Canal de la Marne au Rhin (Est): Saverne to Souffelweyersheim

Wednesday 10 May 2017.

38 kilometres, 18 locks, 1 lifting bridge. 7 hours 40 minutes

This is what 18 locks looks like.

The day dawns beautifully but with an outside temperature of 3.3C it is a tad chilly. The decks and ladder cover are covered in ice

and my rear-end very nearly makes contact with our neighbours deck as I’m climbing across to connect a hosepipe.

Water topped up and off we go in near perfect conditions, through the first lock, one kilometre, next lock, one kilometer, next lock and so it goes for the whole day

 

with our locking-down skills improving at every opening until at the penultimate lock at Vendenheim where there is a handful of onlookers hoping for some hire boat excitement, we slide in, place a cursory hook around the ladder, do an engine controlled decent, and slide out again, all within eight minutes! Lynn even had a go through two of the locks without even a waggle.

Lining it up.

The scenery was beautifully pastoral interspersed with small villages and beautifully muralled homes,

small ports

and our only delays were waiting for a precariously laden barge to negotiate a corner and then waiting for the lock through which it had exited to be reset by the VNF lady.

Somewhat weary we tied up at the small marina at Souffelweyersheim

and enjoyed a relaxed evening after having established the bus and tram schedule into Strasbourg for the next morning. And we were treated to a divine moon-rise.