Danube water levels 2024 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[notamermaid]

We will be getting thunderstorms later today and into the night, but for now this looks to only lead to significantly higher levels at the Upper Danube in Germany, for our purposes here I say upstream from Donauwörth. There is no river traffic that far up.

 

I am working on some historic data, compiling a bit of a list (yes, more figures coming, ha! 😉). But that is for the cooler hours - I have no air conditioning...

 

Hope you are all having a great time on the river and the evening will balmy, with cocktails on the sun deck. 🙂

 

notamermaid

 

[Rebel54]

On 6/26/2024 at 8:33 AM, BobMartha said:

Was just notified that we have a ship swap for our sailing leaving Friday out of Regensburg on Emerald. We were on the Destiny but due to logistics with water levels we will now be on the Sky (same class of ship) doing the same itinerary. Whew! When you open your email first thing in the morning and see an email from your cruise line with the it starting out with due to.....

you can't help but think the worst! All good thankfully!

That makes for a blood pressure spike first thing in the day.  Mine is in early August so I'm keeping an eye on my email for those notices.  I am pretty sure we will be ok by then.  Happy sailing.

[notamermaid]

The Danube valley and Bavaria as a whole have now joined the West in showing temperatures over 30 Celsius in some areas. Splendid weather that will bring thunderstorms eventually. Tonight in the Rhine valley, followed by the Southeast of my country into the night. The level of the Danube will rise but past Regensburg not substantially so. For Passau it looks as if the level will rise not much above 600cm.

 

In Austria in the Nibelungengau region people are celebrating the summer solstice event today. Tonight, for the fireworks, there is a temporary river traffic ban. The event: https://www.donau.com/en/sonnenwende/

 

notamermaid

 

[Suefromthenorth]

That sounds amazing. Why have I never heard about it before?

 Thanks for sharing.😀

[notamermaid]

6 hours ago, Suefromthenorth said:

That sounds amazing. Why have I never heard about it before?

 Thanks for sharing.😀

My pleasure. I had never read about it either. A chance find. If anyone is wondering what Nibelungen is, that is the background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibelungenlied

Yes, the Richard Wagner operas.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

On 6/24/2024 at 11:35 PM, Suefromthenorth said:

I totally get the appeal of a small ancient church.

I really like English village churches. Occasionally I come across a German church or one in a neighbouring country that really appeals to me, beyond the architecture I mean. A place that goes deeper. Found one on the Moselle that had that effect on me. Such a place need not be ancient but I find that usually the really old churches have something special. There is a type of church that is intriguing to me architecturally. As per definition and idea and purpose of it, it has to be an old building. In German this is a Wehrkirche, a fortified church. There are not that many along the Danube river I think, but there is one right at the banks in the Wachau valley in Austria. No English description available but here is a website anyway. The church is Gothic but parts of it are older and the former church on the site went back to the 10th century: https://www.donau.com/en/wachau-nibelungengau-kremstal/imx/excursion-and-recreation/wehrkirche-st-michael/

You should be able to see it from the river when sailing past.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrkirche_St._Michael#/media/Datei:St._Michael_(Gem._Weißenkirchen)_-_Kirche.JPG

 

notamermaid

 

[Suefromthenorth]

9 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I really like English village churches. Occasionally I come across a German church or one in a neighbouring country that really appeals to me, beyond the architecture I mean. A place that goes deeper. Found one on the Moselle that had that effect on me. Such a place need not be ancient but I find that usually the really old churches have something special. There is a type of church that is intriguing to me architecturally. As per definition and idea and purpose of it, it has to be an old building. In German this is a Wehrkirche, a fortified church. There are not that many along the Danube river I think, but there is one right at the banks in the Wachau valley in Austria. No English description available but here is a website anyway. The church is Gothic but parts of it are older and the former church on the site went back to the 10th century: https://www.donau.com/en/wachau-nibelungengau-kremstal/imx/excursion-and-recreation/wehrkirche-st-michael/

You should be able to see it from the river when sailing past.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrkirche_St._Michael#/media/Datei:St._Michael_(Gem._Weißenkirchen)_-_Kirche.JPG

 

notamermaid

 

St Michael’s looks beautiful and the location is stunning. I do agree that some churches resonate in some way and it’s difficult to explain why. 
 

