Susi and Austin's
Travelling the Rivers and
Canals of Europe
SUSI'STRAVELBLOG
Home stretch, Coevoorden to Papenburg
As the school holidays and our tour through the Netherlands come to an end, a late summer heatwave has suddenly emerged in Europe. Getting the headwind...
Arnhem, Doesburg, Zutphen and Hattem
The rain came back at night and didn't look like stopping. It was a good time to move on! We really can’t complain. The weather in the Netherlands has...
Gouda, the Hollandse Ijssel and the Lek
We have done the "Sauerkraut-Fahrt” in Germany, and now, after Alkmaar, Edam, Amsterdam and Gouda, we have done
the ultimate “Cheese Cruise” too,...
Back in The Netherlands, Amsterdam to Rotterdam
We left lovely Alkmaar and made it to Sixhaven Yachtharbour in Amsterdam by early afternoon. Eva arrived on time, and as usual, half of her baggage was...
"Old" South Wales and North Wales
A five am start got us from Alkmaar to the airport in time, and luckily, the worldwide Microsoft glitch from the previous day didn’t impact our flight.
On...
All about cows and cheese - Marken, Edam and Alkmaar
Opposite Monnickendam on the Markermeer is the idyllic village of Marken. Marken has fewer than 2000 residents. Yet, this farming community harbours...
Volendam and Monnickendam
We have now really slowed down with our travels. This is partly due to The Netherlands making it easy for us to get lazy. There are no locks to manage,...
From Friesland to North Holland - Makkum, Enkhuizen and Hoorn
Now I know why the Friesian Skûtsjes, the old sailing boats, have big side paddles or “swords”. As we left Harlingen's harbour, the westerly wind rocked...
Franeker, Harlingen, Terschelling
The sun has finally decided to stay! Temperatures are in the mid-twenties, and the skies are blue!
We found a good mooring on Franekers South Canal,...
Boating Woes - Papenburg to Leeuwarden
We are starting to believe in the Celtic superstition that things always come in threes!
Off we went from Papenburg, unhindered by bridge problems...
Papenburg, Bourtange, Delfzijl and Norddeich
On a day when the rain blew horizontally across the channel, we arrived wet and cold at Papenburg, only to be faced with another defective bridge. To...
Appingedam to Leer, Germany
From Groningen, the wide Ems Canal leads to the Wadden Sea and to the river Ems, which flows through the North of Germany, called Ostfriesland (East—Friesland)....
From Friesland to Groningen
Austin was warned by our friend Georg, that the inhabitants of Dokkum are “famous for killing native brits”. Indeed, the lovely locals murdered British...
Leeuwarden and Dokkum - when it rains, it pours!
By now, we are almost acclimatised to the Friesland spring weather, the heavy rain, the warmth when the sun decides to show and the strong, cold, arctic...
Sneek, Workum and Joure
We are revisiting a few places from our 2018 cruise, and we have hired a new Aussie crew, Uschi and Stephen, to accompany us on our way to North Friesland.
Austin...
Riding the waves to Stavoren, Heeg and Sloten
We left Lemmer with sunny weather and mild wind. As we moved further north on the Ijsselmeer, the wind increased to 15 knots, and we competed with an...
Lemmer-ing along
For the past four days, while getting over a nasty Dutch cold, we have stayed in Lemmer! It's a long time staying in one place for us, but we needed...
Sailing off to Blokzijl
Lodi was purring like a satisfied kitten, as we went for a little trial run to the town harbour of Meppel. We decided to stay overnight and take advantage...
Heavenly weather on Ascension Day, Meppel
The planning of our arrival date in Europe wasn’t perfect as the 9th of May is Ascension Day, a treasured public holiday here, and one we miss out on...
Boating Season 2024 - The Netherlands
Our new boating route for this year is up on show and can be seen in the Itinerary link on our home page. As you can see, Austin is having us cruising...
End of our boating season - stopover in Singapore
Sadly it has come to the end of our boating season this year! As much as we are looking forward to seeing our family and friends in Australia again,...
From Germany into the Netherlands, Haren, Ter Apel, Veenpark, Emmen, Nieuw Amsterdam, Meppel
On our way to the Netherlands, we had two more short stops in Germany. One was a lovely marina at Walchum which was surrounded by an estate of small...
Final stretch in Germany - Oldenburg, Papenburg and Leer
We left Bremen Marina about three hours before low tide, to then take advantage of the in-flowing tide when turning south into the Hunte Kanal.
On...
Bremen and Hamburg
Bremen is the last stop on the Weser and also the beginning of tidal waters. (See the marina at high and low tide! 4.5-metre difference) A long pontoon...
