Last year the La Niña weather pattern brought record rainfalls and floods to Australia. In contrast, we experienced prolonged heat waves in Europe and struggled to get sufficient water under our keel. According to this year’s forecast, it could be another dry and hot summer in Europe. However, we are tricking the river gods by embarking on a short commercial cruise down the Danube in early May, before steering the Lodi strictly North and, if necessary, right up to the Baltic Sea!

We will start off in Schweich near Trier on the German Mosel, turn down the Rhein at Koblenz and pass Bonn, Cologne and Düsseldorf, close to my hometown, a place known for its rainy weather and where children are said to be born clutching an umbrella.

Therefore we have high hopes for a good run down the Rhein and along the Mittelland Kanal in the direction of Berlin and the so-called “Mecklenburger Seenplatte”, a large plain with more than 1000 lakes.

Like always, we won’t exactly know what to expect and where we end up. But that’s part of the fun. We are counting down the time, and it’s exactly 6 weeks to our departure, so watch this space in May!