What was that old mantra … it never rains but it pours … in this case they could really use a bit of pouring rain?
Tim <The drive up the Rhine was always beautiful, I never got to do it by boat but we did two helicopter trips when our ship was parked in Wilhelmshaven. We flew down to Lahr did a photo shoot in front of one of the famous storybook castles then flew back to Wilhelmshaven then attended a drunken party in the officers mess in the nearby Luftwaffe base (I have a cool picture of me holding a keg of beer while one of my pilots and a tech were trying to drink from the spout.
The lack of water is already hampering the shipment of coal and oil products up the river. Historical data show that
The Rhine Is Inches From Being Too Shallow for Shipments
ByJack Wittels July 18, 2022 at 2:08 PM ADT
As Europe bakes in a heatwave, about 14 1/2 inches of water are now all that’s preventing parts of the continent from being effectively cut-off from supplies of vital commodities.
That’s the gap – just under the height of a bowling pin – between the current water level at a key bottleneck on the Rhine in western Germany and the point at which barges can usefully navigate the river. A further drop is forecast for tomorrow – though it’s less than two inches.
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Millions of tons of commodities are shipped up and down the Rhine, which flows for roughly 800 miles (1,288-kilometers) from Switzerland to the North Sea.
The lack of water is already hampering the shipment of coal and oil products up the river. Historical data show that Kaub’s water level tends to keep on falling from now until early October.
I got to spend two fall semesters in Mannheim some years ago. I’d jog along the Rhine almost daily, even during the 40 straight days in which it rained at least a little while every day. (Very different from the weather these days!) This was before jogging was a “thing,” and people looked at me as if I were crazy to run for no reason other than to enjoy it. We drank lovely Riesling with dinner almost every night. Heidelberg, a short train ride away, was beautiful and lots of fun.
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I got to spend two fall semesters in Mannheim some years ago. I’d jog along the Rhine almost daily, even during the 40 straight days in which it rained at least a little while every day. (Very different from the weather these days!) This was before jogging was a “thing,” and people looked at me as if I were crazy to run for no reason other than to enjoy it. We drank lovely Riesling with dinner almost every night. Heidelberg, a short train ride away, was beautiful and lots of fun.
Such memories linger forever. I spent 2.5 years living a bit over 30 minutes fast walk/run from the Möhnesee dam (“Fort York” long since turned into something else. As an 18 year old heavy mech infantry guy I made a habit of running to the lake and crossing the bridge then running to the bridge itself on Sunday mornings, occasionally I would rent a rowboat and just paddle around.
The nearby old walled town of Soest was flattened one night during the war by Lancaster bombers from the 6th Canadian Airforce. They were a major rail center so ancient town be darned they were fair game. Parts of the old wall were still there.
I took my wife to visit Soest while we were living in Geilenkirchen but so many things had changed that I barely knew my way around.
The nuclear power regulator in France has given permission for some operating plants to release water at a warmer than usual temperature. The water discharge temperatures are tightly controlled, but if the river in general is at a higher than normal temperature, then the cooling water returned to the river will also be at a higher temperature. The easing of regulations is supposed to be temporary.
In 1976 I took a boat ride from Koblenz to Rudeshiem on the Rhine river. Then took the train to Munich.
Beautiful scenery along that section of the river. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s9VqxWjY95A
Besides the beautiful scenery-I noticed 2 strange things, to an American eyes. 1)I saw a castle, but it had a tv antenna on a turret. I assume the antennae is gone replaced with a cable for streaming tv.
2)When I went to the restroom their was an attendant. He pulled some paper towels from the dispenser & handed them to me. He also had some cologne to spritz upon oneself. There was a bowl present to place Deutschmark or pfennig coins.