Filling Some Gaps

There's a certain ease that accompanies the cruising experience when the route is not completely new and unfamiliar. Such was the case with us as we left Saverne on June 8 and began retracing our route along the Marne au Rhin Est Canal to return to Nancy and Toul. Having already been down the waterway, we were now acquainted with how the locks worked and with mooring sites along the way. We were also aware of sightseeing possibilities that we'd bypassed on our way to Saverne due to the cruising schedule that we'd kept. Because the lock closures on the Moselle River would keep us on the Marne au Rhin Est for at least another 10 days, we could cruise at a more relaxed pace and have the time--and energy--to fill some of those gaps in our sightseeing experiences.

We made an early start from Saverne on June 8, casting off from the port before 8 a.m. We had seen how boat traffic could back up at the first lock out of Saverne heading west and wanted no part of that if at all possible. We assumed that those people at the Saverne Port who had hired rental boats were inclined to sleep in a bit on their holidays, and we were gratified to find that we had no competition for passing through Lock 30/31 at the early hour. Rain was forecast to arrive in the area by mid-afternoon, but the weather was perfect as we made our way through 9 locks, mooring at Lutzelbourg by lunchtime. 

A beautiful morning for a cruise.

We'd stopped in Lutzelbourg on our way east, but this time we intended to fill a gap in our explorations. On this stop, while the good weather still held, we were determined to visit the Chateau of Lutzelbourg. It had presented itself as an intriguing view from the canal, but we didn't previously have time to visit it. 

The original castle of the 10th and 11th centuries was part of the territory of an abbey that operated under the auspices of the bishopric of Metz. It was taken over in the early 12th century by a son of the powerful Count of Montbeliard.  This son then took the name Count Peter of Lutzelbourg and expanded and reinforced the castle. In subsequent centuries the ownership of the castle passed to other families, sometimes with co-ownership amongst lords. It was destroyed in 1523 in order to remove it as a hideout for Franz of Sikengen and his followers, who were creating mischief in the area. The castle came close to complete demolition in the 1840s, as the owners of that era wanted to sell the materials from the ruin to companies that were building a railway line in the area. It was, instead, sold to a man who preserved the site. It ultimately passed to ownership of the municipality of Lutzelbourg in the 1970's.

The castle ruins are reachable by car, but walking the "car route" would have
added quite a bit of distance. For us, a shorter, less improved, and steeper
path up the side of the promontory was the best option.

Out of the woods and ready to enter the site. The square tower of the 12th century keep is to the far
right. Tourist access is enhanced by a modern walkway that spans the old moat.

A drawbridge probably existed to allow passage across the moat during the castle's heyday.

The views of Lutzelbourg and the Marne au Rhin Est canal were
 fabulous from over 300 meters up. 

Additional buildings within the main castle grounds, including a second keep (at right).

The outer defenses consisted of both natural rock and added stone walls. It
looked formidable, but obviously wasn't formidable enough to prevent the
castle's destruction in 1523.

Looking through a portal toward the chapel ruins and a neo-Gothic
residence built around 1900 by a former owner of the site.

Exploring old ruins is one of our favorite activities.

After we returned to CARIB it began to rain, and continued to be wet overnight. It was still a bit damp on Tuesday, June 9, as we left Lutzelbourg for our short cruise to the basin at the foot of the Saint Louis-Arzviller Inclined Plane. The basin was a lovely place to moor a barge--lots of bollards to connect to, quiet and parklike, and with a great view of the inclined plane. We would have had plenty of time to ascend the inclined plane and continue with our cruise, but staying for the day and overnight in the basin allowed us to fill another "gap."

When the inclined plane opened in 1969, the 3.8 kilometer, 17-lock section of the Marne au Rhin Est canal that it replaced was no longer needed and was shut down to navigation. Now called The Valley of the Lock Keepers, the old canal section has been developed as a greenway for hikers, cyclists, and climbers. It can also be accessed by a tourist train that departs from the inclined plane. Walking along the route was something we had wanted to do and by mooring in the basin of the inclined plane, a short walk down the canal towpath was all it took to get us to lock 17 at the lower entry point to La Valleé des Eclusiers.

