Inclined Plane (and reclining in pain)

Inclined Plane

Life on board has its ups and downs and I'm not talking about anything philosophical here. I mean pure and simple, physical up and down. You are either going upstream or downstream, up in locks or down, up steps or down. There are a lot of steps on our boat. Outside there are, apart from the one of varying height to get onboard or ashore,  2 on each side deck. Inside, there are 6 from the deck to the main cabin then a further 3 down to the galley and forward cabin or 3 to the stern cabin and bathroom. I don't know how many times we go up and down these each day. Possibly as many as some people do in a step class at gym (but minus the beaty music). That's good, you might be thinking, we'll be getting fit as we go about our daily lives. There's a drawback to steps though, a moment's inattention and the 'down' can be speedier than intended and the fitness benefits instantly disappear. Weight + gravity = pain.

And so it was that I as good as missed one of the highlights of this year's cruise – the  St-Loius-Arzviller Inclined Plane boat lift. The lift opened in 1969 and was built to replace 17 locks. It comprises a water filled tank in which either one commercial barge or several pleasure cruisers ties up. Guillotine gates close off each end then by means of counterweights the tank and boats are transferred either up or down the 108m, 41% slope. The journey takes about a quarter of an hour compared with more than 8 hours it took to work through the locks. The Inclined Plane is one of those engineering feats which usually has the word 'marvel' attached to it. When we arrived at the bottom the tank was out of sight at the top loading up with the tourist boat so we tied up and waited. The others went off for closer inspection and marvelling purposes whilst I stayed on board to look after the boat. We'd had a rainy morning but the sun came out and I decided it was safe to tidy away the jackets while we were waiting our turn.

The tourist boat was safely deposited and we got the green light to go just as the others arrived back and as I was poised, jackets in hand, at the top of our own inclined plane of those 6 steps down a couple of metres to the cabin. I don't know the angle of the slope but when my right foot got caught at the top and my left slid to the bottom I do know that I ended up stretched into a position that should only be attempted by ballerinas or Olympic gymnasts. Bearing no resemblance to either I instead opted for the premier league footballer option of rolling around in agony. My crewmates, having been summoned to get on the lift quick smart had no time to do other than make sure I was off the floor and lying on the couch and throw a pack of ice at my rapidly swelling knee. "I'll video it for you," said one. Thanks.

So I can't attest to the marvellous-ness or otherwise of the inclined plane. All I could see from my supine position on the couch and through our boats just a bit  too-high windows were tree tops and a couple of birds of prey (buzzards probably) circling in the now blue sky.

One week later and I can just about get around. Our extra crew has gone home and the skipper's having to become adept at single handed cruising.

Again posting via email as the advertised wifi at this port has, in the words of the port capitain  'une probleme technologique'. Seems to be a common occurrence. So hopefully some pictures in the near future. Will have to brave Macdonalds at this rate.