Saturday 4th June 2005 Biała Góra Heading to KP860 nr Grabowko.

Wisla pouring through the breakwater at Biala Gora

Milder 14.1º C overnight. Grey clouds and occasional showers, windy, with a thunderstorm in the afternoon. The water level had gone down 30 cms overnight. Mike was up early, woken by the noisy bridge by the lock. Every time a vehicle went over it went bong-bong. (Almost like the “ding-ding” bridge at Strawberry Island.) We set off at 8.00 am. with lifejackets on (Editorial note: Ha! Must be serious for us to don likejackets! These Polish rivers are like no others we know of, flowing fast with

Heading upriver on the Wisla from Biala Gora.

frequent sandbanks to be avoided and bank markers indicating the channel to follow, binoculars are a very necessary tool for this). Out of the lock cut, where the causeway upstream of the lock cut was starting to show and water was gushing between the trees growing on it. The river was flowing at about 4 kph, we had engine revvs to do 8.5 kph and we were actually travelling at between 4 to 4.5 kph (according to the GPS) when we started off. As we moved over to the right bank the flow rate increased and knocked our

Ferry boat at Gniew

speed down to between 2 to 3 kph. At 9.15 am. we could see the town of Gniew in the distance. It would take us more than two hours to do the six kilometres to Gniew. We turned the first right hand bend, five kilometres from the start, after an hour and twenty minutes running time. Our speed was averaging 3.6 kph. At 10.45 we’d done 10 kms. Our speed over the riverbed had been down as low 1.8 kph and up as high as 5 kph. The cable ferry at Gniew was back at work (it had been out of action when we came downriver because the road was underwater). It was crawling across the river with three cars on board. On the next

Rosy passing the ferry at Gniew

bend, upstream of Janowo, there was a sandbank starting to emerge from the river which stretched halfway across. I took photos of the seagulls and terns which were walking on it. It started to spit with rain as we went through lots of swirling water passing the sandbank. In the far distance we could see the factory chimneys and the church towers of Kwidzyn. At midday we had good views of Gniew behind us. For lunch we had ham and salad sandwiches on the stern as yet another short light shower of rain started. At 1 pm. the cable ferry

Birds walking on an exposed sandbank at Janowo

at Opalenie/Krzenie came into view. We could still see Gniew behind us at 1.30 pm. More gulls on a sandbank on the right hand side just downstream of the ferry. The ferry was loaded up with cars to cross the river left to right, but it waited until the two of us crawled past before setting off. We hooted and waved. It was 2 pm. by the time we’d passed it. Just upstream of the ferry a stone groyne was almost visible on the right hand side, the water boiling over it was causing lots of turbulence in the river. Five hours after we first saw it, we could still see Gniew. It was a shame that the nice looking off-line basin and

The ferry at Opalinie

quay by the ferry were not ten kilometres further upstream. We carried on, hoping to find a good mooring after we’d done battle with the river for around 30 kms. The rain showers got heavier and the wind picked up in strength. We saw our last glimpse of Gniew at 2.30 pm. As we approached the ruins of a railway bridge, where only the stumps of the supporting piers were left, the channel was over 8m deep. It was 2.45 pm. when we started to turn left following the bank markers, which indicated the channel went across the river from right to

Water pouring over the downstream edge
of a submerged sandbank near Opalinie

left close to the old bridge. I was taking photos, when suddenly we were no longer making forward progress. Stuck on another Wisła sandbank!! I called Bill on VHF to tell him not to follow where we’d gone as we were on the bottom. Mike tried powering it off and it didn’t budge. Just then the ‘phone rang – it was Vision Express in Bydgoszcz ringing to tell him his glasses were ready. What timing! Then rain was getting heavier too. I went to check around the hull with a shaft to find where we were stuck and how deep the water was. We had a sandbank to our left, the front port side of the boat was hard aground showing three inches of hull which should have been wet. Bill came to have a rope and pull with Rosy. Mike managed to get the

Approaching the demolished railway bridge in pouring rain

rope around his small jackstaff on the bow breaking it off with the rope and Bill’s pilot jack went sailing off down the Wisła. (He’d got another one but Mike said he would buy him a new one later) Once the rope was attached, Bill tried pulling us off by reversing Rosy. It didn’t move. I went inside and (trying hard not to panic) moved all the moveable heavy stuff; mud weights, coal scuttle, HF radio, microwave, plus all the tools and my sewing machine - all from the left side to the right - to make the boat list away from where it was