Cruising by the lower entrance to the old section of the canal, with the closed gates of 
Lock 17 keeping everyone out.

 

At left, a portion of the walkway is installed as a raised platform in the old canal bed.
At right, the paved walking/biking path is the usual route to travel along the abandoned canal. 

Most of the old lock houses were retained. Some are occupied by artists, some 
seem to be vacant. At right, the cliffs behind parts of the canal looked like promising
areas for rock climbers.

At lock 8, three little creatures dream of being mountain goats.

I stopped to look at a piece of art constructed from the detritus
of the old lock materials. Not a bad representation of a snail.

Lon got tired of the path along the canal and led us through a little-used short-cut to
 try to reach the inclined plane building more quickly. After a muddy, weedy path; a tunnel;
 and a set of very steep stairs up to the tow path leading to the inclined plane, we encountered a
gate locked for security reasons. At least we were able to find a fairly decent path that
 returned us to a main road leading back to the lower canal towpath and CARIB.

That kind of exertion was deserving of a glass of wine on the back deck.

It was further deserving of a night away from 
cooking, with dinner at a nice local restaurant.

We did another earlier-than-usual-for-us departure on June 10 from our mooring spot in the inclined plane basin so that we could reposition to the entry waiting quay for the inclined plane. A mechanical problem with the inclined plane delayed our lift for 30 minutes, but we still managed to be in the bucket and heading up by 9 a.m.

On our way up.

After the inclined plane we had to cruise through the short and long tunnels and again moored at the harbor in Niderviller. This time we went to a different quay so that we wouldn't be locked within the secured vnf compound at the site. We decided to stay in Niderviller for 2 nights and make this a "two gap" stop. First, we spent time that Wednesday afternoon walking into the town of Niderviller to see what we'd missed previously. It was not a visually exciting little town, but did have a claim to fame for the ceramics that it manufactured beginning in 1735. 

This little Moulin Rouge proclaims Niderviller as "The Little Paris."
That might have been a bit of an overstatement.

Former ovens of the ceramics factory adjacent to one of the restored factory buildings,
now housing a catering company.

This example of Niderviller porcelain was in the Sarrebourg
museum. The delicacy and detail of these porcelain flowers
were absolutely amazing.

The Niderviller ceramics company that currently exists
focuses on roof tiles, bricks, and accessories.

The bell tower of the Niderviller church was built in 1762, by the
then-owner of the ceramics factory, in the style of the factory buildings.
Thus, it has a unique appearance in the region.

On Thursday, June 11, we ventured out on the bicycles to the nearby town of Sarrebourg to fill the second touristic gap of the Niderviller stop. One bicycle had electric assist, the other did not, but we were hoping that the 7 kilometers (one way) that needed to be covered would not be too painful. Sarrebourg shows up as a field trip on all of the local hotel boat itineraries because of the presence of a famous stained-glass window designed by Marc Chagall.

In the heart of Sarrebourg sits the Cordeliers chapel, the last remaining part of a 13th century chapel that existed in a Cordeliers convent. With most of the building in ruins, in 1970 it was decided to preserve and restore only the choir portion of the chapel. By separating the remainder of the building from the chapel choir, a giant opening was left in the wall that once connected to the chapel nave. The Mayor of Sarrebourg at that time, a former French prime minister, contracted with artist Marc Chagall to design a stained-glass window to fill the gap. "La Paix" (Peace) was the result. It took from 1974-1976 for the master glassmakers at the Simon workshop in Reims to complete the work.

An exterior view of the chapel. The window is at the end of the building. At least the chapel
survived its use as a stable after the French Revolution.

The window as seen from inside the chapel. It is 12 meters high and 7.5 meters wide, the
largest stained-glass work created by Marc Chagall. Last year we saw some of his
stained-glass work in the Cathedral of Metz and thought that was pretty amazing.
This took it to another level.

A closer view of the window that contains numerous
Biblical references.

At left, Jesus on Palm Sunday. At right, Adam and Eve in the Tree of Life.

The Marc Chagall theme was carried into the Museum of the Sarrebourg Region. There, a tapestry by artist Yvette Cauquil-Prince can be found that is based on another Marc Chagall stained-glass.

