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| Winter at Unterschleuse on Landwehrkanal Wikimedia photo by Lienhard Schulz |
14.4° C. Sunny spells and clouds before we set off,
heavy rain showers all morning and evening, sandwiched between was a pleasant
sunny afternoon - after we’d tied up. Bill went to get some groceries before we
set off at 9 a.m. Passed a WSA boat in the Urbanhafen, mooring N° 9, where a hire
boat had tied up overnight. The fish restaurant was still there, but the
theatre boat was now derelict. Several trip boats went past, their crews
cleaning and polishing, getting ready for the first passengers of the day. I
made some tea just before the rain started pouring as we entered the heart of
the city centre. Through the Tiergarten with the Zoological garden on our left
and we arrived at the lock under the S-bahn. The gates were open on the
Unterschleuse, but the red lights were on. Mike brought the boat alongside the
sport boat waiting area and I pressed the button for the lock. The red light
almost immediately turned green. Just us two narrowboats for the drop of 1.3m.
Below the lock there was still a long line of wooden floating sheds (houseboats)
in the weir stream by Charlottenburg gate. We arrived back at the junction with
the river Spree having completed a circle of the city centre. Crossed the river
heading north on the connection canal, the Charlottenburger Verbindungskanal. A
commercial was catching us up, it overtook Rosy as we turned right on
to the
Westhafen canal and it overtook us as we
approached the docks, where a tug with two empty pans had just set off and
turned south on the Hohenzollern kanal. We turned left under a bridge and
joined the same canal, but heading north. The moored ex-working boats turned
houseboats were still moored on the corner, although some of them were now
looking a bit dilapidated. Just the two of us again for the next lock,
Plötznsee. The keeper leaned out of the control cabin window in the lockhouse
and waved. There was a short lull in the rain as we worked through the lock. I
made a cup of soup as we went along the Spandauer Schiffahrtkanal. A couple of
cruisers going in the opposite direction passed by. We turned left at the end
of the canal, on to the Spandauer
Havel, went under one bridge and moored at
the new moorings opposite Spandau new town. The long mooring had a trip boat
landing stage in the middle. The concrete topped piling had a small wooden
landing stage for us to tie to with lots of bollards. A path for walkers,
cyclists and joggers was separated from the river’s edge by a low concrete wall
and, from the land beyond it, by a high, patterned concrete wall. The ground
behind the big wall had been leveled into several different sized rectangles
ready to build more houses, probably like the blocks of flats
on the opposite
bank. We dried off. The rain stopped and the sun came out. Planes were taking
off from Tegel airport and flying directly overhead. I made some lunch. I got
on with the chores and Mike went for a nap, as he’d decided to leave the car
for a couple of days at Treptow, where it should be OK parked by the flats. Bill
and Fanny called to find out what time we were starting next day. Mike opened a
bottle of wine and we chatted for a while, then he showed Bill the video we’d
got of Eisenhüttenstadt as someone had told Bill when we were moored at Treptow
that EHS was not a good place to stay for the winter as it was
“un-reconstructed”! (Whatever that’s supposed to mean! Probably means it’s not
been tarted up!)
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| Houseboats in the weirstream by Unterschleuse Wikimedia photo by Lienhard Schulz |
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| Junction R Spree & Landwehrkanal Wikimedia photo by Lienhard Schulz |
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| Westhafen docks - Wikimedia photo by ThoKay |
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| Spandauer See Brucke Wikimedia photo by Alexrk2 |
CLICK HERE for a map of today's trip through Berlin
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