Entering the Main from the Rhine is a bit like turning off a busy motorway onto a leisurely country road: There's no more hustle and bustle from your colleagues in the commercial shipping industry. Their wake and waves are correspondingly moderate. But the natural conditions are also more moderate: the Main only has a weak current and hardly causes any problems for the skipper when manoeuvring. All in all, sailing is much more relaxed than on the Rhine.
However, those who find locks stressful will find it difficult to make friends with the Main. 34 barrages over 380 kilometres is no mean feat: on average one lock every eleven kilometres.
With the exception of Würzburg and Viereth, all locks have chambers for large vessels as well as pleasure craft locks. The chambers of the first seven boat locks (Kostheim to Kleinostheim) are at least 3.50 metres x 15 metres, but from Obernau to Viereth they are only at least 2.50 metres x 12 metres.
Fortunately, the inland waterway regulations do not stipulate that pleasure craft that are smaller than these dimensions must actually use the pleasure craft locks. With our 2.85 m wide "Troll", this would have meant having to negotiate the first seven barrages in boat locks.
But after the first lock in the Kostheim boat lock, we are already fed up with this. The chamber, which is littered with rubbish, moves upwards at a corrosively slow pace and we decide not to sample any more: From now on, we will only lock with commercial shipping.
And this works extremely well for two reasons: firstly, because the commercial shipping does not travel significantly faster than we do with our cosy displacement boat, namely 12 km/h. In other words, we can always
a commercial vessel at any time. Secondly, if that doesn't work out, the lock keeper can be notified in good time by radio that we're going upstream.
faster than us in the lock. If the entrance has already been cleared for the cargo ship ahead, the only thing you hear from the lock keeper is the friendly request "Then step on the gas a bit."
A little later, we pass through the lock together. Praise for the lock keepers The friendliness of the lock keepers on the Main, especially when dealing with us pleasure boat skippers, deserves special praise! This includes, for example, the advice after a registration: "You can take your time, I still have two downstream skippers." So simple and yet not a matter of course everywhere. And if you have moored in the lock chamber and report this to the lock keeper: "Sport boat 'Troll' is moored", at least one "thank you" is returned. And often enough: "Have a good trip." So this is an extremely enjoyable part of a trip on the Main.
There is also something less pleasing: namely the realisation that a number of highly attractive communities are obviously unable to create suitable moorings for pleasure boat crews to stop over. The old shipping and fishing town of Wörth is one of them, as is Rothenfels, which is well worth a visit.
But the pinnacle of all this is Würzburg, where local politicians have actually managed to sacrifice the traditional Würzburg Yacht Club with its magnificent jetty right in the city centre in the headwaters of the lock to the questionable revenue expectations from hotel shipping and to drive the now former Würzburg Yacht Club to Eibelstadt (Main km 261.3).
The members of the club were so angry about this that they even changed the name: Wassersportclub Eibelstadt. Still, a compliment for this community, which is also home to Marina Lewandowski on the banks of the River Main.
The first thirty kilometres of the Lower Main are characterised by industry and offer little in the way of visual appeal. Our first overnight stop at a private jetty in the Griesheim marina (upstream of the Griesheim lock) was the result of a chance boat acquaintance. It is usually only possible to moor here by prior arrangement with Bootsbau Speck, the operator of the facility (tel. 069-35 81 56). The only service: electricity. There is no water or sanitary facilities, but there are good shopping facilities (200 to 300 metres) and excellent cuisine in the rowing club's restaurant.
The city of Frankfurt begins above the Griesheim lock, and to my great surprise, "Mainhattan" looks quite attractive from the river in the bright morning sun. For a stopover in Frankfurt, the floating jetty of the Wassersportfreunde Schauermänner (km 35.70 LU/Alte Brücke) is ideally located. However, only boats up to about 8 metres in length can moor here.
This brings us to the next difficult chapter in this area: there are only a few harbours that are designed for larger boats.
