Rhine water levels 2016 and similar topics

Hope the sun is shining on our bit of the Rhine for the next week. We leave UK tomorrow for Basel

We have no sunshine here, but the temperature is 15C... very high for nearly November. :)

Hello Jay23,

indeed, it is warmer than one would expect around here end of October, as well.

Have a great cruise.

The river level is falling again as there has not been substantial rain in the Upper Rhine valley. Yet it is o.k., Kaub is at 126cm, Koblenz at 120cm. It is unlikely to change much, so I will stop reporting daily about it and come back to it if it gets to a critical level again (I hope not).

The company BASF is in mourning over another blast victim to have died from his injuries.

Not much else has been happening here apart from the "usual" good and bad.

Something out of the ordinary was the wild boar hunt near Koblenz the other day. They had multiplied too much in the region and where annoying people who live in houses close to the forest. So the forest authorities organized a hunt. The clever beasts did not show enough in numbers making the hunt, ehh, unsuccessful. They will keep digging up the back gardens and scaring the workers leaving with their cars early in the morning...

The leaves are falling in great numbers now but some yellow and red will still be visible for a few days.

notamermaid

Hi Notamermaid,

We are now on board Kara. We are delighted with the ship, the crew and the food. We have met a few passengers already and everyone is friendly. There is plenty of water here in Basel! and the sun is shining out of a blue sky. It is really warm for October... nearly November.

Shortly we will be going for a walking tour of Basel town and although I am quite tired and "achey" after a very early morning start, we are going on the walk and will try to attend all the activities, briefings and cocktails before dinner at 7.pm We sail at 9.pm

Thanks for your posts Judith

Thank you for the information. So glad to hear water level is good in Basel. We will be on the Viking Kara on Nov. 13th from Basel. You mentioned that you were headed out for a tour of Basel - is that included or are you doing it on your own? We did not get any information about a tour. I'd love to do that too. Thanks, Jan

Thank you for the information. So glad to hear water level is good in Basel. We will be on the Viking Kara on Nov. 13th from Basel. You mentioned that you were headed out for a tour of Basel - is that included or are you doing it on your own? We did not get any information about a tour. I'd love to do that too. Thanks, Jan

It's my understanding they offer a walking tour at 1:00 and 3:00 on departure day. Maybe someone else can confirm.

Jay23 and Oceanview...we were on the Kara earlier this month. The crew was awesome, we had a great time! Elizabeth the cruise director did a great job, and Stasha the concierge was so helpful! Have a wonderful cruise!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

BTW...I posted the Kara dailies on the roll call site if you're interested..."All Viking Rhine Getaway Cruises for 2016".

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Hello Jay23,

good to hear from you and your assessment of sufficient water at Basel. Enjoy your cruise. The weather forecast looks promising for some nice autumn days with some sunshine. After a misty early morning it is clearing up and the sun is coming out.

I found this article today: http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-shipping-rhine-germany-idUKKBN12V0YB

The river level is still very low for the barges. Due to the lower draft, passenger vessels are currently very little affected. I could imagine a longer wait at the locks just because of the volume of traffic. But that might go unnoticed by passengers.

notamermaid

Yesterday another bomb was found in the Rhine. It happened at kilometre 340,400 (a small place called Plitterdorf). That is between Strasbourg and Karlsruhe. A dredger called "Otter" dug up a 500 kg American air raid bomb from WWII in French waters. This necessitated a river closure. Authority was handed over to a French bomb disposal unit that was able to defuse the bomb on land. That helped to keep the river closure to a minimum. All was back to normal by yesterday evening.

But we do not have normal conditions yet, as the river level is still low. In fact the level has fallen below 100cm in Koblenz again but the crucial gauge at Kaub is at 102cm. Should Kaub get as low as 95cm I will report again.

The leaves are falling in great numbers and I need to do some sweeping in the street. The pavement is quite full of maple leaves in yellow and orange. I think they are acer platanoides, well, the most common variety in Germany, anyway. Lovely to look at, annoying to sweep when wet. It is dry, misty and sunny today.

Byee.

notamermaid

Notamermaid - interesting information concerning the bomb. We were on the River Splendor last week through that section and were scheduled to dock at Plitterdorf but docked in Karlsruhe instead. We were told only that our Plitterdorf dock was not available.

