Interesting how the vnf site is
now promoting replanting and bicycling. Replanting because to cut down the trees is cheaper than a tribunal. The pencil
pusher that decided that,, certainly has no affinity with trees. And promoting bicycles i don't know why,
because they are against the law on the canal. nov2012
Soon, photos will be added , qualifying what was
implied last year . That is :The Wooden walls they are replacing trees with, to hold the canal banks, will be a nightmare
of expensive maintainance.. The boats have already destroyed much of it after only one year !!
Amazing that 100,000 and more bicycles travel the Canal du Midi Illegally. A law made in the 1930's
not allowing bicycles on the canal , is how the VNF manages to not put up a single sign for bicycles.. Something
wrong with that picture.. This year , and the coming years there will be even more bicycles on the
Canal du Midi, as fewer people are going to Japan and Africa. With the price of fuel always rising, the Canal
du Midi is the logical choice. Good luck and be very careful when the canal forces your bicycle on
to the road without warning...
No Warning sign that the bike trail Ends
No warning it puts a biker into the path of a road
The VNF says ( or it's intellectual consultants)
that the disease can only be irradicated because there is no cure. So instead of letting the trees live a few hundred more
years, they just chop them down... In this new area by the bridge ,where they have already poisoned around 25 trees, none
of these intellects have taken into account the canal and the bridge are one. So, with another cold winter and no longer the
trees holding the banks of the canal, the bridge will collapse and that will close the canal for a year , and then the boat
rental companies will want compensation and it is the taxpayer paying the bill........ the area around the bridge is
a stretch of 54 kilometers without a lock, making it the more popular area to travel for the tourist........... Also
the bitter irony of their wording should be noted.. VNF is saving the trees by cutting them down..
The VNF needs to fulfill their job with
maintaining the canals, rather than cutting down the trees that hold the banks. They are creating a maintenance nightmare,
as they replace the trees with an unsturdy wood wall, the trees have held the canal for 340 years and now somehow they
believe wood will do the job that will not even last ten years, less with the abuse of the boats going to fast. .
updated photo of eroded bank and ROAD !!
New updated photo of eroding bank
Click photo for large version
Boat wash has severely weakened the road barrier, yet the VNF did no repair,while canal was empty.
Canal Damage
Normally, one should pay to park a
boat on the canaldumidi,, however , i cannot possibly give or pay a single penny. As they will use the money to cut down more
trees. And the landscaping done in the year 1660 included the trees, and that is why it has UNESCO status. I refuse to
help someone cut off their nose to spite their face
The VNF now intends to frequently drain a portion of the Canal du Midi , to chop down more Plane trees. The canal
has never been drained in modern history and these same trees are what holds the canal together.. The very trees you
see in the background of this site are condemned to die ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A recent article here--- "In a letter to Mr Fillon, quoted by the French news agency AFP, the president
said that "at a time when our compatriots are hit by the crisis, the state must more than ever set an example.
"Those
who represent the general interest cannot be exempted from the effort demanded of the nation. They have a particular responsibility
which comes with their mission - to be irreproachable in their use of public funds."
Now imagine the taxpayer's
dismay when they find out how the VNF at the Canal Du Midi are squandering huge sums because they are escalating the
maintainence of the canal in huge proportions..
