Tuesday 27th July 2004 Waren to Lärz.

12.2° C Cloudy, sunny spells and light showers of rain at lunchtime. Set off at 8.15 a.m. The

Schloss Kink from the lakeside
Wikimedia photo by Darkone

inside wall of the harbour was filled with huge hired cruisers - Bill had remarked earlier that the biggest had taken half an hour to fiddle his way into the gap opposite him with bow and stern thrusters going, making that hateful noise - zuut - zuut - zuut! We sailed round the shallow bit in front of the harbour in the Binnen Müritz and down the narrows past Schloss Klink into the Müritz see, largest lake (entirely) in Germany. I made tea on the way. Gentle waves rocked the boat as we cruised south down the lake. It was early, so we almost had the whole lake to ourselves except for some early morning fishermen. Had a text from Jim thanking us for the invite to Poland, but he had

Schloss Klink front door!
Wikimedia photo by X-Weinzar

planned to go south in ‘05 to the Midi, so he was going back slowly to Gent for the winter. There were three fishing boats anchored in a semi-circle about 50 m off the middle marker buoy. We had to stick to tradition and circle the buoy to take photos of each other with the name of the buoy showing. We did so, but slowly so as not to disturb the fishing! It was 10.00 a.m. I took a photo of the huge expanse of sky and lovely cloud formations to the southeast of the lake. Traffic was starting to build up as we ran south with lots of small open speed boats and sailing boats. Waves would suddenly

The magnificent Muritzsee - photo by me!!

appear from nowhere from the wash of a speed boat long since gone down the far side of the lake. Hugh McKnight in his book likens a passage across the Müritz See as to a trip across the English Channel. We have not taken a cruiser across the English Channel and we don’t think Hugh McKnight has taken a narrowboat across the Müritz See. We travelled down the dog-leg exit from the lake, past Vipperow whose buildings were invisible behind the trees, into Kleine Müritz where the red and green channel markers swapped sides as the MEW (the Müritz-Elde-Wasserstraße) became the MHW (the Müritz-Havel-Wasserstraße). At the

Rosy circling the Mitte marker, Muritz

beginning of the canal section we passed a very large pontoon/cruiser from Genthin as we went under the Vietzen road bridge. It was 12.45 p.m. when we tied up next to the old WSA quay between the two bridges at Lärz. Mike decided to leave the car where it was at Waren for the next few days. We had lunch and both of us went to sleep - must be the cold bugs - and didn’t wake until 5 p.m. Shortly after Bill came over with his map to sort out the route for the next few days. We decided to backtrack and explore the Müritz Arm as we’d missed it out last time we were here and come back to Lärz. Mike also decided to go for an early start and move on to moor at Wolfsbruch. Made pasta à la carbonara for dinner. 

Sunday 25th & Monday 26th July 2004 Barkow to Waren.

Sunday 25th July 2004 Barkow.

9.5° C overnight. Grey all day, rain started in the evening. We had the day off for Mike to

Barkow lock - Wikimedia
photo by Andre Steinhauser

watch the German F1 GP from Hockenheim. Mike listened to 20m for an hour, mostly contest stations still. 40m was as bad with fewer gaps. He called Peter on 40m. We could hear his reply very well, 5+9, but he couldn’t hear us. We were 960 kms due west of of his house in Willenhall, with the antenna wire in the worst possible direction, pointing east-west. Gave up and made some lunch. Mike painted the red on the front deck and the hatch lid - at last the non-slip sanding has had a covering coat! He said he would leave doing the pattern on the deck lid until he was sure it wouldn’t rain. (When will that be? we all wondered!). Mike watched the Grand Prix racing. Glad of the day off, I went to lie down and slept all afternoon. It was raining when I got up.

Monday 26th July 2004 Barkow to Waren.

Liftbridge in Plau - Wikimedia photo by niteshift

12.2° C. Grey, overcast, drizzle which became rain showers. We had a rough night, both of us coughing a lot. Mike went to take our rubbish to the bin in the layby where he’d parked the car and was told, quite nastily, by a man who was strimming the grass that he was on private land, he couldn’t park there or deposit his rubbish as the layby was there just for the Imbiss (snack bar) further up the village. Mike said he wished he’d known more of the language to argue - he didn’t believe him, there were no signs to say it was private property. The bloke said there was public parking in the village. Mike went on foot to look and found nothing. He went back to the layby to ask where. Parking, he was told, was at the end of the layby used for a bus stop.

He’d checked this with someone else in the village and it appeared to be the only public

Plau lock - Wikimedia photo by Doris Antony

parking. He moved the car and parked it in the long run in to the bus stop layby. (I felt quite uncomfortable about leaving the car there, in Britain vehicles left in bus stop laybys get towed away and attract large fines. - Comment by Mike). We set off in drizzle just after 9.00 a.m. following Rosy up to the lock. Bill had twisted the blue pole to set it running, it was emptying. There were only the two of us to go up. A man and two students were doing some surveying, measuring things on the lockside. A group of people on their way to go fishing crossed the lock gates. We had tea en route for Plau and the last lock before the lake. A downhill cruiser went by five minutes before we got to the lock.

