We were flicking through the Lonely Planet trying to decide where we would head to after the Pyrenees and we came across a little must not miss box which spoke about the Canal De Midi. A feat of French engineering in the 17th century which took 12000 people 15 years to build, a 241km canal that connected the Atlantic coast with the Mediterranean. There was apparently a lovely tree lined cycle/ waking path along side where the tow path was and there just so happened to be a campsite not far from the canal just outside of Toulouse that looked nice. We managed to book online so were sorted for our next stop!
After running a few errands (gas refill and grocery shopping) we arrived and went to check in. Well from this moment on it was a bit shit really. I tried to book us in speaking French, it didn’t go so well and the lady’s look of distain was actually quite laughable. She briskly showed us on the map where we would be and it was pretty evident it was the worst site in the campground. Wedged between the toilets and the giant kids swimming pool which also included a speaker pumping out horrible music. Tim politely asked if there was a better site and she said no. Anyway we were tired from our drive, were only staying two nights and wouldn’t be around much tomorrow as we were cycling the canal so thought we would just suck it up.
After an hour or two of loud music and squealing yelling children we thought we would take a break and go for a walk along the canal, which turns out wasn’t that great either. A stagnant poo brown green colour which also gave off a slight smell was what we were greeted with and steady hum of cars from the motorway which ran parallel. Granted the plane trees were lovely as was the arched bridges that spanned the canal every few kms.
Anyway we went back to the campsite and by this time we had a family of Germans beside us who had pretty much camped in our campsite as well as theirs and our experience was complete. Well after we discovered they were smokers and their smoke would waft into our van. Oh and after the mini disco finished which involved a golf buggy, the speaker mentioned before and a person in a bunny suit driving around the campsite. I did not make that up!
It quietened down around until midnight and we did manage to get some sleep but both decided to cut our loses and leave a day early. We did wake up and go for a bike ride along the canal which was nice but I must admit not the must see experience Lonely Planet promised. The Pyrenees was always going to be a tough act to follow but we didn’t think we would balls it up this much. We said good riddance to Canal De Midi and didn’t look back. S