The Weser, Nienburg and Verden
After a calm night on the side of the canal in Minden, Austin did his usual “Brötchen - Run” with his scooter and delivered some to the boot owners behind...
Going west on the Mittellandkanal
After the excitement of the soccer world cup our heartbeat has settled down to the slow pace of canal boating again, and at 10km per hour, we are moving...
Potsdam and Potatoes
On a stormy day, we left wet Scotland and got back to rainy Potsdam. The Heron on duty seemed to have kept a close eye on Lodi during our absence.
What...
Scotland - Glasgow to Edinburgh
We smuggled Austin out of Europe on the very last of his permitted 90-day stay. The German border control sounded slightly disappointed being unable...
Berlin
Leaving Spandau we heard that a lion was on the loose in Berlin, and that was where we were headed! So while cruising the Hohenzollern Canal to the Spree,...
From the Mecklenburger Lakes back to Berlin and Potsdam
The longer I am in Germany the worse my English is getting. I have started to translate again directly from German to English which doesn’t work. So...
Potsdam to Müritz
Will we or will we not get a mooring, that’s the daily question, especially approaching Berlin! There are plenty of marinas on 33000 km of waterways...
Elbe - Havel-Kanal - Burg by Magdeburg to Brandenburg
We have now crossed the former border which until 1989 divided Germany into East and West. One of the former, heavily guarded border crossings was just...
Mittellandkanal 2 - Hannover to Wolfsburg
We were told cruising the Mittellandkanal is a little boring. And yes, especially compared to the French or Belgian canals with their multiple locks,...
Mittellandkanal - Osnabrück to Minden
Just as we were ready to leave the harbour in Münster, the busy to and fro of barges seemed to stop, and we were able to go straight into the 190m long...
Weser-Datteln to Dortmund-Ems-Kanal
We have now left the Rhine and turned to starboard into the 60km long Wesel-Datteln Kanal. This canal is still frequented by many commercial barges which...
Hello Sunshine! From Cologne to Duisburg
We just said good-bye to our friend Eva in Duisburg, and now it is time for our livers to recover.
Eva hadn't only brought sunshine with her,...
Racing down the Rhine
There were a couple of traffic jams in front of the last three locks of the Moselle and we had to take our turns behind the “big boys”. But what time...
On the Moselle with the Lodi
Finally, just in time for our first days of cruising it's warming up! I am trying not to be too jubilant as the very chilly days of the so called “Eisheiligen”...
Cruising the Danube
After our luxurious Danube Cruise we are now back on our humble Lodi. No more butler service, buffets and evening entertainment. From now on it’s just...
Boating season 2023
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...
Counting down to "travelling the rivers and canals of Europe"
Last year the La Niña weather pattern brought record rainfalls and floods to Australia. In contrast, we experienced prolonged heat waves in Europe and...
Our Itinerary for 2022
Please click on the link below to see the map of our journey through the European waterways during 2022
Map of our trip in 2022
After-word to our 2022 blog
Although Austin says I never shut up, I’m not really in the habit of writing "after-words", but I did promise to post a few more photos from this year's...
End of the season: Schweich, Sankt Goar
Sadly our boating season this year is coming to an end. We have arrived at our chosen winter harbour 10km north-east of Trier in a town called Schweich....
Last not least: Bernkastel-Kues and Neumagen
Bernkastel-Kues has to be one of the most charming places along the Mosel, that is: minus the many tourists who arrive with the cruise ships. We tried...
Moselling along: Senheim, Beilstein, Zell, Traben-Trarbach
We are taking our time moving slowly along the beautiful Mosel Valley. It allows us to take in different places and experiences than last time.
Senheim...
"Mittelrhein" to Mosel, Lorelei, Koblenz, Winningen & Cochem
On another beautiful sommers day we left Rüdesheim and headed towards the “Mittelrhein”. Here the Rhine Valley becomes winding and narrow and a traffic...
The "Oberrhein", from Strasbourg to Rüdesheim
After a one-hour wait in front of the North Lock of Strasbourg and off we went down the Rhine, joined by the “Bona Verba” with Robert and Brenda. To...
Canal de la Marne au Rhin: off to Strasbourg
The locks along the next stretch of the Canal de la Marne au Rhin are all under 3m and easy to manage. They are activated in several chains by rope pull...
Canal de la Marne au Rhin: Niderviller, Sarrebourg, Lutzelbourg, Saverne
As we moved east into Alsace everything seemed to be still a bit German. From the fir trees bordering the canal at Niderviller to the restaurant next...
The French Canal de la Sarre
And before we knew it, we were back in France! At Sarreguemines, the confluence of the Blies and Saar constitutes the blurry border between the two countries,...
The German Saar: Saarburg, Saarlouis, Saarbrücken
We are now on the so-called “Sauerkraut Route” although we haven’t eaten any sauerkraut yet as the weather is too hot for this traditional dish of the...
