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Our cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest
involved going through 68 locks, either raising the boat as little as 12 feet from sea level or up to 89 feet at one
time. We traveled the Rhine, Main, the 106 mile long Main-Danube Canal and the Danube rivers Obviously what goes
up, must come down so there is an equivalent drop from the maximum of 1332 feet above sea level back to sea level. This
link provides additional information about this inland canal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine%E2%80%93Main%E2%80%93Danube_Canal Note the photo of the canal passing over a roadway. Yes, water above, cars below! Unfortunately
I missed going over that canal bridge. For those continuing on from Budapest there is an additional drop of 380 feet,
finally empting into Black Sea at the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine. . The big lift occurred at
night and the Skunk was peacefully asleep.
Cars
and a boat on the commercial boat? Most of the commercial b oats we passed had at least one car on board. Guess
the Captain wants transportation when he got to port. The boat apparently was used to allow checking of the larger boat
at the water line.
Most of the locks were barely wide enough for our River Boat with only inches to
spare on each side. The locks were there first so the boats were designed to fit.
This video shows our progress through the Ottendorf
Lock. A raise of 25 feet. We had to wait for the commercial boat going downstream to finish before we could enter
to go up. The Lock Master alternates up and down traffic so that the water lever is right for the boat to enter although
some locks have been automated and there is no one on duty. The boat captain has a remote control and does all
the controlling himself.
Click her to Lock Up with us.
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