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?