Climbing up the hill to Berg
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| Carl Johan lock seen from below... |
…which is the first destination after having completed the famous Carl Johan lock. It consists of 7 connected chambers and gets you up to Berg (the word for ‘mountain’) covering an elevation of about 19m.
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| from the top - ER waiting below |
Today it is certainly one of
the major tourist attractions of the Göta Kanal but even more so an engineering
highlight of the Kanal which was built by 58000 soldiers who consumed 8 million
liters of strong spirits during the 23 years building period from 1810 – 1832. The canal
was designed by B. von Platen with major help and advice from the Scottish
engineer Thomas Telford who built the Caledonian canal.
Everyone who has seen
the movie ‘Fitzcarraldo’ by Werner Herzog will be reminded of the scene where a
boat is pulled over a mountain. Looking from the bottom of the lock and
climbing it, it almost felt like it. Negotiating the lock-chambers required
setting off a person ashore to handle the lines whereas the helmsman had to
tame the boat until the lines was made fast – and continuously fastened during
the locking procedure.
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| water gushing into the lock chamber |
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| Madeleine adjusting the ropes |
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| “are we there yet..." |
On climbing up, the
water gushed in at great speed and pressure and only the lines and a great
number of fenders prevented damaging encounters with other boats and the stone
wall.
It was a great relief
to reach to top – only to see the next set of locks in front of you…
Today, we stayed put
during worsening weather and some thundery showers with lightning during which
the operations in the Kanal are temporarily suspended. Time for a posting and
for planning the next 9 locks to Borensberg tomorrow.