Tuesday 25th June - Speyer to Gernsheim

We left our lovely harbour just after 10 a.m., again on a beautiful sunny morning.  The current is not quite as strong as it was now, so we were cruising at around 18 kph, instead of 20/21 kph.  It is very different cruising for us - no longer the slow, tranquil canals of France, but more like being at sea!  So everything has to be stowed safely and locker doors locked to prevent things falling out.  And the scenery is very different too - the river is lined by trees and a lot of industrial buildings, although when we get further down river we are assured that we will be seeing castles and beautiful scenery....can’t wait!!

There are ferries crossing from one side of the river to the other - three, in fact, today.  These have to be avoided of course and we also always need to pass the barges on the correct side, which is not always obvious - they should show a blue board on one side, which we have to pass on but it’s sometimes difficult to see or indeed, sometimes they do not show one!  So we have to keep our wits about us!

As we approached our harbour for the night, a barge was travelling in the opposite direction so we had to pass behind him and go for the harbour entrance from upstream.

After the lovely port in Speyer, we were a bit disappointed to find that we were in a commercial port, with a giant crane for a view!  The crane was loading containers onto a Dutch barge - quite fascinating to watch but a smidge noisy to say the least.  And by now, it was over 30 degrees and hardly any wind, so we were sweltering!

After a lunch of smoked salmon, we retired below for a rest.  Crew reading on the bed with a fan playing on her, having tried, and failed, to get the aircon working.....really need to get it fixed!

We assembled our hot selves on the aft deck for an apero and then made our way over to a hotel, restaurant come bier keller for dinner.  We sat on a terrace overlooking the river, which was nice and finally, once the sun started to go down, a little cooler.

We all decided on fish, Crew smoked salmon for the second time today, which was very good and served by an efficient English speaking waiter. Back on board for a digestif and bed.......still very warm!!