Done in thread and also absolutely amazing.

Sarrebourg is an old settlement dating back to Roman times. On our way out of town, we passed by remnants of the 13th century ramparts of Sarrebourg.

Not much remains of what was an extensive system of walls and towers. Probably not
surprising given the subsequent battles in this area over the centuries. It's probably more
surprising that anything remains.

The cycling was not as easy as we'd hoped. Lon was nice enough to volunteer to take the unpowered bicycle, but the gearing and seat height, etc., etc. was not designed for a route with any hills at all, no matter how moderate. The Dutch bike shop where we purchased the bicycles in 2022 has not responded to Lon's inquiry about parts availability, so a phone call may be attempted. We'll also check out bicycle shops when we get back to Toul. For now, it's either no bike touring or only flat routes. The working bicycle can still be used for grocery transport.

Today is a rest day (sort of, except for the blog and some laundry) for us in the village of Lagarde. On Friday, June 12, we cruised from Niderviller to a mooring at the lower end of the very deep Rechicourt lock. It was a peaceful mooring after a miserable weather day. It was so cold and windy, and occasionally wet, that we drove from inside for the last 2 hours of a 6-hour cruising day. Yesterday was much better, and it was a lovely cruise from the Rechicourt lock to a new-to-us mooring at the port (and hire boat base) in Lagarde. We drove through the town a few weeks ago on our road trip and it seemed like it would be a pleasant place to stop. In any case, the adjacent restaurant was a good place to have dinner last evening.

We're now about 3 cruising days from Nancy. At the moment, there are no obvious gaps to be filled in the stretch that awaits us.

Catching Our Breath

After seven straight days of cruising, it was nice to be moored for a week in Saverne's port, with electricity, water, easy access to shops and restaurants, and proximity to a railway station. It allowed us to do some necessary things--laundry, grocery shopping, trying to get a new controller for the bike (not successful, unfortunately)--a couple of "touristy" things, and just generally relax into the rhythm of being in this small town. 

On our walks through Saverne on various days this past week, we saw more of the sights that Saverne is proud of. 

The Cloister of the Recollets dates to the 14th century and was part of a former Franciscan
convent. The garden is composed of various medicinal plants.

In the south bay of the cloister were a series of early 17th century murals
that depicted various Biblical and religious scenes. Most were badly in
need of restoration.

Saverne is known as a "City of Roses" due to the presence of the Rose
Garden, with its 5000 rose bushes comprised of some 800 varieties. The
"Roseraie" was closed when we walked by, but the view
 from outside was still impressive, and it smelled wonderful!

For most of the week, except for June 6th, when we had to relocate due to a cruise
barge displacing us, we were moored on the quay at one end of the harbor.

A line of boats waits to go through the lock for the western
exit from Saverne. Seeing this made us think long and hard 
about how to time our departure from Saverne on June 8.

The view down the Grand Rue, a.k.a. Main Street, of Saverne.

The unicorn is the emblem of Saverne. The reason for choosing this
mythical animal has been lost to history, so more than one story has
been created to fill the void. The people of Saverne may at one time have
seen themselves as the embodiment of the unicorn's qualities of purity and
 courage, but these days the symbol is most often seen on the local beer.

A return visit to the old Notre-Dame of the Nativity Church allowed for a 
slower perusal of the artistic treasures it contained. Most of its old stained
glass windows were destroyed in a "friendly fire" bombing of the church in
1918. When the stained glass was replaced after WWI, it contained the panel
above, which depicts the bombing.

On Wednesday, June 3, we enjoyed dinner at the canalside restaurant "La Marne." 

Friday, June 5, was field trip day for us. The weather had been unsettled the previous few days, with off-and-on rain--good for the canals, not so much for sightseeing. By the 5th things were better, and we headed off to the city of Strasbourg. We picked Strasbourg as a destination because we were no longer intending to cruise there after we left Saverne, and decided that a day trip by train was just the thing. It was only 22 minutes from Saverne, and having spent a few wonderful days in Strasbourg in 2023 during Christmas Market season, we were curious to experience the city during warmer weather.

