11th & 12th June 2005 Weekend off - below lock 9, Nakło Zachód

11th June 2005  Below lock 9, Nakło Zachód.

Moonlight at sunset

Day off. Milder 8.5º C overnight. Grey, cloudy and windy. Mike said the cruiser that had anchored in the middle overnight had gone past very quietly at 7 a.m. - lock opening time. I didn’t hear a thing. Mike had his breakfast then went down the engine room to investigate the problem with the air accumulator tank. Inside it was a large black rubber bag, which had split along one edge and was starting to perish on the inside. Needs a new one, so he ‘phoned a UK chandler. The chap he spoke to said at first that it was cheaper to buy a new unit as they were only twenty quid. Then, when Mike explained that we were in Poland, he told him he had some units in the workshop which had failed, they had pinholes in the welds, each one had a new bag inside. He said he would extract one and drop it round to Glyn’s for us (which was extremely

Moored on the quay below Naklo Zachod

nice of him). He only charged us a tenner for it. Meanwhile Mike put a cycle inner-tube patch on the bag and reassembled the accumulator. He refitted it back into the water system - bet it won’t hold until the replacement arrives! Salad in a bowl for lunch. Mike went for a siesta. Bill knocked. He asked if he could have copies of our photos from Bydgoszcz onwards as we had forgotten to do him a disc, he’d brought us four UK waterways magazines, one which contained his letter about the statue of three men in Berlin where he mentions he’s cruising with us and gets in a plug for his website billybubbles.

Sunday 12th June 2005  Below lock 9, Nakło Zachód.

Day off. 5.5º C overnight. Cold and windy with fast flying clouds, sunny spells. Mike

Paddle gear on the Notec

tried ringing Glyn to tell him about the man calling round to deliver a black rubber bag for us, but he was on the ‘net (anyone remember dial up??). Bill brought his laptop round to show us a programme called Irfan that he uses for organising photos. The details he gets for each photo come from the summary section on properties, which is a function available on XP, but not on our ancient Win98. Glyn called back ten minutes after Mike had rung and left a message. He told us that he now has a new hobby - he has started doing watercolours. Mike took some test photos using the tripod and various settings on the camera. Then he put the generator on and ran the PC. To check that the cloned copies of the Kodak programme ran OK, he

Flags fluttering.

uninstalled it off our hard drive and used the clone to reinstall it. The copies of the photos we’d got saved on CD had no captions!! Waah! All that work for nothing! Bill came round to have a look at what Mike was doing on the PC and loaned us a book, Mark Twain’s “Life on the Mississippi”. Mike tried various methods to keep captions with the photos, nothing worked, it didn’t even save the “tags” which mark chosen photos as favourites or the locks it can put on to prevent accidental deleting. Stir-fry for dinner. Mike started watching the Canadian Grand Prix on TF1 (French TV) at 6.30 p.m. but they took the racing off to show scenes of the homecoming of a female French journalist who had just been released by terrorists in Iraq. He gave up and turned it off.

Friday 10th June 2005 Osowa Góra to below lock 9, Nakło Zachód.

Summit level of Bydgoski canal

Really chilly night 1.3º C, we should have lit the fire! Sunny day, but with a cold wind blowing. Mike had to get up at 4.30 a.m. as the smoke detector started giving low beeps indicating the battery was on its way out. Bill set off on the dot at 8 a.m. We had a few extra items to sort out, pole and plank had to be brought back on board first. We set off at 8.10 a.m. along the 16 kms long summit pound of the canal Bydgoski. It was elevated on a small embankment to start off with, taking a more or less

Hrse drawn hay turner

straight course through farmland and meadows. The surface of the water was covered in a light layer of foam. We passed the junction with the canal which leads to the Warta via Posnan at 8.30 a.m. I had to take a photo of a young man driving a horse powered hay-turner in the field on our left. My mother used to drive one of those when she was in the Land Army during the war! Further on there were lots of men fishing around several pools on the left near the village of Gorzen. In the far distance

Below lock 7 Josefinki

we could see a low down band of cloud. The weather forecast of the previous night showed rain to the west of us and also a band of rain to the east, while we were in a corridor of cloud-free space. How long before we get wet? The top lock, No 7 Jósefinki, was ready for us, full with top end gate open. We went in, Bill brought Rosy alongside and Mike held the string. A pleasant quiet young man worked the lock. A man with two small yappy dogs worked lock 8, Nakło Wschód lock. This time Bill had gone in first, so we tied on the outside

The town of Naklo nad Notecia

of Rosy while we descended. Three workmen off the waterways tug and pan moored below the lock came to chat to Bill. They wanted to know where we’d come from and where we were going. We motored down the river (now on the Notec) to the waterways yard at Nakło. No one around, it was midday. Tied to one of the old boats moored there. Bill brought Rosy alongside and we had some lunch. Mike got a list together of things he needed to do at the Internet café and took two birthday cards to post.

