Cruise to Arzviller incline 5 Oct

Our short queue entering the Arzviller Incline – tight fit for 3 boats

Spontaneity ruled the day today. We had planned on cruising to Niderviller, basing ourselves there for 2 nights, with a longish ride on Tuesday before returning the boat on Wednesday mid morning.

However when we got to the marina early afternoon I discovered the mooring fees for one night were €36, seemed exploitative especially for a site that was not really that nice. So after having our picnic lunch on the deck sheltering under the shade of the parasol we threw off the mooring lines and decided to explore a bit further downstream. We got to the mooring area just before the Niderviller tunnel and parked up next to a very smart small (24m) hotel barge.

Picture opposite of the marina we turned our noses up at

Mike got chatting to the owner who just happened to be English and he recommended we took the Arzviller lift as it is a really special experience. Well it was too hot to go cycling, or even just chill out on the boat so we took his advice. First we had to negotiate 2 tunnels, the first I did which was 475m and entering one could see the light of the exit at the far end. Mike drew the short straw and navigated the far longer 2nd tunnel at 2306m. It was a little disorienting and with the channel being quite narrow there was a marked bank effect pushing the boat off course, standing definitely made navigating easier.

Once through the tunnels we had a lovely cruise along a winding course that had been cut into the slopes of the hill above the old Arzviller lock staircase. We could see the marks in the rockface where they had drilled the dynamite charges. It was nice cruising along this section and remembering when we had cycled along the old disused lock staircase some years back on our trip to Strasbourg.

We were lucky not to have to wait at the Incline Plane, as there were only 2 boats ahead of us. We did not think we would get in so were taking our time moving forward and suddenly realised they were waiting for us so we had to get our skates on. Only just squeezed in. Am glad we went down first as I felt it was more impressive than when we went up the next day. It was a super afternoon and awesome looking down onto the basin where we planned to moor up for the evening.

The new lift was opened in 1969 and look 4 years to build. The system works by lifting or lowering a caisson containing a boat on a carriage along a slope using a balancing counterweight. According to Archimedes’ principle, the barge which enters the caisson drives back towards the canal a quantity of water equivalent to the mass of the barge. Thus the weight of the caisson stays the same when a barge is moving into it or leaving it.

In principle, the system could function without an engine. Indeed, the caisson is more full at the upper level, because it stops 20 cm below the level of the canal, and less full at the lower level, since it stops 20 cm above the canal. The engines control only the speed, and require relatively low power compared to the transported weight. This accounted for the large amount water pumped into the caisson when the gates were closed before our descent. Pretty impressive being at the back of the enclosure.

Glad we had made our way here as the location was much nicer and more relaxing than at the marina. Just hope the lift works tomorrow as it does reputedly have some reliability issues.