Dannemarie to Mulhouse 23km, 15 locks                                    

Nine in lock ten nut not be. Shallow, props in the mud, autopilot without the rudder.

locks blocked with algae, tree logs in the canal

Joy of pizza slice from the Super U supermarket in Dannermarie, an evening of electricity, air conditioning in the heat and the fridge on all night, that’s the special moments of boating. For nine am we were in lock ten. Today for the run to Mulhouse they had allocated us two VNF team, Katarina from yesterday and a new lady called Marie, we had a two-scooter escort to run the locks. Nine was not to be! A second boat from the marina was joining us for the run but they had problems. We waited but boat problems are never easy. The previous night we had stripped and cleaned all the strainers, horrid hot job in the heat but it has become a daily affair. Nine thirty, Katrina called time, closed the lock gates and we were on our way as the lock bell rang at nine thirty. We had an escort. A pair of VNF scooters to escort us down the locks, Katrina & Marie on their navigation scooters. Having reached the top of the Canal du Rhone au Rhin and moved down the first ladder of locks to Dannemarie there was a strong feeling of finish but downhill locks are so much harder to align as the walls disappear from view as the bow closes, we stand on the cabin sides to peer over and delicately move the bow thruster for the last spot, fenders in the water as the lock sides are almost level with the rich olive green water.

Katrina tells us lock 21 reach to 23 is very low. We edge along one engine running, the depth gauge is set to read water level between the bottom of the boat and the bottom of the canal, the gauge struggles with reflection of signal in the mud, you are never certain, when the gauge goes point five of a meter it shuts down, anounces last signal and getting shallower. We were at point five clearing the lock gate. Wow. Really slowly, brown mud churned up at the rear, the boat slow pushing mud from even from the bow, but its all soft and previous boats have ploughed a chanel, its like autopiot without the rudder! A huge relief to make lock 23 and be through the shallows. Aumaton mooring arrived, boats looked parked for many months, a restaurant barge in the centre of the line of moorings.

A lot of watercress like algae followed, looked very green but only thin on the surface, we stripped the water strainers in lock 24, it was only surface debris, it looked much worse than it was. The fenders had been spattered with the watercress, they looked like they had a green version of measles, adorned with green cress leaves. Shallow was not over, different reaches had different levels, at lock 27 the entry to lock was low and similar in the next three reaches. Stressful inch at a time. Bumped a large submerged log, it rolled to the surface with a substantial girth in the middle of the reach. Running one prop then the other. We approached our first swing bridge of the day, no luck this time, Katrina could not get the road gate to close, quick call for assistance and then good news as it moved on its own. A second swing bridge followed for the next lock at gate 35. Katrina quick to check, the swing bridge after this lock was very close and worked a treat. Hold your horses, this time the lock gate would not open. The algae green growth in the water was strong here, the entry gates were not fully shut, clumps of algae were trapped in the centre of the gate. As water ran in the green goo was building up with vigour. Katrina called again for assistance, VNF had an engineer there within ten minutes. It appeared even the entry sluice gates had not fully closed as they blocked with clumps of algae. He tried to hand winch but no result. Three more VF teame arrived and began raking huge strings of algae from the entry area. Giant piles of green growth shuveled one at a time on both sides of the gate. Nothing too it but to dig in and help.

The VNF team then, all on the lock gate rattled and swung about, clattering the mighty gate, solution delivered as it closed solid, water stopped, engineer hand winched the last sluice down, the system was happy and the lower gate hydraulics activated to let us escape. A monster run of algae know in the lock roared out of the exit gate. Ninety minutes, five VNF and our two VNF escorts, just the swing bridge to pass, and yes, this time all good, we were back on our way to Mulhouse. 47:44.57N 07:20.48E

The Algae photos