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.