notamermaid

Welcome to Cruisecritic. No need to panic. As RDVIK2016 has already laid out the scenario if low water does occur when you sail I do not need to add anything. Viking is very experienced with this kind of transfer (ship swap). If you would like to read about more about river cruising, check out the pinned threads by our host jazzbeau. Great info in those. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

It is a lot of water that the clouds have poured out over us today and it still has not stopped raining really. Too much for my umbrella and my leather shoes. My yard is almost swimming in water. All this has prompted an alert for the Upper Rhine valley for flooding (meaning "be forewarned"): So far this does not look to become major but the river will be high for sure. notamermaid

My pleasure. I hope nobody asks me to do the same thing now for October, gets one's head spinning. 😁 But seriously, it is interesting to recap and refresh my memory, do not want to make any wrong comments. Talking of memory, seeing that the data is only up to 2020 and 2022 is still clear in the memory, that leaves 2021 which, due to the fact that not many non-European ships sailed and there was not much activity as regards that in the thread of that year, I did not recall. So I have just checked. There was high water with actual mild flooding at Maxau at the beginning of August. The level went down but stayed pleasant until the end of October when bad fortune struck heavily with mishaps combining low water and two (!) ships having got stuck on the same gravel bank. Kaub gauge had the lowest reading on 1 November with 70cm then went back up but remained "wobbly" until rain really set in. This is the graph I posted at the end of the year: notamermaid

I have looked through the data sheets of figures for Kaub, quite interesting. There are no graphs that I can post but here is some historical data, the daily figures of two months in 2020: The data sheet, a pdf file by the Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde in Koblenz, shows the yearly figures (tons of different values) for Kaub. These are the level figures at the gauge in a daily average. So 185 is July 1st, 207 is July 2nd, etc. Basically, only the two digit numbers are of any relevance for indicating low water and those four below 100 in August are not that much of a concern. Below 90cm can be tricky for sailing but normally no river cruise ship stops sailing at 89cm automatically, all most all sail at a lower level, up to which one is the responsibility of the captain. I checked all other July and August figures. In the years 2008 to 2020, only 2015 (in August), 2018 (end of July and the whole of August (abysmal year)) and 2020 (August) present any figures below 100cm. On average, the months of September in that data are worse than the months of August, but not all months of September go down into the double digits, meaning those that stay above do not have low water (for river cruise ships). So, yes, last year was the odd one out, with August having been way worse than September. notamermaid PS: Submarine U17 is currently in Dordrecht, Netherlands.

I have mentioned the low bridge at Passau several times so here it is, the Luitpoldbrücke: https://structurae.net/en/structures/luitpold-bridge-1949 The river is rising again after substantial rain along the Upper Danube, upstream from Regensburg. In the next 48 hours it looks as though the level at Passau will stay well below the critical level for passing under the bridge. notamermaid

We have had downpours in the last 48 hours, more than I had expected. The river is already rising as a result but substantial flooding is not yet expected on any major river. The gauge at Maxau is almost on a "rocket trajectory" and will have risen a lot by this evening. Computer modelling for the next four days suggests mild flooding there. We will see how that goes. A marked rise at Kaub and further downstream will be seen only by tomorrow morning, i.e. the river is due to rise during the night when the wave from the Upper Rhine valley reaches the Rhine Gorge. This is the Basel data sheet with graph of current level: The river went above flood mark I this morning but has fallen again. notamermaid

Most of the low water issues are gone by beginning of December. Depending on the level in November, i.e. if the rivers end that month on a high, you could get flooding mid to end December. No way of calculating a scenario before mid November. Note that the Main has virtually no low water problems but flooding affects it like any other river. The particular problem on the Main is the low bridges which may keep the ship from sailing more than they do on the Rhine. But I have no experience of details on that. The issue on the Danube is the low bridge at Passau. Hope this helps. notamermaid

Many years ago I was staying with people who had rented their house to a film crew for a TV series (one episode). I talked to the props guy. Fascinating. We were in a room away from filming and told to be absolutely quiet (no talking, no moving of objects or walking about) when they shouted "action". Saw the production on TV much later. That felt kind of weird. notamermaid

That is supposed to read compile. Anyway, found the stuff. Lots of figures that will give me something to do in the next couple of days. Will post a couple of rows of tables probably. notamermaid

Thanks. Drinking on the bridge? I cannot imagine the people in Würzburg ever stopping that tradition. I was talking to a lady about well restored Würzburg Palace and its furniture only this afternoon. But most famous in the interior is of course the staircase by Balthasar Neumann with the fresco of Giovanni Tiepolo: https://www.residenz-wuerzburg.de/englisch/residenz/tour.htm Enjoy the Main river. notamermaid

It is the case as a rule of thumb that July and August are not necessarily the driest months of the year around here. Depends on the weather pattern. Last year was drier than average in summer. And the Rhine has the "natural reservoir" Lake Constance which can buffer a bit. notamermaid

Just saying hello after a busy weekend that has not ended yet. I am cooking a longish dish. Got four minutes of coronation watching in. Reminded me of the scene with St. Edward's Chair in the film "The King's Speech". Spend much of the weekend working or being annoyed about work (computer stuff). Hope I have calmed down before an extra shift on Tuesday. Those IT people can be glad we do not share a hallway... Have a good week everyone. notamermaid

