Susi and Austin's
Travelling the Rivers and
Canals of Europe
SUSI'STRAVELBLOG
End of the season: Schweich, Sankt Goar
Wednesday 17 August 2022 1:15 am
Sadly our boating season this year is coming to an end. We have arrived at our chosen winter harbour 10km north-east of Trier in a town called Schweich. Unable to sleep in this ongoing heat one could imagine being in the Australian summer. A few days ago, there was even a grass fire close to the harbour with four fire engines attending to bring it under control. The ground is just so dry and the situation on the canals and rivers hasn’t improved either.
Yesterday we took a train trip to St. Goar. When we travelled down the Rhine a fortnight ago, the entrance of the St. Goar harbour was too shallow for us to get in and so we carried on to the Mosel. We were shocked to see that the water had even further receded and the sandy bottom was visible from the clock tower of the local castle.
Burg Rheinfels, as the fortress above St. Goar is called, is the most extensive and interesting castle ruin we have seen so far. Built in the early 18th century by Count Katzenelnbogen (translated "Cat Elbow") it has lots of nooks and crannies, caves and cellars to get lost in, and of course, Austin did. I am not sure if he meant to! It is a great place to play hide and seek.
Using our 9 euro train tickets again, we travelled to Trier on another day to do a spot of shopping. The cheap tickets were introduced by the German government to help with the rising costs of fuel and other essentials. They are valid for an entire month and now during the summer holidays, people take full advantage of them. Unfortunately, it creates a whole lot of chaos with overfilled carriages, timetable delays etc. The only saving grace while standing squashed in the aisles was that everybody wore masks. It’s compulsory here.
We will take a couple more train trips, one to pick up a hire car to drive up north tomorrow, and then on 29.8. to get to Frankfurt airport for our flight back home.
This has been a season of the new and the old: new boat and old crew. There was the Canal des Vosges - new to us, and the familiar harbour in Toul, French canals and German rivers.
Like always we enjoyed greatly meeting old friends and making new ones.
Coping with the extreme heat and water shortage brought new challenges, and we certainly felt a little older on those very hot days than 3 years ago when we left the Freshwater!
Overall, we love our new boat and are already planning our trip for next year. Watch this space….
We will be adding a few more of our photos in a week or so, but for now, I say “Auf Wiedersehen” in Germany next year!