Wednesday 27th April 2005 KP157 Wrzeszczyna to KP137 Lipica 27.1kms 4 locks

Mikołajewo lock - Wiki photo by Lofthy

4.9º C overnight. Hazy sunshine in the morning, turning to rain in the afternoon. We left at 8.20 a.m. A young man worked lock 18, Rosko. Bill paid. Mike asked if there was drinking water available at the lock. The lad said no, not by the lock, at the house but that was across the weirstream. He said try lock 16 or in the town. Next lock, no 17 Mikołajewo, was operated by a very pleasant woman whose grey dog followed her everywhere. Fanny wanted to play and the two dogs carried on a conversation, while everyone laughed. A bright orange painted car ferry at Ciszkowo was

Pianówka weir - Wiki photo by Rystal

tethered to a wire 6.5m above the river. It had no motor, it was powered by the flow of the river. The ferrymen were busily painting their shed a light shade of grey. A group of fishermen occupied the bank close by the ferry. I sat out on the stern (I’d been busy with the usual chores) for ten minutes before we arrived at lock 16, Pianówka. The young man at the lock said he had no water at the lockside, the house was on the far side of the weirstream too. Above the lock we noted that some of the trees along the banks had chicken wire wrapped around their bases, bet that stops the beavers chewing the tree trunks through. Lots and lots of trees bore the marks of the rodents’ teeth, many had been felled and stripped of bark. I made s

Lipica lock chamber - Wiki photo by Rysnal

ome lunch. It started to drizzle, this soon turned heavier and the brolly came out. As we passed through the town of Czarnkow, we spotted a basin on the right bank with a slipway and several moored tug boats, etc. There were several men working in the yard. We wondered if we should have gone in there for water. At Lipica, lock no 15, several men turned out to work the lock and a lady, smartly dressed in a suit, came to take details of both boats. Mike gave her a previous receipt, but she wanted blow by blow the exact details of each boat. Mike went in the lockside office and she wrote everything down in a ledger. We were the first boats through this year. He asked about water and she told him to ask at the next lock, no 14 Romanowo. We told her we would stop before the next lock. Above the lock there was a series of hefty mooring bollards along the right hand bank. We came to a halt several metres away on rocks. Mike tried getting off the stern with the aid of a plank, but we couldn’t get the boat close enough to the bank without grounding on rocks. We moved on and found a better mooring next to some reeds by a bank that had been burned (which coated the mooring ropes in soot) and Mike banged four stakes into the soft peaty earth. We hadn’t seen any dropped tree trunks – they must tidy them away up here and take them somewhere for chopping into firewood. 

Tuesday 26th April 2005 KP181 Stary Bielice to KP157 Wrzeszczyna 27.5kms 4 locks

Rosy battling the flow on the river Notec

A milder night at 4.3º C, sunny but still cold with a biting wind. Ready to move off at 8 a.m. when Mike spotted the drip tray under the engine was full of water!  He’d left the manifold drain tap turned on. What a silly thing to do! He spent the next 45 minutes pumping it out. Set off at 8.50 a.m. I steered while he finished sponging the last spots out. Mike put the radio on without plugging it into the 12v system and flattened the batteries. All in all, a good start to the day’s cruising. What next? We entered the lock cut leading to the first lock on the Notec at

Weir below the first lock on the Notec

9.50 a.m. The lock chamber of lock 22, Kzryź, which was empty with both gates open on the 57m long x 9m wide lock. It was just after 10.00 a.m. when Mike climbed the lock ladder after he’d attached our stern rope to a recessed bar in the wall and I’d done likewise with a rope to our side dolly and collected Rosy alongside. A pleasant young man, who spoke no English at all, came and worked the lock (all manually operated). He took details of the two boats and relieved us of 5,68 Złotys each, which we thought was cheap for the trip – thinking we’d paid for all the

Old pans moored on quay below lock 22 Krzyz R. Notec

way to the Vistula. A little long haired Jack Russell dog and a cat followed him around the lockside. We rose 1.5m and wished him “do widzenia” (pronounced doh veedzen’ya) – goodbye! And set off to the next lock some 5 kms distant. A tractor was driving slowly across the broad meadow to out left and the little houses of Drawsko village appeared atop a low bank on our right. The flow on the canalised river was still some 3 kph but the channel was about a metre deeper at 3 to 3.5m. We followed Rosy up to the next lock, no 21 Drawsko, where a pleasant lady keeper worked the lock for us and took all our details again, charging us another 5,68 Złotys for the

Our first lock since leaving Germany

lock (ah-ha! We thought it was cheap! That’s nearly a quid a lock!) An older man came to talk to Mike in German. We rose 1.4m before being let out through one gate on to the 8.4 kms long pound leading to the next lock. I made lunch as we went along the reach. Three deer went cantering across the fields on the right hand bank towards some low wooded hills. The river wound through some tortuous bends before we arrived at lock 20, Wielen. Another lady keeper, but not so pleasant when Bill paid with a

