This page has general information about cruising the Canal du Midi. For detailed information, useful for planning purposes, go to
Plan "B"

For History of Canal building go to the 1911 edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannica

Google shows over 24,400 pages indexed with "Canal du Midi". Giving an extensive list of links here seems pointless. Instead, I will try to identify a few sites that are really informative and could be used as a stepping stone for further searching.

Le Canal du Midi, a French site created and maintained by Philip Calas Primary teacher in Portiragnes, near Béziers is my first choice. The site is very well done, rich in content and appears up-to-date. The material (in English) covers The history, engineering problems and construction with a biography of Paul Riquet. There is a page about cruising the canal and even one about biking along the canal. Good introduction to our trip.

Canal du Midi Guide is a commercial site that I am linking for two reasons. Firstly, it does list interesting accommodation in a variety of categories and, secondly, it has some descriptions of places along the canal (nice photos). Overall, the coverage is uneven.

Liz has made reservations and paid a deposit on two boats with CROWN BLUE LINE. Their web site is well worth a visit.
http://www.crownblueline.com/home.html Select France from the Menu in the lower left of the Crown Blue Line web-site and then select Midi from the drop down menu. Take the 'Virtual Tour'. Some interesting panorama's along the canal.

The boat shown above is similar to the ones we will have. If you take the 'Virtual Tour' from the Crown Blue Line web page you will see this same image. Click on any circle to see a tour of that section of the boat.