Thionville, Wasserbillig and Luxembourg
Well, we didn’t get checked by the water police in Thionville, or beyond. Maybe the Lodi is looking more dignified and less “pirate" than the Freshwater.
A...
Lights and Music at Metz
Neither the mixed weather nor that it was our third time dampened our excitement of being back in Metz. The harbour is ideally situated just below the...
And we are off!- Toul to Pont-à-Mousson
It is always nice observing the comings and goings in a harbour! There are the evening invasions and the early morning rushes. Some provided unexpected...
And rest- we did! Still in Toul!
As expected, the dreaded lurgy got to both of us. Lodi has now become a quarantine station with supplies of paracetamol, cough syrup and tissue boxes....
Toul's down, ready for a rest!
From Épinal we went in tandem with a German/Dutch team, lovely people! The VNF had already started preserving water resources and encouraged the grouping...
Locked in and "Locked" out!
Canal Des Vosges
At Corre, the canalised Petite Saône meets the Canal des Vosges. We were hoping this canal was equally clean and free of weeds.
It...
Tunnelling and Pedalling
Savoyeux, Seveux and Traves
After Gray the river, which we largely had to ourselves, became busier. For the first time, we had to wait in front...
Green and "Gray"
The Petite Saône and the City Gray
A fresh wind from the North - I think - (in Australia it would be a “Southerly”), has helped cool down temperatures...
New plans, new wheels and old mustard
Velars-sur-Ouche & Dijon
Now that we’ve turned around, it is so nice going down instead of up in the locks. It hardly puts any strain on ropes or...
Nice Visit and turn of Events
Slowly we have come to realise that the VNF map books are no longer up to date concerning moorings and facilities. So now in lock keepers, we trust!...
Climbing the locks of the Burgundy
Well, we love Lodi! But already in the first lock, we realised that we’ve got a new challenge on our hands. As the locks are very narrow here in France...
Guten Tag and Bon Jour!
It has been 3 years since we last arrived in Europe but it seems like an eternity! And yet, now we are here, everything is so familiar! After a week...
Ready for another season
In the immortal words of John Denver, “All our bags are packed, we’re ready to go”. It’s been a while, but now all the borders are reopened and after...
Gundagai and the Dog on the Tuckerbox
Our last fuel stop on the way home was at a little truck stop at snake Gully, nine miles out of Gundagai. This is where the famous statue of the "Dog...
Beechworth
The “weather" has finally caught up with us and we are sitting here in Wagga Wagga in our caravan surrounded by huge puddles. The river in the back of...
Yanga National Park and Echuca
Just south of Balranald, on our way to the Murray Valley, we followed the signs to Yanga National Park and Yanga Lake, and this time it was a real lake,...
Mungo National Park and Balranald
We are in a small town called Balranald, the very place where famous Australian explorers Burke and Wills crossed the Murrumbidgee River, where Charles...
Parkes and Narrandera
All the eastern access roads to Forbes were closed as the Lachlan river spilled over it’s banks and flooded vast areas. So we decided to move on to Parkes...
Dubbo and Orange
In the meantime we met up with Nina, Callum and our 9 months old grandson Milo in Dubbo about 260km south-west of Gunnedah. Those three are on
a...
Gunnedah - postscript
Post script for last blog entry: For all my Non-Aussie followers here is the beautiful poem of Dorothea Mackellar in full. The first verse describes...
Gunnedah
When we arrived in Gunnedah it was 29 degrees with close to 100% humidity. Thick cloud banks overhung the town with more severe rain predicted. This...
Mudgee, Gulgong & Dunedoo
We sure have funny sounding names for places here in Oz! “Mudgee" possibly derived from the aboriginal word “mothi” meaning “nest on the hill” or maybe...
Rylstone
Leaving the Blue Mountains via Lithgow and the Capertee Valley we took a small detour to Portland to see the Silo-art on the old Portland Cement Works....
Freedom!!!
After several months of lockdown, we finally can leave Greater Sydney. Like a horse before the race, Austin has been raring to go for weeks. So we took...
Still in lock down till 2022
Hi once again from Sydney Australia!
We hope you are all well. Here down-under we have been pretty lucky during the pandemic, yet travelling overseas...
Interesting Times
We are glad to hear that some of our boating friends are back on the water! Unfortunately, we still have a travel ban here in Australia and won’t be...
Mind Shift during the pandemic
We have a saying in Germany: "Erstens kommt es anders und zweitens als man denkt!” - meaning, that you never know how things turn out. And who could...
Welcome to our new Website
Welcome to our new website. Unfortunately, the app we used to create our old blog has gone out of business, so Austin had to rewrite the site using...