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With more and more visitors every year heading off in search of the ‘real’ France, the chances of finding it are becoming more remote. One of the areas where you are least likely to meet with congested cities and over-discovered villages is Languedoc, the ancient Occitan-speaking region of south-east France, and more particularly the area between Carcassonne and Beziers. Here, vineyards, sleepy hamlets and ochre-coloured castles are linked by a 300-year-old canal, the Canal du Midi, undoubtedly the best way to travel if you want to tap into the spirit of the place.

Puttering along at a maximum of 6kms (3.7 miles) an hour, tying up at locks and chatting to the lock-keeper as you wait for the water to rise, you could well be back in the time of Louis XIV, when Beziers-born Pierre-Paul Ricquet took on the mammoth task of building a canal which would eventually link the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.The canal-side restaurants and inns and the old stone bridges don’t give the game away, and the occasional horseman cantering along the towpath adds to the illusion. Lined on either side by plane trees, their branches meeting overhead to form a dappled green tunnel, the canal exerts a hypnotic effect.

An Aer Lingus flight to Toulouse and a taxi transfer of just over an hour brought me to my starting point of Homps, where I boarded a well-appointed cruiser, part of the. Connoisseur fleet (who work in conjunction with Emerald Star in Ireland). While we had the services of a helpful local skipper, holiday-makers usually handle the boat themselves after a short introduction. There is no need for a special boat licence and most of our group had a go at steering (while the others hummed the theme tune of Deliverance).

Lunch at L’Arbousier restaurant in Homps set the pattern of canal-side al fresco meals. Local products make up the menu, with seafood and duck the main specialities. Each restaurant had its own gastronomical treats - here it was a delicious goat’s cheese and cucumber mousse starter. Sampling the wines from this area is a journey of discovery in itself. The region’s vineyards are the biggest in France and the choice phenomenal, yet these are family-run enterprises, with almost every village producing its own distinctive cuvee. Wine has been produced here for 2,700 years and is still by far the major industry.

A stroll along the tow path brought us back to the boat and we resumed our leisurely journey east. The pulsing hum of the engine, the rustle of leaves and the ripple of the wake were interrupted only by the occasional purr of French as the skipper talked to his mate. The flag fluttered silently on the bow and groups of ducks parted gracefully to let us pass. The trunks of the plane trees, reflected in the placid green water, were like pillars in a temple of calm.

We moored at the sleepy village of Ventenac, where we were treated to a tasting of Minervois wines in the canal-side Chateau de Ventenac. A walk round the village reveals only one shop, selling little else besides bread and only open in the mornings. There are a couple of restaurants near the canal, however. At Le Grilladou later that evening, I enjoyed stuffed mussels, confit de canard and more local wines.

At Le Somail, the next day, we are surprised by a massive book shop stocking 60,000 volumes, from antiquarian through to latest publications, in several languages. ‘Le Trouve Tout du Livre’ was set up in 1980 by two booksellers from Paris in an old building used during the original construction of the Canal du Midi. A moored barge nearby sells local produce, straw bags and bread.

Our lunchtime stop was Au Chat qui Peche at Argeliers , surrounded by cypress trees and next to an old stone bridge. The duck with fig sauce and haricot beans was considered the order of the day here.

Further along the canal, the village of Capestang is dominated by a massive 13th-century church, a tribute to Capestang’s former importance. From the top of the 43-meter-high bell tower, the panorama extends to the sea. A 14th-century castle with a painted ceiling of 161 lively cartoons is currently under restoration.

Worthy of an excursion north of the canal is the medieval fortress town of Minerve, dramatically set on a prominotory gouged by deep gorges. It witnessed one of the longest and most dramatic sieges of the Albigensian Crusade when, in 1210, Simon de Montfort beat down the resistance of the ‘heretical’ Cathars, 150 of whom jumped into a fire rather than recant their beliefs.

Continuing towards Beziers, through the tunnel Malpas, the oldest canal tunnel in the world, the next stop is Oppidum d’Enserune, a pre-Roman fortress. The hill here offers a striking view of the drained lake of Montady, the fields laid out in concentric circles like a message from space.

Beziers confirmed my impressions of Languedoc. The people are warm and welcoming with a deep awareness of the past and great pride in the richness of their Occitan culture. A tolerant, laid-back city, Beziers takes its wines and its festivals seriously. A spring-time festival of the locks (les Ecluses en Fete) is planned at Fonseranes, where a series of eight locks form a sort of staircase.

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