 I once had the same sort of feeling in a tiny Armenian underground chapel somewhere in south eastern Turkey probably in the seventies, but the details of where it was exactly are lost in the mists of time!

I will certainly look out for St Michael’s when we sail past.

[notamermaid]

A brief update on river levels. They are a little on the high side in Germany but the trend is to lower figures so even for the headroom under bridges it is looking a bit more relaxing now and it looks to have been fine fr more than a week already. So this coming week should be even better. With just moderate rain and some sunny, dry days in between the river could be fine in Germany for weeks to come, meaning that the shallowest section is still so high that the river cannot show us low figures any time soon provided we get the occasional rain and no sudden heavy downpours.

 

notamermaid

 

[Rebel54]

@notamermaid Thank you for the update.  I have a month until I'm on the Danube so I'm praying that she cooperates :).  This makes me feel a bit more hopeful that August will be a good month on the Danube.

[notamermaid]

34 minutes ago, Rebel54 said:

This makes me feel a bit more hopeful that August will be a good month on the Danube.

Yes, I understand well what you mean. I was trying to put that exactly - sort of exactly - into my assessment. August is too far from us still to assume what the river levels will be but I am not saying too much with my statement above. There will soon not be coming such a high volume of water from the Alps and the Danube itself so this buffer we have now, the Danube still being high, should help for August. With the level at Pfelling now being 468cm, the river is in a better condition for the summer months than if the level was say 380cm.

 

Oh, and for those sailing on a long European journey from Amsterdam, this also means that the Rhine is doing better than it may have been without all the rain we have had.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited Sunday at 02:22 PM by notamermaid
grammar

[Rebel54]

17 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Yes, I understand well what you mean. I was trying to put that exactly - sort of exactly - into my assessment. August is too far from us still to assume what the river levels will be but I am not saying too much with my statement above. There will soon not be coming such a high volume of water from the Alps and the Danube itself so this buffer we have now, the Danube still being high, should help for August. With the level at Pfelling now being 468cm, the river is in a better condition for the summer months than if the level was say 380cm.

 

Oh, and for those sailing on a long European journey from Amsterdam, this also means that the Rhine is doing better than it may have been without all the rain we have had.

 

notamermaid

 

I know there's always a chance of issues.  Just the nature of the beast.  Hope for the best, expect the worst....sort of like checking a bag with British Airways :).

I'm starting in Vilshofen going to Bucharest so we will be on the river for a while.  I am so excited it's getting close.

 

[notamermaid]

12 minutes ago, Rebel54 said:

I'm starting in Vilshofen going to Bucharest so we will be on the river for a while. 

I had forgotten you are starting in Vilshofen. For those new to the topic. Vilshofen is downstream from the shallows at Pfelling so if you embark your river cruise there towards Budapest you are already avoiding two "problems", the bridge at Bogen (high water) and the Pfelling stretch (low water).

 

notamermaid

 

[Suefromthenorth]

22 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I really like English village churches. Occasionally I come across a German church or one in a neighbouring country that really appeals to me, beyond the architecture I mean. A place that goes deeper. Found one on the Moselle that had that effect on me. Such a place need not be ancient but I find that usually the really old churches have something special. There is a type of church that is intriguing to me architecturally. As per definition and idea and purpose of it, it has to be an old building. In German this is a Wehrkirche, a fortified church. There are not that many along the Danube river I think, but there is one right at the banks in the Wachau valley in Austria. No English description available but here is a website anyway. The church is Gothic but parts of it are older and the former church on the site went back to the 10th century: https://www.donau.com/en/wachau-nibelungengau-kremstal/imx/excursion-and-recreation/wehrkirche-st-michael/

You should be able to see it from the river when sailing past.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrkirche_St._Michael#/media/Datei:St._Michael_(Gem._Weißenkirchen)_-_Kirche.JPG

 

notamermaid

 

I am even more charmed since I read about the stone rabbits!

