the day of the ghost canal
After a day spent cycling along the Canal du la Marne au Rhin from Strasbourg to Saverne, we began our second morning on the canal cycling in the direction of Nancy. For fourteen kilometres, the path followed the waterway, through a narrow valley of orange-leafed autumn trees and dotted with quiet villages.
After Lutzelbourg, we came upon the Plan d'incline Saint-Louis-Arzviller - a marvellous feat of engineering that allows canal traffic and incredibly a section of the canal to be lifted nearly fifty metres in elevation through a system of counterweights. I'm not much on scientific explanation - perhaps a photo will do the trick?
It achieves in forty minutes what used to take twelve hours through seventeen locks.
I find the Plan d'incline fascinating.
But what I love much more is the cycle path beside the old disused canal and locks it replaces. It's a magical few kilometres of climbing alongside, and sometimes on, a ghost canal.
Most of the old canal is empty with only a few sections having small ponds. The lock keeper's houses are beautiful, some being renovated for sale while others are crumbling ruins. All warrant an episode of Grand Designs with Kevin McCloud.
The local authorities, no doubt aware of the tourist potential and keen to preserve the history of the old locks have gone to great lengths to make it easy for we cyclists to visit, sometimes even constructing a path on the empty canal.
We cycled here in late October and there were very few people about, just a few local walkers. We didn't see another cyclist. A pity. It doesn't matter what season, this section of the Marne au Rhin path deserves a detour - on a bicycle.
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