Tuesday 7th June 2005 Chełmno to Bydgoszcz.

Moored on the quay at Chelmno with the river rushing past

9º C Sunny at first with a mackerel sky, soon changing to grey flying clouds, cold and windy. We set off early at 7.10 am, with our coats and scarves on, to do the 35 kms to Bydgoszcz. The water level had risen overnight by 7cms. We passed the first exposed tip of a sandbank by KP 803 and the next at KP 804, the latter was bigger and covered with birds and extended underwater quite a way up river. Groynes on the right bank made the water speed up and made us slow down to a complete stop. The boat was doing great speed

Bill and Fanny, moored at Chelmno

through the water, but making no forward progress over the bed for a few minutes. Extra revs were applied for a few minutes until the boat started to move again, there weren’t many revs left to add on. Over to the left again at KP 802 and our speed through the water picked up again so we could lower the engine revs a little. We went through a cloud of swallows, hundreds of them, diving and darting over the river eating flies. I went in to make us a warming cup of soup and some toast to go with it. At

Lashed securely to the quay at Chelmno

11.10 am we passed KP 792, 20kms to go. Back and forth, zig-zagging across the river. Another fast flowing patch in the river caused Mike to increase revs to almost full throttle to get the boat moving. Lunch at 12.45 pm was sandwiches, taken in turns as steering was not easy with the engine running at such high speed. Mike had increased the revs to see if we could improve on the average speed for the day. At 1.25 pm we passed KP 782, 10kms left to do. One side of the river to other, searching through binoculars for marker posts hidden in the trees, not visible until the last second. Under Bydgoszcz bridge at 3 pm, taking photos of all the old tugs and pans moored in the small basin downstream of the bridge and the sandbanks piling up behind each pier of the road bridge. As we passed under the right hand arch, I spotted an old dredger moored on the left side of the river, anchored in the middle. Beyond the bridge close to the left bank there was a large sandbank, where upwards of fifty swans (the only ones we’d seen on the river) were

Sand barges at Bydgoszcz

competing for standing room. Another sand dredger was moored in the middle of the river not far upstream of the right turn into the Brda, no signs of life on board. We left the Wisła at 3.45 pm. Our speed increased to 9 kph as we entered the slack water of the lock cut, stopped to moor next to a twenty foot high dolphin. Mike climbed the ladder, forcing his way past a dozen or more years’ accumulation of spider webs only to find there was no walkway across to the bank. We moved upriver to a

Sandbanks under the bridge at Bydgoszcz

set of dolphins closer to the lock and this time there was a passarelle to the bank. Mike went up to see the keeper. The lock started emptying as he climbed back down the ladder. The 4m rise was easily accomplished with the aid of floating bollards to tie to. The water level of the Wisła had gone down 1.5m since we were here last. Bill went in the lock office to pay for the lock. The charges had doubled as we were beyond normal working hours, i.e. after 3 p.m. We tied up to the piling above the lock.

Digging out the sand

Glad to be out of the fast flowing water and the force of the wind. It was 4.30 pm. The average speed had risen from 3.7 kph to 4.2 kph by increasing the engine revs, even though the speed had varied wildly during the day. As soon as we’d tied up and packed all the gear away we both went to sleep, absolutely shattered. So glad that was over.

How many swans can you get on one sandbank??

Monday 6th June 2005 Grudziadz to Chełmno.

Rosy leaving the arm at Grudziadz

11.5º C overnight. Cold and breezy with grey scudding clouds and occasional bright spells. The water level in the Wisła had dropped another 5 cms overnight. Rosy went out of the arm first, turning right heading downstream with the flow to turn upstream out in the river. Mike powered gently round the corner, turning left into the flow, out of the mucky hole we’d tied in overnight. I made a cup of tea as we went upriver. The local authorities had been busy building new concrete capped groynes both

Sand quay at Grudziadz

up- and down-stream of Grudziadz. A pair of goosanders were using one as a diving platform until we passed them, then they flew off. Criss-crossing the river started again. Not long after we set off another little yacht came flying down the river with the flow. A sandbank was showing its head above water at KP 829.5. Two swans and a load of gulls were sitting on it. At KP 828 we caught the edge of another sandbank, so I warned Bill on VHF to keep off to our left and Mike backed off it, sending up

Bridge over the Vistula at Grudziadz

clouds of sand, into deeper water. We had been in direct line with the markers. Another one nearly caught us between KP 826/827, where we had to back off yet again and cross further downstream than the bank markers. It looked like the sandbanks had moved further downriver than the markers. Learning to “read” the river, we could see there was “flat” water over the sand and the wind was picking up bigger ripples where the water was deeper. We’d also noticed that, when we were coming up to a submerged

New tower blocks at Grudziadz

sandbar, the boat’s speed increased dramatically as it found slack water, increasing from 2 kph to 6 kph in no time. We backed off and tip-toed very gingerly across the river to the left hand side, downstream of the right hand markers on a right hand bend! As we crossed back to the left side, we could see the clearly defined downstream edge of the sand bar where the water cascaded over it. Then a team of three men in a fast boat that looked a bit like a dug-out canoe with a large outboard was coming down river crossing from side

Little yacht whizzing past heading downstream

to side. They were changing the bank markers!! Hopefully we will now miss the ends of the sandbanks! I took photos of them moving the goal posts. We were right! The sand was moving, rolling downstream, being churned along like sand dunes in a water covered desert. The wind started picking up at 11.45 a.m. I went in to make sandwiches for lunch at 12.30 p.m. Mike needed a spotter, so I left the sandwich making while we crossed back across the river. I finished making the

