The river Moselle infos and river cruising experiences

[notamermaid]

Contrary to other rivers, transport on the Moselle is subject to shipping duties, money collected for maintenance and lock personnel. From 2025 this scheme will be scrapped. If you are interested in this: https://www.luxtimes.lu/businessandfinance/moselle-countries-scrap-shipping-fees-to-boost-river-cargo/2856125.html

 

The Moselle is nowhere near as busy as the Rhine but was turned into a major, deep waterway for the industry in Lorraine (France) and Luxembourg so sees regular transport of bulk commodities.

 

The additional effect is that the Moselle has almost no problems with low water levels and that makes it a sure bet for river cruises. Hence the fact that this river has no thread with monitoring the water levels in mind.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The modern Roman ship "Bissula" has now arrived in Cannes. I had mentioned her a few weeks ago. There was a slight delay at a harbour on the Saar - something with the authorities and paperwork - but then she was finally loaded onto a truck and is now ready for sailing the bay. Quite an excitement for the scientists.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

A walk through Kobern-Gondorf part 1

 

Nearly a year ago to the day I went to Kobern-Gondorf, a combined village as you find a lot these days in Germany. Kobern and Gondorf where united in the great administrative reform of 1969/70. This means the modern day village has four(!) castles. I have seen them from a distance, drove past them and through one (I have mentioned this quite some time back) but have not been into the village. So I finally wanted to find out what it looks like. On a cold November day...

 

The day turned out not as miserable as one may think, there was a bit of sun and still some decent autumn colours along the river banks:

 

We have talked about this before: the train line follows the river bank for some kilometres and is picturesque. Kobern-Gondorf has a train station:https://en.visitmosel.de/cities-culture/poi/bahnhof-kobern-gondorf

Not sure if the info is still correct, but it is generally an informative website to roam around.

 

Parking was easy to find, it was in the Kobern part we stopped and there was already the first old vintner's house:

 

We walked along the street and stopped at this interesting modern fountain depicting the village's connection with the river:

See the raised train line in the background.

 

It made you think to find out that at this spot stood the house of a Jewish family:

It being November there were candles.

 

This is the market square, more or less deserted with it being Sunday and the shops closed:

There is another fountain there. This one shows the legendary animal called a Tatzelwurm which is supposed to live in a mine or a mountain nearby. There are more Tatzelwurm places:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatzelwurm

 

To be continued.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

The Moselle is affected by high water levels. Trier gauge is at 659cm and still rising. At 695cm river traffic is halted.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Trier is at 660cm. The authorities expect 700cm still, on Saturday.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

That was probably a close call on the Moselle. The river peaked at Trier at 696cm. I did not read about a river traffic ban so it may not have happened for those two hours that the river was high enough to announce it. The levels are falling again but there is new rain forecast in the Upper basin of the Moselle. It is still unpredictable what this will do to the river in Germany.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

A barge has hit the wall in the entrance area to the lock at Bruttig-Fankel. Fortunately, this accident while causing damage to the ship and wall the police expect river traffic not to be impacted by. It is assumed that the high water and strong current caused the ship to drift sideways. The captain tried a steering manoeuvre but was unable to keep the ship from hitting the wall. https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/koblenz/schleusen-schaden-bruttig-fankel-guetermotorschiff-100.html

 

Report says that this approach to the lock is tricky when sailing downstream as a bend just before it is challenging and such minor accidents occur there often.

 

A nice photo of the site:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staustufe_Fankel#/media/Datei:Staustufe_Fankel.jpg

 

The river level continues to go down well.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The Moselle has risen again but is not seeing the problems the Danube and the Rhine are having. The level at Trier gauge has peaked yesterday at 620cm. It is back down to 574cm. Contrary to the last wave in November, a river traffic ban was not even imminent . Only problem on the Moselle may be a couple of low bridges, but it is a bigger deal at Passau on the Danube for example.

 

Trier gauge in context with the flooding in November:

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

The Moselle rose again due to heavy rain but did not see the problems the other rivers did or are seeing now. The level at Trier is now already back down to 527cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

It was a short week of ease along the Moselle. After heavy rain, the Saar is carrying a high volume of water and the Moselle itself also rose in France and Luxembourg. That wave is now in Germany and is causing a rapid rise at Trier, more so than in December. The level is now at 738cm.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Having to take on the water from the Alzette and then the Sure, both in Luxembourg, the Moselle is struggling more than we may have expected. Added to that is the fact that there is work going on at weirs so not enough water is let through the dam system. The authorities have warned that this will make the situation close to the three locks affected worse. Trier gauge is now at 830cm. River traffic is suspended.

 

Cochem old town may likely escape being flooded but the river is very high there already.

 

Here is a video from the Glan river, the Moselle and the Lahn river at Bad Ems: Spot the Viking landing stage partly submerged:

https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/dauerregen-und-hochwasser-in-rlp-102.html

The second video just explains the work at the weirs I have mentioned.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

I thought weirs were reed dams made to trap fish that swam in at high tide.  As in the famous Ruth Moore Poem The Night That Charlie Tended Weir.

[notamermaid]

7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I thought weirs were reed dams made to trap fish that swam in at high tide.  As in the famous Ruth Moore Poem The Night That Charlie Tended Weir.

