Our cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest involved going through 68 locks, either raising the boat as little as 12 feet from sea level or up to 89 feet at one time. We traveled the Rhine, Main, the 106 mile long Main-Danube Canal and the Danube rivers Obviously what goes up, must come down so there is an equivalent drop from the maximum of 1332 feet above sea level back to sea level. This link provides additional information about this inland canal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine%E2%80%93Main%E2%80%93Danube_Canal Note the photo of the canal passing over a roadway. Yes, water above, cars below! Unfortunately I missed going over that canal bridge. For those continuing on from Budapest there is an additional drop of 380 feet, finally empting into Black Sea at the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine. . The big lift occurred at night and the Skunk was peacefully asleep. 
Cars and a boat on the commercial boat? Most of the commercial b oats we passed had at least one car on board. Guess the Captain wants transportation when he got to port. The boat apparently was used to allow checking of the larger boat at the water line.
Most of the locks were barely wide enough for our River Boat with only inches to spare on each side. The locks were there first so the boats were designed to fit.
This video shows our progress through the Ottendorf Lock. A raise of 25 feet. We had to wait for the commercial boat going downstream to finish before we could enter to go up. The Lock Master alternates up and down traffic so that the water lever is right for the boat to enter although some locks have been automated and there is no one on duty. The boat captain has a remote control and does all the controlling himself.
Click her to Lock Up with us.
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