses the canal. The second photo looks back on the bridge from the path.

The early morning sun lit up the colors of the village buildings and moored canal boats, providing jigsaw puzzle quality images.

On the first day the photographer and I walked the ancient tow path on the southern bank of the canal. Horses, mules, and donkeys would walk this path pulling the canal boats on their journeys. It is now a more formal gravel path, utilized by bikers, runners, and walkers.

One of the ironies that we noted was that we were walking along 17th century technology while visualizing 21st century clean energy technology up on the hillsides.

Working our way down the path we came upon a series of planted trees. Apparently the canal used to be lined with Planetrees, but many were lost to a canker disease.

This sign in French outlined the replanting project and told of the nine species of trees being planted over the stretch of the canal. Thanks to Google Translate for the assistance.

On many of the young trees, and nearby posts, snails were noted. Perhaps that is why snails seemed to appear on every restaurant menu.

On the second morning my cousins and I set out on the less formal path on the north side of the canal, with the goal of reaching and passing beneath a canal aqueduct a couple miles downstream. This was a much more naturalized hike on a dirt path that wove across uneven terrain, repeatedly jogging away from and then back towards the canal, taking us past vineyards and orchards on our left, and the canal on our right.

The canal can be seen to the right of the berm in the photo below.

On the opposite bank we noted the quaint, historic home of the lockmaster. It is still a residence, but no longer for the lockmaster.

Soon we found ourselves at our goal – the aqueduct that carried the canal over a stream-filled ravine. In basic terms, the aqueduct is a bridge that channels the water of the canal over a depression in the terrain. There are 55 aqueducts over the length of the canal.

Our plan was to descend down into the ravine, pass beneath the aqueduct, and climb back up to the formal tow path on the south bank – this was the terrain challenge that prohibited the photographers participation.

Luckily one tunnel had a section of dry land for our passage.

This view looks back on the nearly 400 year old aqueduct – impressive engineering for its time.

We climbed out of the ravine, turned right, and ventured onto the tow path of the aqueduct, where we could appreciate the form of the aptly named Parasol Pines on the other bank.

Heading back to La Somail we walked the section that the photographer and I had covered the day before, and once again canal barges became the focus.

Odds and Ends:

Over the years I have commented on foreign plants that have become invasive in the States. We are not unique with this problem, as on this hike I noted that Black Locust from the U.S. and Common Fig from the Middle East had naturalized along the canal.

On both hikes we saw some late summer wildflowers:

Annual Mullien, Thale Cress, Water Mint, Virgin’s Bower (a native Clematis), and Common Mallow.

This sign attached to an oak tree on the less formal trail intrigued us. I have since learned that it is a standardized sign for mountain bike trails in France. The arrow points the direction of the trail, the number one indicates that the next segment is of the easiest terrain, and the circles just indicate that it is an official bike trail.

On the informal trail we noted several stone markers alongside the canal. These “milestones” were used to measure distance along the canal but it is unclear what units were used, as the stones were not a mile apart, but perhaps an eighth of a mile.

Tree of the Day – Holly Oak (Quercus ilex). I was trying to keep pace with my cousins as they bolted along the trail, when I noted an apparent holly leaf and assumed that the somewhat scrubby trees that I was passing were hollies, but then I noted the acorns, making it an oak. The species name ilex references its similarity to the hollies, as Ilex is the genus name for all hollies.

Lastly, one common thing found throughout the areas we visited in France was the presence of ice cream shops. I believe that this sign found on the canal path directs one to a side trail to the village of Minervoise where an outdoor cafe (guinguette), named La Porte (The Gate), has a bar and serves glaces (ice cream).

In summary, our hikes along the canal were outstanding experiences, allowing us to observe village life, the countryside, canal boat lifestyle, and nature. It was fun to ponder that people had been walking that same tow path for over three centuries to get from village to village, as often the canal path was the most direct route between towns – a true European footpath. To do so with our cousins, who had introduced us to the footpaths of Great Britain, made it even more special. So don’t overlook a canal path as an opportunity to truly immerse yourself in a region that you are visiting. The informality of it all makes it richer.