Saturday 3rd July 2004 Bramsche to Bad Essen.
11.5° C overnight. Grey, overcast and breezy at first,
heavy rain later with brief sunny spells.
Set off 9.05 a.m. following Rosy after
Mike had told Bill, who had no map of the MLK, that we would stop at KP 61 near
Bad Essen. He’d also told him the weather forecast was bad and it was going to
rain all day. Bill said he didn’t want to spend two days tied up being bounced
about by the wash of passing craft - it was better when we were moving. (Sorry,
we’ll have to get used to it, we’ve a long way to get to the Elbe!) Soon after
we set off the first shower of heavy rain started and continued for most of the
day. Traffic was busy but sporadic. We had an interesting encounter when a loaded
80m German boat, called Prospectus-Est slowly overtook us.
As usual our boat
came to a stop relative to the bank as the big boat crawled past, but when the
stern wave caught us we surfed and couldn’t get off the “slope of the wave”
just by reducing speed. Mike had to do a carefully choreographed reverse to
slide off. The skipper took absolutely no notice of us whatsoever, in fact he
had his back to us the whole time. Invisible again! (Bill told us later that he
had overtaken him with only a few feet to spare and had sucked Rosy into the
side of his boat. Sounds like he’s one to watch out for, likes using his weight
for tormenting pleasure boats - you meet them sometimes. Had a cup of soup to
warm us up. Lunch was a sandwich under the brolly until the sun came out for
ten minutes. As we approached Bad Emms, where we were stopping, Mike called
Bill on VHF. He was at least 500 m in front, no reply. He tried flashing our
headlight and hooting, but Rosy was too far away for Bill to have heard our
horn, still no reply and we didn’t know his ‘phone number but he probably
hadn’t got that on either! Gave up and tied up at 1.15 p.m. behind two cruisers
and a yacht who had completely occupied the 50m sportboot mooring place (the
two from the previous evening were still there).
Mooring for commercials was a
stretch of over 300m and completely empty. We took our chances and moored in
the bit for commercials. Mike got the moped off the roof and got ready to go
and fetch the car. The rain stopped and the sun came out again. Bill came back.
He said he thought we were going to KP 64. He tied Rosy behind us. Mike went
off to get the car dressed in waders and waterproofs. Thirty minutes later the
next storm hit. I was soaked and my feet were black as the dye in my shoes had
run! I got cleaned up, changed my soggy jeans for a skirt and got on with the
chores. Bill went off on foot during a deluge to go to the town and get some
bread,
as Mike had done some scouting on the moped before he left and told him
that the shops were just across the bridge.
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| Sometimes the big boys have accidents. Felix with battered bows. MLK 2005 |
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| Hafen Engter silo KP34 MLK - "Keep your eyes open when buying eggs" "Only German eggs have ED written on them" picture from 2005 |
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| Sand unloading crane at Hafen Engter KP38 MLK - photo 2005 |
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| Moored at Bad Essen on the way back in 2005 |
Sunday 4th July 2004 Bad Essen. Formula One race day
11.5° C Sunny spells, cloudy but mostly dry. Mike repaired
the moped, the nut holding the exhaust pipe into the cylinder had come loose
and would no longer tighten up, so he drilled holes through the nut and the
pipe and secured it with a split pin. It will soon need a new cylinder and
exhaust. Schumacher won the French Formula One Grand Prix at Magny Cours. When
the race finished Mike went by car to Minden and came back on the moped. He
decided to move the car as the mooring at Minden is edged with armco, which
makes getting the moped on and off decidedly difficult. The Euro 2004 football
final was between Greece and Portugal - the Greeks (who never won anything
before) won in extra time.
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