Bill attempting to talk to the Polish lock keeper at Krzyz

20 Złoty note. A middle aged disabled man on crutches (with a bad hip) came to open the opposite gate for her. They opened both gates and closed them again when we’d gone. Above the lock the scenery was flat open fields, with long drifts of white flowers, stretching to low wooded hills on both sides. Springtime flowers, celandines, appeared along the banks and a whole herd of cows were grazing near a couple of pointy-topped hayricks as we neared the town of Wrzeszczyna. The lock of the same name, no 19,

New lock house at Krzyz

was operated by a middle aged man who came to talk to us very seriously in gruff Polish and we hadn’t a clue what he was talking about! It gradually dawned hat he wanted the last receipt so he could copy it!! Fine. I took a ‘photo of the lovely little green wooden house with shutters on his lockside. We presumed it was the old lock house – a more modern house stood about a hundred metres from the lock. We rose another 1.4m and got a receipt each from the lock keeper, after paying another 11,68 Złotys for

New lock house at lock 21 Drawsko

the two boats. His missus came out to join him to say do widzenia. It was almost 5 p.m. when we moored, bows tied to a downed tree trunk – an awkward mooring as the tree sloped toward us. Mike put the plank out off the stern while I held the tiller over to keep the stern as close as possible to the bank. I was holding two thin mooring pins in my other hand as Mike flung the stern rope to the bank, hooking one of the pins right out of hand as he did so – it went in the river! I fetched it out again with the magnet (with the keeper still attached to it –shows how strong these Sea Searcher

Old wooden lock house at 19 Wrzeszczyna

magnets are!) – it had been a long day! Some workmen were fishing a couple of hundred metres upstream of where we moored. 

Monday 25th April 2005 KP 202 to nr Stary Bielice K181 (Notec) 20.3kms no locks

River Notec - Wikimedia photo by Pit1233

Cold overnight –0.3º C. Sunny but windy and cold. Set off upstream again, it was 8.25 a.m. by the time we’d untangled the ropes and planks, etc. It was very cold sitting out on the stern, with a bone chilling wind blowing from the east. Lots and lots more signs of beavers, chewed trees and bark missing from branches. At 10.35 a.m. the river swung through ninety degrees to run toward the east, then we’d got the wind directly in our faces as we approached Dresdenko. The river ran at the base of some low hills on our left, with the road and railway alongside. After a few little farmsteads and groups of houses, a large wood yard occupied the

Church at Drezdenko - Wikimedia photo by Stazek99

space between the river and the road, wafting a tangy odour of sawn timber in our direction. The posts on the grassy bank at Drezdenko were still there, as we’d marked them on the map from our visit by car five years earlier. They were set a couple of metres back from the water’s edge and, with the wind blowing in my face, I had trouble throwing a coil of rope over one of the posts. In the end Mike and I swopped jobs. I took

Buildings in Drezdenko - Wikimedia photo by Stazek99

over at the tiller, keeping the bows stuffed up the bank while Mike lassoed a post, then I swung the stern end into the bank and he put a plank off to reach the bank and took a couple of ropes round the next two posts. Bill brought Rosy alongside and we attached ropes. I got ready while Bill ate his lunch as it was just midday, and Mike went to have a look across the road bridge to see if there were any shops on the left bank – no, the shops were all off to our right. I found my anti-pickpocket bag and rucksack, and Bill wheeled his bike as a carrier for his groceries. First stop was at the Post Office, where I posted a small

House in Stary Bielice  - Wikimedia photo by Danuta B

package to Peter and Bill posted similar to his friend Molly with additions to his website. Our 150g packet cost 10 Złotys (£1.67 or €2,50) cheaper than in Germany! We’d seen signs that advertised an Intermarché, so we kept walking, ignoring the small local supermarkets in the town centre, it was 1.8 kms from the edge of town closest to the boat to the supermarket on the far side of town. I’d started out dressed as I had been when I was sat on the back of the boat with woolly hat, scarf and gloves on, but soon dispensed with the scarf and gloves as it was warm in the sunshine sheltered

