Saturday 21st August 2004 Fehrbellin to Kremmen.

11.7° C Sunny spells and heavy showers. Bill went by bike into Fehrbellin to get supplies.

Many kms of minor roads are like this in E Germany
Fehrbellin- Wustrau road - Wikimedia by Norhei

Just before we set off Fanny managed to mistime her jump from our boat roof and went down the side of the boat into the water. There was a ledge on waterline where the concrete quay had worn away over the years and she got on that and refused to come out and growled at Bill when he tried to grab her! After a few minutes she calmed down and he pulled her out, she was wet but unscathed after her escapade. Left the quay at 9.05 a.m. following Rosy back up the Fehrbelliner kanal. The people at the holiday caravans and bungalows were out in their gardens to wave as it was the weekend. I did the chores and

Aerial view of fishponds at Linum-
Wikimedia photo by wolkenkratzer

cleaned up a load of mud we’d brought in on our feet the night before, then made tea. We swatted more cleggs (horseflies) on the way back down the canal. A small cruiser, called Anita, had set out from the moorings and followed us. The canal was very weedy so he kept his distance. Bill said the day before he kept picking up lots of weed we’d thrown up, so today Mike said he could lead as he knew the way back! The flush from Hakenberg lock had turned an empty workboat, whose mooring line had come undone at one end, to block the canal. Rosy acted as tug and pushed it back to the bank as the lock gates opened and we all followed on into the lock. Klaus was on duty today (with the t

Weir on Rhin at Fehrbellin - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

eenaged two lads helping) walking with two sticks now, as his wife had told us the day before. It was easier for him to operate the lock now the gates and paddles were all worked by electric motors, all he had to do was press the buttons - but they’re not on a control board in a cabin - the press buttons are by each motor, so there’s still a fair amount of walking involved. He’d got his camera out and took a few pictures for posterity. We said “Auf wiedersehen” and told him we’d be back to see him again, as we like the area very much. Mike let the cruiser go first out of the lock and Bill also let it past, as it’s not much fun for a cruiser following slow boats like ours up

Rhin at Fehrbellin - Wikimedia photo by Doris Antony

a very weedy canal. We turned right and went down the arm to Linum, past the many ponds which belonged to a fish farm years ago but is now a wildlife park. The trees were encroaching from both banks, making the channel seem even narrower and the weed was even worse than the canal we’d just turned off. Two guys were taking trips out on two small open motor boats. When they saw us coming they moved their boats to the very end of the quay, so we had somewhere to moor, which was very good of them. We moored alongside Rosy and had an audience, lots of people came to ask questions. We had another look at the old agricultural equipment was still adorned the field beyond the

Kremmener Rhin - my photo from 2013

quay. All of it needed renovation, or at least a good coat of paint to cover the rust! I made some lunch and Mike said we ought to leave while there was room to wind, as the two trip boats had gone out again loaded with passengers. We lead the way, Bill was having troubles with the weed again. As we went back along the Kremmer Rhin through the nature reserve we swatted more cleggs. We saw the little cruiser Anita heading back to Fehrbellin, the crew waved. It started to rain, only a short but heavy shower, just before we tied up at 4 p.m. next to an old stone quay at Kremmen. There were small rings of rebar set into the edges of the concrete top of the quay, which were very useful to tie to. The launch, which was used as a tug for

Quay at Kremmen - my photo from 2013

pushing pans of soil for backfilling the bank edges, was moored at the one end of the quay. This quay too was also covered in small piles of soil. We took ropes for Bill so he could moor in front of us and, shortly after we’d tied up, a cruiser went past, heading for Hohenbruch, making an enormous wash, trying to wash us off the bank. Later a small cruiser arrived and moored on the very end of the quay beyond the tug, but continued towards Fehrbellin after about an hour. Mike had the weed hatch up, for the first time in ages, just to check all was OK after all that weed - there wasn’t the slightest bit of weed on it. He made a new gasket for the base plate using a cereal box. I made Indonesian chicken fried rice for dinner. A noise on the roof caused Mike to go and look outside - we’d got a man standing on our roof (which was on a level with the quay!) he was fishing, using a seine net along the side of the boat. Mike told the cheeky wotsit to get off, which he did when Mike said “This is my boat, get off it!” (In German!) Whatever next?