Saturday, June 23, 2012

Moissac

A quiet spot on the canal 

Napoleon Bridge

Canal lateral de Garonne


Part of the town's wartime history


Our undoing as a late lunch

Market square circa 1930's


L'abbaye Saint-Pierre de Moissac



complicated vertical climbing lock. 
The idea of a waterway connecting the Mediterranean and Atlantic dates back to Roman time. This involved crossing a watershed  set at almost 190m above sea level and an irregular supply of water to the rivers in a drought region. In the 17th century, Pierre-Paul Riquet solved many of the problems that had stalled the project using a purpose built canal with a reservoir to collect water from Montagne Noir. He then developed hand dug channels to convey the water to the canal with intermediary reservoirs, the largest being the Saint- Ferreol Lake (the Knight of Clervilles idea) .  Unfortunately he died with the last 2.5 miles still unbuilt with his fortune in tatters. The entire project was completed in 14 years, with 7 million cubic metres of rock and ryublle shifted using picks and shovels.
The Moulin (mill) de Moissac late XVth century-our hotel and formerly where the goods were loaded to Bordeaux along the River Tarn with access to the Canal de Garonne

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