A week on the canal is a very gentle way to begin a French holiday.
Meilhan to Agen by Canal Boat
Hiring a boat for one week allows leisurely return travel from Meilhan in the West to Agen in the unspoilt heart of Lot et Garonne. This trip will take a full week with 28 locks on the way. Speed is restricted to 8km per hour to avoid unnecessary bank erosion, so the 136 km will need around 30 hours of relaxed cruising time.
Places of Interest between Meilhan and Agen
Meilhan offers a wonderful panorama (‘Panorama du Tertre’) over the canal, the river Garonne, and the countryside of the Garonne valley. There is an excellent restaurant (‘Font d’Uzas’) where the owner was once chef at the French embassy in London, and the village itself is very pretty. Mooring is available, with water and mains electricity.
- Mas d’Agenais has a church that contains an original Rembrant. There is public mooring in the village, and it is an easy walk – up through the castle gate – to the main square.
- Damazan is very sleepy, but is a good example of ‘La France Profonde’.
- Serignac is an easy walk from the public mooring, and has a good restaurant and an interesting church with a twisting spire.
- Agen is a shock to the system after the quiet villages. It bustles, with much to offer the visitor and an excellent restaurant in the train station.
Traditional English narrow-boats can be hired from Meilhan, and more ‘French’ cruisers from Pont des Sables (‘Emeraude Navigation’). These boats are well equipped and very comfortable. Driving them is easy, and the canal locks are all automated.
Operating Canal Locks
- Between Meilhan and Agen travel is upstream. Just before each lock is reached there is a pole suspended over the canal. The driver drops off an assistant near the lock, then stops midstream to twist the pole to set off the automatic lock cycle. Traffic lights beside the lock show what is happening, with red for wait and green for go. When the gates open (and the green light shows) the driver enters the lock and throws the mooring ropes up to the assistant who loops them around a bollard before pressing a button to continue the lock cycle. As the boat leaves the lock the assistant steps back onboard.
- Between Agen and Meilhan travel is downstream. Operating the locks is similar, but on the way downstream the assistant can remain onboard until the boat is in the lock (the water is filling the lock). Once the boat is secured and the lock cycle has completed the assistant can step back onto the boat as it leaves – from the steps at the exit.
- It is important to remember that the boat will either go up or down when the lock is filling or emptying. Mooring ropes should only be passed over bollards, not tied to them! The driver (or a second assistant) will need to manage the mooring ropes as the boat goes up or down.
Relaxing on French Canals
Slow travel through sleepy villages and unspoilt countryside relaxes to the point where it is difficult to remember which day it is. This is an ideal way to begin a holiday, celebrate a retirement, or simply ‘chill out’.
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