FRANCE  -  LOT ET GARONNE

2016  OCTOBER

My original impression of densely built up areas with fast traffic at Créon deterred me from getting the bike out at the campsite. On the narrow cycle lanes at the sides of many roads I saw only groups of Lycra Clad young men whose stamina and pace I couldn't hope to match with cars whizzing past them for much of their ride.

Then I remembered this entire area from the Atlantic Coast to the Mediterranean is known as “Entre Deux Mers” and I had before found reference to a major Voies Vertes (Green Cycle Path) traversing from one coast to the other.       Further investigation revealed it did indeed pass through Créon, but not on a road. Instead it followed a disused Railway Line.     That looks more promising I thought but deeper enquiry showed that for a good distance either side of Créon there were quite significant climbs over the vineyard covered hills.

But, if I went inland by car for 30-40 miles I saw I could reach the ancient city of La Réole and the small but equally ancient village of Fontet marking the western end of the Canal de Garonne with the entre2mers Voies Vertes running along its old towpath.

Lot et Garonne

Unfortunately it was pouring with rain when I started out on an exploratory mission and was still raining, albeit less heavily, when I reached Réole about 11-45.        Well, it might clear in the afternoon I thought and set about looking for a restaurant at which to have lunch. The first I tried was “Fermé pour vacances annuelle” so I crossed the square past what the citizens of Réole claim is the oldest Town Hall in France – built in 1200 to the order of Richard Lionheart.

Just a short distance from here I came across a very small café with an open door – I was greeted by the noise of a vacuum and by a young man and woman busy cleaning the small room and setting tables. “We're not open yet” they said (in French), “Come back in ten minutes”. “May I just sit and wait”, I asked – to which they readily agreed.

Then I saw a very young girl sat at a nearby table carefully stacking dominoes in a box. “Hello”, I said sitting down opposite her. Soon we were joined by her elder brother. I introduced myself and learned they were Juliette, whom I estimated to be 2 ½ – 3 years old and her brother Timothy who was about 5. In short I had two delightful games of three-handed dominoes whilst waiting for the cleaning to be finished and food preparation started.

The café had a Breton theme and lunch consisted of a savoury galette (a large crèpe made with buckwheat flour with a filling of potatoes, cheese and other ingredients) followed by a sweet crèpe topped in this case with sliced almonds and honey. Both were delicious.

The air was still very moist when I reached Fontet and got the bike out of the car to ride along the path beside the canal – and in fact there was intermittent light rain on and off for the whole of this ride – thought not heavy enough to require waterproofs or to seek shelter.

THE CANAL DE GARONNE

Augustus, Emperor of Rome between 27 BC and 14 AD was upset at the frequent loss of shipping between Rome and his possessions on the west coast of Gaul. Passing through the Pillars of Hercules into westerly gales and up the Spanish and Portuguese coasts against strong northerly winds was fraught with the dangers of piracy and shipwreck.

Augustus asked his engineers to build a canal between the Atlantic and Mediterranean Coasts to shorten the voyage and make it much safer, but they didn't succeed in doing so.     They and many others who had the same idea in centuries that followed failed to find a source of water that could be used to fill such a canal at its highest point near Toulouse.

But in the 1660s Pierre-Paul Riquet, a French Collector of Salt Tax with no technical training but a good understanding of the mountains, proposed a way in which the water supply problem could be solved. His first idea was to create several reservoirs high in the mountains from which the water could be channelled to the summit of the canal. This was later adapted and a single huge damn and reservoir was built requiring the supply channel to be over 25 km long and to have locks of its own.

Louis XIV – Le Roi Soleil – set up a Royal Commission to examine Riquet's ideas that were eventually modified and approved enabling construction to begin in 1667.      By modern standards that was pretty fast compared with the planning periods for such projects as a Nuclear Power Station, a High Speed Rail Link or a New Airport. Financial aspects of the approval process were comparable but in the 17^th Century the practical difficulties were mainly technical whereas these days they are mainly social.

By 1682 the canal between Toulouse and Sète on the Mediterranean, now known as the Canal du Midi, had been finished and was linked by a short extension to the upper reaches of the Garonne that was considered navigable by the size of craft in use at the time.

Riquet's idea had been to build a much longer section on the western side of the watershed to avoid the many loops and sandbanks in the Garonne but Louis XIV was busy expanding his Palace at Versailles at the time and didn't have cash to spare for infrastructure projects.

Nor did his successors for the next two hundred years until 1838 when work started on the Canal de Garonne that was finished by 1856.

Initially the now completed waterway became a major conduit freight but this was also the period in which Railways were being developed and they soon took a lot of traffic away from the canal.   Enough use was still made of it to keep the canal in the freight business until about 1970 when construction of modern roads dealt another blow to the economy of transporting goods by barge.