Railway bridge in Stary Bielice  - Wikimedia photo by Danuta B

from the wind by buildings. We found the Intermarché and I bought bread (3 Zł or 50p for a big round sliced white loaf and 1,90 Zł or 30p for a small brown loaf), cheese from the deli 18,99 Zł a kilo or £3.17 (the girl spoke to us in German!) plus lettuce and a green biro for Mike (the ones he bought in EHS were too pallid, he said) and a new coffee mug (filled with Polish coffee) for 9,89 Złotys (£1.65 or €2 ,47). On the way back I spied some geraniums, just what Bill wanted for his window boxes for Rosy’s roof garden, so he bought six plants while I kept an eye on his bike. Back at the boat at 2.10 p.m and we set off upriver again at twenty minutes later to find a better mooring place as our boat had been sat on rocks where we’d been moored at Drezdenko. The railway followed the river, still on the left bank, the road also but now on the right bank and set well back from the river. Where a branch line from the main railway crossed the river the embankment grass had been set on fire and a thick pall of smoke drifted down the river for quite some distance. As we went under the bridge it was burning quite well and, when Rosy got there, Bill called on VHF to say the fire brigade had just arrived to extinguish the fire. Under the 174 road bridge at Stary Bielice and we started looking for a mooring place. There were houses atop the high bank on our left, with long sloping gardens down to the river. Three small lads spotted the boats and came racing down the bank, followed by their dog, whooping and shouting “wow!” as they ran. We waved and Bill sounded Rosy’s horn as we went past. Round the next bend and we tied to a dead tree that poked out three metres towards the middle of the river. It had metal spikes in it and marks where it had been cut with a chainsaw, but it had resisted and had not been removed. It made an ideal place to attach our bow lines and made a good deep mooring. Bill brought Rosy alongside and secured. Mike had put a plank out from our stern and put stakes in the bank. Later Bill potted up his geraniums.

(As you can see I struggled to find photos to illustrate today's journey as we took none ourselves that day)

Sunday 24th April 2005 KP 202 (Notec) Day off for F1 GP racing Imola.

A borrowed photo - Wikimedia by Saperaud

A cold night, -2.3º C. Sunny but chilly. We noticed that our Polish courtesy flag was ripping apart at the ends (something to do with the wind), so we set about making a new one. I’d got some plain white cotton material, so we cut two pieces and Mike coloured one half with red fabric paint. Then he went to do engine room jobs, checking the nuts on the drive train (as he’d had it apart when we were at EHS) checking the water filter, etc, and then repainted the bow and stern rope fenders with preservative. Lunch. We had trouble sorting the inverters out to run the TV and satellite plus the PC. In the end I gave up, the voltage was too low, so Mike had the TV

Another borrowed image - Wikimedia by Dimitris Pachakis

on to watch the F1 GP from Imola, Italy, while I made up a new Polish courtesy flag. When the red piece of material was dry, I stitched two thicknesses of white cotton to two thicknesses of red to make a new flag (we never found any Polish courtesy flags in any chandlers). Bill ran his engine after the racing had finished and a bloke appeared from nowhere and spoke to Bill. He spoke no English but Bill thought he was a fisherman and was complaining about the noise! You’d find one if you moved to the moon!! Mike sent an text to Hans to ask him to send the maps to Malbork. After a beautiful red sunset, the moon rose as a giant orange disc hanging above the horizon. Central heating on again.

Saturday 23rd April 2005 Santok KP68 (Warta) to KP 202 (Notec). 23.8kms no locks

Santok on the confluence of Warta and Notec

A chilly 0.2º C overnight. Sunny with chilly breezes. Bill knocked on the cabin at 7.10 a.m. as he was getting very anxious about Rosy sitting on the bottom with the water level dropping. He’d moved some ballast to starboard to counteract it, but was still not happy and wanted to forget shopping and set off. Mike assured him it would be OK. The water level had only dropped 1.5” in twelve hours. (On flooded rivers Mike always takes measurements or puts a marker stick in the bank

Beaver chewed trees

edge) The shop (a sklep called Mini Max) didn’t open until 9.00 a.m. as it was Saturday, during the week it was open at 7.00 a.m. Mike and Bill went to get a few perishables. Meanwhile I got on with the usual chores. Mike came back with bread, eggs, tomatoes, lettuce and mushrooms – and the news that the Post Office doesn’t open on Saturdays. Just before he returned the ‘phone had beeped, there was an SMS from Hans, our maps of Poland had arrived and he wanted to know what to do with them.

