'Lorraine'

Alsace-Lorraine, North-East France (between Kraft and Xouaxange, through Strasbourg) on the Canal de la Marne au Rhin and Canal du Rhone au Rhin

Saturday - KRAFT
We meet in the afternoon at the Strasbourg rail station and enjoy a relaxed coach transfer to the boat moored in the village of KRAFT, some twenty five kilometres to the South of Strasbourg, close to the junction of the canal with the River Rhine. The crew will welcome you aboard with apéritifs as the luggage is taken to the cabins, following which there will be time to settle in before dinner.

Sunday - KRAFT/STRASBOURG
After breakfast we cruise on the Canal du Rhône au Rhin, a peaceful waterway that has seen little use since the building of the Grand Canal d’Alsace (the canalisation of the Rhine) in the nineteen fifties. We moor during lunch and from here we take the coach to drive south to Colmar for a guided tour of the city centre with its magnificent medieval and Renaissance buildings, 13th century collegiate church and waterside “little Venice” area. Afterwards there will be free time to explore the city further, its shops and museums, particularly the Unterlinden museum, famous for its collection of Renaissance art works and specifically for the masterpiece of Mathias Grünewald, the Issenheim altarpiece. Towards the end of the afternoon we shall head back northwards along the Route des Vins (the wine route), a small road running at the base of the foothills of the Vosges parallel to the Rhine through the famous vineyards of Alsace. We pass through several typical wine growing villages and make a short stop at the famous beauty spot of Riquewihr for a visit to a cellar to taste some local vintages before returning to the Lorraine now moored in Strasbourg.

Monday - STRASBOURG/WALTENHEIM
Today we cast off early and cruise over breakfast and through the morning passing the spectacular European parliament. After lunch, disembark for a guided walking tour of the principal sights of Strasbourg including the picturesque petite France riverside district and the remarkable cathedral of Notre Dame whose construction spread over five centuries from the Romanesque choir to the flamboyant gothic spire. Afterwards there will be free time to explore the capital of Alsace, perhaps visit one of the museums, take advantage of the excellent shopping or just stroll through the cobbled streets of timbered houses before returning to the Lorraine at her mooring close by in the village of Waltenheim sur Zorn.

Tuesday - WALTENHEIM/SAVERNE/LUTZELBOURG
We cast off after breakfast today and cruise during the morning, passing several typical Alsatian villages. A number of locks and the recently immaculate towpath give excellent opportunities for walking alongside the boat or maybe even cycling into one of the villages to appreciate the produce of a local brewery in a Bierstub. After lunch we moor in Saverne, an attractive, bustling town with a population of some ten thousand inhabitants. From our mooring we have an excellent view of the imposing red sandstone château built by the Rohan family during the eighteenth century. After a stroll in the town, a visit to Haut-Barr a ruined chateau from the eleventh century with magnificent views of the plain of Alsace, then a delightful afternoon cruise into the picturesque small town of Lutzelbourg.

Wednesday - LUTZELBOURG/HESSE
After breakfast we can make a short drive to visit a crystal workshop and see how some of the most famous products of this area are still individually fashioned by hand. We join the boat a few kilometres further on and cruise over the border into Lorraine where the canal follows the steep-sided, tree-lined valley of the river Zorn to the famous inclined plane of Arzwiller. Here a ladder of seventeen locks has been replaced by a counterbalanced barge lift that hauls us up nearly 150 feet to the summit level of the Marne to Rhine canal. We then cruise through a cutting and two tunnels under the peak of the Vosges Mountains before mooring for the evening at a quiet spot near the village of Hesse.

Thursday - HESSE/XOUAXANGE
After breakfast we continue to cruise along the summit pound, or highest section, of the Marne to Rhine canal. This section of some thirty kilometres with no locks passes through the regional park of Lorraine, an officially recognised nature reserve with numerous lakes and vast areas of woodland. The canal then begins its descent towards the plain of Lorraine through a series of locks, the first of which was built in the nineteen-fifties to replace a flight of seven of the original early nineteenth century locks and has a drop of nearly fifty feet. After lunch we take the coach for a drive to Sarrebourg and visit the chapel of the Cordelieres where we can see the stained glass window created by Marc Chagall. We return to Lorraine, moored in Xouaxange for our farewell gala dinner.

Friday
Leave the Lorraine after breakfast and transfer to Strasbourg train station for your onward travel.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A SAMPLE ITINERARY AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. ON ALTERNATE WEEKS CRUISES WILL BE IN THE REVERSE DIRECTION.