Barge Date:  28-04-2019

On the Rhine

So we did it.  Traveled from Strasbourg up river to Mulhouse and the Rhone au Rhin canal. Our pilot

needed to deliver his 38 meter barge up river too so late in the day we found him, his wife and his barge and we lashed Lionel to his port side. Took 5 minutes  Then it was out on the Rhine River.

Must say it was mostly uninteresting.   We saw nothing of the starboard side of the Rhine and there was just not much to see in general.  Skies were grey for the trip. We had a delayed start so the pilot made up for it by running long hours.  A total of about 19 engine hours with the first day ending at midnight. He tied up to pylons on the left bank but if he expected us to sleep he did not know how bumpy it would be on the travel side of his boat.  Commercial traffic never stopped.  Barges and lots of hotel boats.  I never did sleep and at 5am he pulled back into the travel lane.

Two hotel barges

Like sardines

On the second day we were under power for 13 hours. The further south we traveled the less river traffic we had.  We rarely needed to wait for a lock to open. This day there was rain off and on and a constant strong wind from the south that certainly impeded our speed, this in addition to the force of the down-river current that was against us.  Rarely a peek at any German towns on the right bank but sometimes large loading stations for the barges.  The Rhine does not go much further than our jump off point; Basel is the end of the line for the Rhine.

The savings in terms of time and fuel for this trip on the Rhine made this a good way to get this section of travel done. Besides, it was grey and cold so we could stay inside most of the trip.

Most of the Rhine locks were about 50 feet rise.

The area around Mulhouse saw the American 7th army in '44.

She looks as cold as the steel man.

Our last large lock was on the Rhone au Rhin.  From this point to our destination in Auxonne all locks will be 39 meter. For the first 25 locks or so we will run with a canal employee who will move ahead to each lock we go through.  This makes for a little faster travel but prevents us from setting our own speed and deciding when or if we want to stop.  The first locks have us going up hill and then a very long stretch down hill to the Saone.