We continue to cruise the Main (rhymes with Rhine) Canal. It’s actually a couple of rivers turned into canals with a relatively large lock system and a large number of actual locks to traverse. Logic suggests there must have been some actual canal digging to connect the two watersheds which flow in semi-opposite directions. Also to turn two rivers into navigable waters.
The weather continues gray but so far today no rain. As I write this we are en route to Bamberg, alongside the lock we’re traversing are green pastures with scrubby trees marking the borders. Not precisely hedgerow country but you can see how that terrain evolved.
On this traverse we have passed under bridges with what appeared to be no more than a foot of clearance between our roof and the underside of the overpass. When we did these same routes on Grand Circle ships they didn’t have to sweep the top deck/roof clear of patio furniture and such, and the pilot house didn’t retract. However those earlier ships had only two enclosed decks and this one has three.
Back in the day Princess and other lines had ships engineered to just fit the locks at Panama Canal, and they were designated by the portmanteau term “Panamax.” The Viking ship we’re on now was engineered to be as big as the locks and bridges on the Main Canal will allow, same concept though I’m unclear if a term for this class exists.
This part of Germany features some serious agriculture, we just passed some obvious truck gardening with plastic covered rows in a field. In spite of the gloomy skies, the trees are blooming and spring is upon the land.
It occurs to me that powered houseboats would make sense on these waterways, but I don’t see them. Ergo, the regulations must not permit them. Imagine what fun it would be to have a house that you could tie up in any one of several countries, without ever being exposed to the rigors of the open sea. Motorized barges sort of fill this niche, but those come with an implied need to go where commerce demands, even if that’s not where you’d rather be.
