Wasserbillig (Spud legging)

SATURDAY 25 JUNE 

A bit like the iron and steel works we’d visited in Völklingen it’s not going to be possible to portray in pictures or words the awesome scenery we passed through as we continued our cruise down the Saar on Saturday, but it won’t stop me trying!

Before we set off, Karen bottled up the walnuts that were now ready for pickling.  Unfortunately. they won’t be ready for eating until after we return from holidaying in the UK at the end of August.  As soon as we left, we were straight into the steep, tree covered hillsides that would stay with us for the whole journey.

The start of the steep-sided wooded valley

The blot on the landscape in the picture above that looks like a giant helter-skelter, is a sightseeing platform and with the binoculars we could see dozens of people at various points on the spiral walkway.  We did wonder if it was sloped in that way so that buggies and wheelchairs could be pushed up and raced down.

At the German villages we’ve been passing lately we’ve been noticing small ferry pontoons and associated information signs indicating mooring for ferryboats only but have not yet seen a ferryboat.  As we approached Steinbach our first ferryboat came into view, full of passengers.  By the time we reached its pontoon all the passengers had disembarked, and the ferryman was left sitting on his own.

Lonely ferryman

Not only were the hillsides steep but there were also many sharpish bends.  They were so sharp that boats of 110 metres upwards were not allowed to pass other boats as they went through each one to two km section.  The warning signs at the start and end of each section were linked to banks of solar panels so they would be lit at night for those travelling in darkness.  These days sophisticated radar and satellite positioning systems enable inland mariners to monitor and track traffic.  Ship-to-ship radio communication has been available since the second half of last century and could be used to check the way was clear and as commercials they would almost certainly be aware of the current schedule of movements on the river as well. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, pictures just cannot explain but here we are coming up to one of the corners I was talking about:

The hills dropped a bit as we went through Mettlach, the home of Villeroy & Boch since the late 1700s.  Our only lock of the day was in the town, and we pulled up on the small-lock side of a wall dividing the approaches to the two locks.  We watched the large lock being set and noticed a tourist trip boat was on its way.  Once it was in, two private cruisers pulled in behind them and we suddenly realised we were also expected to go in but were in the wrong position.  We quickly cast off and turned the boat around in front of the weir and headed upstream so we could turn again and come down the other side of the dividing wall.  I know we’re usually wary of river weirs, but at least the German ones have been well protected so far and the flow on the river has been very low.  We had to hang back as we went in because the boat in front looked a bit out of control and was having difficulty tying up.  A guy in the boat in front of him got out and walked along the lockside to help him and we were soon all ready to go. 

As the rear gate started emerging from the water, a heron and a couple of crows alighted on it.  After the water had dropped four metres or so the cill was uncovered, and all three birds jumped down to pick at the stranded fish and other goodies.

Heron waiting for the water to start going down

It must have been one of their first locks as the Germans who’d had to be helped to tie up clearly hadn’t realised that they had to move their lines down to lower bollards as the lock emptied.  I must admit that we were getting worried that their boat would end up hanging from the side of the lock when the guy who’d helped them before, who was fortunately German, started shouting instructions as to what to do.  It was just as well they were shouted at as the lock ended up being 12 metres deep and a disaster was avoided.

Looking back at the weir and locks at Mettlach

The Villeroy & Bosh head office of approaching 250 years, was on the riverside as we left the lock and it was such a shame that the town hadn’t provided any visitor moorings, just a couple for the big tourist trip and restaurant boats. 

Villeroy & Boch HQ

After Mettlach we were soon faced with the stark expanse of the exposed red stone of an operational quarry ahead of us on another sharp bend. It looked like it was a type of shale more than likely used by the likes of Villeroy & Boch for the production of ceramic and porcelain products. 

Arriving at Serrig we moored above the lock at the far end of a long commercial quay under the southernmost vineyards of the Saar that extend from Serrig to the confluence with the Mosel.  We hadn’t realised but apparently the wines produced along this 20 km length of the Saar are amongst the world’s most expensive, so a challenge clearly lies ahead to try some.

Moored at Serrig

On Saturday we cruised 19 km down one lock.

SUNDAY 26 JUNE

Although we awoke to sunshine there was rain due in the afternoon, so we thought we’d leave straight after breakfast to get to Saarburg in time for lunch. 

