If there is a recipe for relaxation, barging on a French canal would have to provide the major ingredient. To sit on the deck watching the fields and forests of France scrolling slowly past – walking pace only – provides a magic remedy for even the most stressed mind and body. Recently we were able to put this theory to the test and became as thoroughly hooked as many others have before us.

A major plus, is the absence of any sort of responsibility. While you sit, coffee in hand on the upper deck, ducking for low bridges, or slowly rising and falling in the bathtub-sized locks, below you a fine meal is appearing in the tiny galley at the rear of the boat.

Not only is there a skipper and chef on board, but other staff are on hand to make sure nothing is left  for you to do. Our barge, Rosa, is just one of many tourist barges that ply the canals of France. Carrying a maximum of eight passengers in four en suite cabins, this is the vessel that TV chef Rick Stein used for his documentary about crossing France by barge, as he whipped up dishes at various stops along the way.

To enjoy barging best, though, you need to forget the usual measures of travel. Distance becomes irrelevant. In six days our barge travelled under a hundred kilometres along the Midi Canal and part of the Tarn River.

Built between 1667 and 1694 to link the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea for commerce, this canal was declared a UNESCO historical site in 1996. It is 240 kilometres long (360 kilometres counting four lateral canals) and averages just 18 metres wide. It connects the Étang de Thau on the Mediterranean coast to Toulouse on the Garonne river, which flows into the Atlantic. It not only links two seas but has 328 structures including locks, lifts, aqueducts, spillways, bridges, and tunnels.

The architect of this amazing project, Pierre-Paul Riquet, was a tax collector from Béziers. King Louis XIV (who, incidentally, is said to have kept a team of forty wigmakers and had a collection of a thousand wigs) was keen on his idea, but not everyone believed it to be a sensible plan, even though it would mean that cargo did not have to sail the long way around the Iberian peninsula any more.

Riquet was so passionate about it that if funds for the next step in the construction were slow arriving, he would use his own money in the meantime. How many contractors today would do that?

Way ahead of his time Riquet was conscious of the environmental impact of such a venture, and made sure the canal’s banks were lined with trees. Sadly he did not live to see it all completed.

But even the most bucolic sights and gentle movement along the canal might not be enough for some passengers so, after lunch, tours are usually organised to nearby towns - a medieval monastery, perhaps, or a market, a foie gras producer or winery, for example.

It's the perfect balance, really. Dipping into village life, tasting wine, picking up souvenirs, then escaping again to the barge.

By then it's time for a pre-dinner drink, more time on the deck in the sunset, or to catch up with a book in a quiet corner. It's the perfect formula, really. Far from the pace of normal life, ultra-slow barging provides the perfect antidote to stress.

See for yourself.

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