Up to a length of 10 metres, it is just about possible in outside or head positions, but above that it becomes difficult to find suitable moorings with harbour service. In short, the area is not equipped for today's touring yachts that are significantly longer than ten metres. What's more, the few public piers that are suitable for larger pleasure craft are usually remote and offer no services whatsoever. Not even water and/or electricity. The insistent letter to the editor from a Dutch boating couple (see BOOTE 10/08) speaks volumes: "What's going on on the Main? Please, beautiful communities on the Main: Do something!"
In light of these experiences, our editorial boat, at eight metres in length, is the ideal size for this area. Skippers of larger yachts should plan their overnight stops very carefully. The "Gewässerkarte Main" by Andreas Saal (see box "Törnführer und Gewässerkarten") is a good help here, as it indicates very precisely which boat sizes a harbour is suitable for.
In the quiet and well-protected Mainkur marina (km 46.90 RU) in the former lock of the same name, even large boats can easily find a berth. Water and electricity at the jetty as well as sanitary facilities. If you need to go shopping, take the ferry to Rumpenheim on the opposite bank.
The Marina Untermain in Kahl am Main, the first harbour on Bavarian soil, can accommodate a guest boat up to 15 m in length (entering on the port side of the sheet pile wall) and several boats up to 10 m in length. The harbour basin is situated in a very quiet location next to a campsite with mature trees not far from the mouth of the River Kahl. In addition to water and electricity at the jetty and solid sanitary facilities, operator Lässig-Motor offers a comprehensive boat and motor service. The small town is around 15 minutes' walk away.
It's mid-May, and yet we're pretty much the only pleasure craft on the 20-kilometre stretch of river from Kahl to Aschaffenburg. Amazing, because it's Saturday and the weather, apart from the strong north-westerly wind, isn't bad at all. But with a few exceptions, this experience will stay with us forever: There is not much going on on the Main and the Main-Danube Canal in terms of pleasure craft. We can almost always count the number of daily encounters with like-minded people on one hand.
The Aschaffenburg raft harbour is magnificently situated in a quiet side arm of the Main, separated from the main fairway by a narrow, 1.7 km long island. At the northern end of the raft harbour, Johannesburg Castle towers above the river, visible from afar. In the southern part of the raft harbour are the floating jetties of six clubs. We moor at the jetty of the water sports club Wassersportfreunde Neptun Aschaffenburg. (Water and electricity at the jetty, showers and WC in the container, W-LAN). The harbour master greets us in a friendly manner: "You're in luck, we're having a buzz today." We in the north would say "starting up". Two words, the same rituals: there is little danger ("too windy"), plenty to eat and drink. In this case, the finest beef goulash and draught beer. The old town of Aschaffenburg, which is well worth seeing, will have to wait until the next morning ...
Farewell to the Johannisburg. The Obernau and Wallstadt locks run like clockwork.
Stop off at the Erlenbach water sports club, whose harbour is completely surrounded by greenery and in absolute peace and quiet in a separate harbour basin in the Erlenbach sheltered harbour (km 107.4 RU). Guest boats "park" alongside the guest jetty in front of the inner harbour basin. If you want to relax, this is the place to be. The town centre is around two kilometres away.
Then Wörth - without a reasonable mooring option. But we've already covered that topic. Klingenberg is no different, where vineyards come into the river skipper's field of vision for the first time: The first harbingers of the "Franconian wine country", whose centre, however, lies further east, around the Main loop between Karlstadt and Schweinfurt.
The Engelberg Franciscan monastery high above Heubach provides an impressive backdrop for the small harbour of the Heubacher Bootsfreunde (km 121.30 RU). Soft evening light paints an enchanting backdrop of Miltenberg - apart from a few architectural sins. The camping sites on the right bank of the River Main directly opposite are a horror and hardly in keeping with the historic backdrop of the old town. However, as nothing solid can be built on these flooded meadows, the town fills its coffers by renting out the pitches.
Piekfein is the harbour of the Miltenberg yacht club, where we moor for the night. The flood-proof clubhouse is a feast for the eyes: beautiful shapes and colours and lots of stainless steel. The mooring lines on the jetty are also made of stainless steel. It's curious that Miltenberg not only has this beautiful club harbour, but also a public pleasure craft mooring (without service) on a smooth steel wall with mooring lines - made of stainless steel, of course - right opposite on the left bank of the Main. Such a facility would be desirable in a place where there are no mooring facilities at all ... This example shows that it is possible!