Sunday breakfast view

We were only 400 metres from the Serrig lock, so I radioed the keeper while we were putting away the fenders and getting ready to leave.  He was our first lockie who spoke English which was fortunate as he was able to explain that we’d have to wait for 50 minutes.  As we were already practically underway, we moved across to the other side of the river and tied up to sit out the wait over there. 

After an hour the green lights came on at the large lock so I assumed a commercial was on its way and that was the reason we'd had to wait.  Also, assuming it wasn’t the maximum length, we would go in behind it.  We waited for what seemed like ages and no boat arrived and then the green lights were replaced by red lights.  I walked down to the lock to see what was happening and found that both locks were now being emptied so I was at a bit of a loss.  Back at the boat I radioed again and was told that the small lock was now out of action and that the big lock would be ready for us in 20 minutes after a commercial had come up.

Once the commercial cleared the lock the green lights came on and we were on our way two hours after we originally thought we’d be going down.  It was partly my fault as I really should have radioed the lockie when the green lights came on the first time to see if we could go in rather than assume we had to wait for a bigger boat to go in first.  As we went in, we noticed that one of the floating bollards was out of action which didn’t really matter as there are so many to choose from because we had the lock to ourselves.  A trailer on the lock side was loaded with a new floating bollard and we were shocked to see just how large they are.

Replacement floating bollard on trailer

The floating bollard I’d used on our way down

The heavily wooded valley sides continued as with the previous day but now every steep south facing slope had been cleared and replaced by vines.

Wooded hillsides continuing

Even though we’d been delayed by a couple of hours and the clouds had rolled in, we managed to arrive in Saarburg in the dry.  Despite the cloud cover it looked to be a pretty place and definitely worth a look around.

Saarburg riverfront

A castle stood overlooking the river at the other end of town:

The mooring was on a long quay reserved for commercials that adjoined a WSV yard.  There was a 20-metre length between the yard and the commercial section where private boats were allowed.  WSV are the initials of the German inland waterways authority, the equivalent of the French VNF and the UK’s CRT.

Moored in the WSV yard entrance

Looking the other way

The blue sign in front of our boat showed the start of the commercial mooring and had the white Roman numerals II on a blue background indicating that they may only breast up two deep.  Because of the delayed start we had a late lunch during which it started raining.  It didn’t end up raining for long and later on we had a short walk further downstream, leaving a tour of Saarburg until Monday.

Apart from the occasional passing boat the mooring was very quiet in the evening, then at about 10.30pm it sounded like a commercial was right alongside us.  Looking out we could see Samary was getting ready to breast up against the commercial that was moored in front of us.  At 172 metres long it would overhang the other by some 60 metres.  They didn’t end up breasting up as its spud legs were dropped so it could just sit on the riverbed leaving a narrowboat sized gap between the two boats.  Being larger boats, they have to leave their navigation lights on all night so it was light all night in our bedroom!.

All quiet again after mooring up

On Sunday we cruised 10 km down one lock.

MONDAY 27 JUNE

We were awoken by Samary’s engines starting at 5.00am but it had lifted its spud legs and gone within 10 minutes.  A cloudy day was forecast so ideal for doing a town trail but first we had to get to the far side of Saarburg where the tourist office was situated next to the rathaus and pick up a trail guide and some other useful information on the area.  We needed to do some food shopping so thought we’d get that out of the way, unload at the boat, have lunch and then tour the town.  On our way to the supermarket, we couldn’t resist stopping at one of the many bars alongside the Leukbach which runs through the former market area of the town now commonly called Little Venice.

The food smelt so good that we decided to stay for lunch so by the time we ended up going shopping and dumping it back at the boat it felt a bit too late to be going on a town trail.  As the weather was set to be hot and sunny for the following few days, we decided to leave the tour until Tuesday morning.  

While Karen had been in the supermarket, I'd taken Buddy for a walk up through one of the many vineyards above the town.  Understandably, the vines look quite different to those in the vineyards we’ve walked through in Champagne and Burgundy.  On the way back down, we followed an old stone track:

We made it back to the supermarket just as Karen emerged with her shopping trolley, so we loaded up our backpacks, returned to the boat and spent the rest of the day at home.     As France are now giving second Covid booster jabs we made appointments for when we go back through Nancy in July.  Once again we were joined by two boats later in the evening, this time they were both 110 metres long so were able to breast up comfortably together for the night.