Good point. Will check that some time. May have got the construction wrong.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Cochem. Water level higher than I had interpreted from the news reports yesterday. River in town, but not completely flooding the old town. They have seen worse over the years. They are prepared, as the reporter says:

https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/koblenz/cochem-hochwasser-mosel-vorbereitungen-100.html

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

A weir can be constructed of anything - reeds, brick, stone, concrete anything, they are used to regulate a rivers flow and can be used to produce power, many in Europe are. What may look like a dam beside a lock is actually a type of weir.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks for the clarification about weirs!  Meanwhile, if you have time click on the link for the poem:  it's a classic piece of Maine humor.  

 

The Night That Charlie Tended Weir

[Canal archive]

Oh thanks I did and  interesting it’s under campfire stories I could have used it many moons ago around the real thing.

[notamermaid]

An interesting glimpse into American poetry and narrated at a lovely fireplace. Thank you.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

An interesting glimpse into American poetry and narrated at a lovely fireplace. Thank you.

 

notamermaid

 

I believe that's the reading room of the Southwest Harbor Public Library.  They often have programs there.  The narrator is a former Maine State Senator who became a close friend of Ruth Moore (who was something of a recluse later in life) and has made a post-retirement hobby of narrating her poems around Mount Desert Island.  We heard him recite this one against last summer, along with reminiscences of his own growing up in Down East Maine.

[notamermaid]

The Moselle has much recovered and the water levels are down. Looking really good. This is what the last 31 days at Trier gauge looked like:

HSW is the line at which river traffic is suspended. Now the level is around the mean. A good base to start from when the water levels rise again. Yes, a rise will happen again day after tomorrow. 400cm is a given, we will see what that day brings in addition to that.

 

Hopefully all will go well for the ship that is currently sailing on the Rhine and heading towards Remich in Luxembourg. I have never read about itineraries on the Moselle in winter and I do not think river cruise ships use winter harbours in the area. So I checked why the Viva Tiara is heading towards the Moselle. It turns out that she is the ship on which a tourism promotion event in Luxembourg will be held. This is it: https://www.acl.lu/en-us/news/voyages-loisirs/cruiseevent-remich-2024-a-bord-du-viva-tiara

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Let us venture up the Saar a bit. A very much navigable tributary to the Moselle it has a mix of industrial sites and stunning nature, a little off the beaten track. But the small town of Saarburg is right on the river bank, becoming more popular as a destination for river cruises and I very much recommend it. I have recently found the webcam, never noticed that Saarburg has such a high quality one:https://www.feratel.com/webcams/deutschland/saarburg-saarufer.html

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

We have seen a first small wave going through Trier that put the level briefly over 550cm. After this short drop over the weekend we will see the level rise again. This time it should stay below 550cm most likely. This level is high but not flooding. All good.

 

I mentioned the Saar and beautiful Saarburg in my last post. Several companies go up the Saar - or down it. They are Plantours, CroisiEurope, Amadeus Flusskreuzfahrten, Phoenix Reisen, DCS and Viva Cruises. The last of these you can of course book internationally. This year the UK company SAGA is offering an unusual sailing - the Moselle without Koblenz or Cochem! This one focuses on the Moselle around Trier and the Saar river: https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/river/where-we-go/rhine-river-cruises/hidden-gems-of-the-saar.aspx?availability=2&boardbasis=AI

 

Or you can choose a bike and boat tour on the MV Olympia.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The Moselle went to flooding status due to heavy rain but the river was not closed to traffic. The level at Trier is now falling again. Traffic was halted though on a stretch of the river as a barge had had an accident at a lock. This "Koppelverband", as we call it, is a barge with a non-motorized lighter attached at the front. Apparently, some wires snapped so the lighter drifted, made worse by the strong current in these high volumes of water. This is what it looked like at Lehmen lock: https://www.rhein-zeitung.de/region/aus-den-lokalredaktionen/koblenz-und-region_artikel,-bergung-wegen-starker-stroemung-schwierig-mosel-bei-lehmen-nach-havarie-gesperrt-_arid,2627917.html

If this was a lorry I guess you would call this "jack knifed". In the last few hours, special gear from The Netherlands has arrived and the barge been freed. Traffic has resumed but is still difficult due to the mild flooding. After a short fall the levels may rise again substantially from Tuesday.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Izengolf]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:31 PM, notamermaid said:

The additional effect is that the Moselle has almost no problems with low water levels and that makes it a sure bet for river cruises. Hence the fact that this river has no thread with monitoring the water levels in mind.

Notamermaid, I thought you might be the answer to my Moselle question and here you are with it before I even ask! From this thread I gather that low water is rarely a problem but high water can be due to low bridges. These problems aside, is the Moselle usually good for sailing with the sundeck available for use to admire the scenery and enjoy the weather? I had assumed the sundeck may be closed when we board in Frankfurt but opened the next morning for the day spent cruising to Cochem and the rest of the trip. Would this be correct?

 

The more I read about the Moselle and the Rhine Gorge the more I can't wait to see them!

 

https://www.uniworld.com/ca/river-cruise/central-europe/rhine/magnificent-moselle-and-rhine/2024-frankfurt-to-frankfurt

[Canal archive]

On our Moselle cruise our Captain advised any photographers to rise early as it would be the best time to photograph the confluence as we left the river. So several of us intrepid lot got up at silly o’clock only for him to apologise profusely because the river authorities had informed him of rising water levels and to put the pedal to the metal to leave the river. Which of course means that hopefully we will just have to attempt the cruise again. It’s a beautiful river and yes Cochem is a gem.