Free at Last

We're happy to report that "plans" can sometimes come to fruition, at least as long as they're short-term in nature. We were able to cast off from T.S.N.I. Marine in Toul on Tuesday morning, May 26--albeit with a brief delay at the first lock--and head downstream on the Moselle.

Lon's expression perfectly captures our relief at finally being on the move.

We had decided over the preceding weekend that we were too intrigued by what we had seen of the Marne au Rhin Est Canal during our brief road trip to pass up the opportunity to cruise on it. Because of our later than expected start to the season we felt that going the entire length of the canal to Strasbourg was a bit too far to cruise, but that Saverne would be manageable. The decision comes with some risk, however. Maintenance work will be taking place on the Moselle Canal/River locks from June 8-18, which will shut down navigation between the Marne au Rhin Est Canal and Toul (which is on the Marne au Rhin Ouest Canal). As the cruise to Saverne is a there-and-back endeavor, these closures mean that the earliest that we will be able to get back to Toul is June 19.  From Toul, our intent is to head west on the Marne au Rhin Ouest Canal and beyond to northwest France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The dry winter and spring have already had an impact on water depths in various French canals. The Marne au Rhin Ouest has been prone to closures in past cruising seasons due to lack of water, and we are hoping that we will get through that canal before any such closures are announced. The "safest" decision would probably have been to forego cruising the Marne au Rhin Est Canal and simply start going west from Toul last week, but we felt the risk of a near-term closure of the Marne au Rhin Ouest was low. Time will tell if we calculated that risk appropriately.

We arrived in Saverne on Monday, June 1, after 7 straight days of cruising. We don't usually like to cruise so many days in a row, but the fair weather that we'd been blessed with since the 26th was predicted to turn stormy on June 2, and we decided we'd rather be moored in Saverne during bad weather than somewhere in the hinterlands.  Our cruising days ranged from 4 to 6 hours long. The first day was spent on familiar territory on the Moselle and the Marne au Rhin Est Canal as far as Nancy. During the next few days we passed some industrial small towns to the est of Nancy, but otherwise the landscape was primarily agricultural. 

We had a decent ratio of locks to distance travelled on most days, and the landscape between small 
villages was primarily agricultural--crops, not animals. We were really happy with the waterways:
little to no weed, good water depth for the most part, and locks that functioned very reliably.

Top: One of two salt manufactories we passed.
Lower: Part of the huge Solvay chemical factory complex in
Dombasle-sur-Meurthe.

For the most part our days consisted of early departures to try to "beat the heat" in the unseasonably warm weather, and we would typically moor for the day around noon or 1 p.m. We usually try to use our afternoons for sightseeing, but on these days it was too hot to do much walking around. We did one visit by bicycle to an interesting historical site on May 27. We'd stopped for the day at a quay in the small village of Sommerviller. Just a few kilometers back the way we'd come was the industrial town of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port, with an amazing basilica built between 1481 and 1560. We could see the basilica from the water as we were cruising and knew that it was worth a visit.

Left: Our first views of the Basilica of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port as we cruised east of Nancy.
Upper right: Getting a closer, albeit still from the canal.
Lower: A town view of the Basilica as we approached on our bicycles.

The current basilica was built to replace a sanctuary that housed a finger, said to be from St. Nicolas (patron saint of mariners) and brought back from the Holy Land by the Knights of Lorraine to what was then the village of Port. The presence of that particular relic turned the town into a significant pilgrimage site in its earlier years. The basilica suffered substantial damage in the Thirty Years' War of the 1600's, and again, by an accidental "friendly fire" bombing in WWII.

Various pillars in the basilica have some beautiful frescoes that were completed in the
1510-1520 timeframe.

One of the chapels of the basilica was closed off for "investigative reasons."
It looked like an act of vandalism--perhaps a fire--had occurred.

After our visit to the Basilica a small disaster struck--the LCD display unit on my electric bike would not work. Thankfully, the bike could be manually pedaled back to the boat--not necessarily easy, but possible--but all attempts to get it back to full functioning were unsuccessful. This had the immediate impact of preventing us from doing any sightseeing that required going further afield from our mooring spots.

A lovely little rural mooring adjacent to a campsite and the village of Parroy

Upper: Our May 30 approach--by water--to the deep lock at Rechicourt-le-Chateau that we'd visited via rental car the week before. This lock took us up to the summit level of the canal.
Lower left: Lon watches the "guillotine gate" lower behind us after we entered the lock chamber.
Lower right: our view from inside the lock chamber.

The Rechicourt lock was followed by twenty-five kilometers of lock-free cruising. We encountered a few shallow spots in the lock summit and more hire boat traffic the further east we went. The latter was not surprising, as there are several hire boat centers in the mid and eastern sections of the Marne au Rhin Est Canal. We ended our day at Niderviller, positioned to be first in line to start a run the next morning through the Niderviller Tunnel (475 meters long) and the Arzviller Tunnel (2306 meters long). 

Top: Preparing to enter the Niderviller Tunnel.
Bottom left: Staying "within the lines" for 2306 meters (1.4 miles) was a bit strenuous,
so I gave Lon a break from driving after we left the tunnel.
Bottom right: There were at least 4 other boats behind us as we cruised through the tunnels.

Next stop, the Arzviller Inclined Plane boat lift. We were lucky to get there as early in the day as we did, because it enabled us to make the descent before the tourist boat started its daily schedule of rides. CARIB was able to fit in the mobile tank with a small cruiser, but we were much too long to share the space with the tourist boat. Having to wait through multiple down and up cycles of the lift for a cycle without the tourist boat would have made for a very long day.

In the tank and starting our journey downhill.

The counterweights move up as we move down.

At the bottom of the hill and waiting for the gate on the tank to lift so we can leave.

The gate from the tank is almost up.

After adding the Arzviller Inclined Plane to our collection of "memorable nautical lifts and experiences," we moored in the basin below the lift for a quick lunch before continuing our cruise to our destination for the day, the Alsatian village of Lutzelbourg. We were now in the heart of the northern Vosges mountains and the scenery along the canal was stunning.

Cliffs overlook the canal on our departure from the basin below the Inclined Plane.

 

On our approach to Lutzelbourg we could see the ruins of the 12th century
Lutzelbourg Chateau. Because of weather concerns we only stayed one night in the
village, so our climb to the castle will have to wait for our return trip west.

Lutzelbourg had an amazing amount of mooring space.

Central Lutzelbourg is tightly packed.

While on our walk through the village the afternoon of the 31st, we stopped for a cold drink at a small outdoor cafe. One of the other patrons, a native of the area, was happy for the chance to practice her English with us. One thing led to another, and we ultimately invited "Carmen" to join us the next day on our cruise to the city of Saverne.

We didn't have a great distance to travel--only 10 kilometers (6 miles)--but that 10 km included 9 locks, so it was a bit more physically demanding than some cruising days. 

Carmen and Lon. 

The landscape between Lutzelbourg and Saverne was like this the entire way.

Leaving the last lock of the day behind as we enter Saverne and approach the port.

After post-cruise docktails on CARIB, Carmen treated us
to ice cream cones at the port and then bid us farewell.

We are looking forward to our weeklong stay in Saverne and hope to do some things that we didn't have time for during our recent road trip here. We're also hoping to source a new LCD display unit for my bike. It's really a disadvantage to not be able to do those little exploratory side trips that can be so much fun.