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Discussion Topic: Du Midi locks
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MandA |
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Knows Their Stuff
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Has anyone experience of cruising the canal du Midi,are the locks really as horrendous as portrayed on channel 5s
Celebrity 5 go barging they did not seem to have the locks set correctly to me.l have cruised the UK canels extensively having owned a 40ft and 45ft narrowboat and you can control the flow of water via the paddles to avoid the situation portrayed in the program ,must have put quite a few people of from visiting it certainly did me as I was thinking of giving it a go.
Adrian
MandA
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Did not see a life jackett worn ,even in that raging lock by standing on the roof of the boat holding the line whilst the lock was being filled. 
Roy and Diane
Hope to see you on the river,
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Nickyboy |
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Filmed for dramatic effect. Lots of programmes do this now to make it more watchable for the audience.
For example why was Derment not the person holding the line at the bow, why put the oldest guy holding the most critical line. As they wanted drama.
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webntweb |
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I haven't watched Friday's programme yet, but from the preview the week before where they were moored at Port Cassafieres near Beziers, I presume the locks you are talking about are the Fonserannes staircase of about seven locks.
Like most locks on the Midi these are worked by lock keepers and you have no control over anything except to have somebody at each end of the boat holding the ropes to keep the boat as tight to the lock wall as you can.
Most lock keepers on the Midi tend to take care that you are not knocked about but those at Fonserranes seem to delight in putting on a display for the teeming crowds which surround the locks especially in summer - when you are ascending they send down a wall of water by opening the gates between you and the lock above and then opening the top gate sluices on that lock.
Most of the locks (which come in singles as well as double and treble staircases) are egg shaped with a short, straight entry and exit. These locks will take a maximum of two 42 foot and two 48 foot widebeams and you tend to travel through a series of locks with the same boats for company. On our first trip we were the last boat in. I found that helpful as we were on a 47 ft Magnifique and I could nudge the boat in to the last space by a combination of helm and bow thruster (the boats without bow thrusters really struggled to get in).
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webntweb |
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Attached is a pic of the water slope (inclined plane?) which at one time was an alternative to the Fonserranes staircase locks but which I doubt will ever work again.
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webntweb |
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A pic of one of the egg shaped locks.
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steve |
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What hasn't been mentioned here is that the celebs didn't operate the locks , the locks are operated by the French lock operators , they had to get through the locks that afternoon as all the French lock operators were on strike the next day ,
steve and vicky
( apparently a moaner)
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webntweb |
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Seven canal engineers arrived to fix the (automatic) top lock on the Canal du Robine - a branch canal off the Canal du Midi. Of course we had to wait over an hour for them to finish lunch.
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MandA |
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Thanks webntweb for the info I thought it looked a bit extreme I should imagine a fair bit of damage gets done.
Really put me off seeing that.
Adrian
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webntweb |
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Sorry didn't add pic.
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Feb-24-2018 @ 10:54 PM
