It had been the dream of many – from Caesar Augustus to Louis XIII – to connect the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, providing a safe inland route that avoided the treacherous voyage around the Iberian peninsula with its storms and pirates. You can zoom in for accommodation and bike hire on the route.

The Canal du Midi is the RED route below - I've highlighted the whole Canal des 2 Mers route for people cycling coast to coast. You can read part one about the Bordeaux-Toulouse route on the Canal de Garonne here. In the second of a two-part series, we cycle this the Canal du Midi. From here, Sète is a 240km bike ride along the Canal du Midi. Afterwards, you follow the Canal de Garonne for 193km before arriving in Toulouse. To travel between Bordeaux and Sete involves three waterways, starting with a 53km section of the Garonne River from Bordeaux to Castets-en-Dorthe. The route is made up of the Canal de Garonne and the Canal du Midi, and it can be cycled from one end to the other in 10 days at a pace that leaves plenty of time for exploring. Stretching from Bordeaux to Toulouse, the Les Canal des Deux Mers – the Canals of the Two Seas – link the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. Please check locally at tourist offices and via your accommodation/bike hire providers for the latest information. There is work being undertaken on the Canal du Midi towpath.

Bespoke cycling holiday planning service.Help finding bike hire for the Canal du Midi.Guidebook for the cycling the Canal du Midi - Toulouse to Sete.Guidebook for cycling the Canal de Garonne - Bordeaux to Toulouse.In part one, we follow the river Garonne and the Canal de Garonne from Bordeaux to Toulouse. Photo: Isaac Alvarez Brugada, Credit In the second of a two-part series on cycling from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, Iain Griffiths bikes the Canal du Midi from Toulouse to Sète.

Down with the sickness midi