White-tailed eagle - Wiki photo by Yathin sk

Mike sent him a text back to say to hang on to them for a couple of days and we would sort out an address to send them to. We helped Bill move Rosy to moor on the other side of us, in deeper water, while he rearranged his ballast and finished getting ready to move off. We set off at 10.00 a.m. The underside of the road bridge at Santok across the river Notec was filled with sand martin nests end to end, unoccupied as yet. The Notec was narrower than the Warta, but still flowing just as fast around 3.5 – 4 kph. The first white-tailed eagle we’d seen on our new Polish adventure flew across the scrubland covered flood plain to our left, a

Bill at the helm with Fanny in her favourite place.

magnificent sight! I went in the cabin to do a bit of cleaning and, just as I’d finished, Mike called me to look as there were two deer by the water’s edge just in front. As I looked out they took fright and ran, scaring a crane into flight too – the first crane we’d seen this trip. Mike had been looking for things that looked like grazing sheep (we hadn’t seen any domesticated animals, no sheep and only two cows the day before) which is what my bird book says distant feeding cranes look like. There were lots of dead trees standing

Greenshank - Wikimedia photo by Ken Billington

in the Notec flood plain and lots of evidence of beavers - chewed and felled trees. As we passed the pumping station near Lipki Mały a big rusty brown bird flew across, a female harrier – but was it a Marsh, Hen or Montagu? Too far away to tell! We had lunch sitting on the stern watching an episode of a TV wildlife documentary unfolding all around us! A long water meadow along the right hand bank was still partly flooded and was a haven for all sorts of birds. A pair of cranes flew overhead, then shortly afterwards we saw another pair feeding in the meadow alongside us, far enough away for them to ignore us and close enough for me to have a very good view through binoculars. Then a group of five white storks were feeding in the damp meadow; big red beaks dipping into the grass, at each step a backwards flip and whatever was in the beak went down the throat! A pair of fishermen were on the bank fishing from the

Whimbrel in flight - Wikimedia photo by Tupungato

meadow, the storks and swans ignored them in their own quest for anything edible in the damp patches of the meadow. In a big clump of reeds, the head of a stork appeared every thirty seconds before delving back into the depths in search of frogs, snails or fish. Just before the road bridge of the 157, a large group of nervous greenshanks were feeding and taking flight every few minutes, amongst them was a lone lapwing and a solitary whimbrel, whose mournful cry was unmistakable. Upstream of the road bridge there was a small house with a yard reaching down to the water’s edge. Chickens were scratching in the yard. A sign at the water’s edge announced “Straznik Wodny” – it sent me off in search of the dictionary as we knew “Wodny” meant water.

Well, a slight resemblance to a kangaroo??
Wikimedia photo of red deer by Da Voli

“Straznik” means guardian, so “Straznik Wodny” must be the lengthman’s house. In the yard, leaning on the fence was another bunch of kilometre posts. Another post thief! Just upstream was KP 207. A little further on two large deer bounded away from the river bank into the reedbed, one turned and stood to look back at the boat and we saw a face that almost convinced us it was a kangaroo! It must have been a red deer, although there are colonies of wild wallabies in Britain, we don’t really think there would be wild kangaroos surviving the winter in chilly Poland. The bright shining yellow flowers of marsh marigolds appeared next to a pumphouse shortly before we stopped to find a mooring for the rest of the weekend by KP202 in the middle of nowhere. I threw a bow line around a tree felled by beaver (and with recent teeth marks showing where they’d stripped the bark from lots of trees) and Mike got the plank off to put a couple of mooring pins in the bank to hold the stern, then called Bill alongside. Fanny was glad to get off again to investigate the dried out reed bed we’d moored next to. It was 4.10 p.m. and we were all glad to find another quiet place to moor. We’d passed a couple fishing about a kilometre back downriver before we tied up and seen a couple of  vehicles on the flood dykes, but other than that, the birds outnumbered people by several hundred to one. Mike lit the central heating as the temperature took a nose dive mid-evening. 

Friday 22nd April 2005 nr Dzierzów KP45 to Santok KP68 (Warta). 22.2kms no locks

Basin in Gorzow

Not so cold as the night before, but still decidedly chilly at 0.7º C. Sunny start with clouds rolling over and brief light rain showers. Before we set off Fanny chased a stick that Mike had thrown for her and pounced into some bushes, flushing out a duck which took flight surprising everybody including Fanny. Mike and Bill saw another otter, this one was sprawled out on a chewed tree stump not far downstream of the boats! We set off at 8.30 a.m. following Rosy upriver

Bridges over the Warta in Gorzow

until we caught up and overtook. Again there were lots and lots of swans on the river in quite large groups. As we saw the outskirts of Gorzow Wielkopolski, a short shower of rain sent us chasing after plastic bags for the GPS, ‘phone and radio – it stopped not long after the brolly went up. Gorzow from the water looked even scruffier than we remembered it from the road. A long, stretched out town along the river bank and up the hill, with

Painted building in Gorzow

old tower blocks of flats now cheered up with pastel shades of paint. We spied the onion dome of an Orthodox Christian church behind the factory chimneys and tumble down warehouses. An old basin on the right hand bank came into view. A redundant iron boat had been hauled up the sloping bank until only its stern remained in the water. Behind it stood an ancient, empty concrete quay with bollards. As we neared the town bridges we encountered the first of a dozen or so canoeists, paddling fast

