STOEAN DOREL

This was the last locks for us before turning in our boat. It was a lovely, beautiful ending to our Canal du Midi adventure. It was the only quadruple we had to do on our entire journey. The lockskeepers were nice. They sit in the middle in a high tower overseeing everything. As we finished the last lock, we were welcomed into the beautiful Grand Basin.

This is a set of 4 locks and the first locks you pass through on the way out of Castelnaudary heading east. The lock keeper is in a tower on the south side of the Canal du Midi. Passing through the locks was easy for 2 people.

Nice place and fascinating, unfortunately no boat traffic during our visit

Here in Castelnaudary following Canal du Midi on my Last Gasp Tour. Lovely town to spend a couple of days as the boats are getting readied for the season. Considering to date of build this flight of locks is incredible.

If the houses all along the canal were colorful that would be very very very great 👍👍👍👍 (just my personal opinion)

Interesting, even when there isn't much going on. Today, there's nothing going on and the locks are drained, as is the canal below Castelnaudary.

The four locks are in a very unusual setting, and very easy to work with, both up and down. Then you have the lovely Grand Bassin with an 'Italian like' background, before you go down or to welcome you when you've got up.

Approaching these locks by boat can seem a bit daunting, especially if you're hiring a boat for the first time, worry not as the eclusier (lock Keeper) sits perched up high in his control cabin and controls everything gently. A point of interest here is that as you exit the locks at the summit a railway tunnel passes below the canal, this was built after the canal in the heyday of steam railways. Although disused now it was quite a feat of engineering when it was built as the canal above was kept fully operational during its construction. Who hasn't heard of the French Foreign Legion ? Castlenaudary is home to their training depot, if you're an early riser you can see the fit young recruits having their early morning training runs along the canal side. The marina in Castlenaudary is highly recommended too.