A cruise with CroisiEuroupe on the waterways of Alsace & Lorraine

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We travelled by Coach from Norwich to London and then rather than tackling the underground again we took a taxi to St Pancras where we stayed in a Travel Lodge for the night, just a short walk to the station in the early hours of Friday morning.

We have holidayed with  CroisiEuroupe twice before but without doubt, this one with Great Rail Journeys was the most stress free way to travel. The boats are quite small being designed to exactly fit the waterways they cruise and only carry 22 passengers, but this year there were only 10 of us and the GRJ rep Tim Hall. This year we would be travelling on CroisiEurope’s  MV Madeleine from Strasbourg to Lagarde. Please click the links in blue for more details

Our holiday started at GRJ office at 6am. on the 3rd. of September 2021 where we met Tim and also GRJ CEO. Peter Liney who had laid on a Champagne reception for us as we were the first group travelling to Europe since the pandemic struck.

Below are some photographs of the Boat and meals we had onboard, not forgetting the wine.

  

 

 

 

The Wheelhouse in its raised position. It didn’t often travel like this

You can just see the captains head peeping up standing on the side deck with the wheelhouse down

For the boaters amongst you, you need a good collection of shore supply cables over here.

            

 

 

 

A view down the dining table with wall to wall mirrors at the end.	A selection of wines that we would enjoy in the course of the week.

 

During the week I seemed to attract a collection of wildlife, Susie our waitress was petrified and thankful when I had ejected them. 

Alsace & Lorraine 1st day Strasbourg

We arrived at Strasburg station at about quarter to four and Tim was on the phone to the coach driver to tell him we had arrived and to confirm the exact pickup location,just a few minutes walk from the station main entrance. Once on the coach we were on our way to meet the boat at CroisiEurope’s base where we were welcomed onboard by the crew and our bags taken to our cabins ready for us.A little later two large taxis arrived to take us into Strasbourg             town where we had time for a short walk round some of the streets before boarding a river bus to explore the town from the river.

 

We then returned to the boat which had moved a short way due to a seasonal bridge stoppage taking place

Once onboard we were introduced to all the crew, had our first meal onboard and most then headed to their cabins for an early night as it had been quite a long day.

Alsace & Lorraine 2nd day Waltenheim sur Zorn

We cruised in the morning setting off at breakfast time to arrive at Waltenheim  in time for lunch. Its a sleepy little settlement but someone has gone to a lot of trouble to paint the back of this building. The bollards you can see are for our shore supply that ran along the side of the towpath and then across to a power outlet at the end of the building. 

After lunch we all boarded a coach and headed off to the Meteor Brewery still family owned.

Hops just growing for display purposes

Alsace & Lorraine 3rd day Saverne

Again we set off cruising at breakfast time and took a walk between some of the locks, so a few photos of the boat making her way along at a steady 3mph. At the beginning of the trip we were given a sheet that listed all the locks and the distance between them so we could decide which ones to walk as we could only get on and off the boat in locks.

	White Egrets out in the field

 

An old boat has been set up as a kiddies adventure toy on the banks of the canal

Most of the old lock cottages are derelict but a few have been modernised and are still being used

We arrived at Saverne mid afternoon and left the boat for another excursion. As you can see from the first photograph there are narrow gauge rail tracks along the side of the canal, more about them later. Our destination for the afternoon was to Chappe Tower, the only remaining optical telegraph that was built in Napoleonic times and designed by Claude Chappe and was in use for 60 years. More details HERE.

Rail lines beside the canal

The operating mechanism for the Chappe Tower fully restored to working order.

Right next door to the tower is a castle standing on a high rock called  Château de Hohbarr this was built in 1100 and is some 460Mts above the valley floor.

The view from the top was quite stunning and you could see all the way to Strasbourg.		Here I am standing on a wooden bridge between two of the rocks looking down on the coach parked bellow.

The Château even had its own         chapel up on top of the rock

When we returned to the boat there was quartet playing on a boat just slowly drifting round by the quay side.   
  

That evening was the only night we didn’t eat onboard but walked to a small restaurant called  Le Caveau where we were seated in the cellar. The reason we went there was to have a local dish called Tarte Flambée which looks very similar to a Pizza but we were warned not to call them that. There was two between the 6 of us and we had 4 different flavours after which you could then have more of the one you liked best. None of us got as far as a 5th one but between us we did finish off all 8 of them with unlimited wine.

After the flambée there was still room for a small pud