Today we are cruising the Rhine-Main-Danube canal which was only completed in 1992. It has 16 locks and lifts ships to a height of 1332 ft. above sea level. That makes it the highest level a ship starting at sea level can attain on this planet.
The canal links the Rhine, which drains into the North Sea and Atlantic, and the Danube which drains into the Black Sea. It enables river ships to cruise from Belgium and the Netherlands to Romania, accessing France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania.
Low bridges mean only specialized river ships can make the transit, and those sometimes resort to somewhat extreme means to sneak under the overpasses. For instance, our ship has a retractable wheelhouse that sinks entirely into the ship, and whatever deck furniture is deployed across the top deck must be cleared away in order to make the transit.
This topside reconfiguring takes the crew 3 hours each time it is either cleared away or reestablished. So the take-it-down, and put-it-back-up cycle only happens once per transit.
This waterway is strikingly smaller than the Rhine, not so narrow as some canals but no big river either. The banks are much closer to the ship, though there is room for two of our hotel ships to pass. A central authority schedules lock transits and we have to be there at our appointed time, it isn’t hurry up and wait.
As I predicted a couple of days ago, up in these waters you see row boats, and kayaks. And I’ve been amazed at the very large number of RVs camped along the rivers in April. I would expect the campgrounds to be busy in summer, but now in April when it isn’t particularly warm? The other DrC thinks it is an Easter vacation thing, I don’t have a better answer. European employees tend to get 6 weeks of paid leave so I guess a spring trip makes sense.