The rest of the demolished railway bridge

aground. Meanwhile, under Mike’s instruction, Bill carefully turned Rosy so he could pull our stern with Rosy in forward gear. That worked. Thank goodness! Bill now qualifies for Tugmaster! (Honorary title given by us to anyone who has rescued another narrowboat stuck on the mud/sand, whatever) Relieved, I went in the cabin to put all the gear back and restore the boat back to normal – ie, without a severe list to starboard. The heavens opened and thunder crashed. Mike and Bill decided to try crossing over the river downstream of where they thought the sandbank ended - well before the bank

Rosy powering through the demolished railway bridge

markers. We went slowly across the river at forty five degrees, eyes glued to the echo sounder, until we were in the deeper channel on the left bank. A big sigh of relief went up. Then we had the gap between the end two railway bridge piers to contend with. The water was flowing very fast through the gap (we reckoned that after the bridge was destroyed the other gaps between the piers were left filled with rubble and only the one gap was dredged out and made navigable), we were doing good speed through the water but going nowhere – l

Gniew

ooking at the banks told us we were not moving forward. Mike increased engine revvs to almost maximum, wriggled the boat from side to side and we began very gradually to crawl through the demolished railway bridge. That was almost worse than being stuck on the sandbank.  A couple more passages from one bank to the other, following the bank markers, but without much confidence now, done very gingerly when the echo sounder showed less than 1m, Mike reduced the engine revvs right down to tick over, ready to stop and back off, until the echo showed more water beneath us. Our nerves were in tatters, so we started looking for somewhere to moor, we’d hd enough for one day. A small yacht went past

The passing tug and pan

us, heading downstream really flying along under sail, going with the wind and current. We pulled gradually over to the left hand bank by the next set of channel markers and I threw a rope from our bows around an old tree stump and we tied up with Rosy alongside. Mike and Bill put our long poles out to the bank to keep the boats off the bottom and put ropes around more trees at the stern ends. We were in the wilderness with grass as far as you could see, but within minutes of tying up we heard the voices of some people walking past at the top of the bank. We didn’t think they saw us, it must have been either fishermen or poachers. A tug and pan went downriver just after we tied up, we wondered if they knew about the sandbank in the channel below the railway bridge and expected that they would be much better informed than we were. 

Click here to go to loads of info on the Vistula on Wikipedia

Friday 3rd June 2005 Marlbork to Biała Góra.

Oh isn't it nice not to have to search for other people's photos to illustrate the blog - from now on they're all mine (or Mike's!) - we've entered the age of digital photography, hooray!

Lashing to the quay at Malbork

Milder 10.8º C, grey and cloudy, drizzly light showers and occasional spells of sunshine. Bill went to the Internet café early to avoid being mobbed by twelve year old boys. Mike did the engine room month end checks, replacing an injector “o” ring which had gone flat and caused a slight leak, and I got on with the usual chores. Then I had the PC on to look at the camera software and some of the pictures we’d taken. Not too bad, room for improvement. Bill came back and said most of the shops didn’t open until ten.

Malbork castle

He went again when they reopened. We set off at 11.45am. Three young lads in a pedalo were splashing about around the boat, laughing and giggling, generally getting in the way as we untied until Mike hooted at them, then they were all smiles but moved out of danger range of collision. Took more photos of Malbork. It was dull and spitting with rain. We arrived at Szonowo lock at 12.30pm. After we’d hooted, a young man came and opened the gate to let us in, closed the gate and then lifted the paddles. A woman took Bill’s

Malbork castle

money (the usual amount this time 11,36 Zł! They charged us 12.80 last time) and then she opened the top end gate. We left the top at 12.50 pm. Low wooded hills on the left and flood dykes (no longer necessary to prevent flooding, so there were lots of paths cut through nowadays) on the right. On the right bank we spied a bicycle leaning against a fence post and Mike said I bet there’s another boat somewhere with a bloke fishing. He was right. About two kilometres upstream in the reedy bank there was a bloke

In Biala Gora lock

fishing from a boat. A bit later on we saw three men fishing by a pipe, probably a sewage discharge from a village not far away. I said if they come from that village and they catch fish that are feeding on the sewage that comes down that pipe then are they getting their own back? Mike replied only if they don’t sell the fish they catch to someone else! There was a terrible pong a bit further on up the river. It smelled like pigs being boiled. Round the next bend and it disappeared. It must have been coming from a house hidden in the woods between us and the Wisła. A white tailed eagle was being pursued by a silvery male hen

