A
cooler 4.6º C overnight. Sunny warm day. Set off at 8 a.m. with the pins and
did some washing before we arrived at the lifts. I sat outside with my coffee
at 9.35 a.m. half way up
Ruda Woda lake. I believe we saw the same male marsh harrier again
just south of Małdyty, that was here last time we came through, hunting low over
the reedbeds at the top end of Sambrod lake. Swallows were nesting under the
road bridge at Małdyty. Lunch on the move. As we went into the narrow channel
we passed a tripper going in the opposite direction. Through the cutting at the
top of the lifts and we arrived at the top at 1.00 p.m. The next tripper, Kormoran,
was loading up at the staging. We tied to the low rails along the concrete
edging before the trip boat landing, noting all the green paint and the
battered wooden fendering just above waterline, the notice which said no
winding, and the green paint along the waterline on the tripper’s bows. Hmm.
Bill and I went to look at the maps and postcards on offer at the stall by the
top lift. I bought a few more cards and Bill paid for two guide books in
English (he’d missed the ones in English when he bought the previous ones). I
had a good look through
the maps they’d got on display and found one of the
Elblag canal with the all the lakes down to Ostroda and Iława, plus a map of
the Nogat and the Szkarpawa as far as Gdansk and Malbork. The maps were only 15
Złotys each (about £2.40). I also had a look at all the souvenir gifts made
from amber and bought a tiny little brown frog (16 Zł) as a present for a
friend. The museum which was supposed to be open from ten until four was
closed. Tripboats came up and went down. We waited for a gap. At 1.45 p.m. all
went quiet so we got on the first trolley and paid 28,40 Złotys to the man in
the overalls who came from the (inaccessible on foot) far side of the canal. I
did some videoing as we went down the slope on lift 1, Buczyniec. A short
uphill run, then down the long steep slope. It was more hair-raising going
downhill than uphill, but this time nothing fell off shelves. Arrived at the
bottom of the first lift at ten past two. Bill came on the radio to say,
“Another perishing trip boat has slipped in between us!” (Only he wasn’t quite so
polite) He was not amused. Down the
short canal section to lift 2, Kąty, and went straight into an empty trolley,
set out the ropes and banged on the gong to let the spotter know we were ready
– being at the top of the long slope he was less than a hundred metres away.
Mike measured the angle of slope, surprisingly it was only 5º. We were soon at
the bottom. It was 2.45 p.m. Bill came on the radio to say he’d had a good
start, his ropes had jammed and he’d had to cut them and he’d broken a boat
shaft. The trip boat following us was at the top of lift two as we left the
bottom, so we hovered and waited for him to pass us. Alongside the canal was a
farmhouse. A little girl shrieked when she saw the boat and ran for the fence
to come and wave and shout hello. Her mother got up from sunbathing and waved
too. On their barn there were two wheels on poles and two pairs of nesting white storks. I filmed them for posterity! Made
a cuppa while we waited for trip boat Pinguin to go past. A smaller trip boat
was coming uphill, we passed it on a bend. He hooted and I think was surprised
to get a loud hoot back! The passengers were all very cheery and waving. We
dropped on to the trolley at lift 3, Oleśnica, that the tripper had just left
and ran up the slow short slope, then down the bumpy longer downhill slope to
the bottom. As Bill was coming down 3 he called to ask if we were going to stay
on the pound below it again. Mike was quite happy to keep going, but when he
looked at the time it was ten to four already. We made for the bank and were
quite surprised to get almost right next to the towpath, which had two tracks
of concrete for vehicles to drive on. It was 4 p.m. when we tied up and half an
hour later Rosy came and tied alongside. Easy access for Bill's dog Fanny – for once
there was no plank! Bill told us that his ropes had got jammed under the round plates
he has on the top of the dollies on his counter. They weren’t tied, he said it
was his own fault for not keeping a closer eye on which way the turn was around
the bollard. The pole that broke was his nicely painted short boat shaft, he
pushed on it and it snapped! It must have been rotten. I read the first part of
the English version guide to the Elblag canals and lifts and asked myself is
this really in English! There were lots of errors in it too, locks missing from
the text and dates obviously wrong. Ah well, they sell them mainly to tourists,
not canal anoraks like us!
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