Another stretch of the Rhine doubled up
I'm not making a lot of headway in my quest to follow the Rhine from source to mouth at the moment. Major portions will have to wait until I quit my job in June.
But I don't mind at all if I get to do smaller outings such as Saturday's: My daughters and I packed our two foldable/inflatable canoes on a train and a bus to launch them 6 km upriver at Rüdlingen, a picturesque village with a church perched high up above the river and some vineyards.
After the rather sweaty travails of putting my Pakboat together (how much can you forget over a long winter?), we drifted down the fast-running green waters until after the bridge to Flaach, you could already feel the effect of the dam. The current slowly relented, and we needed to paddle a tiny bit to make some progress. The girls enthused about this deeply cut wooded trench: "It's like the Amazon, minus the monkeys and piranhas."
Despite the leisurely tempo, it took us only an hour and a half to float back to the departure point under the railway bridge. Of course, I have run up and down this piece of Rhine many times before.
Since I already have tons of photos from the river around Eglisau, I only took my action cam with me, and stupidly neglected to clean the lens and the plastic case. Hence the smear. I also forgot to back-up and erase the previous films, so there was no more space on the SD card for movies. Next time, I'll be better prepared. But then again, photos can't really convey the impression of a perfect canoe trip.
But I don't mind at all if I get to do smaller outings such as Saturday's: My daughters and I packed our two foldable/inflatable canoes on a train and a bus to launch them 6 km upriver at Rüdlingen, a picturesque village with a church perched high up above the river and some vineyards.
After the rather sweaty travails of putting my Pakboat together (how much can you forget over a long winter?), we drifted down the fast-running green waters until after the bridge to Flaach, you could already feel the effect of the dam. The current slowly relented, and we needed to paddle a tiny bit to make some progress. The girls enthused about this deeply cut wooded trench: "It's like the Amazon, minus the monkeys and piranhas."
Despite the leisurely tempo, it took us only an hour and a half to float back to the departure point under the railway bridge. Of course, I have run up and down this piece of Rhine many times before.
Since I already have tons of photos from the river around Eglisau, I only took my action cam with me, and stupidly neglected to clean the lens and the plastic case. Hence the smear. I also forgot to back-up and erase the previous films, so there was no more space on the SD card for movies. Next time, I'll be better prepared. But then again, photos can't really convey the impression of a perfect canoe trip.