Below lock 8 Naklo Wschod

Then he almost forgot to take his carefully written out list with him. The gate was locked, so they had to find the alternative way out. The Belgian hotel boat, tjalk “Archimedes”, went past heading downhill (same way as us) at 2.20 p.m. When the men returned from their expedition into Nakło, we set off again at 2.50 p.m. following Rosy down to lock 9, Nakło Zachód, which was empty when we got there. Strange as a trip boat had not long come uphill. The keeper, today a young man dressed in

Junction with the River Notec

camouflage gear, came from the house on the far side of the weir on the right hand bank and refilled the lock for us to go down. The top end gate lowered and we went in. We paid but Bill stepped off to give them the cash, 56,80 Zł, for the five locks (7 to 11). He said there were two other blokes in the little lock cabin and they had already got the paperwork done and ready for him. He’d also asked them if we could moor on the quay below the lock again for the weekend. It was 3.50 p.m. when we tied up alongside Rosy

Trip boat above lk 9

on the quay. During the evening it rained, heavily at times. A very smart looking cruiser arrived and anchored in the middle, where it stayed all night although there was enough room behind us on the quay for it to moor. There was nothing to tie to - we had had to improvise (what’s new?).

Above lock 9 Naklo Zachod

Thursday 9th June 2005 Bydgoszcz to summit above lock 6 Osowa Góra.

Statue of a high wire artist above the canal in Bydgoszcz

Cold 4.4º C overnight. Clear blue skies, sunny although cold with the north wind blowing, clouding over after lunch. Mike was up at 6.30 a.m. having had more thoughts on repairing the video camera. We left at 8 a.m. A four man rowing skiff came through the railway bridge at the end of the regatta lake. It followed us through the bridge and overtook us. Crossed the next small 

Rosy. River Brda old granary in Bydgoszcz 

lake and went under a pipe bridge and another rail bridge. Two men came running down to the river’s edge, one of them fending off a dog. They ran along the bank under the trees, up to no good we were sure. Minutes later a man appeared with the dog, chasing after them. We wondered what they’d done. The water in the river Brda was so clear we could see all the weeds on the bottom. Six 

Double railway bridge

goosanders, all in a row, were swimming along the edge under the overhanging trees. As we drew level with them they dived under the water one after the other, like synchronised swimmers. The tower blocks of the city centre came into view at 9.10 a.m. A crocodile of schoolkids crossing the road bridge by Tesco’s depot were mouthy and impolite. Even though they spoke no English

Power station Bydgoszcz

we could be sure they were being rude, especially as one stuck up two fingers. Not the British two fingered salute, this was index and little finger. We motored on, still going against the flow, on into the city centre. Took photos of the boats and statues. A tightrope walker balanced above the river made a pretty picture, an unusual statue. The barge Bill 

Lock 3 Okole Bydgoski kanal

had seen go through the lock was moored in the centre, it was a Belgian flagged Dutch tjalk called Archimedes. On board were lots of bikes and a few passengers, it appeared to be a hotel boat that did cycling tours. We wondered whether it had come up or down the Wisła. Lock 2, Bydgoszcz, was ready for us. We went in and put ropes on bollards in the wall, while Bill brought Rosy in alongside. Ground 

Lock 4 Czyzkowko Bydgoski kanal

paddles kept the boats glued to the wall. There was not much need for ropes and the fenders were in danger of being pancaked. When the lock was full we refilled our water tanks and Bill paid for the lock plus the next one. A trip boat was waiting below for the lock as we left the top. This lock and the next two are all modern locks, electrically powered, which replaced five old locks dating back to upgrading of the canal

Old lock house lock 5 Prady Bydgoski kanal

by the Prussians in the 1870s. Up the first deep lock, no 3 Okole, on the right hand wall, flattening the poor fenders again. No need to pay, money collected at the next lock. A short pound, with rocks along both banks which showed that filling the deep lock had drawn off about half a metre’s depth of water, and we were at lock 4, Czyżkówko, where the lock cabin was on the left. We set up the ropes 