During the 1970's and '80's the growth of tourism and recreational boating created a new source of income with which to pay operating and maintenance costs.    Tourism remains a thriving business today and contributes very significantly to the local economy in towns and villages along the canal.

A SHORT RIDE ALONG THE TOWPATH

At Fontet the canal runs parallel and close to the river before the latter veers away on one of the many loops along its course. At the edge of town there is a Recreation Park and small Pleasure Craft Marina served by a good approach road and Car Park.     That is where I left the car and started out on my ride each way to the village of “Meilhan-sur-Garonne” along the route shown here and totalling some 11-12 miles together.

The canal is raised about 20 feet above the surrounding land by substantial earth banks, lined in some sections with steel girders that I will describe in more detail later on. An impression can be gained from this photo taken on one of many bridges across the water.

There is a lock on the other side of this bridge and its clear from this photo it is well maintained but not with the obviously loving care devoted to similar locks on the Nantes-Brest canal and apparent in their brilliant floral displays.

All works well but there aren't any flowers.

The method practiced here of showing boaters on which side of the canal they can safely pass is also more utilitarian than using buoys.

A strap suspended from a wire indicates the deeper side

There are shrubs or trees on the river side of the canal for most of its length with an occasional gap through which the river can be seen.

La Garonne

Even though its not quite as wide as the Loire it looked to be equally fast-flowing and to have as many sandbanks. I imagine it is pretty tumultuous in the Spring after winter rains but in late October after a dry summer it was peaceful enough.

The Cycle Path in Autumn

I came across some active maintenance work in one place. A barge was rocking and rolling as a small track-driven mobile crane moved about on its deck lifting and positioning one of the steel girders I mentioned earlier. For a few minutes I could go no further because the barge was moored to the side of the canal by thick ropes strung across the path and tied-off to trees higher up the adjacent bank. A couple of cyclists and a man in a mobility scooter coming the other way were similarly obstructed.

There were huge piles of such girders stacked alongside so I thought my ride might be foreshortened.    But after a few minutes and when they had the girder in a secure position the workers suspended their activity and removed the main mooring rope across the path – I still had to scramble up and down slippery leaf clad slopes to bypass others.

Installed Girders

I guessed the girders were needed both to provide structural support to the earth bank and to limit water leakage that might otherwise wash it away. To assist with the second function the girders had an ingenious interlocking shape at their edges.

This clever joint provides strength and limits leakage

The lining didn't seem to be continuous along the entire length of the canal but certainly existed for considerable distances at many locations.

The land between the canal and the river must often have been flooded in the past and perhaps still is at some times of the year. Certainly it had the appearance of being very fertile as illustrated by fields of cropped corn. A little farther on the plain was used for cultivation of vegetables of many different types.

Crops on the alluvial plain

Meilhan-sur-Garonne was built on a 300 foot high mound of rock in the early 1100's, probably because it was an obviously strategic defensive position that commanded a panoramic view of the river and country below. Certainly, a Castle with a Keep, a Church and Walls existed by 1250.

This fortress changed hands several times during the Hundred Years War but thereafter declined in importance. Nowadays the town has about 1,200 inhabitants and is one of the beneficiaries of tourism and boating brought into existence by the presence of the canal.

But in late October there aren't many tourists so the canal-side cafe's and other attractions were all shut when I visited. I did try riding and then walking up the steep hill from the canal to the Church but gave up with about 100 feet of climb still to go.

A steep climb to the church at Meilhan-sur-Garonne

As a result of its tourist attractions the town has moorings for canal boats of all sorts and a municipal campsite.

At the end of October, many of the former looked as though they had been once loved but were now in need of a little TLC. The camp on the far side of the canal looked small and a little sorry for itself in the Autumnal moisture. There was however one outstanding exception to this impression of drabness.

A beautifully equipped and maintained sailing barge

This was a beautifully maintained Sailing Barge smaller but similar in design to the famous Thames Barges that used to convey freight from East Anglia to London via the river Estuaries and sandbanks off Essex and the Thames Estuary itself. I have no doubt this barge, or ones very like it, did the same up and down the Canal de Garonne and the Gironde Estuary.

You can just make out the high and large-area rudder at the stern, required to provide the massive differential pressure needed to change course, the Fisherman's anchor hanging from the bowsprit makes it clear this was no mere day-sailer, and the Lee-Board amidships completes the picture by making clear the need to limit the sideways drift of such craft when under sail.

Altogether a beautiful sight. I wished I might have met the owner to congratulate him on his ship and his maintenance of it but anyway the sight left me with a positive glow for the entire return ride.