Lift bridge in Plau - Wikimedia photo by Doris Antony

The gates were closed until the keeper saw us coming and reopened them for us. Again, just us two going uphill. Mike put the pins in, Bill sorted out his washing and I held the string from our bows while we came up in the lock. Plau was very busy with pedestrian tourists, lots of them (on guided tours?) were on the footbridge crossing the lock chamber. Lots and lots of boats were now moored from the lock all the way through the town to the shores of the lake. Just before we left the canal for the lake we passed a very shiny, very new, replica Dutch 10m tjalk which looked like it had been built by someone who had seen lots of pictures of tjalks - but had never seen one for real! A very smart looking boat nonetheless.

 

Viewing tower & promenade Plau
Wikimedia by Gunther M Apsel

Trip boats from Plau were doing a roaring trade and a cruiser pulled out between us and Rosy, but was away as soon as we reached the lake. It was 11.00 a.m. the rain had stopped and I’d got the washing going as we set off across Plauersee. A few cruisers were milling about and one or two sailboats went in between the trippers. The sky was filled with grey clouds and it was quite breezy as we entered the narrow channel of the Petersdorfersee, where there were only a couple of cruisers moving. We arrived at Malchow at 12.30 p.m. to wait for the swing bridge (which had limited Hugh McKnight’s cruise of the lakes in ‘92 when it was out of action). It opened on the hour, every hour, from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. There was a crowd of waiting boats, milling about in the lake as there was nowhere to tie up and wait. We threw ropes round stumps at the end of the tripper boat quay and I made lunch while we waited. The boats came through from the other side first at 1 p.m. - more than twenty came through, including a tripper, called Sonnenschine, which hooted and winded to moor and drop off passengers just in front of where we’d moored. We untied and got ready to move. The bridge keeper leaned out of his cabin window with a small fishing net. There were no signs stating how much, so Mike

Bridge at Malchow - Wikimedia photo by Steven Isaacson

donated one Euro. We got a small card, which was a thank you for the contribution for the upkeep of the bridge. A familiar boat went past, we’d seen it a lot when we were around Berlin last time - a large cruiser with a distinctive striped splash guard around the cabin top deck steering position, called Hevellert from Berlin. We waved to the crew as they overtook us - had a feeling it was some kind of small hotel boat - as we went into the wider Fleesensee. All the boats which came through the bridge at the same time as us were now gone - we were last as usual as we went through the narrows into Kölpinsee. We tried to find somewhere to tie up at the back of some metal dolphins by some wooden piling in Eldenburger, but it was too shallow and there was no path to get to the road with the moped. We went on down the Rekkanal into the Binnen Müritz and headed for a low looking wall by a park. Again the lake

Waren - Wikimedia photo by darkone

edge shelved and was covered this time with rocks. We backed off, gave up and headed for the yacht haven. Pay up and look pleasant, there was nowhere else to moor. Into the harbour, we couldn’t see anywhere to tie as all the berths were full. The harbour master came down the outer harbour wall and told us we could moor on the outside. Mike asked him 

Waren - town moorings - Wikimedia photos by Thomas Kohler

about the signs that said mooring Verboten (forbidden) - he said they were his signs and he could override them! It was 4.35 p.m. Bill and I went to pay. 13 Euros. That’s just to tie up, no water or electricity - that’s extra and too far away from where we were moored anyway. Called in the chandlery and I bought us a new German courtesy flag (except I bought the wrong size and had to take it back and exchange it for a smaller size) Bill gave us a hand to get the moped off, balanced on the plank over the handrailing along the harbour wall and “see-sawed” the bike over. We’d seen a large Dutch sailing tjalk moored by a hotel ship on the town quay to the left of the harbour when we were trying to find somewhere to tie up. Now the owner, a Canadian chap, came over to tell us he would have offered us mooring alongside him but the harbour master got to us first. The Dutch hotel boat, Greta von Holland, had let him moor alongside them and have electricity. The skipper invited us over for a drink later. (Bill went, but we didn’t think it fair to take our germs and asked Bill to send our apologies - our paths will no doubt cross again - we’d seen him before in Chauny, France, earlier in the year). Mike went off to get the car from Barkow at 5.30 p.m. I made sweet and sour pork with rice for dinner when Mike returned. It was after 8 p.m. when he got back as he’d been stopped by the Polizei again - no visible insurance plate - for the second time, they had stopped him on the 19^th. (After that we had the brainstorming idea of putting “F” nationality stickers on the back of his crash helmet and the mudguard on the bike – he was never stopped again!)

Saturday 24th July 2004 KP 79 MEW to Barkow.

14.9° C. Overcast to start, sunny spells. Dry! Mike was up at 7 a.m. to get all the lashing undone and set off to get to the first lock for opening time at 9 a.m. We arrived at Neuburg lock at 9.10 a.m. A yacht was coming downhill in the 3.8m deep automatic lock. Two cruisers arrived, one tied alongside Rosy, the other hovered mid-stream. The cruiser

