No photos as this posting consists of just some details from my diary of the daily problems of life on a narrowboat in Poland!
Wednesday 4th May 2005 Brda lock.
Grey and overcast, heavy rain started mid-morning.
12.4ºC overnight. Up at eight. Bill asked Mike if the chandlers did spare seats
for Elsans as his had splits in each side which pinch both the cheeks of his
bum! Mike sent a text to Peter to get him to ask about it in the chandlers. A
trip boat with a happy, cheery party of guests on board, playing loud gypsy-style
music, went down the lock for a trip on the Wisła. Mike decided to take our
boat back upriver to the lake to test the echo sounder. It started to rain as
we set off. Brolly up. As soon as we left the short lock cut the display began
to show the depth, so it was the bad
bottom by the lock which had been refusing to give a signal. Mike was very
relieved to know that there was nothing wrong with the echo sounder - we will really
need it when going down the river. Back to the mooring. Bill had moved Rosy a
bit further along the mooring towards the lock, so we moored where we’d set off
from - on the end of the dolphins. Once we were tied up Mike changed the engine
oil. The trip boat came back up the lock in the late afternoon with a very
happy, merry group of folks on board. Then Mike did a classic when he was
getting the petrol can out of the front hatch to fill up the generator in the
pouring rain – he took a dive off the bows into the river. It was deep, almost
5m and he said he opened his eyes underwater to find out which way was up and it
was all green. He was OK except for being very wet – but he’d lost his glasses -
again! Finished off the Polish stuff for dinner, stuffed pancakes and pierogi
with chips and beans.
Thursday 5th May
2005 Brda lock.
More bad weather predicted. Grey day with damp air, but
little of the predicted rain turned up. Transbode-6 left just after dawn. In an
attempt to recover his new varifocal specs, Mike attached my fishing landing
net (not used for donkey’s years) to a length of copper tube which was attached
to the end of the long pole for the HF mast. He used this to try trawling the
bottom to retrieve his glasses. First the wooden pole at the end of the HF mast
broke – it had several joins in it which came apart. We cobbled it back together
with whipping cord and duct tape. It came apart at another joint. He found
another length of copper tube to replace the wooden pole and we had a working
dredging tool. He paused to go with Bill to see the lock keeper. They told him
that they don’t work weekends so it looks like we’re stuck until Monday. Mike
asked the keeper if we could have some electricity (after he’d spied the day
before that Transbode-6 had been connected to an electricity supply under a
plate on the the lockside) and we got a cable connected up for a donation of 20
Złotys. Not enough current to run the washing machine, but enough for the TV,
‘fridge and computer. Back to the search for his glasses. After about an hour
of fetching up oozing, black, stinking mud and no sign of his specs we gave up,
had some lunch and then ‘phoned Vision Express UK. Mike spoke to the manageress.
She’d got all the details of his last pair and said she would try and locate
the same frames and ring back. She rang back later to say they’d had no luck,
they couldn’t locate the same frames so they couldn’t do him some new
varifocals as they needrd to be measured very accurately. His only option now
was to try to get some here in Bydgoszcz. He had also been in process of
repairing Bill’s TV, which had stopped working on 240v but was OK on 12v. He’d
found a dry joint and re-soldered it for him, but the TV still wasn’t working.
Bill came over to see if he could help with doing the repairs. We got our
‘photos out to look at the mooring possibilities at the junction with the Nogat
while Bill was on board, there were dolphins for big boats but not much else.
So there was not much point going there until Monday otherwise we would be
stuck on the river without a reasonable place for mooring. Mike puzzled over
Bill’s TV. He gave up and returned it to Bill so he could watch TV for the
evening – he’d have it back to have another look at it later. I cooked pork
steaks for dinner with an apricot omelette for desert.
Friday 6th May 2005 Brda lock.
Grey, showery and cold. 6.7º C overnight. Mike ‘phoned
Vision Express in the UK again and told the girl what had happened and asked if
they would try looking to see if they had frames like the ones he had twelve
months ago. She said she would ring back. He ‘phoned her again an hour later.
She said she would call him back, she hadn’t found any yet. When she called
back it was bad news, they hadn’t any of the older frames either. Nothing else
for it than to get some here in Bydgoszcz. He went to talk to the lock keepers.
