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
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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
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| 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
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| 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.
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