This is our 10th boating season on the rivers and canals of Europe and we still get excited when first spotting our boat. In this case we had to wait until the shipyard’s lunchtime was over to have it launched and tested, before we could embark.

There are always a few surprises, like: “forgot how dirty the boat gets over winter! (doh!!!)” “don't remember that we had this many bottles of wine left in the Bilge!”(Yippee) or “ the Waterpump seems to work but the batteries for the bow thruster are gone!” ($$$).

Yes, we are back like a bad rash with little boating problems, and as soon as the shipyard owner sees us, he jumps on his electric scooter and flees!

Our boat is in Schweich on the Mosel from where, in a couple of weeks, we will start this years cruising. As always, a few things have to be organised first. Luckily we have a hire car until Wednesday when we join a “Scenic” Danube Cruise from Nürenburg to Budapest -  as passengers for a change. 

Yesterday, while doing some errands in close-by Trier, we came across a procession of hymn singing pilgrims on their way to the Cathedral. Locals told us that Catholics from near and far are here for a 10 day celebration of “The Holy Robe” or "Tunic of Christ”. This very precious relic is only on display during these 10 days. It is said that Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, brought the seamless robe to Trier. 

Talking to a church official, doubters have been quietened after several tests to it's authenticity could not disprove it’s origin, especially after the pope had permitted a small piece of the material to be cut off for textile analysis. We followed the long queue of the faithful to the Chapel of the Holy Robe and the glass case where the tunic is displayed. It was a tight squeeze.

Not as tight though as when a huge Linssen edged into the mooring next to us. Standing on the bow stood our elusive shipyard owner giving mm by mm parking instructions. Soon we were hammed in like in a can of sardines with no room to spare between us. If we thought we had a pretty fancy and luxurious boat, Lodi’s new buddy was another class altogether! Extending past our stern by more than three metres and girth by 30cm, this Linssen GS 50 has a price tag of nearly 2.4 million Aussie dollars.  

The next morning the temperature was 7 degrees Celsius. We realised that the exhaust of our diesel heating was only cm away from the fancy yacht’s hull. Worried about it’s paintwork we were too afraid to use our heater. So we shivered for an hour or so, until to our relief they left again. Luckily, it’s much warmer during the day and we hope by our return from Budapest, the nights and mornings will have warmed up too. 

We’ll be back online in a fortnight, "auf Wiedersehen" till then!