Old sugar factory in Lubz
Wikimedia photo by niteshift

which had moored next to Bill went into the lock first, we two followed and the other cruiser came in behind us. The blue rod was on the left side so Bill let Rosy’s bows go over to the left and, after the boat behind had roped up, he turned the bar and came back alongside us while we went up. Meanwhile Mike had a phonecall from our surveyor (glad he got that, I was barely able to croak) who was about to go on another two week visit to Miami. He said he would put together a few sentences for our insurer to say our electrics, gas, fuel, etc were OK. When we left the lock I made a cuppa. 15.5 kms to the next lock. Bill stopped to make himself some lunch. The cruiser behind us had stayed behind Bill and didn’t want to come past him. He went past when Bill stopped, but then Bill had to pass him again when he wanted to catch us up. Just then two very fast cruisers overtook him. We were within sight of the lock at Lübz as they went past. The blonde lady keeper sorted them out, making the cruisers all go on the left so we could slot in alongside them on the right. We had to swing our stern over so she could shut the gates behind us, then we straightened up and went against the lock wall. (Aire and Calder style of locking! - Comment from Mike). Mike had nothing to tie the stern end to. I had to transfer our front rope to the bow stud to keep off Rosy’s stern fender. A chap came on to the lockside to chat to Bill. He was a boater and had friends in Skipton, they did exchange visits and he’d been on the L&L to Bingley Five Rise. We had lunch leaving Lübz, the town was much smarter than the last

Bobzin lock - Wikimedia photo by E W

time we were there, new houses were appearing everywhere. It was only 4.5 kms to the next lock. A Kunzle hireboat and the two cruisers we’d locked with had been left out at Bobziner, the next lock. The deep (7m) chamber was filling. A yacht arrived behind us. When the lock emptied the two big cruisers went in first, then the hireboat. Bill went alongside the hireboat on his left and we went behind it with the yacht opposite us and inches to spare behind us. The hireboat crew held their boat ropes in their hands and let it run back as the water came in until our bow fender was overhanging their swimming platform and bumping it. There were crowds on the bridge crossing the tail of the lock. Our boating friend who liked Yorkshire was on the lockside again, this time with his camcorder and his wife. They waved. It was 2.20 p.m. when we left the top. Only three boats were waiting to descend. A group of young teenage lads were sprawled on the WSA quay at Kuppertin, getting drunk - acquiring bad habits early? Beyond the

Bobzin lock - Wikimedia photo by E W

bridge there was a mooring next to a café which was almost full of moored cruisers at 3.00 p.m. We went past two bunches of canoes, hired no doubt from the café. We moored next to a wild area by the bridge in Barkow. Mike jumped ship to see if he could get the moped to the road. He could, there was a good path beyond the reeds, etc. There were underwater wooden piles and the breeze was holding the boat against them. I dropped two tyres down the sides and sank them to rest between the piles and the boat hull, then Mike got both planks off and we knocked stakes in. It was 4 p.m. Rosy moored behind us after Mike had showed Bill where there was a fisherman’s track where he could put his bows so the dog could get on and off with the aid of his plank. Our two planks were placed side by side to give access to the roof to get the moped off. It was 5.20 p.m. when Mike went off to Banzkow to collect the car. At 8.00 p.m. Bill called to say he’d had an accident getting off his boat - his plank (which he had pinched from a building site - his own - when they were building his house in Huntingdon - and had carried around for the past four years) had broken into four pieces where it had rotted through. He was off for a walkabout in the village and I said he could borrow one of ours to get himself and the dog back on board on his return. He was back fifteen minutes later. Mike was back at 9.00 p.m. and ran the moped back up the one plank, while I stood on the roof to catch it. Peter sent an SMS to see if we could hear one another on HF. Put the wire antenna up and found wall to wall contest stations. Mike cut down a dipole he’d made years ago to try on 20m and found that worked very well, no need for an ATU, but there were stations calling CQ contest everywhere - and none that we could hear were British! We gave up and sent a text to try again next day, perhaps the contest would be finished. My cold was worse, I felt lousy.

Friday 23rd July 2004 Banzkow to a wild mooring at KP 79 MEW.

12° C Sunny and warmer, paid for by thunderstorms later in the evening. Set off when the

lock opened at 9.00 a.m. after the keeper had let a yacht uphill through the lock first. My

Grabow lock MEW. Wikimedia photo by barghaan

cold was getting worse and Mike’s was getting better. I made tea while Mike held the string as we descended in Banzkow lock. We met one hireboat cruiser from Schwerin on the way down the Störkanal to the junction with the MEW. It was followed about ten minutes later by another four cruisers, which was probably a lockful. Mike knocked his wooden seat (it fits on the roof over the metal grab rails) overboard and had to do a hard reverse to go back and pick it up, just as the next bunch of uphill boats went past. The leading yacht stopped and passed on the wrong side as we recovered Mike’s seat. Made another cuppa and a rotten fly landed in mine before I got to the stern. I threw it overboard in disgust, washed my cup out

Garwitz lock MEW - Wikimedia photo by niteshift

and made another. A Locaboat pénichette (! first one since France!) was leading the next convoy of uphill boats. We waited below Garwitz lock behind a cruiser and a zodiac inflatable. One cruiser came down and then we all went up the automatic lock, rising 3.9 m which took 20 minutes. A road bridge had been built over the lock chamber, level with the top of lock wall so we had to be careful to stay forward of it and not to get underneath it as we rose in the chamber. A hireboat, five cruisers and a canoe were waiting above the lock when we left. It was 12.20 p.m. when we left the lock and 10 kms to the next lock. Lunch on the move. The next downhill lockful went past at KP 69. The first boat was a fast cruiser making loads of wash,