Bird's nest in the lockgate at Biala Gora

harrier. The smaller bird had no chance against the eagle’s big flapping wings. The river narrowed where an old railway bridge used to stand, there were embankments on either side the river. Four men were fishing in various spots in the narrow bit. Back into wider waters and the whole terrain opened up into the former flood plain of the Wisła from the days before they built the lock and flood defences at Biała Góra. Round the last few bends to the lock. Mike put the boat against the dolphins (new linked ones with a passerelle on t

Men still at work at Biala Gora refurbishing lock

op) and went to find someone to work the lock. A young man came and wound the gate open and we went in. The difference in levels was much less than last time. The workmen had put their electricity cable over the lock up over two pieces of wood on the lock edges but we could get underneath easily as the Wisła was now 1.3m lower than when we came down it. Hopefully it should be running more slowly. As we came out of the lock an aircraft flew over very low, right over the lock chamber. He turned and came

Moored on Wisla above Biala Gora lock

back and did it again! Bill put Rosy against the bank on the right side just beyond the lock where some piling had been exposed. It was very muddy and he couldn’t do much but stand still and hold the ropes. We went alongside and Mike got off and did the tying up, while Bill held on to the boats. It was 4pm. Mike went off with the camera to repeat the photos he took last time we were here for comparison with photos

Markers on the banks of the Wisla (Vistula) 

taken with the 35mm camera. 

The boats moored on the Wisla from the lock gates at Biala Gora

Thursday 2nd June 2005 jnc Jagiellonski canal to Marlbork.Nogat river - Wikimedia photo by

River Nogat - Wikimedia photo by Kepiny Wielkie

A cold night 5.5º C. Heavy rain in the night. Then grey clouds, rain showers with a cold wind all day. Mike was up at 7 am to be ready for off at 8 am. I had a hand-crafted birthday card from Bill (and Fanny)! The clouds were getting darker as we went under the first road bridge. A pair of cranes took off from the meadow on our left. Around 9.30 am we had a ten minute shower of rain, so up went the brolly and the radio, maps etc, went into plastic bags. An hour later we arrived at the first lock, Michałowo, the lock was full and there was no sign of anyone, so we put the boat in the lock mouth and Mike went to find the keeper. Bill went with him as it was his turn to pay for the lock. When they got back, Mike said he’d been to the farmhouse which was surrounded by a wire fence. He hadn’t noticed the lion (an immense old dog), which was sleeping under an iron bench at the front of the house, until he had crossed the yard and climbed the steps to the front door. The lion walked to the bottom of the steps, as i t was a very old lion it woofed at them in a very deep voice, but not with any great conviction. Mike knocked the door which caused an explosion of dogs inside the house, they all collided with the front door at the same time. Fortunately it opened inwards. The lady keeper calmed them down (there were only three of them, it seemed like a dozen!) brought her windlass with her and worked the lock for us. We rose 1.7m. Bill paid - she hadn’t got any change and Bill only had a fifty note. We loaned him a ten. We said bye, bye to the keeper and thanks. Above were two canoes waiting for the lock; the very elderly couple paddling them were waiting to go down.  I made a cuppa and cooked some Scotch pancakes, setting the fire alarm off (it’s very sensitive). A medium-sized yacht from Torún, south east of Bydgoszcz on the Wisła, went past heading downriver. I went in the cabin to make some lunch. Mike called me to come and look at something swimming across the river. Through binoculars I could see it was an otter and two black terns were giving it some grief, it kept diving under water to get away from them. Had it been thieving eggs? There were lots of birds about. Herons and common terns and black terns. Another couple in a two-man canoe stopped for lunch, pulling into the bank and paddling with trousers rolled up above the knees to get ashore. The flow rate went up to 1.5 kph before we got to the next lock. It must have been a shallow section, after about a kilometre it slowed back down to 1 kph again. We passed a fisherman with a most unusual boat. He’d nailed a couple of bits of wood on top of two oil drums and was sitting on it

