Thursday 7th July 2005 Rothensee to Haldensleben.

Smoky Czech tug overtaking Rosy
Lots of details and history of the Mittellandkanal
sorry, some of the translation into English is hilarious
but the English version lacks a lot of the info given in the original

11.8º C overnight. Grey, hazy clouds, watery sunshine giving way to drizzle and heavier rain later in the morning, sunny spells later in the afternoon. Off on the Mittellandkanal at 8.00 a.m. closely watched and photographed, by the bloke on the little cruiser moored behind Rosy. Rosy lead the way all morning. We dropped our rubbish in the big green bin on the other bank where the five pan pushtow had been. Bill had just remarked on VHF how quiet it was and Mike had replied that they were all still in the cafés having breakfast,

Go with throttle up!

when the lockgate on the new lock down to the Elbe opened and two commercials came out followed by a three-decked white cruiser. One commercial came our way, a smoky old Czech tug from Dĕčín pushing one big pan. It overtook us very slowly as we went into the first narrow, un-widened section. It started to rain, drizzle at first turning much heavier later. The docks at Haldensleben were busy, an 80m empty called Patrick was moored on the main canal waiting to be loaded. Huge piles of steel swarf were covering one corner

Digging out a new winding hole - Mittelland size

of the container terminal. We stopped at Haldensleben, under the trees, tying up in a heavy downpour. Mike had heard on the German news that a bomb had gone off on the London Underground, so we wanted to try and get a clear view for the satellite and had to choose the mooring carefully for the direction as there were lots of tall trees. Got Sky (BBC had not returned to us yet) and watched pictures of injured people from Aldgate tube station and Russell Square, where a bomb had gone off on a bus. They said three bombs had gone off on buses and in the underground.

Bankwork layers

Lunch, then Mike went off to get the car. He was back at 3.30 p.m. and we all went shopping again, this time at Kaufland a slightly better equipped supermarket than the Netto we’d been in previously. I managed to reduce my shopping list a bit (but not completely). We had almost got the Beeb back, watched the news again to see what had happened in London. The bombs had gone off at 9.00 a.m. they thought a suicide bomber had destroyed the bus and several bombs had

One Czech cruiser from Prague .......

exploded in the Underground. Thirty seven people were dead and seventy eight were in hospital, some of them in a critical condition. They suspected the bombers

.......followed by another Czech cruiser.

to be Muslim fundamentalists.

The horrific details of this eventful day in London