Canal de la Meuse

FYI, it looks like the Meuse, Vosges and other canals will reopen on Friday, though it's not clear for how long!  (Unfortunately I can't leave right now, but maybe I'll get lucky and it'll still be open in September....)

Thanks for the suggestions, Peter - sounds like you have far more experience with this route than I do! I'll follow up directly with a couple of questions, if you don't mind... 

- David

Dave - You're in the same boat as us - well perhaps not literally!  Our plan is Strasbourg to NL in August and we have similarly found that the options are just 3 - via the Rhine all the way to say Weesp (690 km, 6 locks, 51 engine hours), or the Sarre / Moselle / Rhine from Kolblenz (850-86-102 hrs), or the Moselle / Rhine (900-84-107 hrs).  We plan to go the Moselle route as delay in the hopes of the Meuse (850-163-143 hrs) opening up in time to reach NL seems too risky.
 
I believe you are just over the 20 m legal limit for pleasure boats on the Rhine without a pilot, so you may have a tricky decision to make!  I travelled the Rhine from Strasbourg to beyond Tiel in 2019 and the river police seemed totally disinterested although we were 2 inches within the legal limit of 15 m then allowed.

Good luck.  Peter 

FYI, I think I've answered my own question: found this chart implying that Aug and especially Sept will likely be much dryer than July. I'm guessing the Meuse won't open until Oct/Nov.  



- Dave

The south end of the Meuse is currently closed due to lack of water, with no projected reopening date. Could anyone offer a prediction - based on past closures, regional rainfall patterns, etc. - about when it might be likely to reopen? 

Hoping to make it from Strasbourg to Amsterdam this fall, though I expect there'll be other closures as the summer wears on!

- Dave