Last night we departed the Rhine via the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, in Bavaria, which connects the Rhine, Main (pronounced like "mine") and Danube rivers across the European Watershed, running from Bamberg via Nuremberg to Kelheimand headed up the Main . Several times during the night I felt bumps as the ship moved through locks. There are 34 locks that we will be passing through.
I rose at 8:00 am and went down for breakfast at 8:30 am. David was still asleep. I had a nice omelet in the main dining room. We soon came across another lock. This was raised us 12 feet. To get under the bridge at the lock, the pilot house had to be lowered. Also, they block access to the sun deck behind the pilot house. We could still access the sun deck in front of the pilot house but were warned we might have to duck to avoid decapitation.
The pilot house was "lowered" so far that the Captain's head and shoulders were protruding through a hatch in the top.
.Most of the locks have a hydroelectric generator to harvest power from the river.
.There seemed to be a lock which raised the ship about 4 meters (12 feet) every hour or so. The next one we came to, I was on the stern and could watch the lock doors close behind us.
Lots of camp trailers along the river bank.
We ate lunch in Arthur's and David took off for a scheduled massage. When I stopped by the cabin, we were in a lock waiting for the water to rise. There was only about 12" clearance between the ship and the sides of the lock. Close enough to put my hand, and even my shoe, on the side of the lock.
Looking ahead, we will continue going upstream on the Main River. Tomorrow, Day 6 (Thursday) we will arrive in Wurzburg and take a day trip to Rothenburg. The we continue upstream until we reach Bamberg on Day 7 (Friday). At Bamberg, we get on the Rhine-Main-Danube (RMD) Canal and head for Nurnberg, arriving on Day 8 (Saturday).
The original plan was to stay on the canal until it joined up with the Danube in Kelheim. This would have taken us through Hilpoltstein where the European Watershed has a triple continental divide: the Main-Rhine flowing into the North Sea, the Danube into the Black Sea and the Po draining into the Mediterranean Adriatic Sea. At 1,332 feet above sea level, the summit at Hilpoltstein is the highest point on Earth reachable by a water craft originating from the sea. Once on the Danube, we would proceed downstream through Regensberg, Passau, Vienna and points east. However, due to the low water around Regensberg, we will be bused from Nurnberg to somewhere downstream.
The only walking I did today was repeated trips to the bar and dinner table.
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