f

Parchim lock MEW.
Wikimedia photo by E W

ollowed by a Crown Blue Line hireboat and two small cruisers. I saw the first topless sunbather go by on a cruiser, Mike said it was his second - he’d seen another earlier in the day. The navigation followed the natural river in places and was consequently pleasantly winding as it passed through increasingly beautiful countryside, water meadows and forests. We had a short wait while boats came down Parchim lock, which was keeper operated. There were only us two to go up and two more Locaboats were waiting above when we left the lock. Just after we’d gone under the road bridge in Parchim a chopper trike went over it pulling a little maroon caravan. I’d never seen a chopper pulling a caravan before. Passing through the village of Slate we found the hirebase of some “Kunzle cake” boats - Kuhnle cruisers, actually, Kunzle cake is our nickname for the big square chunky steel boats painted a distinctive dark blue and cream. They were turning them round, boats were reversing in and out of the moorings. A little further on a bride and groom stood to be photographed with the boats as a backdrop. The wedding guests were milling around a large riverside restaurant next to the hirebase. We kept our heads down and kept going. At KP 79, in the middle of nowhere, we moored next to Rosy by some wooden posts piled into the bank edge. Mike got a plank off and put some ropes and stakes into the bank as there was a slight flow

 

A Kuhnle hire boat
Wikimedia photo by Pawel Drozd

on the river Elde. It was 3.50 p.m. Several cruisers went past within minutes to test our tying up. Ten minutes later a couple of Kunzle cakes went past, one going home and one just setting off. We both went to sleep. Mike got up at 6.45 p.m. After dinner a shower of torrential rain took the satellite picture off halfway through a programme we were watching. A really good old thunderstorm followed with some loud crashes quite close by. 

Thursday 22nd July 2004 Hohen Viecheln to Banzkow.

11.5° C. Hazy sun, clouded over until midday then the sun came out for a beautiful afternoon.

Ziegelwerder island (nature reserve) in Schwerinersee
Wikimedia photo by niteshift

We left at 8 a.m. The lake was flat calm and placid, which was nice after all the sloshing produced by yesterday’s winds. The midges were out in force as a result. We sailed serenely down the eastern side of the lake, taking the narrow channel called the Langer Graben which lead into the chain of smaller lakes into Schwerin. We paused at the yacht harbour at Marina Nord in Schwerin for water. The harbourmaster came out in a dinghy first to tell us where to go and then came round on foot to speak to us. He said to say hello to Jim on Elizabeth - small world, of all the boatyards to pick we found the one that Jim stopped at whilst waiting for visitors from England! (We sent him a text later) He only charged us 1€ for water for the two of us (about 700 litres). I made lunch and we ate it while the tanks filled very slowly. A woman on a cruiser asked if she could borrow our hose. I told

Beautiful aerial photo of Schwerin and the lakes
Wikimedia photo by Ronald Bierber

her it was our own and that we were just leaving. Someone had taken the hosepipe that was originally attached to the tap - a man on a large cruiser who had landed at the same time as us, obviously for the same reason, but he’d taken the hose off to use it somewhere else and hadn’t returned it. There was another hose coiled up on the post at the end of the landing stage so Mike set it up for her and her husband went off to find the other hose. (It occurred to us later that it was probably their mooring, their tap and their hose pipe - you can’t leave anything for ten minutes!!) I turned the ‘fridge off to defrost it. When it finished defrosting at 2 p.m. I refilled it just as we turned on to the Störkanal, heading back to Banzkow. A crowd of boats came past, they must have just been let through

 

Liftbridge at Plate on the Storkanal
Wikimedia photo by Uwe Barghaan

the bridge at Plate at 2.30 p.m. Bill was in front and had stopped to let Fanny off. As we came alongside he said “One of us has fallen in”. He didn’t look wet - so it must have been the dog, poor Fanny had jumped for the bank and missed! We moored at Banzkow (on the very end again) at 3.30 p.m. The liftbridge went up and a cruiser came out of the lock. I went to tell the young man who was working the lock and bridge today that we wanted to stay on the lock mooring as he was waiting for us to come into the lock. He understood that we were staying put, lowered the bridge down again and went away. Mike and I went shopping by car to the Real in Schwerin. Bill stayed, he said he was OK as he’d bought spuds off the old couple. Best to avoid all our germs as we’d now both got a cold! Found the large hyper on a new commercial centre called Sieben Seen (seven seas). I was tired before we started shopping and by the time we’d finished I was well and truly shattered, my feet and legs were aching. I put the groceries away and did some spuds while Mike set up the BBQ.

Wednesday 21st July 2004 Banzkow to Hohen Viecheln.

14.9° C Overcast, chilly and everything was damp. Windy just to add an edge to the

The palace at Schwerin. my photo from 1999

wonderful weather. Someone started work with a grass strimmer at 6.30 a.m. and the dog at the house next door to the old couple’s house (where we were moored opposite to) started barking too. Mike and Bill went off to get some bread then we set off at 8.30 a.m. Where the WSA had done bank stabilisation work, i.e. underwater wooden piling backed with small rocks up to about 30 cms above water to prevent erosion, they had also planted reeds, rushes and water hemlock - the uniform gaps between them indicated that they’d been planted. Took the mast down to get under the 2.1 m headroom without waiting for the bridge at Plate to be lifted (it used to be lifted every two hours, but now there’s a timetable). Made tea as we motored out on to the beginning of

 

