The River Rhine is culturally and historically one of Europe's great rivers. After rising in the Swiss Alps it flows 820 miles to the north sea through or adjacent to Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, France, Germany and The Netherlands. Starting as an alpine stream, the river traces its central course across a broad flat-floored valley before terminating in a many branched delta in the Netherlands. Ruskin journeyed up the Rhine in 1833 and down the Rhine in 1835 and 1842. In a passage intended for the unrealised third volume of Praeterita, he described the Rhine as his greatest 'river-tutor', albeit a less loved one than the Rhone ( Works, 35.635). For the Falls of the Rhine see the fall of Schaffhausen.