Nürnberg-Beilngries, 6 July

We have been warned about a few days of heavy rain next week. We plan to be on the Donau before the rain hits Bavaria on Tuesday. With a bit if good luck and Carl's skill we should be in the safe harbour of Saal by Monday. 

At the end of today, 6 of July, we have been on route for 2 months. Reason to celebrate. Another reason is that today we will go through the biggest Schleuses with lifts of 25 m. 

Leaving Nürnberg 

Loads of cruise ships in Nurnberg hafen. 

And yet more cruisers

The dimension of a cruise ship is110 m long and 11,5 m wide. They fit so snugly in the locks which are 12 m wide. We try to imagine what it feels like for the passengers when they are in the Schleuse which are 25 m deep. Just staring out at an ugly Schleuse wall 10 cm from the balcony railing if they have a luxury cabin. 

We are nearing the big European water shed, called Rhine-Donau divider. Europäische Wasserscheide Rhein Donau. At this point the water flows either towards the Rhine or to Donau. It is also the highest point on our waterway. We are 407 m above sea level. After this it is only downhill all the way to the Black  Sea. 

Now we are passing the watershed. 

We also had a greeting, "heja Sverige" from a couple on a bridge we passed under.

A Shepard with his dog and about 200 sheep on the banks of the canal.

This landscape surrounding the canal just gets more and more beautiful. Except for 5 km before Nürnburg, which was very industrial.

The Greek Restaurant in the lovely little Sportboothafen Beilngries. Arrived here after 10 hours and 7 very high locks, but we survived, thanks to floating bollards in the locks, and that from the last three locks we are going downhill. The boothafens in Bayern are very well looked after mostly by pensioners. They are also very friendly and you have no chance for an early night. It has been extremely hot and humid so we found the local swimming pool for a cooling down swim. A quick look at the towns history showed us that in 1633 the inhabitants of the town came to an agreement with the Swedish

Commander that the town would not be plundered and burnt down if they paid dearly to be left alone. This did not free them from providing food and supplies to the army. Fair deal according to Carl.  Could also be the start of Hell angles system of protection money!