The year the “Canal du Rhône à Sète” was completed. This 92km waterway is an extension to the Canal du Midi, linking Étang de Thau to the river Rhône, running east from Sète to Beaucaire.

Almost every time we drove our 15 metre canal boat into one of the small oval locks on France’s Canal du Midi, we drew a crowd. It could be our audience was made up of engineering fans there to ...

Boating along the Canal du Midi is surely one of life’s finer pleasures. And with the speed limit set at just 8km/h you cannot but slow down – and relax.

Pic: Contributed Le Boat (leboat.co.uk; 02392 801125) operates on the Canal Du Midi from the last week in March to October 31. seven-night self catered stay: £158-789 pp.

More than 320 structures are dotted along the Canal du Midi, including 40 aqueducts, 90 locks, many feeder canals and France's first subterranean water tunnel.

With a Canal du Midi boat hire, you'll be free to savour the slow and easy pace of travel past lush vineyards in the heart of the Languedoc wine region. There’s heaps to see and do too whether ...

Travel facts Hoseasons (0844 847 1170, www.hoseasons.co.uk) offers boating holidays on the Canal du Midi. A week on the Caprice, which sleeps up to six, starts from £1,335.