Actual data is a bit difficult to comply for a ten year period but I will have a look around. I have been doing this "river level watching" for about eight years now, so my gut feeling is that last year was an anomaly in that July/August was affected but September/October was not. We nearly always get a tricky few weeks in autumn, but that does not mean ships do not sail, just that it is so low that there is a strong likelihood that ships will not sail at some point in September or October, which ships and for how long is anybody's guess. We have had two years with no to very few days of any river cruise ship not making it through the Rhine Gorge, out of the last ten years I think seven or eight years have had some problems but I only remember two Julys/early Augusts. Again, timelines are archived somewhere but while I have them for Pfelling I am not sure where they are for the Rhine. notamermaid

A brief look at the river and weather. It is warm, overcast and a bit thundery. Heavy rain with hail is expected around Offenburg (North of Freiburg). The river will rise but the modelling at Maxau has not changed much, if at all I would say a little for the better. Kaub level looking to be in a perfect range over the weekend and all of next week. notamermaid

I have noticed here in my warm valley that nature is a little behind compared to last year. Our tulips are now fading, it depends on the variety really. Late bloomers still looking lovely. Sounds great. Me falling asleep on the sun deck on the Danube one afternoon - I remember it well, bliss. Needs a repeat. 🙂 notamermaid

Thanks. Thought they were part of The London Transport offers. They all look great - if you are into dark obscure places like me. 😉 Talking of obscure: not so much anymore, now a tourist attraction, but the bunker, or rather the vault were our government stored money, has been revamped and has a new entrance/visitor centre. It is in Cochem: https://www.bundesbank-bunker.de/en/ notamermaid

Turntable ferry, great simple design. Thank you for the link. Coronation coming up, I am kind of getting excited, you know, as an onlooker in a republic. But I have to work at the weekend so not sure yet how much I will see of it live. There will surely be some people coming to England from Germany, there are some real Royalists in Germany, not necessarily of the political kind but those that admire the British Royal family. notamermaid

An update to part 4 - Wiesbaden-Biebrich In post #26 I have already added some new developments in that year at the port of Wiesbaden. The German company Viva Cruises offers an itinerary that stops in Wiesbaden and in the last two years that operator has increasingly marketed to the English-speaking world, so here is that itinerary: https://www.viva-*****/en/cruisedetail?id=352&adults=2 Düsseldorf to Regensburg is an interesting combination of Rhine and Main I find, with the Canal and a tiny bit of the Danube as well. But I should move on to other ports in the Middle Rhine valley that are not so frequented - and on the Lower Rhine I have only done Xanten. notamermaid

Thank you for taking us along. Petrovaradin Fortress, those photos reminded me of Ehrenbreitstein Fortress above Koblenz. They used to call that one Gibraltar on the Rhine, guess what Wikipedia says about Petrovaradin? Have just looked it up - Gibraltar on the Danube! Fürst Metternich is a Sekt - sparkling wine - from Germany and not bad for that kind of alcohol. There are higher priced ones of one would assume higher quality so I am little surprised Amawaterways went for this one. notamermaid

It is May, time to have a look at what the river did in April: It has been an interesting month for the fact that we have three peaks at Kaub that are not caused by exactly the same occurrences further upstream. The first wave is smaller at the gauge at Maxau. This high volume of water at Kaub came from the Main river which had flooded. The confluence with the Rhine is downstream from Maxau. This is Maxau for comparison: The Rhine has three large tributaries that can have a considerable impact on the volume of water carried before the river enters the Rhine Gorge, these are the Aare, the Neckar and the Main. This time it was the Main that increased the wave substantially. With this amount of water and figures we can look forward to a good May. Only caveat: if the weather pattern is unfavourable (for river traffic) we may see a short rise at Maxau over the mark relevant for shipping. But that is still only computer modelling i.e. one less likely scenario, which may change in 48 hours. notamermaid

It is May, time to have a look at what the river did in April: We see the river more or less the whole month over the mean water level which is good for the drier months to come when we can expect more higher temperatures and less rain (with snow melt all gone) leading to low levels. The river was high at the end of the month, quite a wave but not flooding. The slight worry at this level was that the volume of water then reaching Passau would make the passage under a low bridge difficult. This did not happen, the level stayed below that. notamermaid

It is May, time to have a look at what the river did in April: This is how the mild flooding described in a previous post looked like in the graph. Mild it was although the rise in the graph appears huge. While flood warnings for the Elbe were given out by the authorities, the river at Dresden though did not reach the flood mark relevant for shipping which is at 500cm. The river is back to a normal level and it looks good for river traffic in this somewhat cool and slightly rainy May weather. notamermaid

Thank you very much for your detailed review. A great ship. And good to read you had a lovely time. East of Budapest is unknown territory for me, your photos really give great impressions and make me want to go further East than Hungary. notamermaid

Oh I have seen a short video of that! London Transport offers these guided tours in the Underground. Would love to go. notamermaid

Okay, that is just plain cool. I love tunnels, I am an underground person. U-Bahn, the actual London Underground, the Channel Tunnel, any railway tunnel obviously. When the opportunity arose a few years ago to visit the disused tunnel at Erpel on the Rhine I went and had a look around. Have not been able to see the play there yet though. I will explain - Erpel is on the other side of Remagen and the tunnel used to take the railway line coming from the bridge through Erpel rock (Erpeler Ley) to the small town. A lot of text as this is a cultural/architectural website, but it has a few good photos: https://www.kuladig.de/Objektansicht/O-99394-20140812-9 The tunnel is always closed just opens on a few sporadic days. The play "Die Brücke", which re-enacts the events around the failed bombing of the bridge, returns to this, the original site, in 2025 according to the volunteers in Erpel. notamermaid