[RDVIK2016]

On 6/29/2024 at 5:14 PM, notamermaid said:

I really like English village churches. Occasionally I come across a German church or one in a neighbouring country that really appeals to me, beyond the architecture I mean. A place that goes deeper. Found one on the Moselle that had that effect on me. Such a place need not be ancient but I find that usually the really old churches have something special. There is a type of church that is intriguing to me architecturally. As per definition and idea and purpose of it, it has to be an old building. In German this is a Wehrkirche, a fortified church. There are not that many along the Danube river I think, but there is one right at the banks in the Wachau valley in Austria. No English description available but here is a website anyway. The church is Gothic but parts of it are older and the former church on the site went back to the 10th century: https://www.donau.com/en/wachau-nibelungengau-kremstal/imx/excursion-and-recreation/wehrkirche-st-michael/

You should be able to see it from the river when sailing past.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wehrkirche_St._Michael#/media/Datei:St._Michael_(Gem._Weißenkirchen)_-_Kirche.JPG

 

notamermaid

 

An impressive example of a Wehrkirche, and my favorite, is on the Regen river in Bad Kötzting. Pfarrkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt 

[brian1]

One of the reasons we chose the Danube over the Rhine was that we drove through the Alsace twice a year going to and from Italy.A few of the towns we drove through were close to the cruise itinerary.Lovely medieval towns with a German influence.

[notamermaid]

The bridges on the Danube may have got more headroom now but you still need to put the wheelhouse down... Apparently, the Schwabelweiß bridge proved to be a problem last night. A ship hit the bridge while sailing towards Passau and the wheelhouse suffered considerable damage. No one was injured. The ship was ordered to stay moored at Schwabelweiß until essential repairs are done. The passengers have been taken to Passau for an excursion by coach, i.e. that was the plan at the time the article was written. The bridge was closed for a few hours for safety checks.

 

German report: https://www.idowa.de/regionen/woerth-und-regensburg/landkreis-regensburg/passagierschiff-kollidiert-mit-eisenbahnbruecke-bei-regensburg-3819842.html

 

Edit: Before anyone starts speculating:

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by notamermaid
added screenshot

[steamboats]

11 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Edit: Before anyone starts speculating:

 

I was just checking and came up with the same result 🤣. Looks pretty obvious for me.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

It does. A bit lucky that a harbour/small shipyard is right there at Schwabelweis, which is part of Regensburg. Repairs will hopefully not take long.

 

River levels still looking okay after the rain, nothing the Danube cannot cope with.

 

Recap of June coming soon.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

One more story to wrap up, featuring flooding, a bridge, a barge, a lock and a river cruise ship-to-be. I will put it all together. The MS Insomnia was towing the "Kasko NB212" coming from Serbia and the shipyard where the steel had been turned into the hull of a river cruise ship. The two got as far as Austria when the flooding hit the Danube in Germany. They managed the bridge at Passau but the railway bridge at Bogen proved too low. For over two weeks the ship was stranded there, famously (for us) photographed and published as the leading photo in a Cruisecritic article. When the river subsided the pair went to Regensburg-Schwabelweis where the Insomnia "dropped off" her cargo. This is standard practice as then a push boat takes over the task of getting the hull through the Canal. Leaving the Danube lock at Bad Abbach a technical fault caused a problem and the boat "SB Otto" pushed into the embankment. Smoke had filled the front section of the push boat (which is attached to the hull). Then I lost track of it, assuming the Otto would not carry on. To my delight, I spotted the two on the Rhine (without the attachment) yesterday. Early this morning the hull was finally delivered safely at the shipyard in Hardinxveld in the Netherland where the hull will be outfitted and become a full river cruise ship for Scylla. I do not know which river cruise company will operate the ship.

 

I would say the hull suffered a bit during the bump into the embankment, right there at the front of the hull the small steel construction was attached. It looks to me as if the smoke got into the paint. The guys from Binnenschifferforum have captured the hull perfectly in photos:

https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?118264-FGKS-Kasko-NB-212&p=474053#post474053

 

What a journey.

 

notamermaid

 

[Lionel_Hutz]

Finished our one week cruise up the Danube from Budapest to Vilshofen.  Lovely conditions, if quite warm.  No major issues with river conditions other than a strong current that caused our ship to be ~1-2 hours late to dock on a few occasions.

[Nippy Sweetie]

So many ships by the sound of it. Do you know how many river cruise ships there are on the Rhine Danube route?