Letter: French canal hard to beat

Sir: Christian Wolmar (report, 11 October) says of the proposed waterway linking the North Sea with the Irish Sea that "it might seem like the most ambitious scheme since Moses tried to part the Red Sea".

What about the Canal du Midi, engineered by Pierre-Paul Riquet between 1666 and 1681, linking the Atlantic with the Mediterranean? It is still in use, albeit only by very small craft because it is so narrow.

ELIZABETH MONKHOUSE

London NW11