The market backing on to the riverbank

downstream with the flow with such serious expressions and fast glups of breath – we thought that they must have been practising for the next Olympics! I took photos as we passed slowly through the town, the shops under the railway arches where five years earlier we had been spotted as tourists by a couple of sharks, the backs of the market stalls where bunches of youths were already drinking beer from the stalls, the cross roads under the railway by the river bridge and the guarded car park where our

An old tug on the bank covered in grafitti

sharks conned us into buying a road map of Poland as a waterways guide. Memories, memories! We’re older and more canny now! The moorings looked great, a concrete quay with mooring studs, right by the shops (and the vandals, thieves and cheeky kids!) By the new bridge over the river we noted a new mooring place in an arm on the left bank. There was a row of posts with a gangway linking them. The only occupants were two fishermen. A little further upstream on the right bank was another basin.

The market and blocks of flats in Gorzow

This one was full of boats, old waterways vessels, and a slipway and cranes. Mike had noted the place as a possible safe mooring, when we were there by car. The sun came out again as we left Gorzow astern. I made us a cup of soup to warm us up. At the edge of a large area of wasteland a man stood and watched us pass by. He had a small brown pitbull dog with him. He pointed to the boat and spoke to the dog, then he lifted the dog up and waved its paw! I just had to call on the radio and tell Bill to get Fanny

A guarded car park, by the market in Gorzow

to wave back! We’d been having trouble getting people to wave back to us, they all just gave us surly looks. A low range of little sandy hills occupied the left bank all the way to Santok. We noted more and more evidence of beaver attacks on trees. Mike pointed out one tree stump, which looked like the end of a sharpened pencil, where the beavers had actually felled the tree. Each village seemed to have a least one cartwheel on a pole with a pair of nesting storks atop it. On top of one of the hills there stood

Rosy passing through Gorzow.

the base of an old windmill, just the brick tower, now window-less and door-less. A large blue hulled cruiser (it looked like an ex-German police boat) came downriver towards us, then turned bows into the bank, tied to the kilometre marker (KP64) and a bloke jumped off and started painting the post. Mike said he’d seen five marker posts since Gorzow – the bank marker thief couldn’t work this far upriver! We motored on upstream to moor at Santok at 2.20 p.m. There was a row of posts linked together by planks

Waterways painting the marker posts

which stood in the river about three metres from the bank edge which was sloping and lined with rocks. We moored on the outside and Bill brought Rosy carefully up the inside – there was just enough depth over the rocks. Mike said Bill could borrow our plank and then he and the dog could get off. Fanny was by now in urgent need of a pee, so Bill let her off and then, once she was back on board, he put the plank on his roof. Mike lit the central heating again as the temperature dropped sharply after dark.

Moored on the Notec at Santok

Moored at Santok

Thursday 21st April 2005 Nr Oksza to nr Dzierzów KP45 (Warta). 20.2kms

Houses and marker posts at Swiekocin

It was really cold overnight –4º C, so we were glad of having lit the central heating the night before. The day was sunny and calmer, not so windy, but the light breeze was still very cold. We were about to move off at 8.00 a.m. when Bill said he’d got problems, no rev counter again and he thought he could see smoke (he’d had an intermittent problem with it yesterday) so Mike went on Rosy to help sort it out. The alternator pulley had split into two halves, so the belt was loose. They sorted out another pulley, etc, fixed it and we set off at ten to ten. A pair of storks were flying overhead, a gaggle

Traffic!! Near Kolszyn

of geese took off - as did more swans (I’d never seen so many swans) Coats on again. At 10.40 a.m. we passed a few houses on the left bank at the village of Swiekocin by the first bridge, where there were a pile of kilometre marker posts in a garden lying against a fence. Mike had been complaining about the lack of posts and here they were! Had the guy stolen them? or had they been taken in for the winter? Bill said it would be OK as long as he put them back in the right order! I baked some buns for lunch and made some drop scones while the oven was hot. Vacuumed the carpet and broke the belt that drives the brush roller. Had to replace it with a new one before I could finish cleaning

Trees make good moorings here

the floor. Made a cuppa and sat back out on the stern, birdwatching. Three goosanders flew off in front, one male and two females. At 12.30 I went inside to make some lunch. When I stepped back outside at 1.00 p.m. as we neared Kołszyn, to my surprise there was a commercial coming downstream. Number BM5228 (no names here) was 56.6m long and carried 495 tonnes according to his details painted on the boat’s coamings – it looked part loaded. The skipper just about managed a wave!  A strange ripple in the water stretching halfway across the river caused Mike to steer towards

Best not to tie to the ones the beavers have chewed.

the left bank. It was something huge swimming just under the surface of the water! As we approached it it disappeared. Near Chwalowice we saw an otter swimming across the river from right to left. I tracked it with binoculars as it headed for the bank and was hidden from sight in a mass of old tree stumps and branches.  Later on Mike said he saw something run up a tree, I looked with my binoculars and a few minutes later a large mink (or was it another otter – they are very much darker brown than we expected) scooted into a bank of dead reeds. We decided to moor before Gorzow and spied a convenient looking place by some old trees at 3.30 p.m. I threw a bow rope around a tree stump and Mike powered the stern towards the bank.  Bill brought Rosy alongside, then Mike put poles out to keep the boats off the sandy river bottom while Bill set some long lines fore and aft. The trees in front and behind us showed evidence of being gnawed by beaver. 

