Kim Willsher
For nearly 200 years, the plane trees lining the 17th-century Canal du Midi have watched over Europe's oldest, largest and most spectacular manmade waterway. Making a tree-lined avenue of the entire 240km of Sun King Louis XIV's canal, some stand like loyal sentries guarding the dappled water. Others lean like arch-backed old men reaching across the water, their heavy foliage forming an impenetrable canopy of olive-green shade.