Tuesday, 9 April 2019

Jottings from the Journals... St Louis-Arzviller Plan Incliné

Wednesday, 6th


…Camped in Saverne and weather really hot and sunny again.

…the marina behind the chateau is part of the Marne au Rhin canal which stretches from Vitry-le-François (in the département of Marne, 51) in the west to Strasbourg (in the département of Bas-Rhin, 67) in the east, passing through Saverne on its way.  The distance is  a little over 300Ks which is almost 200 miles.  The canal crosses through 5 départements, traverses the Vosges mountains too, and originally had 178 locks along its route.  That's quite a chunk of the country when you consider that construction began in the 1830's and the canal was not completed until some 15 years later.  However, it linked two massive rivers and provided a large port and trading route to Germany.  When it opened in 1853 it took the title of being the longest canal in Fance.

I cycled from Saverne to the St Louis-Arzviller Plan Incliné and the route along the canal - which is about 15Ks each way - is fairly smooth and mostly tarmac.  Stopped off in Lutzelbourg to have a look around - not that much to see - and buy a cake for lunch.  Then the last few kilometres to the Plan Incliné.

The boat lift replaces the ladder of 17 locks that were needed to climb the eastern side of the Vosges.  Originally that one section of the canal would take a whole day for the barges to move through.  The current boat lift takes about 5 minutes and moves the barges through a differential in height of 45m - that's about 140ft.

In the shade at one of the picnic tables I had my lunch.  The barges being moved between the two levels of the canal provided my entertainment.  I never thought I would find a mobile piece of concrete so entertaining.  But that boat Iift - it's quite a sight!

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