There were three of them in the office (good jobs these guys have got - there
has been nothing through the lock since we’ve been here but that one trip boat which
went down and back) and one of them spoke a little English. Mike asked if there
was an opticians at the local supermarket complex. Yes, three kilometres away
and he would take him in his car. Saves getting the moped off, getting it up
and over the piling on to the walkway would not be impossible but certainly
wouldn’t be easy. He came back shortly after. A disaster had occurred. A lens
had fallen out of his old glasses and smashed on the floor while he was in
Vision Express (which was in the Auchan mall less than 2 kms away) and he could
get varifocals, but it would take ten days. He had to go back in an hour to get
his old specs back as he was having to have new plastic lenses in his old
frames. I was finishing off the chores. He made himself some lunch then went
back to Auchan with the lock keeper. He’d decided that we would pick up his new
specs on the return journey, he’d toyed with the idea of asking to have them
sent to Ostroda but it’s not very far to there and we could be back here in
less than two weeks. Mike came back to the boat and went out again – he said
the Polish were up to another scam. I had just sat down to eat my lunch. A guy
had asked if we wanted some diesel. He said he’d got 20 litres. He wanted 120
Złotys for it. No way, Mike told them – that’s far too expensive – at 2,50 Złotys
a litre (like we paid the barge skipper) that’s 50 Złotys. OK, he said. Then he
carried the can down to the landing. Mike said there’s never twenty litres in
there! Bill measured it, there was 15 litres. Bill gave him 40 Zlotys for it.
(Hoped it would burn OK!) Mike came in to tell me all about it and show me his new
lenses, 90 Złotys (£15) not bad! The bill for his new varifocals was 1,140
Złotys (£190 only slightly dearer than the ones he’d just lost which had cost
£186 last year) he’d paid a deposit of 500 Złotys using his Abbey card, which
got stuck in the machine and there was a right performance to free it! He will
pay the balance when we come back to collect them. Sorted out the coal store –
we’d got very little left, just egg coal and briquettes, plus he shifted the
anchor to the stern, ready for going downstream on the Wisła.
Saturday 7th May 2005 Brda lock.
7.2º C overnight. Sunny spells and very heavy downpours
of rain. Three small power boats came up the lock, they were emergency services
and they went past our mooring at quite high speed making a lot of wash. A
Dutch boat, a 15m Westlander called Uhuhru, turned up and moored behind us on
the dolphins where the barge Transbode-6 had been. Mike went for a quick few
words with the skipper. We’d met before in Havelberg. The skipper was German
and was working single handed. He had spent the winter in Szczecin and was on
his way to the same place as us, Elblag, then Ostroda. He planned to go
straight down the Wisła to the Nogat in one go. It’s 115 kms, but he expected
to do 10 kph with the flow. He said he would leave the boat in Ostroda with a
friend boat-sitting, while he went back on his motorcycle to pick up his wife and
then they would go to explore Iceland. We got ready to go and do some shopping
in Auchan, which was about a mile away. The German guy’s boat was in the lock
ready to go down as we set off on foot. We had a few words with him as the gate
lifted behind his boat and wished him “a hands breadth under the keel” as he
left. (We thought the keepers here said they didn’t work on weekends?) It was a
pleasant walk past the old lock and out through a gate by the old German lock
house (the navigation was built by the Prussians) - once we’d sussed out that
the main gate wasn’t actually locked – no one answered our knocks on the door,
although we could hear voices. Past lots of small houses surrounded by scruffy
plots or neat vegetable gardens, with lots of lilac starting to bloom. The road
was bordered by some ancient acacia thorn trees. Crossed the busy main road
into Bydgoszcz and we were in the hypermarket. Next door was a Leroy Merlin DIY
store and there were lots of little shops (the usual clothes boutiques, sports
shops, etc, even a Flunch - all French!) in the small, double-allied mall in
front of Auchan. It was pretty quiet when we got there at around 10.30 a.m. but
gradually became crowded with Saturday shoppers. It wasn’t much like its French
parent, the goods on sale were subtly different – the French would have been
surprised to see a complete double row of hundreds of types of smoked sausages
on sale and the aisles had shelves reaching up some four metres making it feel
like shopping in a warehouse or cash and carry. However, we found most of the
stuff we wanted and more. I restocked the freezer with meat at half the price
I’d been paying in Germany; chicken and pork chops, tenderloin and diced meat
for a stew; some spuds, salad and cooked meat; a new broom handle to replace
the one we broke fishing for Mike’s specs; pan scourers and Chinese noodles and
we were spoiled for choice for fresh bread. We spent 150 Złotys (37,50€ or
£25!) Mike dropped a card with our ‘phone number in at Vision Express (same
size shop as any small British opticians, not a huge optical lab as in GB)
while I packed the groceries into our two rucksacks. We almost made it back to
the boat before it started to pour with rain and a strong wind blew it almost
horizontal. We headed for shelter behind a large storage shed. The rain was
pouring off its roof and we were still getting soaked. We ran for the bridge
over the tail end of the lock chamber and Mike started to fish for the boat
keys which he had left in the bottom of one of the bags. A security guard had
seen us and came sprinting over, under cover of a large black brolly. He
realised we were from the boats moored above the lock. He spoke no English and
used the word “barka” for boat, which means barge according to our dictionary.
Once back on the boat (not easy getting down off the horizontal sloping piling,
especially in the wet) I changed most of my clothes and hung them up to dry.
Emptied the rucksacks, which were also very wet, and hung them up to dry too.