Wednesday 20th April 2005 Kostryzn to nr Oksza (Warta). 23kms no locks

The cable ferry Lubusz

A cold night 0.7º C sunny day, but biting cold ENE wind. Up at seven to go at eight. As we untied from the quay wall a lone gongoozler turned up, a man who’d driven on to the wharf in his car especially to watch the proceedings. Here begins the real start of the battle upstream against the flow on the river Warta, a smaller river than the Oder, but without (we think) the hazard of stone groynes. The first section of the river ran through very flat open country, a shared floodplain with the Oder, with a nature reserve area on our right bank. All around we were surrounded by wildlife, masses of birds, in some very remote and unspoiled countryside. The ground on the left bank was under water, turned into a marsh, which hundreds of swans and ducks and gulls were exploiting to the full. The engine revvs should have given us 7.5 kph in still water, with the flow of the river against us we were traveling

Bar-tailed godwit - Wikimedia photo by Steve Maslowski

upstream at between 3.5 to 4 kph, so the flow was between 3.5 to 4 kph. A mite slower than the Oder. The marshy fields were replaced by a flood dyke along the river’s edge on our left and more open countryside on our right, which was still the nature reserve. A man in a car drove towards Kostryzn on the dyke path, returning later in the morning. We wondered if he was a water bailiff or a fisherman. Lots of swans went flying off in front, to land and take off again, until we’d collected a bunch of three dozen of the stupid birds. They eventually flew away. We were both getting very cold. Mike changed his coat, I put on tights under my jeans and found a scarf. I made us a cup of soup to warm us up. Its effects were very temporary! The wind was bitter, it felt icy just like midwinter. We ate lunch on the move. The first signs of human habitation appeared on the right bank when we saw

Red kite - Wikimedia photo by Tony Hisgett

the first cable ferry. No one around. It had “Lubusz” painted on the side, it linked the villages to the south of the river with a small town called Witnica, several kilometres away to the north. We motored slowly on upstream until the road on the right bank swung away from the river and we found a couple of tree stumps to tie the bows to. Bill brought Rosy alongside on our left, nearest the bank (for the dog), and we dropped a rope on his bows that we’d already slung around a tree stump. Secured! We dropped back a bit when we realised our bows we over some flat stones. Mike ran a stern line to another tree stump after slinging one of

Starry night sky - Wikimedia photo by Michael J Bennett

our gangplanks off Rosy’s bows. Bill said one of the things he’d forgotten to get when we were at EHS was a new gangplank. A red kite came circling to inspect us, nothing edible, so he went on his way. We could hear birds in the distance, which sounded like bar-tailed godwits (once heard at close range, never forgotten, there had been lots of them last time we were in the Netherlands). I put the PC on and Mike went for a nap. My eyes were stinging from having the wind in my face for most of the seven hours we’d been travelling. We’d already relit the coal fire earlier in the evening, but around ten o’clock the temperature was dropping like a brick, so Mike lit the central heating. The sky was black and full of brilliant stars. Silence! Wonderful.

Tuesday 19th April 2005 Słubice to Kostryzn.37.8kms

Lebus - Wikimedia photo by Lienhard Schultz

We got the boat ready to leave at 10.30 a.m. It was sunny but windy. Mike went to the local Intermarché to get a broom handle to make a replacement flagstaff. He was not amused at the rude treatment he got from the young checkout assistant. He’d got a pole that belonged to a brush. He didn’t want the brush, so he went and found a different handle. Once sawn to the right length and equipped with a few cup hooks it made a passable flagstaff. Pity our old ensign was in such a tatty state. Some time ago we’d tried painting it with fabric paint as it had faded, but had given up and bought a new one. Mike said he’d have another go at painting it later. Lutz and Bernt arrived ready to set off at ten thirty. They came with us on our boat as Bill was having an attack of

