Another day, and another bike ride along the Canal du Midi. I rode along the canal passing various boats and listening to the birds around me and the wind in the trees. The mesmerizing path is so tranquil in parts that you could almost believe you’ve traveled back in time to when the world was just a lot quieter.

Of course, if you were to travel back in time on this canal it would actually become a lot noisier. For some two hundred years since it was opened in 1681, the canal was a busy import and export route for barges carrying goods. The advent of railways and steam engines made the canal obsolete as the pace of life increased with the speed and expansion of the rail network and then the highways.

It’s rather ironic that this once busy artery of commerce is now a place where people go to slow down, calm down, and escape the relentless pace of modern life.

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Stand here using Google street view (though the canal was drained when Google went there).