Friday 8th -Sunday 10th October 2004 Schmöckwitz to Rudersdorf - Schmöckwitz.

Friday 8th October 2004 Schmöckwitz to Rudersdorf.

6° C Overcast, grey start, chilly. Mike took Bill with him in the car to get beer and a few

Woltersdorf lock - Wikimedia photo by Breizung

groceries from Extra, just up the road, he loaded diesel and then we set off at 9.30 a.m. with the pins in to do some washing as we went up the Seddinsee. The bird sanctuary at the northern end got rechristened Vogelshitsgebeit (should be Vogelschutsgebeit) due to the state of the trees, dozens of which had been killed by the acid droppings of cormorants and herons, their guano covered skeletons were a ghostly white. Into the Gosener Kanal and I wentmake a cuppa. Into the Dämeritzsee, heading east, and turned right into a string of lakes, which went off to the northeast, called the Rüdersdorfer Gewässer. Past the town of Erkner into the Flakensee, the washing finished just in time as we entered the lock at Woltersdorf, where we rose 2m with a speedboat in front of our bows and Rosy alongside. Mike went down into the engine room to take the pins out and the keeper came over to tell us that the lock would be closed from the 18th to the 24th (luckily he had a piece of paper in his pocket with the dates on as the numbers totally flumuxed me!) I told him we’d be back the next day. Out into a

Gosener kanal - Wikimedia photo by Biberbaer

long narrow lake called the Kalksee. I noted that there were far more boatyards, boat moorings and new houses all along the banks of the 10m deep lake than there were last time we were there. Into a narrower channel, a series of “graben” winding through Rüdersdorf to the big lake at the end of the chain. I made lunch which we ate as we went north along the Stienitzsee. Bill stopped about 500m from the end of the lake as we circled round the northern end before setting off on the run south. The weather turned colder, so we donned jackets as the cabin temperature dipped to 15° C. Mike lit the central heating. At 2.35 p.m. we moored on the outskirts of Rüdersdorf on an old derelict factory quay. The piling was rusty and the concrete beyond overgrown with weeds. Two girls came to chat as we tied up. They were learning English at school, but they’d never seen boats like ours before. Mike asked what the factory had been and they took him up the bank to have a look around. Their friends, three lads and an older girl were worried in case Mike was from the police (they were in the act of pinching stuff) as they went into the derelict factory buildings which once belonged to Siemens. Click here to look at a very interesting site that has many more pictures of the old chemical works and tells its history 

On his return Mike went in the engine room to fix the air pump we use for blowing up tyres. Bill got an invasion of fourteen year old kids on his boat. One of the girls brought her dog to

Coal wharf by the derelict factory in Rudersdorf (my photo)

play with Fanny and one of the lads showed him all the photos in his camera-phone, then went off to get a large bag containing a synthesiser/sampler which he thought was the “bees knees” according to Bill. We WERE going to have a BBQ, but Mike gave up on the idea with all the uninvited guests. He went for a nap. I checked out our ‘phone bills. WWT had changed their invoicing system. Now they charge in whole minutes, with a minimum of two minutes per call. It is still loads cheaper than pay-as-you-go or ‘phone boxes. Bill knocked to see if we were going to BBQ. I told him Mike was asleep, so he said he would start cooking his dinner, which might encourage his visitors to go home. I cooked our chops and sausages under the grill. Later someone threw a few stones which landed on the roof of the boat. Mike went out with the big spotlamp but couldn’t see anyone and concluded that they were at the top of the high

Derelict factory in Rudersdorf (my photo)

factory wall. They may not have been the kids we’d been talking to and possibly hadn’t known we were moored below them. We ignored them and they stopped after a couple more pebbles clattered down on the roof. The temperature dropped, a cold night coming so Mike left the heating on.

Saturday 9th October 2004 Rudersdorf to Schmöckwitz.

4.7 C Cold and foggy start, brightening up later. Mike was up at 7 a.m. to be ready for off at 8 a.m. Bill emerged at 8.10 having overslept. \entertaining all those Rüdersdorf kids had sapped his energy! 7° C when we set off into the mist at 8.40 a.m. When we emerged on to the Kalksee we were relieved to find we could see both banks. The mist disappeared as we went into the narrows above Woltersdorf lock. Looking back at the lake it couldn’t be seen for what seemed like a thick wall of mist! Mike steered round the back of a row of dolphins above the lock to where the sportboot waiting area was located and the keeper spotted us on his CCTV. I’d just lassoed a post as the lights started flashing and the liftbridge above the lock started to go up. Bill kept going and we twiddled round the end of the dolphins and went into the lock side by side with Rosy. Dropped down 2m with no sign

Derelict factory in Rudersdorf (my photo)

of the keeper, who was ensconced in his high cabin. Police boat N° 5 was waiting below the lock to go up. He was over on our right, so we gave him two toots on the horn as we exited the lock, still side by side in formation. Back down the Flakensee and into the Locknitz channel, past the big restaurant the “Locknitz Idyll” which was empty and deserted. Then we turned right into the alternative winding channel which was lined with holiday bungalows. Told Bill on VHF that the bridges were low. The first bridge was less than 2m high, so Mike took the mast off, the ensign and then I had to lower the moped off its wooden blocks to get under it. Just around the bend, four fishermen were sat outside a real hillbilly styled cabin, they glared at us with some suspicion. More cabins and tiny holiday bungalows lined the banks. We went round a left hand bend and rode over a fallen tree, called Bill on the radio and told him about it and he managed to steer Rosy around it. More bungalows as we came into the village of Fangschleuse, then we went into a chain of three wiggly little lakes, Werlsee, Peetsee and

Werlsee - Wikimedia photo by Lienhard Schultz

Mollensee. I made a cup of soup for elevenses. At the very end of the last lake there was a trip boat stop and we sat against the dolphins while Mike investigated the little staging alongside the pier and the electricity posts along it. Bill brought Rosy alongside us, neither of us were tied up, for Fanny to get off for a pee. She was too scared to jump across our roof. Bill encouraged her and she slipped and fell over on our roof. When Mike returned he gave Bill a report on his findings. There was nowhere to indicate that they charged for the mooring and the electricity was coin in the slot. Noted it on the chart for another time. Rosy moved off and Mike tried the mooring to see how far we could get down the side of the pier and was surprised when our stern end cleared the trip boat mooring dolphins. I cooked a hot sandwich on our return down the lakes. It was still only 11° C but the sun was trying to break through. We followed Rosy back down the lakes, pausing to have a look at the three trippers, Rhine, Elbe and Spree moored near Grünheide in the Peetsee. Back past Erkener and into the Dameritzsee.

Mollensee - Wikimedia photo by Lienhard Schultz

Two fast power boats set off from moorings at the top end of the Gosener kanal and roared off down the canal at a speed of over 40 kph. (There’s never a police boat about when the goons like that start racing) We were overtaken by the hotel ship Mark Brandenburg as we went down the canal. Down the Seddinsee and followed Rosy into the mooring at Schmöckwitz. Both boats moored with bows towards the old landing stage. Later a cruiser came and joined us. Got on with a few chores and cooked a lasagna for dinner.

Sunday 10th October 2004 Schmöckwitz.

2.1° C even colder! Sunny morning. Cloudy showery afternoon. Turning colder again later. Mike got up up early to watch the Japanese F1 Grand Prix. Waste of time watching it, he said, the Japanese TV cameras missed the main action. Turned the heating off as the sun started warming the cabin. Mike gave Bill a hand sorting out his injectors.