This is the Merlijn, she was built in 1930 to transport sand and she will be my home for the next week. We’re sailing 420km across Germany and I’ll be sharing the ship with only 23 other guests. I’ll show you what it’s like to live on a Barge, what we eat, where we sleep and how a brilliant Husband and Wife team run this business with just 4 other crew members, oh and their dog, Sacha. We can’t forget Sacha.

This cruise was anything but ordinary, and our time on land was mostly spent on bikes cycling each day through German towns and the countryside. The time on the bike definitely was a challenge for me but we saw some bizarre and incredible things along the way that distracted me from just how long I’d spent on the saddle.

Our cruise began in Dusseldorf on the bank of the Rhine river.

Usually when you board a cruise you have to start your journey by going through security and standing in lots of queues, but that isn’t what happened on the Merlijn.

(Because it's such a little business the easiest way to book is direct with Coen at https://www.merlijn.nu if you do need any help though with things like adding flights and hotels, we can help at https://emmacruises.com/book-a-cruise/)

When we walked down to the river edge the Merlijn was already waiting for us. There's no big cruise terminal or buildings the ships just dock on the river's edge. The ship looked beautiful, the paint looked flawless and compared to the other river ships that were around, to me the Merlijn looked tiny. You would NEVER know that she was almost 100 years old though, I’m sure shes had about 100 fresh coats of paint in that time.

We walked right onto the ship and that was it, our cruise could begin! One small step for me, a giant leap for my cruise, or something like that.

I was taking this cruise with my Dad and was really looking forward to spending the week together. It’s very rare that I spend much time with just my dad by himself so I was hoping that he would enjoy the week as much as I thought he would. I’d booked this cruise for us about a year in advance and had spent the last year telling him how much he’d like it, so I really needed it to be good.

We chatted to the other guests on the open deck area and I found out that there were people onboard from the USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil and me and my dad were there representing the UK. The front terrace area was beautifully decorated with little flowers and lots of comfy seats.


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