The boat looked like a Chinese laundry. I set about stowing all the food. Mike
made himself a salad and I had a slice of wholemeal baguette with tuna and real
Hellman’s mayo (I bought a huge jar – German mayo is not to my taste, it’s not
even like British salad cream). Had trouble getting the analogue satellite to
work later when Mike set it up ready for the F1 Grand Prix racing from Spain
next day. The three small power boats went back down the lock. They sat in the
chamber for ages before the lock gate lifted and the chamber emptied. Mike
scanned a booklet which the German guy off Uhuru had given to Bill, a canoe
guide to the Wisła. I cooked Chinese fried rice with pork for dinner.
Sunday 8th May 2005 Brda lock.
6.2º C Pouring with rain when we got up – it rained
heavily up until late evening. Mike watched the Spanish Grand Prix. Bill came
over for a chat. Gave him the recipe books I’d just scanned. The forecast for
Monday’s weather was just as grim – more heavy rain – not the weather for following
bank markers through binoculars. Another day off.
Monday 9th May 2005 Brda lock.
3.2º C overnight. Bright sunny morning turning
showery later – the showers were heavy. Mike printed Bill a copy of the
translation we did the night before of the Wisła canoe guide. He asked Bill if
he would post our two 35mm films off to Doubleprint as he was going to the post
office by Auchan. When he returned he said the woman in the post office
wouldn’t accept the envelope as the address wasn’t the right size (admittedly it
was only a little square in the corner) and so he put it in an envelope (he
said he had to get some envelopes for himself anyway) and had to pay 3,90
Złotys to post it – so much for Europewide freepost! Three tugs from Gdansk
came up the lock with a pan on which there were several large steel
constructions. Two of the tugs sped off in front while the largest pushed the
pan up the Brda heading for Bydoszcz. Bill knocked – he hadn’t even noticed the
tugs! – he wanted to know if a keyboard he’d given us came with a disc as he
was looking for a file which might be on it. We couldn’t find the file he was
looking for. Put the central heating on again as the temperature took a plunge.
Tuesday 10th May 2005 Brda lock.
Down to 3º C again overnight. Chilly, sunny with heavy
showers. Mike ran the engine for an hour while I did the ironing which had been
hanging about for a week plus. The washing pile keeps growing, but that will
have to wait until we get to somewhere where we can get a supply of water. Bill
called to ask if we’d seen the weather forecast – no – more showers tomorrow.
All we can do is wait it out. Lunch. Mike brought the HF antenna mast in the
cabin and made the new broom handle fit once he’d removed the stub of the old
one. I had the PC on to do the log and more scanning - while we have
electricity we might as well do some work on it. Tandoori chicken nuggets and
chips for dinner.
Wednesday 11th May 2005 Brda lock.
3.8º C Sunshine and showers with a nasty hailstorm in
the afternoon. Chores in the morning and then after lunch we went on foot to
get some groceries from Auchan. I bought a nice new salmon pink cotton tee
shirt top for 9,99 Zł (£1.59!) but Nivea deodorant was more expensive than German
prices at 10,06Zł (£1.60). Spent a total of 167,17 Zł (£26.50) The gate by the
old lock house was locked. An old lady came out of the house, so Mike called
hello and she turned to speak to us, but didn’t understand that we needed the
gate unlocking. A middle aged man (her son?) appeared and he understood. He
checked, the gates were locked. In German, he said follow him and we could go
through his garage. He had a car in there being repaired which he showed us. It
was a Fiesta which had had an accident in Germany. He’d bought it to repair it
and was making a good job of it, replacing the damaged passenger side doors,
then all it will need is a coat of paint. He said the engine was good. His son
was working in England and was coming home for a five week holiday starting
Sunday. We thanked him for letting us through his garage and we crossed the old
lock, pausing to have a look at all the gear which was still in place for
opening and closing the gates. As we went to look at the water level marker
(pegel) by the new lock – it had risen from 3.83m to 4.45m (at one point it had
gone down as far as 3.4m) it started to rain, so we made tracks back to the
boat but the rain turned to hail as we said “Hello we’re back” to Bill. So we
all disappeared inside rather quickly. Mike had been searching through the
rucksack to find the keys and couldn’t find them, he thought he had locked them
in the boat. Fortunately he hadn’t snapped the lock on the front door. I put
the groceries away, made a cuppa and had a sit down. Mike and Bill decided to
set off downriver in the morning and so he set the alarm clock for 5.30 a.m.
Yr. 12 Day 361 Thursday 12th May 2005 Brda lock.
4.2º C overnight, sunny spells and heavy showers. Mike
got up at 5.30 a.m. and got the boat ready to move. As he and Bill were
standing watching the grey skies turning blacker as it got closer to lock
opening time of 7.00 a.m. it started to pour with rain. Brolly up. It rained
for half an hour. The lock staff emptied the lock and brought work boats into
the chamber. At that point we gave up. Mike reconnected the electricity cable
and put the satellite dish back up, then he collected Bill’s TV to have another
look at it to see if he can find out why it was only working on 12 volts and
not on 240v. I made a buttered chicken curry for dinner. We’ll try again
tomorrow to start the long trip down the Vistula.
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