Boat houses in the Schwerinersee, my photo from 1999

Schweriner See at 10.00 a.m. I checked the water tank and we’d got over half a tank, did some washing as we steamed north up the lake, past two nature reserve islands which were surrounded by coots and grebe. As we came out from the shelter of the trees on the left and the lake widened out to give a glorious view of the Schloss in Schwerin, the wind which was blowing quite hard from due west caused a bit of rocking. Made us a hot cup of soup, as the weather was more like November than the end of July - we’d got our warm fleeces on. I did the ironing, made some lunch, then did some more ironing and washing. We arrived at Hohen Viecheln at 1.30 p.m. The landing had changed to

Landing stage at Hohe Viechelin, my photo from 1999

just a single wooden pier from the bank and it was occupied by two cruisers, which were moored one on either side of it. There were four posts in the lake bed at right angles to the pier so we moored across two of them, which put us behind the stern end of a moored cruiser from Berlin, called Cesare. The skipper looked out and I asked if he was going soon, he replied yes, in about ten minutes. They were very pleasant people. OK. Bill held off out in the middle of the lake. When the cruiser left (we just swivelled around the pole to let him out) Bill brought Rosy into the space the cruiser had just left and went on the bottom! And I’d just been saying we could put our bows against the grassy bank! Bill backed off the very hard sandy bottom and we tied alongside with our sterns sticking out beyond the end of the pier. Hope no big boats want to moor across the end tonight. Glyn rang to say he’d got Mike’s message and had sent our parcel of post to Templin yesterday. No one called for any money for the overnight mooring this time. I’d got the same bugs Mike picked up a few days earlier, sore throat and felt really rough.

Tuesday 20th July 2004 Grabow to Banzkow.

10.1° C sunny with a light breeze. Set off at 8.15 a.m. to arrive at opening time at the first

Great grey shrike - from Wikimedia
photo byArtur Mikalowjewski

lock, Hechtsforth, 9.00 a.m. Mike put the sunshade up and took it down again within half an hour as it was too breezy. There were lots of moored cruisers in the basin by the pub below the lock. The lock was full, so we had to hang about below while it emptied. Mike walked up to see if the keeper was getting it ready. There was no downhill traffic waiting so we went into the chamber (once he’d emptied it) with three lads in little sailing dinghies who’d just set off from outside the basin below the lock. While we were coming up in the lock Mike held on to Bill’s ensign, while Bill hit the staff with a hammer as he couldn’t get it undone. It was 9.40 a.m. by the time we left the top, following Rosy. We heard a hoot from something around the corner, so we hooted back. A WSA tug

Old leather factory Neustadt Glewe
from Wikimedia by niteshift

and pan appeared - now we know why the keeper had got a face on (because he’d got the lock ready for downhill WSA traffic) and was tardy about emptying the lock - just as the little dinghies were trying to get past Rosy - they nipped back behind him quick when they saw the bows of the pan heading toward them coming round the bend. It was an eleven kilometre long reach to the next lock, which was automatic and DIY. A downhill cruiser, called Diwa from Köln, went past by where we had tied up in the wilds last time we were here. The banks were now neat and tidy and edged with piles of little rocks to stop bank erosion - when we were there before the banks were eroded

Neustadt Glewe lock - Wikimedia by niteshift

like low sandy cliffs and the water was very shallow and weedy at the edges. A bird sitting on the topmost branch of an elderberry bush stayed there while we went past (and Bill) and was easily identified as a great grey shrike. A butcher bird, who uses thorn trees (or barbed wire) as a “larder” to hang his prey for later. The river was edged with water lilies, white and yellow, and water crowfoot and rosebay willowherb and evening primrose flowering along the bank, beyond which there were cows in a meadow between the river and the forest. Two downhill cruisers from Hamburg went past at KP 41. Alongside the river, near Klein Laasch, gliders were being towed up into the air from static towlines, the ends of which came

Lockhouse at Lewitz lock - Wikimedia by niteshift

down gently on parachutes when detached from the ‘planes. Round some twisting bends into the town of Neustadt-Glewe. There was a very strong stink of something like vegetable oil as we approached the little town. Just before the railway bridge there was a new boatyard with a couple of boats and a crane, next to a very old factory building, a long brick shell whose wooden roof had fallen in and signs said no entry for fear of death. A hireboat from Waren on the Müritz came downriver, followed by three cruisers. Our little sailboats were in the lock and going uphill when we arrived, so we tied on the staging and turned the

Carp pools north of Lewitz
from Wikimedia by niteshift

blue rod. We went up Neustadt-Glewe lock side by side, just the two of us. We’d swapped Rosy over on to our port side and gone into the chamber on the right (our preferred side) and Mike had turned the rod. An armada of boats arrived above the lock while we rose 2.2 m, slowly. There were four cruisers waiting above, two of them were Danish boats. Above the lock on the left hand bank were several rows of terraced holiday bungalows with boathouses at the back of each which lead out on to little inlets off the river. We recalled that our Dutch friends Nel and Arend had stopped overnight with their cruiser Liberty outside one of these blocks when we were here

Carp pools - Wikimedia by niteshift

last. Had a sandwich for lunch as we motored on to the next lock. Grey clouds were coming up fast from behind us as we settled next to an old dredger below Lewitz lock as a crowd of cruisers were just coming into the lock to descend. It was 12.50 p.m. It seems the keepers only have half an hour for lunch, usually 12.15 until 12.45. Over in the weirstream we noted a craneboat from EHS and a staffboat (looking smart in new paint) from Eberswalde - were they on holiday over here, we wondered? The cruisers came out of the lock and we went in with the lads in the three dinghies again, who had been having lunch below the lock. An elderly lady keeper