Hello CleverScubaCruiser,

oh, that sounds to me as if it was because of the dredging or digging or some other river connected building works that is going on. The report I translated from did not actually give specifics about why there was a digger at that site.

Hope you had a great cruise and that this was the only change to your schedule.

notamermaid

added: I have just remembered that the landing stage there is fairly new, because some more work needed doing to the embankment or the river bed?

I promised I would report if the water level at Kaub fell as low as 95cm. Here I am this morning to say that Kaub is at 93cm and Koblenz at 85cm. Several gauging stations are reporting official low levels again. But help is coming in the shape of rain sweeping over parts of the Upper and the Middle Rhine valleys.

Hopefully this will make the level rise sufficiently to a more comfortable level.

notamermaid

We are now approaching Kinderdijk and the water levels, although low, have remained ok for the whole of our cruise from Basel. Tying up at Koblenz was a bit tricky and we were skewed out of our mooring at a rather untidy angle but after several attempts the Captain managed to make us safe.

We visited the Cathedral in Koblenz and the Chocolate museum, both excellent trips.

Tomorrow Sunday, we will be flying home. J

Hello everyone,

the river level has risen due to the rainfall in the last couple of days. It should not fall to a critical level again this year. The good thing about the low level we have - still low for barges I mean - is that there is plenty of room in the riverbed and we shall not see high water for some time.

Yesterday, to the delight of some and the annual "surprise" ;) to some who have still got summer tyres on their cars, Rhineland-Palatinate got its first snow!

Just to give you some geography if you are not familiar with it: Rhineland-Palatinate is the region North of Bade-Würrtemberg, meaning downstream on a Rhine river cruise. In the state or "land" as we call it, you will find Speyer, the Middle Rhine valley including Koblenz, the Moselle up to Trier and a little beyond, as well as the hilly regions surrounding the two rivers.

I found a nice weather report video from one of the regions called the "Eifel", that is sort of Northwest of Koblenz. I am adding some info about what he is saying below. Although entirely in German, of course, I hope you enjoy the footage with lots of snow: http://swrmediathek.de/player.htm?show=e26c7100-a516-11e6-8e1e-005056a12b4c

He took a trip up from one of the studios in the valley where there is not a hint of snow, just rain, in his car into the Eifel to see the snow for himself. At a height of 400m the entire ground is covered in snow. Driving in ice and snow is difficult. He heads to the highest castle in the state at 678m, the Nürburg. Yes, it is the one that gave the nearby racetrack its name! There he meets an employee of the association that cares for many castles in Germany who says that the amount of snow, nearly 15cm, is unusual.

The reporter explains the weather pattern in Europe with the help of a plastic globe and assesses the snow as being perfect for snowballs. :)

By the way, the Black Forest where river cruisers usually go to from Breisach had already had snow on Monday.

A tip: an outfit like the reporters should get you in cosy and dry fashion through the Christmas market cruises.

I live close to the water, so all I see today is bright sunshine and colourful leaves. The snow will not stay with us and it will get a little warmer again.

Hope you all enjoy your Christmas cruises. Not long to go, I am already getting excited for you. :)

notamermaid

Cant believe there was snow at Breisach just a week after we were there in warm sunshine!

There was heavy rain in Kinderdijk. The guide was so enthusiastic that it would have been churlish to chicken out and return to the ship. So off we went with our red umbrellas and pretended the sun was shining. We are home now and the weather is very cold here in the UK with promise of snow in parts.

Judith

BTW Although we didn't enjoy every little thing about the Viking Cruise, the organisation was first rate, they looked after us all the way. The evening dinner was the only real disappointment.

After a few unsettled weather days with lots of rain and almost hurricane force winds, it is quiet along the Rhine. The river level is at a very comfortable level for sailing. It is neither cold nor warm around my area and the sky when I look outside is actually a bluer tint than one might expect on Sunday of the Dead.

Traditionally a day for contemplation, prayer and quiet life - with a more protestant than catholic "origin" - all shops and Christmas markets are closed.

Some people enjoy the peace of a stroll around a cemetery and it can be a revelation for lovers of sculptures. So here is an interesting article on some very interesting cemeteries in Germany and Europe: http://www.dw.com/en/10-refuges-of-rest/a-36292551

Père Lachaise in Paris and Highgate Cemetery in London are on my bucket list, so is the Melatenfriedhof in Cologne - that name derives from an old "house for the sick", for those that are "malade" in French.

