Rhine drought strands tourist cruises on dry land

The Rhine of the tourist brochures is now a mud bed in Rhineland-Palatinate

The images circulating of the Rhine in Rhineland-Palatinate look nothing like the postcards: the water barely covers the bottom of the riverbed, the vineyards the brochures promised frame a tongue of mud and stones. The cruises are not sailing. Tourism advertising sold fairytale bends; the reality offers no river stroll.

The European drought is nothing new, but this year it has produced an unusual sight on one of the continent's busiest rivers. The Rhine is not just a cruise backdrop: it is a first-class logistics artery. When levels drop like this, barges lighten their loads and freight costs rise. The underlying issue, however, is not the cost.

What is most unsettling is the sense that this was already written down. In letters from the 1914 front, a German soldier noted that the rivers would dry up until bridges were no longer needed. Earlier, in 1824, a visionary spoke of seas turned into cracks. And in the mid-20th century, a Bavarian seer predicted rivers that could be crossed on foot. Three testimonies, three dates, and a description that can be verified on the ground today.

There are, of course, those who play it down. The dry stretch is a secondary meander, not the main channel of the Rhine. True, but little comfort for the cruise lines that sold that route as guaranteed water. Meanwhile, the main channel remains navigable with caution. And next summer promises more of the same.

Advertising built a myth out of vineyards and castles. The climate is rewriting it with mud. If the predictions of a century ago come true, before long no bridges will be needed: a pair of wellies will do.