Monster Locks, Discreet River Banks and Farmers' Fields

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This is "Locks 200" for you and also a look at the non-church, non-medieval world around us in Bavaria.

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Photos

Franken-lock! About to devour the cruise ship ahead of us.
What is this? The lock ahead looks like nothing we've seen before. As the altitude of the river rises more sharply toward the Alps, much bigger locks are needed.

Its giant maw has closed.
It appears that this lock has devoured the ship in front of our eyes.

Swan paddles innocently before the torrent arrives.
The captain says we have a 45 minute wait until the ship ahead of us and another one coming downriver have completed their passage through the lock. Go have dinner.

Oh no! It's our turn!
The boat begins to move and I grab my camera off the dining table and rush up to the front deck.

Our big boat feels pretty tiny in here.
The walls are 81 feet high (25 metres).

Securing our position
The deckhand ties us to a bollard so our boat doesn't slip around as the water comes in. He has to keep retying us to higher points as the water level rises unless this is a bollard that rises automatically.

We have risen!
The gate ahead will sink down so our boat can pass over it.

All clear ahead.
The deckhand unties us and out we go on a much higher section of river.

Two's company and three's a crowd.
Can you imagine a lock this big that 4 boats can go through at once?

What about the swan? Where does all the water go?
On both sides of the big locks there are huge holding tanks and the water is recycled in and out of them so as to minimize the impact on the water volume within the river system.

Cruising on the Monarch Queen of Gate 1 Travel
The boat which us home to us for 2 weeks, our mobile luxury hotel.

Most of the time, our view was soft greenery.
The banks of the river were kept natural most of the time.

Boat malfunction caused us to take a bus to our next tour site.
Now we saw something of the farms and rolling hills of Bavaria.

And wind power. Germany is already 25% renewables and aiming higher.

Comments

[michelleandkev]

Monster locks
Fascinating! That really is a monster lock. It would have been amazing to watch your boat going through these locks.