Junction of the MEW and Storkanal
from Wikimedia by niteshift

pressed buttons to work the lock with guillotine gates at either end. Another crowd were waiting above to descend. As we left the lock (another 3.7 m higher) we heard a familiar tootle-toot, tootle-toot! A post bus! Then we saw it. A bright yellow coach with “Old Timer Reisen” painted on the side. It was an old post bus (like they have in Switzerland) but this was now a holiday touring coach. It was nice to see it as it drove over the bridge by the lock - and to hear it! (Brought back memories of Swiss holidays) A WSA pan and tug, plus a speedboat, were coming down the reach to the lock as we sailed on to the junction with the Störwasserstraße. The wind picked up as we went past acres and acres of carp pools. At 2.30 p.m. it started to rain with a vengeance, up went the

Banzkow lock Storkanal
from Wikimedia by Barghaan

brolly out came the waterproofs; the clegs attacked in their hundreds and out came the flyswatters to do battle. WAR! We had never ever seen so many horseflies, they came in waves and we splatted them - it’s a wonder we didn’t hit the banks and that we didn’t get bitten as the numbers were so huge. Later we counted the corpses on the counter, over fifty and those were just the ones that didn’t fall in the water. Rosy was in front and fast disappearing into the distance (speed limit on this canal was now upped to 9 kph). We met the canoes again. They’d told Mike earlier that they were going to Rostock. Interesting, how do they get there? We had a short wait below

Storkanal - from Wikimedia by niteshift

Banzkow lock, the keeper nipped out with a blue brolly to keep off the torrential rain as he went to the control panels at each end of his lock and the new lift bridge just upstream of it. We went into the lock behind two small cruisers, which had overtaken us a few minutes before we got to the lock, and the canoes came in behind us again. The rain continued to pour down in bucketloads. When the lock was almost full Mike went to ask if we could moor overnight at the very end of his steigers and asked if the car was OK where he’d parked it next to the lock house. The keeper didn’t speak English but his daughter, aged about twenty five, spoke French! Mike was able to have a reasonable conversation with her and the keeper’s face lit up once he could understand what was being said. Yes, all was OK. Rosy went on the inside this time (to make it easier for Bill and the dog to get on and off) and we moored alongside. Later there was a thunderstorm in the distance and more torrential rain. Tired.

Monday 19th July 2004 Dömitz to Grabow.

15.8° C overnight. Hazy sunshine. We set off at 8.00 a.m. following Rosy to the first lock.

Neu Kaliss lock - photo from Wikimedia by niteshift

Mike ‘phoned Glyn but got his answering machine. The clegs (horseflies) were out in force due to the thundery wet weather. We killed dozens of ‘em and Mike got the jungle gel out to stop the little beggars biting us. We arrived at the automatic lock at Neu Kaliß at 8.45 a.m. and turned the blue bar, then nothing happened. A man in an estate car turned up and told us that the locks don’t start until 9.00 a.m. - including the manned locks. (This must be a new Europe-wide thing then, locks for pleasure craft starting at 9.00 a.m. together with the new 35 hour working week? We found out later that the opening times vary, depending on which waterway it is.) Our book said 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. - at least they’re staying open later - until 8 p.m. A yacht arrived to tag along behind us. A notice said the biggest boats must go in first. It took twenty five minutes to fill a lock 41.8m long by 5.4m wide lifting 2.1m, with an annoying tannoy going bing-bong all the time the paddles were open! There was a brand new lock cabin and

An old warehouse by the canal at Neu Kaliss -
photo by Wikimedia - niteshift

house alongside the lock. We met a WSA tug and pan heading downriver as we went along the 4 km section to the next lock, Findenwirumshier, where the lady keeper was lifting the bridge over the tail end of the lock ready for us to go in. We went in first, Bill followed and the yacht came in behind us. The 2 m deep lock filled much quicker with a lock keeper pressing buttons. The sun came out. 8 kms to the next lock. I tried ringing our surveyor but got his answering machine and didn’t leave a message as I was going to try again later. Glyn ‘phoned at 11.40 a.m. to say he’d got Mike’s message and where did we want the post sent to. Mike said he’d have to get back to him with that one; Bill was having his post sent to Templin, but not until a fortnight hence. A pleasant older bloke worked the lock for us at Malliß. This time, as we were using fore and aft ropes around the conveniently placed bars in the lock walls, to make it easier for Bill Mike suggested he should bring Rosy alongside and I threw a rope over his bow stud while Bill lassoed our stern, then

Bridge over the Elde at Eldena
photo from Wikimedia by niteshift

we came up the lock side by side with me controlling the bows and Mike controlling the stern. We came up another 2m into much more open countryside. A pair of buzzards were circling over trees on our left. We went on to Eldena and had lunch sitting on the staging below the lock waiting for the keeper to finish his lunch break. A very large cruiser, called Domino, caught us up and came up the lock with us, plus the yacht and the two canoes which came up Dömitz with us the day before. The large boat overtook us just after the lock, muttering something about not being able to go that slow as he went past. The speed limit is 6 kph and our GPS said we had been going at 6.5! The canoes went past, a man paddling a single seater and a woman and an older man in a two-seater. The chap put a brolly up to act as a sail! The yacht stayed behind us. The keeper at Güritz had kept the cruiser waiting for us and we all piled in behind him and the two canoes. A youngish couple worked the lock, they chatted (in German) while the lock filled, telling Mike and Bill that they would need to take their masts down to get under a low bridge which was 7 kms further

