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.