Occitanie is one of France’s most overlooked regions, often overshadowed by its more famous neighbors, Provence and Nouvelle ...

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 ...

Stretching for 150 miles between rosy-red Toulouse and the southern town of Sète, the Canal du Midi is the queen of French waterways. Commissioned by Louis XIV in 1666, built by the engineer ...

The Canal du Midi traverses the Occitanie region and gives cyclists of all skill levels access to parts of France that are rich in lore, yet sometimes passed over by visitors.

A four-night self-catered cruise on the Canal du Midi on board a Horizon 5, during the 2023 boating season, starting and finishing at Le Boat’s base at Homps, is priced from £2,499 per boat.

Houseboat on the Canal du Midi. Credit: Alamy It's summertime in southern France and we're cycling the towpath of a canal built more than a century before the bicycle was even invented.

It's better still when the travelling is done in the sunny south of France, in the shade of plane trees and with frequent pit stops.

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. Sea France operates 15 daily return ...