An extensive visit to the old town centre of Miltenberg, which can be reached quickly via the Old Main Bridge, which is well worth seeing, is a must. New day, new luck - also at the locks. Due to the lack of commercial shipping, we circle for almost an hour in front of the Freudenberg lock, where there are no mooring facilities for miles around in the underwater area.
Wertheim, which is worth seeing but also very touristy, welcomes us with pouring rain. We enter the Tauber estuary, where the jetties and the club ship "Germania" of the Wertheim Motor Yacht Club are moored on the starboard side directly opposite the picturesque old town. We moor at the club ship (water and electricity), which is the official mooring for boats over 10 metres in length. Only a few boats bob up and down on the floating dock. A total contrast to Miltenberg, where the yacht club harbour was packed. Nobody can explain to us what is going on here - or rather what is not going on.
Wertheim Castle's location on a narrow ridge high above the Main and Tauber rivers promises a marvellous view of the valley. But even that is denied us: the castle is hidden in a thick haze.
The day's destination is Lohr, 40 river kilometres from Wertheim. Three hours of the worst rainy weather. The harbour of the WSV Wertheim-Bettingen (km 167.00 LU) remains unnoticed on the right. Shortly before Rothenfels it clears up. The castle towers mightily over the town. How I would love to see it! But again the familiar song: there are no mooring facilities far and wide in Rothenfels. You get the impression that the town has forgotten its river.
The magnificent Main passage through the densely wooded mountains of Spessart and Odenwald deserved sunshine. But we don't get any until we take an evening stroll through the town of Lohr, where we find a pleasant guest mooring close to the town at the sports boat club (km 197.8 RU). I am immediately impressed by Lohr. The half-timbered old town can easily keep up with Miltenberg or Wertheim and yet has remained pleasantly true to itself: Tourism is not (yet) celebrating an orgy here.
"Lohr is more" is the advertising slogan of the town's tourist information centre and hits the nail on the head: not a Franconian small-town idyll as a tourist trap, but a full-bodied idyll with tourist ambitions. That is likeable.
But it has to be, because Snow White is from Lorraine. The proof was provided by the work "Snow White - On the Fabulology of the Spessart" by a certain Dr Karlheinz Bartels, in which the scientific methods of "fabulology" were used to provide factual evidence that the fairy tale took place in the Spessart between Lohr and Bieber, and that Snow White was actually from Lohr.
However, it will probably remain the secret of the town's tourist information office as to who promoted the northern light Verona Poth, née Feldbusch, ("Da werden Sie geholfen") to Lohr's "Snow White of Honour" in 2007. As you can see: Lohr is fun for me!
The sad story of Würzburg, a good 50 kilometres upstream of Lohr, has already been told. Now that local politicians have cleared away the attractive jetty of the former Würzburg Yacht Club, our experience has led us to doubt whether the Marina Seubert (km 253.20 LU) below the "Käppele" is willing and able to welcome boat tourists and thus provide a starting point for shore leave that is reasonably close to the city centre. If not, water hikers can erase the Würzburg World Heritage Site from the water map!
Since the introduction of red diesel for commercial shipping in 2007, Marina Lewandowski in Eibelstadt (km 262.30 LU) is the only remaining boat filling station with petrol and diesel on the Main and Main-Danube Canal. (There is still a delivery service in the Karlstadt-Laudenbach marina, km 227.5 LU). So the petrol station alone is a reason to head for Marina Lewandowski. There are two more: the Italian restaurant "Piccolo Mondo" in the harbour and the small town of Eibelstadt, which is well worth a visit and can be reached on foot in a good ten minutes.