Strasbourg is the largest city in, and capitol of, the Grand Est region (formerly known as Alsace) in northeastern France. It's currently the formal seat of the European Parliament. It sits very close to the border with Germany and has thus been controlled by either Germany or France at various times in its history. 

During our visit to Strasbourg in December 2023 we did the city walking tour, entered the famous cathedral and climbed its tower, and visited the European parliament building. Our visit on June 5th was more about strolling the old city neighborhoods and soaking up the atmosphere. We had thought that there were lots of tourists in the city for the Christmas Market, but it felt much more crowded this time, so we were happy that we didn't have to battle the crowds to repeat our 2023 visits to the touristy sites.

A somewhat distorted panorama of the cathedral. Parts of the cathedral date back to the end
of the 10th century; the most recent additions were made in the 18th century. 

The 142-meter-high spire of the cathedral was finished in 1439. It was
the world's tallest building from 1647-1874. An amazingly beautiful
building up close, we were tempted to go inside, except . . . 

. . . this was the view that greeted us when we entered the square in front of the cathedral. The
line to enter the cathedral wound through the square and back to one of the side streets. All
 purses, bags, and back packs were being checked at the entrance. We simply didn't have
 the patience to wait in line.

The sculptures on the exterior of the cathedral were
extraordinary. Among the probable saints and monarchs
 was this figure with a dog. Who was this person?
No idea, so we decided it must be "Saint Veterinarius."

Saint Stephen's Church, part of the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Stephen. Construction
began in the 8th century, although much of what currently exists was reconstructed after
Allied bombings in 1944.

Carousel window decorations above a bistro.

"C'est deux euros" seems to be the French equivalent
of the American "Dollar Store."

This "Village of Beer" might have been shopping nirvana for Lon, but the product would
have been a bit heavy to transport during our Strasbourg stroll.

Sitting by the canal for lunch at "Au Petit Bois Vert" in the Petite France neighborhood as a
tourist boat makes the rounds.

The picturesque "Petite France" quarter of Strasbourg, formerly the home of tanners,
fishermen, and millers. The half-timbered buildings are mostly of 16th and 17th
century vintage.

The architectural claim to fame of the upscale "La Galeries
Lafayette" department store branch in Strasbourg  is
its central staircase.

Tourism at its finest--but the buildings ARE beautiful.

Strasbourg is encircled and bisected by canals. 

After our Strasbourg outing on June 5, we stuck closer to "home" on June 6 and explored another of the castles in and around Saverne. On our previous visit to Saverne we were able to drive to the ruins of the Chateau de Haut-Barr, and a short walk from there took us to the remains of the two Geroldseck castles.

Our Saturday visit to Chateau Greifenstein was a different matter. The ruins of this 12th-century fortified castle were located on a rocky promontory at an altitude of 360 meters and required some trail hiking (about 2.5 miles each way) through the forest to reach them. The site is actually occupied by two castles, Old Greifenstein (12th C.) and Little Greifenstein (13th C.), abandoned by the early 16th C. and described in 1643 as being in ruins.

At left, Lon makes the final approach to the castle site. We were happy to have bought
trekking poles when we were in Strasbourg. At right, I'm photographing the tower of
Little Greifenstein.

In the foreground, the keep of Old Greifenstein, the largest castle keep in the Alsace region.
At one time, tourist entry to the keep must have been allowed, as a set of wooden stairs could be seen 
inside. Now, however, the entrance to the keep is barred and signs on each of the towers warn
of danger. The tower of Little Greifenstein is visible in the background.

The keep of Little Greifenstein.

What looked like the ruins of a round tower on the site.

The view was lovely from the castle ruins. As we were making our
climb, we did it to the strains of polka music from a building at the 
lower altitudes. Not quite the silent "back to nature" experience
 we were expecting.

We spent a beautiful and sunny June 7 preparing for departure from Saverne. On the way back toward Nancy and Toul, we will be matching our cruise timetable to the "reopening date" of the locks on the Moselle River (either June 18 or 19). It will allow for some shorter cruising days, and, we hope, some sightseeing that we skipped on our cruise east. So far, the Marne au Rhin Ouest (West) Canal is still open, and we're hopeful that recent rains will have eased the water shortage problem. 

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.