Temujin & Rosy  lock 5 Prady Bydgoski kanal

to go on the left hand wall and were sent on to the right hand wall by the keeper. The boat pulled off the wall to start off with, but was OK when the second side pond started filling the lock. Bill gave me a hand with the rope, putting a loop of the rope on to the bollard higher up the wall, ready for when we reached it. Mike paid the middle aged couple who were running the lock. It was midday as we went along the mucky pound to the last two locks up on to the summit. Bill stayed back until we

Moored above lock 6 Osowa Gora Bydgoski kanal

were a couple of hundred metres in front. He said he could see all the bubbles and muck our prop had thrown up off the bottom starting to subside. We said we’d go along the right hand side of the pound and if he kept to the left of the channel he should miss most of the rubbish. The last two locks were old locks, manually operated, but with drop down top end gates. Lock Prądy was ready with both gates open. We were directed by the keeper to go up to the front of the lock on the left hand wall. Not too happy about being so close to the gate but, after a bit of a strain on the rope to

A visitor on the mooring

start off with, it was OK. And we rose another 3.4m. A man with a little yacht was waiting to descend. We motored on to the last lock No 6, Osowa Góra, where a middle aged couple worked the lock and took the money. Bill paid. This time we stayed at the back of the chamber and it was much better, no strain on the ropes. The keepers came to ask questions about the boats, but with no English or German it was difficult to understand what they were asking. We asked if we could moor above the lock, yes OK on the left. We’d been hoping we could stay on the nice concrete quay on the right, but the path along the bank lead to a house, while

A very strange looking scarecrow goat?

the old sloping concrete bank on the left backed on to a field where a tractor was working and two cows were grazing. Bill moored under the trees. I’d walked up from the lock, so I caught a rope for him. Mike brought our boat along the bank further on and tied to a stump in the canal at the stern, threw a pole out at the bows as we were on the bottom and a plank out for me to get back on. It was 1.30 p.m. the earliest we’d stopped for ages. Made a salad for lunch. Mike went to sort out why air was getting into the cooling water system when he turned the engine off. He re-sealed a 

Trip boat heading for lock 6 Osowa Gora

pipe. Bill came round to say that he’d had a text from our friend Hans to say the maps he’d sent to us poste restante at Malbork had finally come back to him from Poland, marked unclaimed!! Bill had a look at our new Kodak digital camera. He said his was getting old and hadn’t enough pixel power. Mike went to look at “the big red thing in the engine room” (a note to that effect had been written on the whiteboard in the cabin for ages as a reminder for one of his jobs to do). There was water in the air accumulator where there should be air, so maybe the membrane has a leak. Further investigation needed. I made a chicken stirfry for dinner. The night was very dark and starry. Getting cold again.

Wednesday 8th June 2005 Bydgoszcz.

Leaving Brda lock on the 9th

9.3º C Cloudy, sunny spells, cold and windy. Bill went shopping and bought a new TFT computer monitor from Auchan. He said there was a special offer on, buy one and get a voucher to spend in the store giving 30% of the value of the purchase off your next lot of shopping. Bill said he couldn’t use it, so he gave it to the salesman, who almost had tears in his eyes when he told Bill it was equivalent to a week’s money for him. We had lunch then borrowed Bill’s bike (to carry our groceries back on)

Crossing Regata lake on the Brda on the 9th

and went to Auchan to restock the cupboards and the freezer for the trip back to Germany. As we went through the garden area around the lock Mike got on the bike and rode it. He stopped and fell over, landing full length on the tarmac. He must have misjudged the distance to the floor (Bill is taller) and his foot didn’t reach. He had an audience too. The security guard had just gone to meet a group of schoolkids who were on a visit to the lock! At Auchan, Mike finally got his

Log rafts on the river Brda

new varilux specs from Vision Express. Then he posted our last print film off to the UK. Then, besides the normal groceries, I bought a couple of tee-shirts (19Zł and 11 Zł) and Mike had two packs of 10 CD-RWs for 20 Złotys each. It was 4.30 p.m. when we got back, luckily the gate was still unlocked. It took ages to pack everything away, put the washer on and do two loads of washing and cook chops for dinner. My legs were aching. Bill called to say he’d lost his Nationwide card and the security guard on duty wouldn’t let him out. Mike went with

4 man rowing skiff going into Bydgoszcz

him to tell the guy it was important for Bill to get back to Auchan as he’d lost his credit card in the shop. He’d already cancelled it by ‘phone. They had got it in Auchan. Mike had almost done the same thing in Vision Express - went away leaving his card in the machine! Bill said a new one was already on its way to his address in Britain. 

Bydgoscz or Bromberg as the Prussians called the city