Nogat at Malbork - Wikimedia photo by Der Hexer

, fishing without a care in the world as we went past. Bill thought it was just a seat in the edge of the river, but the water was too deep to paddle out to it and he’d got poles to move it around. Up Rakoweic lock. A young man came out to empty the lock when we hooted and two older men came out to help and talk. One was in uniform, wearing an olive green short sleeved shirt with badges on the sleeves. This time Bill had change from his fifty. On the outskirts of Malbork we passed an old arm with two pans and an old Bydoszcz tug in it, plus an old barge converted into a bar and “hamburgery”, which was now disused. Beyond it was a long piled quay with bollards where there was a big pile of sand and a crane, plus an empty 80m pan. Behind the quay was an old abandoned factory, partly demolished, surrounded by a fancy concrete fence which was also broken down. We followed Bill upriver to Malbork and moored alongside Rosy on the quay. Bill went off on his bike to do some shopping. I went to the tourist information office to find the location of the nearest supermarket. On my return Mike came out with the bags and told Bill where we were going. He’d fetched our mail from the Post Office after having to argue with the woman behind the counter, who insisted there was no poste restante mail waiting – Bill said there was – she went to look and, well I never! - there was! He offered the loan of his bike to carry our shopping back on instead of us having to carry it. Great idea. Our post was a parcel from Mike’s Mum and Dad containing three birthday cards for me and some VHS tapes of our favourite soap. We called in a shop selling digital cameras and treated ourselves to a new Kodak digital camera (1399 Zł) plus a bag for it (54 Zł) and a 256 mb flash card (129 Zł), all for the sum of 1573 Zł (£262) – I used my new Nationwide credit card for the first time to pay for it. Then we topped up with groceries from the Bomi supermarket, spending another 204 Zł on my Nationwide credit card. On the way back, I held on to the bike with all our groceries while Mike took some cash from our current account via a cash machine to compare the rates that Nationwide charge on credit card sales. By the castle there were lots of tourists. Among them we heard the unmistakable loud voices of Yankee tourists! The first Americans we’d seen since leaving France. Unloaded the groceries and Bill went off on his bike to do more shopping. Loaded the software for the camera into the PC and had a look at the new camera. It had got a load of features, including being able to turn off the automatic functions and take pictures manually. We had fresh baguettes with cheese and onion and Pringles crisps (a treat). Later Mike and Bill wanted to try some EB (Elblag special brew beer) so they went next door to the floating bar - but they weren’t open - so they went to an open air bar by the river and drank a few Tyskie beers under a tent instead. They got talking to some locals who spoke English who told them that the Polish-German border used to be here on the Nogat and there was once a customs post on the bridge. 

Wednesday 1st June 2005 Przegalina to jnc Jagiellonski canal

Dolphins at Przegalina lock
Wikimedia photo by Gdaniek

A chilly 7.7º C overnight moored next to an ancient accommodation barge on the Wisła above Przegalina lock. It was sunny first thing, then black clouds rolled over and we had showers until mid-afternoon, when the sun came out again but the wind was still cold. We set off at 8.20 a.m. and turned the corner out of the lock channel heading upstream, against the flow on the Wisła. It was five kilometres to the lock at Gdanska Głowa, where we would turn off on to the Szkarpawa. The river was flowing at about 4 kph and we were making about 4 kph against it. I went in to bake some bread buns for lunch as we’d eaten all the bread. When I’d finished making the dough and kneading it, I put it in the engine room to rise. We were at the lock after a run of about an hour and ten minutes. One lock gate at Gdanska Głowa was open ready for us to go down. Bill went to pay the woman while the old man worked the manual lock. We dropped down 1.1m (it was 1.7m rise when we went uphill so the river level had dropped by over half a metre since we were there last time). Set off again at 9.45 a.m. on the placid little river Szkarpawa. The flow was against us by about 1 kph (they told us that the Baltic has no tide?). Stopped again

Gdanska Glowa lock - Wiki photo by Lukasz Katlewa

at Drewnica at 10.10 a.m. to wait for the pontoon bailey bridge to open. There was nowhere to tie up and wait, so Mike put our bow fender on one of the pontoons (called Alexandra – strangely all nine floating boxes had names!) I tied the bows to it and he threw a small grapple anchor out on the windward side. Bill brought Rosy alongside. The next opening time was eleven. The bread was ready for knocking back and shaping into buns. At eleven o’clock Mike got off on to the bridge and went to find the bridge workers. OK. They were coming. They wouldn’t if he hadn’t gone to tell them we wanted passage through the

Pontoon bridge at Sobieszewski - Wiki photo by  Jarba

bridge. Bill untied and backed off, then Mike lifted the anchor and we did likewise. The middle section of the bridge motored open and we went through. Just in time to get the bread out of the oven. For a while a silvery male hen harrier flew along parallel with us over the reeds along the edge of the river. White and yellow water lilies were just starting to bloom along the banks. We had a salad in bowls for lunch with my fresh brown bread buns. The boat went under the big yellow liftbridge at Rybina with the mast off to get under the bridge deck at 2.58m, so we had no need to wait for its opening time. Herons, black-headed

