Heidelberg

We are tied up on the river Neckar in Heidelberg at the end of a pretty easy day. First a couple of hours hurtling on down the Rhine to Mannheim. I forgot to mention the Blue Boarding game yesterday: I don’t know if this is unique to the Rhine, because it has such a strong current and is very winding. But the deal is, any boat coming up-river may, if it wishes, cross from its own side of the river, the right, to mine, the right going down, and require me to scoot across to his side. The reason would be to get into slightly easier current. The signal is simply a square blue board hung out on the right-hand side of the wheel house. A barge going down would hang out his blue board too to indicate he has accepted the message, and they pass right to right (starboard to starboard for the nautically inclined). This means that whenever you see a boat coming up, you have to study it closely through the binoculars and check if you are required to move over.  It sounds simple, and usually is, only just because one barge has blue boarded, it doesn't mean the next one will, and sometimes people forget to put out the board, or to take it in – then it’s just guesswork. It all adds to the excitement – and of course you have to be looking over your shoulder for overtaking barges too – they go much faster than we do.

Anyway, Mannheim was extremely industrial, on the banks of the river at least, and it was quite a relief to turn off onto the relative calm of the Neckar. We passed this ancient paddle steamer, now a museum, and bar.

Further up river people were in festive mood: parties on the banks and canoe races in the middle. Curiously most of the gentlemen holding the steering oars were wearing kilts.

They were having a party here at the Heidelberg yacht club when we arrived – lots of beer and messing about in inflatables. I resisted invitations to join in!