Fortifications at Kostryzn - Wikimedia photo by Norbert Radtke

nerves about getting back into the flow on the Oder through the chicane under the bridge and round the submerged sandbank – he said he only wanted to be responsible for one death by drowning  - his own! We went first, he only had to follow us. It was cold in the strong wind blowing upriver, but the two German men sat out on our front deck, Bernt taking photos and Lutz smoking as ever. I found our spare binoculars, which Bernt found very useful when pair of beautiful goldeneye ducks took off. The Germans went inside and got warmed up and I made some coffee and found some photo albums for them to have a look at. We passed two customs vans sitting on the riverside, watching for more smugglers. Lebus stood on its crag, where the generals in WWII watched the battle below on the plain. I made lunch. We had sandwiches on the stern and I gave Lutz and Bernt a tray with salad, cheese and cooked meats plus bread buns to have on a plate or as sandwiches as they wished. We were making good time going downstream with the flow. The GPS said we were flying along at 11 kph, we’d engine revvs for 6 kph which meant we were assisted by a flow of 5 kph. A German tug from Eberswalde set off from the bank, pushing an empty pan just before we arrived at the junction with the river Warta. Under the bridges, passing the old red brick fortifications of

River Warta at Kostryzn - Wikimedia photo by Axe

the old town of Kostryzn (flattened in WWII) and we turned carefully to our right, avoiding the sandbanks at the junction, and headed upstream on the Warta. The wind was no longer in our faces and we were sheltered by the bulk of a large coal-fired factory complex. The change in speed was dramatic, we had slowed down to around 4.5 kph. It was 3.00 p.m. when we arrived at the quay, which was cabin roof height, so I stepped off the roof with our centre rope and tied it to the pole supporting the sign that said Kostryzn (with a couple of letters missing!). Bernt got off to help knock stakes in. Bill kept Rosy in midstream until we’d moored, then came alongside

Moored boats and coal-fired factory at Kostryzn

us. Bernt ‘phoned Siggi. She’d been at Seelow, which was not far away and arrived to pick them up in her green Berlingo. I asked if she’d like to come in for coffee, but she said, no, they would like to get home. Bernt certainly enjoyed his day out even if it was freezing cold, Lutz too said he had enjoyed himself. We waved bye, bye as they left. Bill went to take photos from the bridge and Fanny took her ball to play with two young Polish girls who giggled a lot. Mike had another go at repainting our ensign out on the bank and a gang of four young lads came to look at what he was doing and practise their English. He’d just put our surveillance camera on the mast – they were quick to spot it. Bill

Broom handle for a flagstaff! 

asked if we’d got pictures on our TV! Watched Channel Four News. Seventy eight year old Joseph Ratzinger, a German cardinal and good friend of Pope John-Paul, had been elected Pope on the second day of voting, he is to be called Pope Benedict the sixteenth but the media were already calling him God’s Rotweiler!^.  Later, what sounded like a few pebbles landed on our roof, so we went out to investigate and found Bill out on his stern too. Three youths were walking nonchalantly towards the road bridge looking completely innocent, except there was no one else in sight. Hoped this wasn’t a sign of things to come. I couldn’t find the stones they’d lobbed. The roof was getting covered in dust again and loads of seeds off the plane trees in the park by the mooring. Lit the coal fire as the temperature started dropping rapidly.

Monday 18th April 2005 EHS to Słubice Poland. 37.8kms 1 lock

The shaft locks at Eisenhuttenstadt

Sunny and warm, windy. Up bright and early to get the boat ready to move. Hans the school teacher came round to say farewell and tell us he couldn’t accompany us with his inflatable Zodiac (gummiboot in German!) as his new young radio amateur friend had decided not to c with him. He looked very disappointed as he cycled off. Our green card for the car insurance had arrived from France, so Mike went to tell Christian - who didn’t understand a word. Mike went across the road to the car

Our friend Hans come to see us off

dealers where Klaus works to tell him so he could pass the message on to Christian that our insurance documents had arrived so no need to check the post for us, but he wasn’t there. Hans-D arrived and Mike asked him to explain to Christian, after he’d explained the situation to Hans-D himself. Christian was busy moving a boat. Another one of the members had hauled a trailer with the boat on it down to the side of the club using a small tractor. He’d turned it and had caught the stern end of the boat

Rosy leaving the shaft lock EHS 

on top the fencing along the edge of the quay as there wasn’t quite enough clearance and the boat was now bending the fence. Not the right moment to talk to Christian! We left the basin at 10.30 a.m. with Rosy following, and ran down to Eisenhüttenstadt twin shaft locks. Christian had already ‘phoned them for us to get the lock ready. The right hand chamber was full and ready, but the lights were red. We stooged about until the invisible keeper changed the lights to green. Hans-D had cycled down the towpath and went on to the road, which ran across the tail of the lock on a level with the top of the lock. The descent was, as usual, very slow and gentle, with a musical, screeching floater to hang on to - which stuck every now and again as we descended sometimes dropping suddenly around a metre, or so, as the change in water level left it hanging. Hans-D came across Furstenberg to the Customs office. We moored with our bows on the Customs landing and our stern end on the new landing stage for the trip boat, which doubles as a mooring for pleasure boats too. We went in the office with all our papers. Hans said he’d see us later and didn’t come in with

