Wednesday 1st - Thursday 2nd September 2004 Phöben to Schmergow.

Wednesday 1st September 2004 Phöben shopping day.

10.8° C Sunshine and white fluffy clouds. Went out at 9 a.m. in the car to do some shopping,

Werder on the Havel - Wikimedia photo by Andreas Steinhoff

taking Bill with us. Turned right in Werder to look see what they’d built along the Potsdam road. A new shopping centre with a Kaufland supermarket and a DIY store next door had sprouted next to a Shell garage. We went into Geltow to the Hellweg (a very large DIY store almost on par with Castorama in France) and bought two new 12v fluorescent tubes and some nylon strapping for Mike to make a rim tape to protect the inner tube in the moped’s back wheel. Back into Werder to get the groceries from Edeka (Bill wanted the Post Office which was located in the store). Mike went to get some cash from an ATM in the town as there wasn’t one in the supermarket. He

Havel at Phoben - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

came back without any money - his Nationwide card had expired! For one minute he thought he’d cut up the wrong card, but realised the last new card he’d had was Lloyd’s. I gave him my card, then he noticed my card was dated the same as his and had expired too! (We were sure we’d set them up so that they didn’t both expire at the same time, Nationwide must have changed that and we hadn’t noticed) He took my Abbey card and went back to get some cash. (When we got back on the boat we did a cheque to transfer cash from Nationwide into the Abbey account). Got the groceries and called in the town centre to find a ‘phone shop, as Bill had been looking for an O2 shop to get someone to explain to him how set up various functions.

Schweilowsee nr Geltow -  - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

There was a Vodaphone shop, so we parked the car and he went to find someone who spoke English. The young lady in the shop didn’t speak much English and wouldn’t use Bill’s ‘phone to listen to the options in German for him. He couldn’t find out why she wouldn’t do it! Back at the boat at 12.30 p.m. Stashed the food away and made some lunch. Mike tried ringing Glyn, his phone was engaged, or so we thought. After lunch he tried again and the WWTelecom system had changed, we had to change to our new NAC number. Then the system wouldn’t ring us back! We’re doing well today! Bill came over to find out what we were going to do over the next few days. We decided between us to have a look at the Havel lakes and backwaters. I cooked a stirfry for dinner. Later a small masted yacht tied up overnight on the other side of the pier. Mike tried ringing the USA again, WWT still wouldn’t ring us back.

Loaded boat on Havel nr Ketzin   - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

(Note from 2014, ten years on we are now so glad to have a mobile connection and access to Internet banking which saves all the bother and we’ve also changed our callback provider to a Canadian firm called Alliance Call who seem to us to be the best and it’s the cheapest way we’ve found of making calls back to the UK from wherever we are)

Thursday 2nd September 2004 Phöben to Schmergow.

A chilly 8.1° C overnight. We thought Autumn had arrived early! It was only 10° C when we

Car ferry at Ketzin  - Wikimedia photo by Clemensfranz

set off at 7.15 a.m. following Rosy (but only as far as the end of the bay, then Bill waited for us to go first). Mist was covering the surface of the lake and the moon hung low in the sky like a great silver penny in a blue, blue sky. An empty 80m commercial was coming down the Sacrow-Paretzer kanal as we joined it, he overtook us as we entered the first of a maze of small lakes and backwaters that make up the Havel. I set the ‘fridge defrosting and got on with the chores before the day warmed up. Dredging was in progress mid-channel, where a guy was digging sand from the bottom of the river using a JCB on a workboat called Puma. At Ketzin the town quays were all piled walls surrounding a silo, at least one of which was still in use as an empty 80m was moored there waiting to load. The Ketziner Havel was very

Sacrow-Paretzer kanal  - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

tortuous and we did a complex double figure of eight around four islands, Burgwall-kaveln, Bodüren, one with no name and Mittelbruch leading out into a large lake called the Trebelsee. The Kleine Havel was difficult to find as there were lots of unmarked arms leading off to the north on our right which weren’t marked on our chart. The echo sounder’s display went blank as we found the channel into the Trebel lake, less than 0.9 metres under the bottom (Note from 2014 –ha! On UK canals we were pleased if we had a foot under the bottom – sometimes we only had inches - and here we are in 2004 getting a touch worried about three feet!) A loaded 80m barge was trundling upstream on the main channel of the Havel, followed by a

Buzzard on a navigation sign - Havel 2005

tug pushing an empty pan. I made some tea as we went across the deep lake and found our way into the shallow channel, round an S bend into the Schmergower Havel. We crossed the main channel again as a cruiser went past, followed by a Stettiner barge. We crossed into the Kirchhofshavel, entering through a very narrow gap at the end of a long spit of land separating the Havel from the Z shaped Kirchhofshavel, made a sharp right turn by a six kph speed limit sign and a bright yellow NSG (nature reserve) sign and found ourselves in a large placid tree edged lake. Mike tried ringing Glyn again and kept getting “invalid number”. I finished defrosting the ‘fridge and replaced the contents as we went north again and back around

Fishing boat on the Havel 2005

Budüren island and back into the Trebelsee. We’d spotted a mooring place alongside a very old concrete quay in a small oblong basin with a track leading to a road and the village of Schmergow. It was 10.45 a.m. I caught a grasshopper in the grass by the bollard we tied to and Bill caught a small toad. A light brown pickup with a caravan on the back was parked in a corner under some trees, its occupants were out in the middle of the lake in a small blue day boat. Mike unloaded the moped and went off to retrieve the car from Phöben. I did the chores and made some lunch. Mike was back at 1.05 p.m. he’d called in the Edeka supermarket for some beer for himself and some sausages for Bill. He’d asked for the ‘phone number of the Post Office so Bill can ring to see if his post has arrived - he’d asked Veronica to send his mail off, which she was going to do today or tomorrow. We chatted with the couple with the caravan, not easy as

Mike and Bill enjoying a BBQ at Schmergow
(on the return trip in 2005)

they spoke no English at all. They told us that the empty bungalows by the harbour had once been used as a children’s summer camp during the days of the DDR, but now they were in ruins. Sad to see such a waste. I was tired, I dozed while Mike fixed the wiper motor control for the car’s rear windscreen. It’s had an intermittent fault for ages. It turns itself on and wipes a dry screen for a few strokes then stops, but today it wouldn’t stop until the wires to it were disconnected. Had a BBQ outside on the quay. Bill had done a double portion of curry the day before, so he ate part two outside with us when we had our grilled to perfection sausages and chops. A couple arrived in a car opposite and set up a tent, etc, and went fishing. Their light tan coloured bull terrier dog wandered up and down, but stayed on the far side of the basin. Earlier in the evening Mike had been throwing a tennis ball to the far side for Fanny to run round and fetch, but he stopped throwing it over there as the bull terrier dog was almost twice Fanny’s weight in sheer muscle, though its legs were a lot shorter! There was a lovely view across the lake, the setting sun changing the colours reflected in the water from powder blue to dusky pink. Bill went in at eight, he said it was getting cooler, we agreed, packed up and went in to watch TV

CLICK HERE for today's journey through the Havel lakes