An old mill at Grabow
photo from Wikimedia by Shiwago

up river. Mike told them he knew, we’d been before. They remembered and said we’d been with two other narrowboats! Fancy them remembering that from four years ago - which just goes to show that they don’t get many narrowboats here. They’d seen Jim’s Elizabeth too. We followed Rosy up the 8 kms reach to Grabow with the yacht still behind us. Mike managed to flick his glasses (his new ones with varifocal lenses) into the river when a cleg flew in his face. No point even trying to recover them, the water was three metres deep and the specs were made of plastic. He found his prescription sunglasses out and used those instead. I found him a plastic strap to go on them to try to avoid a repeat performance. We had a short wait below Grabow lock, which had been made automatic, but the new electronic sign board said the lock was keeper operated today. The big boat had escaped this time and gone on ahead. When the chamber emptied the canoes went in, then us and Rosy and the then the yacht. The canoes stopped above the lock, but only temporarily, they went past us as we were tying up to the rough

Muritz-Elde-Wasserstrasse at Grabow
photo from Wikimedia by OtoF

bank with a plank out. Rosy came alongside and Mike fetched the moped off the roof using two planks. He said we needed a long line out from the bows as there was a slight flow on the Elde, so he took the green rope from the bows to where he wanted it and I took a stake and banged it through a wasps nest! One of the little beggars got its own back and stung me before I realised what was going on - then I ran back to the boat - with my left hand starting to burn like hell! I stuck my hand in cold water which didn’t do much good, Mike couldn’t remember whether you needed to use acid or alkali to neutralise a wasp sting. I went to ask Bill if he could remember any first aid and he said he used antihistamine cream. We’ve got plenty of that. I rubbed some in, but it still burned like hell. Mike went off on the moped to move the car from Dömitz  to Banzkow. I sat for a while, applying Anthisan to my poor swelling red hot finger, hoping that I wasn’t one in 200 who are allergic to wasp stings - it only becomes apparent on the second sting, and my first was when I was aged about ten. I hate wasps. Quite a few cruisers went past, mostly heading upriver in the same direction as us. I made a chicken chilli for dinner. Mike was back at 9 p.m. having had lots of trouble following umleitungs (diversions). We used two planks side by side to get the moped back on board, then we had a very late dinner.

Sunday 18th July 2004 Wittenberge to Dörmitz.

15.9° C Sunny start, cool and windy, clouding over shortly after we set off at 8.10 a.m. Sun

Wittenberge on the river Elbe - Wikimedia pic by niteshift

out again after lunch. Thunderstorm after dinner. A cruiser had set off from one of the sandy bays between the stone groynes just after we set off and overtook us shortly after. Several WSA workboats were moored where they were rebuilding groynes at KP 467, they obviously didn’t work at weekends. A fast speedboat, called Kiaora, went upstream at KP 470. I made

Junction of the Elbe and Muritz-Elde-Wasserstrasse,
Photo from Wikimedia by niteshift

us a cup of soup for elevenses as it was chilly. A small yacht went past, battling against the flow at KP 482. At Lenzen, KP 485, there was a new mooring place in a new offline harbour just beyond their motor ferry. A Czech tug and pan went uphill a kilometre further on and three small speedboats, just as we were having lunch on the move. A large speedboat, tanking up river at high velocity at KP 501, went past on the wrong side and caused me to go and close the side doors to keep his wash from washing the kitchen floor. Two cruisers (which had been moored in Wittenberge the night before) overtook us just before the junction with the Müritz-Elde-Wasserstraße (MEW) and turned right, going the same way as us! There were two upriver boats as we arrived at the junction and one of them turned off into the MEW too. It was 1.20 p.m. as we left the Elbe. A tjalk (you certainly don’t see many of those here!) called Bienvenue came out of the lock and we went up Dörmitz lock with the three cruisers plus two canoes. I asked the keeper if there was anywhere above his lock where we could stop overnight, he said the boat haven and I

Domitz lock from below. Photo from Wikimedia by Schiwago 

told him the boats were too long for their moorings so he (reluctantly, I thought) said we could use the very end of the waiting area above his lock. We went as far upstream as possible and Rosy moored alongside us, leaving one and a half landing stages for the small boats to hang on above his lock. It was 2.15 p.m. Helped Mike get the moped down off the roof, the landing was higher than the gunwales so we didn’t need a plank. He said he’d rather have gone for a lie down than fetch the car as he was starting to get flu symptoms. Great! I put the Mac on to do some catching up. It was on for 15 minutes and then switched itself off for no apparent reason, so I turned it all off and went to do some chores instead. Kids from the chalet just upstream from the boat were swimming in the river all afternoon. Late in the afternoon it clouded over again. Mike returned at 5.45 p.m. just as one of the boats we came up the lock with earlier was sitting at the far end of the staging waiting to go back down again. Had they left the gas on? We put the moped back on the roof as a gaggle of uphill cruisers left the lock and turned off left into the boat harbour. Mike went for a lie down while I made a chicken stir fry for dinner. We couldn’t get satellite TV at all as there were trees in the way. Watched the weather forecast on German terrestrial TV. Then the rain started and we had a good old thunderstorm. The TV stations had said the same weather for Monday. Great stuff. The space on the landings above the lock had filled up with small boats during the evening once the lock had closed for the night.