Rosy below the shaft lock EHS

us. Neither the German customs officer nor the Polish lad spoke much English. First we went in the German officer’s office and he took a few notes. Then we went next door to see a very young Polish Custom’s officer. He used a portable computer to swipe our passports and then wrote down all the details in two books. We’d just told Bill that we’d had our passports stamped when we came through last time. The lad must have understood because he asked if we wanted stamps on our passports. We all

A waterways boat on the slip in Furstenberg

said oh yes please, very eagerly! The two Customs men came to have a look at the boats and we showed them a few photos. Bill asked the lad if he wanted to take a look inside Rosy, but he declined. The older German guy, however, asked if he could see inside Temjiun and Mike took him for the guided tour, while I stood on the stern chatting to Hans-D. Marianne was shopping at the market, he said, for some fish for their lunch. We wished Hans a good holiday in Britain in May, they’re going for about a month and reminded him to send us postcards and to write to us. He said he would. Mike

The customs pontoon in Furstenberg

said he should have had a ride with us down to the Oder. Next time! The German officer was taking photos, so Mike did a twirl with the boat – a figure of eight – before we set off on to the Oder, waving bye bye to Hans-D. The river was flowing well with still quite a bit of flood water – there was no sand showing anywhere and all the groynes were well under water. A stork flew over as we entered the river, heading downstream towards the Baltic. A tug pushing a craneboat went past motoring hard, running uphill. I made some lunch, which we ate as we went along, sitting out in the sunshine. Willie wagtails were hitching lifts on the boat roof, but didn’t seem interested in searching out insects

Frankfurt. Rosy heading back upstream on the Oder
into the harbour at Slubice 

around the planks, etc, as others had done before them. Just before Brieskow-Finkenheerd, at KP575, border patrol boat No 43 came upriver at very high speed, slowed down to look at the two strange boats, then went back to high speed once it had had a good look and passed us both. We’d forgotten to bring out the ‘phones (both Polish and German ‘phones will work for the next couple of days) and we’d got an SMS from Peter on the Polish phone. He’d received the post from us, liked the picture in the papert, he said, shame about all the errors in the write up. Under the autobahn bridge above Frankfurt, then under the town bridge and a swift turn round in the current to battle back

Frankfurt from the Oder

upstream, between the sandbanks and back under the far arch of the road bridge into the arm where there was a good quay mooring at Słubice. It was ten to four when we tied up. Surprised to find we had to step down off the boat on to the quay. When we were there last time we had to climb up on to the boat roof and then use the tractor tyres, which festooned the walls, to climb up on to the quay. We hadn’t realised how much flood water was still running down the Oder. It was interesting to look back at the photo of the mooring last time we were there. Bill came round to tell us that his friends from Frankfurt were coming to see us at 7.30 p.m. We all went for a drink in the bistro by the quay, a very short distance away up a flight of steps. Steffi, who is a journalist, arrived with her husband Lutz, a retired actor, and their friends Siggi and Bernt. Both women spoke quite

Frankfurt from the Oder

good English, but the men didn’t. Lutz said he learnt French at school, but said he didn’t remember much! He smoked a lot (and coughed a lot too). We sat outside under a huge umbrella, drank bottles of Tyskie beer and chatted until the sun went down. Fanny barked at every dog that went by – there were a lot of dogs around, most of them much bigger than her! Bill came back from a visit to his boat with the astounding news that the red ensigns from both boats had disappeared! We couldn’t believe it, we were only yards away. We hadn’t locked the doors either. I went to make sure the boat was OK and locked the stern doors. Steffi asked the landlord of the bistro if he would ask the lads who were fishing at the waterways yard house opposite if they’d seen

Moored in the harbour in Slubice - Poland!
(Sorry for bad quality of photo - very early digital camera)

anything. No. Wonderful. Our first night in Poland and somebody steals not only our red ensigns but the flagpoles too! Steffi said she hadn’t been able to come and photograph the boats going under the bridge at Frankfurt as she’d been reporting on the WWII commemorations a bit further north upriver at Lebus, site of a famous battle in the latter days of WWII when over 50,000 Poles, Russians and Germans died. She also told us that the German customs men had made a record bust, catching smugglers with a million Polish cigarettes. Mike and Bill asked the Germans if they’d like to come with us the next day for trip down the river to Kostryzn. The women said no, but the men said they would like to come with us. Our visitors went home at 9.30 p.m. Mike and Bill sat out a bit longer, but I went back on the boat as I was starting to feel cold.