Ben & Dragonfly

TUESDAY 28 JUNE

Knowing that we had quite a long cruise ahead and we also needed to get water before we started, we left early for our tour of Saarburg.  Safe to say that other than large places like Strasbourg and Nancy, Saarburg was the most touristy place we’ve been to this year.  We started off by walking up to the castle which dated from 964.

Saarburg castle

It really was in a commanding position looking along the Saar valley and also that of the Leukbach that runs through the middle of the town.  Looking north we could see the commercial quay upon which we’d been moored for the last couple of days.

Expand the picture to see the long quay

Looking south

Looking west over the vineyards we could see a cable car running up to the top of the hillside taking tourists to a viewpoint and a restaurant.

Cable cars in the trees

After making our way back down we followed the Leukbach from where it flows into the Saar and up past the Hackenberger mill.  It was fascinating to see how the millrace was split into three to drive three overshot wheels.  When the mill was first built in the 18^th century it consisted of an oil, a tan and a grain mill.

Hackenberger mill

Reaching the top of the waterfall we were back in Little Venice where we’d had lunch the previous day.  Tourists were beginning to fill the restaurants for their morning coffees and breakfasts.

Little Venice

Many of the streets were quaint and traffic free with colourful houses, both old and modern:

Back at the boat we set off in the wrong direction for a few hundred metres to poke our nose into the marina, or what the German’s call a yacht harbour, to fill up with water.  Being a yacht harbour, it’s only designed for boats shorter than us, but we managed to squeeze onto a pontoon at the entrance next to the water point.

Getting water at Saarburg Wassersportclub

We had 11 km and one lock left on the river Saar before we reached the Mosel.  The lock was the first one in Germany that was actually ready when we turned up and we were just about to start descending when the rear door opened, and we had to wait for another boat to join us.  Second time around we were on our way and soon approaching the confluence with the Mosel.

The German Mosel ahead

We were heading for Wasserbillig, the first town in Luxembourg on the Mosel, or I suppose I should say Moselle as it’s not Germany.  The valley sides were a lot shallower than those that we’d been going through on the Saar.

Mosel vineyards

We’d joined the Mosel at pk 201 and would be going upstream and it will all be new to us until we reach Nancy about 160 km further south.  After travelling up through Luxembourg we’ll go through Schengen at the French border and the main French towns we’ll be travelling though will be Thionville and Metz.  Once we joined the Mosel we swapped our German courtesy flag for our Luxembourg one as the river between Germany and Luxembourg is under Luxembourg waterways control.

Courtesy flag changed

The flag is similar to the Dutch flag but with a lighter blue.  Seeing some boats flying the alternative Luxembourg flag with a rampant red lion on a blue and white striped background, we wished we’d had one of those instead.

Alternative flag of Luxembourg

Approaching Wasserbillig with the river Sûre joining on the right

Our friends who live in Wasserbillig had already carried out some investigation and found there was little or no space in the town marina which was where locals keep their boats and where there is a nightly charge.  The town quay, in common with all town quays in Luxembourg, was reserved for passenger trip/restaurant type boats.  However, private boats could use the quays outside the times the passenger boats were docked.  Thoughtfully, electronic displays at the quays and also a website, give the full schedule of dates and times the passenger boats would be using the quay.  Fortunately for us we were outside these times and the quay was empty, so we moored up and settled in.  A car/passenger ferry was constantly crossing in front of us taking passengers to and fro to Germany.

The town quay and ferry

The river was busier than the Saar with commercials passing every 30 minutes or so, but we did notice that there were a lot more boats travelling throughout the night.  We’ve noticed that the boats look in very good nick but just after mooring up a 160-metre fuel boat passed heading downstream looking a bit sorry for itself.

Lynn coupled with Lynn II

After Ian finished work, he and Helena popped down to see us which was the first time we’d seen them for nearly 13 years.  We all used to work together at the Woolwich, and they moved to Wasserbillig about 12 years ago.  It was great to see them after all that time and we’re really looking forward to seeing them for a proper catch up on Wednesday.

On Tuesday we cruised 17km down one lock.