Tuesday 12th October 2004 Große Tranke to Wergensee.

North chamber of Furstenwalde lock
with elevated track and towing mule for push-tow pans (2014 photo)

-0.5° C First dip below zero this autumn. Frost covering the roof and canvases first thing. The sun shone all day, but we still had a very cold east wind blowing. Mike chatted to two WSA men, who had come to read the water levels at the pegel by our stern end, just before we set off at 9 a.m. following Rosy. A loaded boat called Concordia came downstream and Mike called Füstenwalde on VHF and got a reply from the lady keeper, a torrent of rapid German, none of which was understood by us. The lock emptied and we went in and hung on the wall, Rosy alongside us and rose about one metre. The two ladies who

New lock at Kersdorf from 2014 - old one to right out of shot

were in charge of the lock came to talk to us, still in rapid non-stop German. One slowed down enough for Mike to understand that she was asking where we were going. She told him that there was no traffic coming off the Oder as the water level was too low at present. An empty Dutch boat, Aurora from Nijmegen - a 65m long 700 tonner, was moored above the lock. It was wild and windy as we went along the river Spree. I made hot sandwiches for our lunch and fed buns to Mike one by one so that they wouldn’t go cold. We arrived at Kersdorf at 1 p.m. Mike called on VHF and an elderly couple came out on to the lockside and opened the gates on the left hand chamber. We went in and rose three metres with Rosy alongside us. Mike had another long chat to the keepers in very limited German. On to the summit level at 43m asl. Now we were on a true canal section of the Oder-Spree-Kanal. Again the keeper had said to Mike that there was very little water in the

Neuhaus lock (2014 photo)

Oder. Three cranes flew over, trumpeting loudly. They were flying north - wrong direction chaps! Africa is south of here! A man operating a digger from a Polish Transbode tug from Wroclaw, was loading rocks into a pan called Lucie. Rosy was in the lead and we followed, turning right into the Spiesekanal down to Neuhaus lock. On the bank we passed more evidence of wild beavers living in the vicinity - a half gnawed through tree trunk. It was 2.35 p.m. when we arrived at the lock. No signs of life. We lashed alongside Rosy on the landing for the lock and Mike went to find the keeper. The lock was already full, so he came out and lifted the bridge, then we went in and dropped down about a metre. While the lock was emptying Mike moved the car from the public car park to the WSA yard, after he’d asked for permission to park it there from the keeper. At 3.15 p.m. we tied up by the tiny (12.6m long by 3m wide) lock down on to the river Spree. There was just enough room for Rosy on the lock landing, we winded and put our stern next to the other side of the wooden landing, roping our bows to some old wooden posts in the river bed. I took the camera to photograph the unusual manually operated lock with sideways sliding gates. Fanny came with me and sat waiting for me to throw a stick for her (ever ready

Wergensee lock - too small for us!

Fanny waiting for me to throw a stick

to play as always) so I took her photo too while she was sitting still. Bill lit his coal range in his back cabin.