Pontoon bridge at Sobieszewski - Wiki photo by Yanek

gulls and terns were fishing along the next stretch of river. The clouds had blown away behind and in front of us and we had blue sky and warm sunshine, shame about the chilly wind. Had a cup of hot coffee to warm us up. At 2.50 p.m. we turned right out of the Szkarpawa’s widening channel before it arrived at the lagoon and started heading into the Nogat. The wind was blustery and two fishermen with a khaki camouflaged boat were checking fishing nets. A small yacht from Gdansk was moored in the reeds, it had a small solar panel on its stern. A man came out to wave and say hello as we passed. We were going with

Pontoon bridge at Sobieszewski - Wiki photo by Yanek

the flow now, again about 1 kph. Lots of water lilies, both white and yellow, lined both banks. We slowed down when the cable ferry at Keparybaka went across. Bill didn’t slow down and went past us. Mike had to tell him on the radio that there was a cable about 1.5m above the water (plus two more on water level). He hadn’t see it and thought the cable was underwater. The ferry went back again, then the operator lowered the cable and called us through. At 4 pm the water flow changed and started running the other way. The access into the other route to the lagoon from the Nogat, the Cieplicówka canal, was blocked

Pontoon bridge at Sobieszewski - Wiki photo by  Karina

with reeds and water lily pads. There were two small boats with people fishing from them by the entrance to the Jagiellonski canal. We turned into the canal and moored next to the piling for the third time. It was 4.30 pm. Fanny had rolled in something stinky again while Bill was tying up (she did it last time we were there) and had to have a bath - which she didn’t like at all and barked at Bill. A medium sized wedge shaped power boat went past. He'd slowed down, but his wash (from the speed he had been doing) caught up with him

Liftbridge at Rybina - Wiki photo by Andrwej Obtrebski

as he was passing us. Prat. He went through the bridge, turned round and went back again the way he'd come! Bill came over to have a chat about where we would be stopping on the Wisła. If the Wisła was flowing at about 4 kph it will take us four days to get to back upriver to Bydgoszcz. We should make 30 kms per day against it and be able to stop at Grudziadz and Chełmo, but the first night will be difficult as there was nothing that we noted as a mooring possibility on the way down. I helped with the video camera re-assembly by cleaning all the lenses. It still didn’t work. Back to the drawing board. Not another dead camera?

Tuesday 31st May 2005 Yacht club Neptun on the Wisła Smiała to Przegalina.

 Wisła Smiała - Wiki photo by Pumeks

10.6º C overnight. Cold, grey clouds with a blustery westerly wind. Bill had run out of bread, so I gave him a half a loaf of rye as we’d still got some white bread and toasting sliced bread. Set off at 8.35 a.m. heading into Gdansk to see the shipyards and the Napoleonic fortress at Westerplatte. Set the video camera up on the tripod on the front deck and started filming as we went under a new suspension bridge. Beyond it was a railway bridge with a swinging centre section (which was high enough for us to get underneath) and some very battered wooden fendering around the piles on which it stood. Not long after that the shipyards began appearing on each bank. A small fast police boat (a semi rigid inflatable) came to have a look at us, he went past us, turned round and went back where he’d come

Ferry across the river at Wisloujscie
 - Wikimedia photo by  M Minderhoud

from. Loads of ships were under construction or awaiting repair. A great orange painted ship had Kingstown as its home port and a helicopter landing pad above its front deck. All the floating docks were occupied by ships. A very large crane on a barge set off from the bank on our right and went past carrying a large rectangular construction on the end of the crane hooks. A large ferry boat went across carrying cars from one side of the river to the other. A trip boat overtook us then another one came towards us, the latter was a paddlewheeler with paddlewheels on each side. At Westerplatte we went past the fortress, called Twierdza

Fortress Twierdza Wisloujscie
Wikimedia photo by  Andrezej

Wisłoujście, which looked very much like the fortifications Vauban built in France. We winded, as to go any further would have taken us out into the Baltic. The ferry was setting off again with another load of cars. A pilot boat, heading out to sea, had to stop and let it pass. Mike called me to steer while he went in the cabin. When he came back he said what’s our tripod doing in the water? The video camera and tripod had gone swimming (trying to commit suicide and join the other two dead cameras) and was being dragged along by its twelve volt cable. I pulled it back on board and water poured out of it. Well, that’s the end of another camera! Mike said I’d left the legs of the tripod at unequal lengths which made it unstable and the wind had blown it overboard. I thought I’d left it secure with one leg between the

Fortress from the river bank
Wikimedia photo by  M Minderhoud

moped and the day tank. Mike dried it out, took its covers off and hung it up in the engine room to dry out, but didn’t hold any hopes that it would survive as I had left it turned on, on standby. We decided that a circular trip around the city was out of the question as there was yet another pontoon bridge blocking the through passage. Next time maybe. I made a cup of soup to warm us up. We motored back through the shipyards. The sun came out briefly, but black clouds were gathering over Gdansk. We’d planned to arrive at the pontoon bridge at Sobieszewko at its opening time of 1 pm. The paddle wheeler was catching us up, we thought he was going

