Doubilet-Benson Orient Express Bike Trip 2014: The Marne-Rhine Canal

We've now completed the first five days of our five-week bike trip, having biked from Paris to Strasbourg, France. During this part of the trip, we have generally been close to (sometimes immediately adjacent to) the Marne-Rhine canal. This major canal, completed in 1853, connects the Marne River east of Paris to the Rhine River in Strasbourg. Since the Marne connects to the Seine River, which runs through Paris, the canal provides a navigable thoroughfare for water transport from Paris to eastern France, Germany, and Switzerland. When first built, its main use was for transportation of coal from the Saar mining region to France. Today, the Marne-Rhine canal is used primarily for waterway tourism. Small barges and yachts travel the canal, connecting to rivers including the Seine, Marne, Moselle and Rhine.

The canal ascends a few hundred feet, through 154 locks and 4 tunnels along its way. Our net ascent over the past five days was the same, but our total ascent (sum of all our climbs) was more than 12,000 feet because the terrain we rode on was characterized by rolling hills through farmland and pastures.

During our travels, we've seen quite a few pleasure boats on the canal. At one point, we stopped briefly to watch a lock in operation, while a boat was waiting for the chamber to fill with water so that it could continue on its way.

Strasbourg is a charming city with a population of 270,000 (760,000 in the metropolitan area). Its historic city center, the Grande Île (Grand Island), was classified a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. It has an international flavor and is the site of the European Parliament.