Wednesday 18th August 2004 Neuruppin to Lindow.

17.4° C overnight. Hazy sun first thing, but it clouded over around 9.15 a.m. and thick grey

Keeper's cabin Altruppin lock - my photo from 2013

clouds swept in from the south bringing rain which lasted until mid-afternoon, then the sun came out again. Set off at 7 a.m. following Rosy up the lake into the channel at Altruppin, passing back gardens of lakeside bungalows and caravans with lots and lots of small moored boats. One house had a very unusual garden ornament - two tree trunks had been turned upside down and replanted so that the remains of the roots looked like wild hair, faces had been painted on the trunks and cartoon-type arms with big hands added. At the end of the moorings was an old Springer narrowboat. It was for

 

Beautiful little river Rhin - my photo from 2013

sale. On the opposite bank, a man in a dressing gown off for a dip said “Good morning” in good English, but that was the sum of his mastery of the language. Mike asked him about the narrowboat, but he didn’t understand a word. The lady keeper emptied Altruppin lock as we arrived on opening time 8 a.m. I knocked over a bag of bottles on the front deck and she came over to say something. I didn’t understand - so she went to speak to Mike - there was a bottle bin and rubbish disposal across the grass from the lock, by the road. Very useful, as for the most part there is a great shortage of bins and taps by the navigations in Germany! Out of

 

Dampfmuhle nr Lindow - my photo from 2013

the lock and into the first lake, Molchowsee, in a chain of three medium sized connected lakes. Into a narrow section near the village of Molchow, where there were lots and lots more holiday bungalows and more people in dressing gowns, also out for their early morning dips, as we ran on towards the next lake, Tetzensee. The forest closed in as we went to the northern end and there were more boats moored as we went into the dog leg leading into a wide channel under a bridge to Zermützelsee. To the northwest of this lake was another chain of lakes, starting with Tornowsee, but these were only accessible by paddle boats, props were forbidden. It started to rain! Brollies up! I made tea as we went into the winding course of the beautiful river Rhin. A pair of ospreys flew in front of the

 

Gudelacksee - my photo from 2103

boat, going from one perching place to another in the tops of trees for about ten minutes, giving us good close views through binoculars. A small cruiser overtook us. The first life we’d seen moving on the water. The cleggs were out in force, why does rain seem to bring them out in droves? A large Berlin cruiser, called Santomar, came downstream round the bends where the trees gave way to a large watermeadow on our left. He was followed by a tiny cruiser with a massive 90 hp outboard. A third cruiser went past as we reached the bridge at Zippelsförde, where there were mooring places either side of the bridge,  A little further on we spotted a tree on the right

 

Gudelacksee from the end of Veilitzsee - my photo 2013

bank which had been chewed (but not quite enough to fell it) by beaver. Well, we knew the area was home to beaver, and otter, but we’d never seen any or any evidence of them until now. We crossed the north end of the long lake, called Mollensee, and went back into the Rhin, which wandered through the forest until we emerged in the Gudelacksee, a large lake with a big island, Werder, in the centre. We took the course to the south of the island, then swung around a tiny island with a few small trees on it, into a shallow narrow channel under a brick arched railway bridge and road bridge at Lindow, passing more and more bungalows, caravans and moored boats. We

 

Vielitzsee nr Lindow - my photo 2103

twiddled through fishing nets on posts round bends at the beginning of the last navigable lake, Vielitzsee and motored on to the top end of the lake in the rain. At the end of the lake Mike let the bows gently ground on the shelving sandy bank (always have to go right to the limit of navigation!) and then we backed off and set off back down the lake following Rosy (who’d stopped half way down the lake) back to the arm near Lindow where we’d moored last time we were here. The rain stopped. An inflatable boat went past with two policemen on board, they waved. It was 1.15 p.m. when we tied

 

Old quay in arm off Vielitzsee - my photo 2013

alongside Rosy next to the old abandoned quay. Two old rusty pans had been lifted out on to the quayside and turned upside down. At the end of the quay a very old craneboat had been moored. The place was infested with wasps. Before I could get the net in the side doors there were lots of them inside the cabin, which I swatted as I made some lunch. More got in through the curtain, so I had to close the front doors. Mike went poking around outside. After lunch he went for a nap. Later we had a ‘phonecall from a guy at WWT in America (our callback telephone system) to tell us our new access number, which will change over on the 1st September, he also gave us a new code for accessing the web page for our account. Bill came on board to discuss where we were going next day. There were too many wasps about to have a BBQ on the bank. Hot and very sticky again.