Gdansk dockyard cranes
Wikimedia photo by esbi

to go through the bridge too, but he turned and moored at a quay before the bridge. The wind picked up as another squall hit, just like the day before. The waves coming from behind us were getting quite choppy and at one o’clock there was no sign of anyone coming to open the bridge. Mike sounded the hooter. Nothing. I tried the phone number on the sheet of paper given to us by the Polish yachties. It said invalid number – there must be a Gdansk area code to go in front of the numbers. At ten past the bridge workers appeared and opened the bridge. Mike was not happy about being kept waiting while the boats were being bounced about by the waves and asked the guy if he needed a new watch as we went past. From the blank stare, he

The pontoon bridge at Sobieszewko
Wikimedia photo by Merlin

either didn’t understand or couldn’t hear with such a strong wind blowing. The black clouds rolled on by and the sun came out, but it was still windy as we ran down to the lock at Przegalina. The landing stage Bill had previously spotted in the old channel of the river had no access to the bank. The pilings by the lock had no bank access either and the dolphins looked a bit too far apart for our length. We went into the lock and asked the keeper if there was anywhere to moor overnight. He said it was OK on the other side of the lock. Bill thought when Mike said “tie up on the other side of the lock” he meant in the lock and moored on the other wall. Mike paid for the lock - Bill would pay

Old lock at Przegalina
Wikimedia photo by Nandi

for the next one. The wind was howling through the lock chamber, as it was blowing directly from behind us and covering the boat roof in sand off the lockside. It was a bit more sheltered beyond the lock and flood barriers. Three ancient accommodation barges were moored next to the dolphins on the right bank, so we went to ask if we could tie to one of them overnight. The end one looked inhabited and a bald sunburned bloke came out with something smoking as we went past. I asked could we tie up overnight, he shrugged, so Mike turned the boat around and moored next to Marta of

"New" lock at Przegalina
Wikimedia photo by Pumeks

Warszawa (Warsaw), who had seen better days, all three were very old boats. Bill moored Rosy behind us. It was 2.50 pm and the sun was out again for a few minutes before the next shower of heavy rain. The “something smoking” was some wood in a drum the guy living on Marta had just fired up to make charcoal for a barbecue. We went in and got on with some chores. The video camera wouldn’t power up to eject the tape. Mike applied power to it with batteries to get the tape out. Most likely the processor was fried. Hope we can save the tape
.

Sunday 29th May & Monday 30th May 2005 Gdanska Głowa lk to yacht club Neptun on Wisła Smiała.

Sunday 29th May 2005  Gdanska Głowa lock.

Map of the Wisla (Vistula) delta rivers

11.8º C overnight Sunny, cool breeze. Mike got up at 8 a.m. when Bill knocked to ask for help with getting Rosy off the bottom as the level had dropped by 6” and he couldn’t budge it. It wouldn’t move just shoving on poles, so Mike used Bill’s pole as a lever, driving it vertically in the mud then levering against the counter. The plank was just long enough to reach the bank. Mike went to work in the engine room. He cleaned Arsène’s casserole (engine cooling water filter given to us by Arsène and it’s as big as a saucepan) out again – half full of weed again. A large white cruiser came and moored by the lock, the crew went to see the lock keeper and then went through the lock, and we thought that they said the lock was closed on Sundays? At 11.15 a.m. another yacht arrived and then went away again. Mike checked on the state of the brass water pump that he had re-engineered. He intended to change the impeller, but there was no need, it was in as good a state as when he redesigned the pump. He found a water leak in the cold water supply pipe to the hot water tank (must have been all the bumping and rocking on the trollies that caused that – it would find any weak links anywhere on the boat, just like the Polish roads do for cars!) He resealed one joint, then another one started leaking when I pressurised the system. Then they wouldn’t reseal with new ptfe tape, so he decided to use hemp and Templars paste. He couldn’t find any Templars but Bill had some new stuff, so he used some of that. Lunch. Mike set the gennie up to watch the motor racing as the 12v system was down to 11V. German Grand Prix from Nürburgring. Later he had another go at the camera, it still didn’t look good. I made a stirfried pork saté for dinner.

30th May 2005  Gdanska Głowa lk to yacht club Neptun on Wisła Smiała.