Saturday 17th July 2004 Tangermünde to Wittenberge.

Tangermunde - photo by burgerbe

14.5°C Sunny and warm at last. It didn’t stay dry though, we had a thunderstorm and heavy rain at 11 p.m. We were up at seven again to get moving for eight. Bill went into the basin to wind while we untied and winded in the mouth of the harbour before setting off downstream again. Mike had put the pins in to run the Markon so I could do some washing. Sat out briefly for a cup of coffee at 8.50 a.m. Did the ironing and put a second load in the washer. A blue hulled boat heading uphill wasn’t a police boat as we’d thought at first, but a sleek cruiser called Aquarius. Mike called me to look at a bird and I just saw the tail feathers of a

Beautiful white tailed eagle by panda.org

very large bird of prey carrying off a large fish, flying off over the forest (first glimpse of a white-tailed eagle!). A large open cruiser speed boat came roaring up behind us, slowed off and then overtook us on the wrong side! We passed the second tethered ferry of the day at KP 416 Sandau. It was busy carrying cars back and forth across the Elbe. We went past it while it was unloading on the right bank and Bill managed to pass it too, but the cruiser behind him had to stop and go back up river to pass it on the other side as it set off across the river just after Bill had passed it. There were lots of geese all

Eider duck by wiki tony higsett

along the river’s edge and lapwings on the banks. A speed boat called Bora went upstream near KP 418, passing us at over 30 kph - he was the first of quite a few weekend pleasure boaters with very big, very fast boats coming upriver at high speed. At KP 419 I watched an enormous hare lolloping along the water’s edge, taking absolutely no notice at all of the waterborne traffic. Washing finished, Mike took the pins out as a cruiser called Le Clou (the nail in French) overtook us and then stopped midstream to watch the next tethered ferry at KP 422. A small fishing boat went upstream and two fishermen waved. Bill said they were FKK (nudists) but we hadn’t noticed! A small speed boat came upriver on the right hand side and then the ferry set off after he’d gone past, so we took the left hand side of the mooring post in the middle of the river, following the cruiser (who had stopped in mid-river to assess

Sandau ferry by Wiki Ulamm

the situation). The cruiser turned off on to the Havel shortly afterwards. A flock of large black and white birds dropped down on to the river some distance away from us. Bill asked over VHF if they were Eider. I had to get my bird book out to confirm it. Male Eiders do congregate in large groups at this time of year, so they could well have been Eider ducks. A yacht under sail went past heading upriver at KP 427 at the end of a big sweeping left hand bend. Mike asked Bill on VHF if he should have a black cone hoisted as he was motor assisted. Bill said he didn’t know. (I read later that one of the things the WSP are very hot on is sail boats running with sails out and

Panorama of river Elbe nr Wittenberge - Wikimedia nightshift

engines going - they must hoist a black cone to indicate they are motoring) This one was showing a black cone, but he’d not hoisted it very far above his gunwales! We had lunch on

Elbe nr Wittenberge - Wikimedia nightshift

the move. A very fast downhill cruiser caused a lot of wash which sent a wave down our port side gunwale and sploshed through the two open sliding windows - luckily not much went on the TV, Hi-fi or computer! We passed the end of the Havel channel, which is called the Gnevsdorfer Vorfluter, and is navigable in summer. Another fast cruiser came flying upriver Beluga passed us at KP 439, followed by Sonja at KP 444. My turn to spot an interesting bird, another bar headed goose, normally natives of India, there are a few of them about which are escapees from zoos and wildlife parks. A cruiser called Luetje overtook us and turned into the basin at Wittenberge, KP 449, where we were going too. The floating pontoon we’d

Wittenberge haven - wikimedia nightshift

used for free before was now occupied by boats of the Nedwighafen, and had new electricity posts and water taps. We cruised down to the end of the harbour and were told we could moor at the back of the pontoon along the straight edge between the dolphins, which we did and Bill followed us in. It was 2.45 p.m. I gave Mike a hand to unload the moped off the roof using a plank and he went to get the car after I’d helped him shove the bike up a steeply sloping gangway to the top of the bank surrounding the harbour. A new restaurant had been constructed and there were also lots of camper vans parked on the far side of the basin. Bill took the dog for a walk into town. I got on with the chores. Bill had been speaking to one of the other moorers and

And a really superb picture of a hare
from Wikimedia by Hans-Jorg Hellwig

had been told that we should go to the restaurant to pay for the mooring. We went up there only to find that the Harbourmaster wasn’t in - he would come and find us later, which he did. He did us a deal and only charged us for 14m, at 80c a metre, so that cost us 12,20€ plus two 50c tokens for the water metre. I’d found the tank almost empty when I dipped it earlier, there was a minus half inch on the stick - Mike said he was amazed I was still getting water out of the tap! I cooked fish and chips for tea when Mike returned at 7 p.m. He put our other satellite dish up and tried the old analogue system to see what stations remained on it. We’d got lots of German stations and Eurosport was still available. French Telecom still worked OK too, so he would be able to watch TF1 for the rest of the Formula One racing. We put the tokens in to get drinking water and were pleased to find that instead of just giving about 50 litres for 50c we had 375 litres for our two tokens. Later there was a thunderstorm and more very heavy rain.

Sorry no photos from 2004 - thanks to all the authors of the above photos.