Montreux-Château, Dannemarie, Mulhouse

For the crossing in the channel at the Burgundy Gate, we have planned three stages.

After our registration for the subsequent stretch, we start the ascent to Montreux-Château. There is a dock there that we had our eyes on.

Upon arrival, however, we had to realize that, in addition to the residents of the canal, several boats were already occupying the official dock, and there was no space left on the opposite bank as well. We continued slowly until we found a spot and secured there.

Immediately we were greeted by one of the locals, and while we expected he would want us to leave because the spot was already booked, we were pleasantly surprised, you can stay, the tenant won't return for a few days.

No electricity, no water, supermarket 700 m away. After the dock beer, we set off, hoping to find something in the supermarket.

However, it was closed due to its wealth. In the village, there was a small market, a hairdresser, I had briefly decided to get a haircut. But that didn't work out either, the owner already had an appointment, probably the only one that day, but she wouldn't be swayed from her routine.

So there was cheese and white bread, a red wine, and to prepare for the night, another 2 hours of generator for the air conditioning.

For the crossing over the watershed, we registered for the next day, 8:30 at the first lock of the lock staircase, so departure at 7:30.

We arrived on time, behind us came a Swiss couple with their boat, from now on we were at the locks together, accompanied by our yellow angels from VNF.

How long is your boat, draft, height above water, how wide, all questions we had answered for the umpteenth time. We returned the remote control, and after the Swiss went through the same procedure, we could get started.

Locks in a four-quarter rhythm, enter the lock, moor, gate open, and out of the lock. This repeated itself for about 2-3 hours, I think we managed about 6-7 locks per hour. At the last lock before Dannemarie, we were greeted by the harbor master with the words, you’re staying only one night, once you've moored, you won’t want to leave.

In Dannemarie, there is a supermarket 600 m from the harbor, across from the harbor a snack bar, where we had our dock beer.

That day, including us, 4 boats came down the stairway; when we had finished our beer, the second wave arrived.

Shopping, a quick visit to the village, and that evening a freshly purchased 880 g steak went on the grill.

For the second day to Mulhouse, there were 26 locks ahead of us. Under normal circumstances, I would have thought that it was impossible to make it, but since the locks were all set for passage, it continued in a four-quarter rhythm, only the distances between the locks were somewhat larger.

Around 12:30, we encountered the boats of the uphill journey, we had to wait in one lock until the meeting on the route was clear. We looked forward to continuing our journey and secured in the next lock.

From here, we had a different companion who immediately set the tone. Lunch break, we will continue in an hour. Lock gate closed and now we could not leave either.

The continuation of the journey was then somewhat adventurous; we were asked about our draft, VNF officially states a water depth of 1.70 m. Between locks 29 and 30, we had our first contact with the bottom. But the lock stretch 30 – 31 had it in store, there the water depth was significantly reduced. According to the depth gauge, there was no hand's breadth of water under the keel. Accordingly, we drove carefully, but the Z-drive was lifted three times.

In Mulhouse, there is a harbor; we were received politely but firmly. That day, there were gusts between 30 and 40 km/h, which blow fully from the side when entering the harbor. We were to go into the furthest corner with our Gustav; the first attempt failed, so we had to go back out. The second, backward into the aisle, and then forward into our box, also failed. Finally, the harbor master had a change of heart and we could occupy the second box at the entrance, only that it turned out to be a bad idea when the second wave was pulled into the harbor. Our dinghy blocked the entrance.

On the second dock, there were at least 3 free spots that any of us could have approached one after the other. However, I still do not understand why we were all squeezed into this tight spot.

What was intended as 3 days in Mulhouse turned into a 1-day stay; we wanted to get away as soon as possible. Calm weather was reported for the following morning, which we would gladly take advantage of.