Gdanska Glowa lock Wikimedia photo by Lukas Katelwa

A mild night. Cloudy with a chilly breeze (rain and thunderstorms later) as we went into Gdanska Głowa lock at 8.00 a.m. The large manually operated lock was worked for us by a very thin and fragile-looking old man. A woman did the paperwork, both looked as miserable as can be. Bill went to pay her. When he came back he said it was nice to see people who really enjoyed their jobs (sarcasm, not this pair!) The lock filled, raising the boat 1.6m on to the level of the river Wisła. Out on to the river, still looking brimful and flowing fast, turning right and running downstream with the flow. Mike stopped

Gdanska Glowa lock Wikimedia photo by Lukas Katelwa

the boat dead in the water to check the speed, it was about 6 kph. In no time we made the short fast run down to the lock at Przegalina, which was a much larger modern lock than the one we’d just come up, the lock edges were painted in bright shades of green and yellow. Before we turned left, ahead of us we could see the Baltic, looking calm and flat. Two more unhappy looking old men worked the lock, one to press the buttons and the other to take the money – we even had change from our 12 Złotys! We dropped down just 1m. As we left the chamber, I made a mental note to video the wooden lock house on our return

Przegalina lock - Wikimedia photo by Yarlu FileBot

trip. I made a cuppa as we motored on down the Martwa Wisła, an arm of the river which goes through Gdansk. Everything was going well until we came to the road bridge at Sobieszewka at 10.45 a.m. The bridge was a bailey bridge with a moveable floating pontoon section in the middle. Lots of road traffic was rumbling slowly across the bumpy wooden decking. We hooted, no signs of life. In Jerzy Hopfer’s book (Polish waterways expert, book given to us by EHS boat club) it said the bridge opens mornings and late afternoons – whatever time that means.

Przegalina lock - Wikimedia photo by Pumeks

We dropped anchor and waited, there was nowhere to tie to the banks. There were thick black clouds over Gdansk coming our way. Thunder rumbled and rain began to pour. The boat pivoted through all four points of the compass around the anchor rope. Lunch. A man in a small fishing boat came under the bridge (if only it had been a few centimetres higher we could have got underneath it too) and came to talk to us in the rain. Where were we from? (In Polish) Mike told him and tried to ask what time the bridge opened, there was no board giving times. He went away and came back five minutes later with an atlas – he wanted Mike to show him

Przegalina lock - Wikimedia photo by Nandi

where we had come from and how we got there. He said the bridge opens in an hour (or at one o’clock – as it was midday it came to the same thing). Just before 1pm several workmen appeared and shut the road barriers to prevent traffic crossing the bridge then started winding something in the middle of the bridge deck. Mike started the engine and went to lift the anchor, just as a squall hit. I had to get the brolly down quickly as the wind was blowing a howling gale, threatening to break it, and the rain was really hammering down. I powered the bows round into the wind so that Mike

Sobieszewka swingbridge - Wikimedia photo by Merlin

could lift the anchor and the fender that he’d used as a marker buoy. To our amazement the workmen opened the road barriers again for road traffic to cross, then they went away again! We circled. Lightening flashed and thunder crashed for ten minutes. As the rain eased off they came back and started up the motor to drive the centre section to one side so we could pass through. It was 1.10 p.m. The outside temperature had dropped from 24º C to 12ºC! As we pushed on down the river violet flashes of lightening lit up the sky, one hit the ground very close to us as a tremendous crash of thunder rolled down the river. We decided to find somewhere to stop as soon as

Lower Wisla looking to Baltic - Wikimedia photo by Pumeks

possible as continuing might have proved dangerous. The river swung round to the north becoming the Wisła Smiała, which emptied into the Baltic just a kilometre further on, and we turned left into a smaller river channel where there was a yacht club located on the corner. All the yachts were moored bows or sterns to the bank. As we passed the end of the line we saw a section of wooden walkway we could tie alongside, so Mike asked Bill on the radio if he wanted to tie on to it and we would carry on up the narrow channel (we were now going against the flow) until we came to a wider section by a shipyard where we could turn round and head back to the yacht club. When we winded and went back Bill had turned and was waiting for us to go alongside so he could attach to us. The rain had stopped.