I was introduced locally by a gentleman who has written three books (!) on cemeteries and I now understand some of the old symbolism of inscriptions and sculptures. And it has kind of fuelled my interest in unusual cases in genealogy research. But be warned if you embark on trying to find ancestors. You can get hooked and loose yourself in the amazing resources on the world wide web. I sort of did, like "oh no, is it already six o'clock, I have to start cooking the dinner!" :o :D

Have a good week.

notamermaid

It has been strangely warm in the last two days in the Rhine valley, but this morning started with a lot of mist and the temperatures will fall below ten again - I mean as highs during the day. 14 degrees just feels too warm in November.

LauraS from the board editors with the article on "wine on the Rhine" has given me the idea of giving you a tip on some more unknown wines in the region. You might not have heard of the Ahr valley. It is a valley named after the Rhine tributary on the left bank called Ahr. It is a Celtic name, by the way. The river is only 85.1 km long but is popular with hikers, bikers and well-known for its red wines. They produce mostly red wines, they are not as full-bodies as French or Spanish wines, but I really like the flavour. The Ahr flows into the Rhine close to Remagen (of the WWII bridge fame) so sampling at a vintners is a little tricky on a river cruise. For buying bottles I recommend trying a good wine shop in Koblenz or Cologne, where the department store Kaufhof Galleria at the end of Hohe Straße (coming from the Cathedral and going into town) has a good selection of wines. I expect them to have Ahr wines, as well.

Here is a little map on the regions: http://www.germanwine.de/english/germanwineregions/

Hope you are all enjoying, or about to enjoy, your Christmas cruises. :)

notamermaid

It would be great to have a bottle of Ahr to drink on September 19 ["International Talk Like a Pirate Day"] Aaarrr! :D

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Talk_Like_a_Pirate_Day

Even better if you brought the bottle of Ahr to Arles... ;)

But then we're mixing rivers.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

Ohh, you two. :D

I like the idea of such a fun day. Wouldn't the world be a happier place with such harmless fun! There is a guy on British television as part of an archeology programme who would sound like that if he was a pirate, he is from the area that is supposedly the inspiration for this piraty talk.

Additionally there should be a day when people greet each other with ey, yupp! (my poor sound translation of a Northwestern British thing) and a day when people say to each other "would you like a cup o' char" (cup here is pronounced coupp) in Northern English fashion and drink it slowly together. That would be splendid and more relaxing than a coffee in a plastic beaker...

And in winter we merrily end the day with a glas of Glühwein. Bliss!

:D

notamermaid

Just a hello from the Rhine area. It is beautifully sunny again this morning, but cold. Cannot venture out without hat or gloves anymore, even putting the dustbins out sees me wrapping up warm.

The Rhine water level is a little on the low side, it has not rained much and what falls as rain here is held back as snow in the mountains. Not a problem, though.

We have great winter sunsets. :)

I feel like hibernating when I should go out to look for Christmas presents.

Due to health problems I cannot enjoy glühwein this year. :(

But I am looking forward to something I treat myself to every year: those lovely, fatty "Reibekuchen" - potato cakes fried in oil - a lot of it, though you do not see them as deep(ly) fried as chips (French fries to the AE speakers). They are served with dips, although I think I see it more as a sauce accompaniment. My favourite is apple compote ("Apfelmus" - it has no apple chunks in it).

If you are still heading out to some markets, enjoy!

notamermaid

Enjoying the updates. Thanks, notamermaid.

Your water-level reports are so helpful! I hope you will start a new thread like this for 2017. Have a nice and "long winter’s nap" :)

Thank you hostjazzbeau,

I will put that into my plans for January. It has been so much fun keeping you all up to date with water levels and throwing some info it as well. Great to hear cruisers' stories and read about how much they enjoyed the Rhine (other rivers, too).

Now onto something not so nice... in the next post.

notamermaid

The legacy of unhappy times has reared its ugly head in Cologne again. A WWII bomb was found in the town centre, this time on the right bank in Deutz. That is the district right opposite the Dom. An area of 500m surrounding the bomb site has been evacuated. That includes an opera house, the Cologne fair area, the Dorint hotel and the train station at Deutz. From the map I can see that river traffic will not be affected. The bomb disposal is planned for 3pm.

The river level has fallen to under 1m again. Kaub is at 90cm, Koblenz at 83cm.

notamermaid