Weekend and sunshine: it takes us 8 1/2 hours to cover the 54 kilometres of river and six locks from Eibelstadt to Wipfeld. And at last there's some movement on the Main and even some real action around Kitzingen and Wipfeld. One after the other: Just eight kilometres above Eibelstadt lies the next small town worth seeing: Ochsenfurt. Two harbours are hidden behind long, overgrown embankments that separate the facilities from the fairway: The harbour of the Segler-Jungenschaft Nürnberg (km 270.20 LU) and the Ochsenfurter Bootsclub (km 270.6).
Far too short, of course, as a day's stage from Eibelstadt - unless you have a lot of time. Of course, we don't have a lot of time, so we just take a few photos. In Marktbreit (km 277.10 LU) we discover a public quay wall with rings and bollards (but without service) at the "Alter Kran", which is only a few metres away from a roadside petrol station. My impression: This is just as good a place for visiting Marktbreit, just a few steps away, as the very cramped harbour of the water sports section of the Marktbreit hockey club, which begins directly above the quay wall with individual jetties for small boats.
Boats up to 9 metres in length are moored above the road bridge. In Kitzingen, the sports boat skippers from the "Schiefer Turm" campsite (km 285.60 LU) keep things moving on the river. At last! If you want to get to know the more than 1200-year-old wine trading town of Kitzingen better, you can moor at the quay wall designated for sports boats near the town centre.
quay wall near the town centre (no service).
We experience something new at the Wipfeld lock: first a technical defect is reported, then we are locked together with two other pleasure craft for the first time. Marina Wipfeld (km 316.70 RU), in a very quiet location in the upper arm of the lock, is operated as a branch of the 1st Nuremberg Motor Yacht Club
(water, electricity, very good sanitary facilities).
However, our walk into the village turns out to be a disappointment: although it's Saturday evening, the village looks deserted. The two bakeries in the village are closed early on Sunday. So no Sunday rolls for breakfast.
The route heads north towards Schweinfurt and the end of the eastern Mainschleife, the "wine triangle" that forms the centre of Franconian wine country. Friends of the Bocksbeutel should know that the Franconian Winegrowers' Association has been honouring the ten "best of the best" wines with the "Best of Gold" award for the past five years. (www.frankenweinaktuell.de).
The Schweinfurt Yacht and Water Sports Club is located in a quiet oxbow lake near Garstadt (km 322.50 RU).
A beautiful facility for boats up to a maximum length of 12 metres, which is certainly worth a stopover. For us
only for a photo tour. The city of Schweinfurt demonstrates what seems impossible in other municipalities: in the upper water of the Schweinfurt lock, pleasure craft can moor on the Gutermann promenade, which is around 250 metres long and close to the city centre.
Würzburg, for example, should take a leaf out of its book. Above Schweinfurt, in Schonungen, the silhouette of Mainberg Castle, which is completely embedded in vineyards, is impressive. The most beautiful perspective of the day. Goods ship "Gau" pulls us quickly through the locks at Ottendorf, Knetzgau
and Limbach.
In the spacious Eltmann-West estuary (km 369.7 LU) we find a quiet guest berth at the Eltmann yacht club (water, electricity, sanitary facilities), and the town is on the other side of the estuary, which you have to go round to get there. That's about a kilometre to the town centre. It is therefore good to see that there is a short sports boat jetty on the town side of the oxbow lake, opposite the club facilities, from which the town centre is close and a road petrol station is even closer: around 50 m.
A good opportunity to top up on canisters. By the way, the Franconian wine bliss is completely over in Eltmann. Five breweries with just under 6000 inhabitants make Eltmann the "Beer Town on the Main", which is celebrated in style at the "Eltmann Beer Days" on the last weekend in July. Viereth is the last lock on the Main. We have now climbed 150 metres since the mouth of the Main. Before the river joins the Main-Danube Canal just below Bamberg, it offers three more marinas, of which the well-kept Marina Trosdorf is particularly worth a stopover.
However, it is just under one kilometre from the nearest amenities and a good six kilometres from Bamberg.
kilometres from Bamberg. And anyone dreaming of a mooring in the centre of the beautiful city of
of smoked beer must be prepared for the fact that the beautiful town on the Regnitz and Main-Danube Canal is one of those
municipalities that have not yet opened up to touring skippers.
To be continued.
