We
left Obernai with some regret; we were so pleased that we decided to spend 2
nights in this great hotel, only 200 metres from the centre of town.
More
canal stuff to do before we get to Paris on Friday. There is another boat lift,
the Plan Incline de Saint Louis – Arzviller, that we had planned to visit. The
original time planning indicated about a 1 hour drive from Obernai. When we
plugged the destination into the GPS, she said about 2 hours. As we needed to
be at the boat lift ½ an hour before a boat ride, we set the GPS to motorway
and fast, not the usual cruise around the countryside that we like. That worked
and we got there at the time we wanted. We were amongst the first to get on the
tourist boat, so were able to get seats at the side of the boat with only a
roof, no sides. This lift takes the boats down sideways, so we had great views
of the lift tracks one way and of the water basin at the bottom of the lift.
So
smooth and quiet. Co-incidently, the canal is the Marne-Rhine Canal and runs
through La Vallee des Eclusiers, the Valley of the Lock keepers. The Incline
entered service in 1969 and replaced 17 locks over 4 kms. This saves a day and
uses 40 cubic metres of water per trip compared with 600 cubic metres for a
single lock. Vertical drop is 44.55 metres at 41% gradient.
Rick
then went on a fast luge ride that was just down the hill a bit from the
inclined plane lift.
Our
lunch stop was very peaceful, but it took a while to find a good spot to stop
along the canal.
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