Wisła Smiała - Wikimedia photo by Pumeks

Several people came out to help including a man and a woman who spoke good English. The river flow at the junction was going in a circular direction making mooring difficult. To complicate matters there were rocks along the bank edge. Mike put a pole out to keep the bows off the rocks and the club members moved a yacht which was behind us so that we could slide back a bit. Bill brought Rosy alongside and we moored up. A very chatty lot, they wanted to know where we’d come from and where we were going. Fanny got the star treatment, everyone threw sticks for her. Mike ran a cable out so we could have electricity and Bill bought some cans of beer at 2 Zł each from them. The overnight charge was 60 Zł each (a little under £10). The club was called JKM Neptun. Another downpour sent us inside to get sorted out, then when it stopped Mike ran a cable out and connected up to their electricity supply. Bill found the hoses out, we refilled our water tanks and got rid of our rubbish. Meanwhile the bloke who owned the steel yacht behind us turned up and started a barney over the fact that his boat had been moved closer to his neighbour’s boat, which was plastic and had a fancy alarm system on board (if it went off they had to get the owner to come and turn it off as no one else knew the code for it). The lady who had been helping us got very upset and went back on her boat. The man (her boyfriend) came to say how sorry he was that the man should make such a scene in front of visitors. We said it was OK, we belong to a boat club - we know what it’s like – every club has at least one member who behaves like that! Mike had another session trying to repair the camera and condemned it as being unfixable. The shutter worked again, but the electronics didn’t. He said he might have another look at it later before he finally decides to bin it (he hates to be defeated when it comes to fixing anything). 

Saturday 28th May 2005 Jagielloński to Gdanska Głowa lock.

Liftbridge over Szkarpawa at Rybina
- Wikimedia photo by Polimerek

13º C overnight. Sunny with not a cloud in the sky and a light breeze.  Set off at 8.15am pins in and the washing machine going as soon as we turned on to the Nogat. I vacuumed the floor and then emptied the dust on to a tray, I looked but couldn’t see the tiny screw that Mike had lost. He said use the sea searcher magnet. One pass and the screw leapt out of the dust! I stuck it on a piece of sticky tape so it couldn’t escape again. I did the ironing then made a cuppa and went to sit out with my coffee at 10am. A beautiful morning. Overtook a couple of little yachts, one which was obviously home built was having engine trouble and ended up being towed by the other. We turned left on the Szkarpawa river heading for the Wisła, a winding, wide, reed fringed river, 2.5m deep, passing empty meadows and the occasional farmstead. Groups of kids were swimming in the river, all wearing their underwear – no fancy swimming trunks or bikinis here. The washing finished just before eleven and Mike paused to take the pins out. We came to a large bright yellow painted lifted bridge – a giant Llangollen style cantilever bridge. At 2.58m clearance it was high enough for us to get underneath with the sun canopy lowered

Liftbridge over Szkarpawa at Rybina 
- Wikimedia photo by Martin Poljak

and the mast taken down. A board stated the opening times 8.30 a.m. 11.00 a.m. etc etc. Two men were on duty, they came out to see if we needed it opening. A swing railway bridge was in the open position for river traffic. Lunch, sitting under the sun shade. We passed half a dozen small yachts from Elblag yacht club, they must be doing the circular tour via Malbork and down the Wisła and back along the Szkarpawa. Shortly afterwards we came to Drewnica, where bridge rebuilding works were going on apace. A barge was being used as an access

Liftbridge over Szkarpawa at Rybina 
- Wikimedia photo by Gregy

pontoon for cement mixer trucks and another for cranes and a pile-driver. We tied to a wooden pontoon placed there for the purpose and Rosy came alongside. Within minutes a three man delegation came to show us where to go to get through the blockage. They moved the accommodation barge, called Rekinn, and we went through the gap and the bailey bridge which had a moveable middle section powered by a motor in the end flotation tank. We counted twenty cars which had been

Liftbridge over Szkarpawa at Drewnica
- Wikimedia photo by Aktron

stopped by the moving of the bridge. Two kilometres to the lock on to the Wisła. It was 2.15 p.m. getting hotter and we decided discretion was the better part and decided to stop below the lock at Gdanska Głowa. There were only green painted metal pilings arranged as unlinked dolphins 10 metres from the bank, so Rosy went at the back of the left hand ones and we went between Rosy and the dolphins, tied our bows to one dolphin with Rosy attached to our port side. Then Mike got the plank off Rosy’s counter and Bill knocked a couple of

Moored by the lock on to the Wisla - photo by Bill

pins in. Rosy was just grounding on the bottom. The men went to find the keeper and ask if we could stay until Monday morning. They found a lady keeper. Yes, OK. They were open until 4 p.m. but for double the fee you could go through up until 7 p.m. She told them that the lock was closed on Sundays. Then they went to have a look at the river. It appeared to be as high as when we came down to Biała Gora, but didn’t seem to be flowing as fast. The lift on the lock was about a metre up on to the Wisła. Mike put the 35mm camera back together, still not working properly. Looks like we need a new one