Exposed top of sand bank near Chelmno

sandwiches and we ate lunch whilst zig-zagging back and forth across the Wisła. A large bunch of mallard drakes and goosanders took off from a sandy beach, disturbed by our passage. Between KP 815/814 the bank markers had changed completely from when we came downriver. The channel had been routed along the other side of the river, right over on the left hand side at the start of a long left hand bend, downstream of Swiecie, a town practically invisible from the river. Mike’s charts of bank

Waterways lengthsmen changing the bank markers!

markers would have to be amended, which meant they would be of little use should we ever come here again. Upstream of the town there was a big sweeping right hand bend with a large sandbank on the inside. At 2.45 p.m. we could see the church towers of Chełmno in the distance. On the inside of the next big bend they had built four new stone groynes. More seagulls were standing on sand in mid-river at KP 811. Across the river, under the high girder road bridge at Chełmno and back

Speeding off to change more bank markers
to match the ever moving channel

across the river again to moor against a concrete capped piled quay that was higher than our cabin roofs. It was 4 pm when we tied at the upstream end.  Several car loads of people had come to watch. Mike gave Bill a hand to tie up behind us. A strange looking vessel set off from the waterways basin opposite and came steaming past us twice, then moored behind and an old chap came to chat to Bill, who was giving Fanny some grief and a bath as she’d found something smelly to roll in within seconds of tying up. Bad dog! Strange how

Chelmno and another sand bank

humans have no liking for eau-de-poisson-mort (perfume of dead rotting fish). Mike went to talk to the old chap. He told them that the return journey via the Warta from Bydgoszcz was prettier than the Notec and had fewer locks. 

Our visitor from across the river at Chelmno

Mike waiting with boat shaft to catch Bill's ropes

Sunday 5th June 2005 KP860 nr Grabowo to Grudziadz.

A bank marker lying on the river bank

11.9º C overnight. Fast flying clouds, windy, sunny spells and a torrential downpour and thunderstorm mid-afternoon. Mike was up at 7 am. and we were away for 8 am. Bill held the two boats stationery against the flow using Rosy’s engine, while Mike fetched the front pole in, then I reeled in the head rope. We’d tied up with all the mooring ropes around trees or stumps to be able to just reel them back in without getting off as it’s easier to get the plank in first. The countryside surrounding us was very beautiful, low hills on the right bank covered with forest, flood plain wilderness on the left and not a soul in sight. Mike did

The riverside town of Nowe

a slight change in tactics after watching the tug going downstream yesterday. He started off across the river before we came to the markers and aimed to reach the bank further upstream than the markers. Each crossing of the river, from channels that were anything from five to nine metres deep, into depths of less than two metres - after yesterday’s brush with disaster - was a bit nerve racking to say the least. Before long we could see the church tower at Nowe, up on its hill. An aeroplane (the same one as at Biała Góra

Gathering storm clouds

perhaps?) came flying low over us as he went following the course of the river. We waved and he replied with a waggle of the wings! Sadly, he’d gone too quickly to get a photo. The downstream marker cross downriver of Nowe, just upstream of KP854, was still missing - we saw it lying flat on the water’s edge, probably not in the correct place and no signs of the square that should accompany it. It was chilly, the wind was cold, so at 11 am. I made us a cup of soup. By midday we’d done 14.5 kms, speed averaging 3.7 kph. Took

A cruiser from Bydgoszcz heading downriver

photos of Nowe on its hill. We could see the towers of Grudziadz appearing in the far distance. A cruiser from Bydgoszcz came flying downriver. We waved, they waved back. I took photos. On our left a parascender had taken off from the big hill (87m) and was catching the updraught from the very strong south westerly wind. As we came level with the hill we could see the big gap in the trees where he had taken off from where there were a few people sitting. We ate lunch (salad in bowls) sat out on the

A parascender who had just taken off from the hills to our left

stern at 12.45 pm, I ate my lunch first, then steered while Mike ate his. At the speed we were going and with the force of the changing currents, the tiller was pushing too much for him to steer as he normally does when he needs two hands free for eating, leaning with his back on the handle and steering by moving bodily side to side. You almost needed two hands on the tiller to steer. As we got closer to Grudziadz, perched on its hill, the clouds became blacker and the wind picked up speed from strong to very, very strong. The rain started to fall in penny sized drops and distant lightning flashes caused crackles on the VHF radio

Dark clouds beyond the fortified town of Grudziadz

. Typical, it waits until we’re almost at our destination before it buckets down! Luckily it stopped before we reached the mooring place, an old arm where there was a sand quay on one bank and rough ground and a low quay wall on the other side. Mike dropped me off on the muddy bank (it had been under water until very recently and the thin layer of mud on concrete was extremely slippery) and I held the bow rope (just in case) as he winded the boat just out of the current in the entrance to the arm. It was 4 pm. Bill did likewise and

More dark clouds beyond the fortified town of Grudziadz

moored Rosy - with assistance from Mike - just in front of us in slack water. After I’d got all the wet things sorted out, I put the PC on to do the log and Mike went off for a walk round the local area. A few minutes later Bill gave a shout to see if Mike wanted to go on an exploration, so I told him he’d just gone and he could catch him if he hurried. The local population had turned out to watch us come into the arm - but they were on the far bank - a little later the local kids turned up to look at the funny boats from the side we’d

Moored at Grudziadz in an arm off the river

moored on. Mike returned having taken a few photos of the boats. Bill had gone on into the town to take photos of Grudziadz’s fortifications from the inside.