A philosophical post

We are online today thanks to the WiFi provided by the yacht club, so I will take advantage to upload a few more pix than usual.

We made an early start for our sightseeing, and got to the centre of the old city before the tourist hoards arrived. Rather curiously, a bicycle race was going on, which attracted a certain amount of attention, but was difficult to photograph. After coffee, we found, with some difficulty (language again!), the famous student jail. Riotous or drunken students would be sentenced to a few days here. They were let out for classes, but locked in overnight. They entertained themselves by decorating the walls. Here are some pix:

For some reason, fewer graffiti in the loo than elsewhere:

After a good German lunch, with very pleasant Riesling, we headed off over the old bridge, paying due homage to this gentleman, the Elector Karl Theodore, who built the bridge:

Then it was up the extremely steep path to the Philosophers’ Way: you would have to be philosophical after that climb. Or, at least, you would have plenty of time to think while you recovered. All the same, the views were spectacular – back across the river to the old town and the ruined castle looming above it. We had a pleasant conversation with an Irish couple while resting half way up.

Tomorrow we plan to go a bit further up river to see more sights, then turn round and return to the Rhine for the run down towards Koblenz (eventually).

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!

Germany calling..........

sorry for the non-PC joke: couldn't resist.

So here we are, definitively in Germany at last. Yesterday saw a few frustrations but was ultimately successful. We set off early from our overnight spot, reaching the Strasbourg basin in half an hour, Passing the European Parliament once again – this time with a suitable (?) pumpout lorry parked outside.

Anyway, we found find that the lock that refused to let us through the day before was now blocked by a railway swing bridge – for the next hour or so. Then the lock keeper came onto the VHF to say that a big passenger boat had to go through before us: one of these monsters (how the other half lives on the Rhine):

Once through, we bowled merrily down a very swollen Rhine, muddy and plenty of debris, but no mishaps. Engine at little more than tick-over and making about 15-17 kph over the ground. Through the first big lock, but at the second, and last, the lock-keeper wouldn’t let us through with a load of commercial barges, saying it was all too dangerous. Fortunately there was a pontoon where we tied up, and after a couple of hours chit chat on the radio finally persuaded him to let us through, to stay the night in a very nice little harbour just off the river below the lock. No WiFi however, so no updates, but we did manage to do a wash.

This morning we set off again, river very swollen, and current running fast, but plenty of traffic coming upstream – enormous barges and tankers thundering along. Their wakes can kick up quite a confused wave pattern in the river. By lunchtime we had covered some 65 kilometres in about four hours, so we stopped at Speyer, which is where we are now. Some problem sorting out the security in the port and how to pay, but managed eventually with some friendly local help: not speaking German is – not surprisingly, I suppose – a bit of a handicap in this country. But the natives are friendly and helpful.

We went sightseeing – the 11^th century Speyer cathedral is the largest Romanesque church in the world and is extremely impressive. It was also pleasantly cool inside. Here’s a pic

After that we found a Vodafone shop which sorted out our connectivity problems – at a price, of course. So we should be contact during the German part of our holiday.

Tomorrow we head further down the Rhine and then turn off up the Necker towards Heidelburg.

Not there yet

We bowled up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to the Strasbourg North lock that takes us back onto the Rhine this morning – only to be told over the radio that it was closed because the water in the river was too high. Bit of a bummer!

After some discussion, rather than return to our mooring of the past two days, we decided to take a leisurely excursion on the Marne au Rhin canal – in the company of lots of hire boats. We had a pleasant lunch on the tow path, then returned to a spot about three locks out of Strasbourg. Phone calls suggest that we should be able to get going properly tomorrow morning: apparently the water level is going down.

Lunch featured an excellent corn, carrot and apple salad with ham. Tonight its barbecued chicken legs with baked potatoes. And wine supplies are holding up!

No pix today.

Strenuous rest day

Another wet night, but we were snug enough with the hatches and windows closed. We set off in the rain with umbrellas (who said the most useless things on a boat were umbrellas and naval officers?) and found a run-down Coop supermarket for the heavy stuff – water, beer etc. – about a kilometer away.

After dragging that lot back, we set off to walk another kilometer and catch the tram into town, which deposited us near the cathedral:

For some reason it is closed over lunch time, so we took a little refreshment, then lunch, including the local speciality, Tarte Flambee, which was delicious.

After lunch we visited the cathedral, which was spectacular as ever – the stained glass quite amazing, and the astronomical clock mysterious and impressive:

Then we strolled over to La Petite France...

...in search of a decent butcher or cheese shop, but found neither. So back to the boat, and found a butcher by the tram stop where we had to change lines.

Now the sun has come out, so perhaps we’ll get some fine weather tomorrow: back onto the Rhine and heading North into Germany proper. We may have connectivity problems at first, so there could be an interruption to despatches from the front line.

At Euro headquarters

If we get much more weather like this I will be a convert to the warmist camp….it rained all night, was cool and cloudy with occasional showers all day. Glimpsed the sun for a few minutes after arriving here at Strasbourg, but then the rain drove us in from the aft deck – yet again.

The trip down was speedy, and the only commercial traffic was coming uphill, which meant most of the locks were set our way when we reached them. We will stay a couple of nights here in Strasbourg, and explore the city again. Also some shopping needed to replenish supplies: the whisky bottle is unaccountably empty!

A few more pix:

Engine check

Not many bridges across the Rhine 

And a map of today’s trip

Germany at last

At last we have reached Germany, and tied up at the Breisach yacht club, just across the river from France. Mulhouse proved quite fun, though it was hot and humid. After our barbecued chicken leg supper, we walked into town to observe a massive domino chain thing – two and a half kilometres supposedly, although we only saw the last bit in the pretty main square. It took 28 minutes to complete, but the last section, which was supposed to be set off by a tile falling from the church rood, missed, and had to be tipped by hand.

Dominos about to fall:

After that, back at the harbour, we were entertained by an extraordinary acrobat on a rope attached to a 100 foot crane over the canal. He did all kinds of amazing things, and then was joined by a female acrobat for more suggestive stuff, which climaxed with her pushing him into the water. All a bit strange, but plenty of people turned out to watch. Here they are in reheasal:

In the night, the weather broke with a big thunderstorm – lashing raise which tested the repairs to our forehatch, and fortunately there were no drips. In the morning it was cool and grey and we sailed at 8.30 with our French companions of the past two days. A couple of hours down to the Rhine, then north with a good current under the keel – fun to be travelling at 16 kph rather than chugging along at the usual 8 or 9.

Here’s a French tank, pointing East:

Here’s a little traffic – only 200 metres long or so!

Our French companions in the lock

Breisach