Wednesday 13th July 2005 jnc. Saltzgitter branch to above Anderten locks.

Right way up railway bridge at Dungelbeck KP206 MLK

13.3º C overnight. Sunny with a light breeze, getting more cloudy and hotter as the day went on. There were three commercials coming across the wide as we prepared to untie at 8.00 a.m. We waited until they’d passed and set off behind them at 8.15 a.m. following Rosy. A yacht set off between us from the restaurant at Sophiental KP 211, but soon overtook Rosy. There were lots of wagtails landing on the boat roof again. Bill called on VHF to say that there was a fancy looking baseball cap floating in the canal. I fished it out – it was more than a fancy baseball cap - it was a cycling safety helmet. I knocked all the shrimps out of it back into the canal and

A German cruiser overtaking a Czech pushtow that was overtaking us

took it inside to wash it and get the silt out of it. Gave it to the cyclist (Bill) later! The canal was very busy again, as always, with commercial traffic. Mike started doing his own mini-survey, as he thought that the Polish boats were starting to outnumber the German ones. The list was looking good – about equal numbers of German, Polish, Czech and Dutchmen. At 9.40 a.m. on the outskirts of Peine, we were overtaken by a Czech pusher pair, called Bohemia 1 &2, as two empty 80m boats were coming the other way. A large cruiser following the pusher

Old guy in an open speedboat overtaking us KP200 MLK

overtook it as soon as it had overtaken us. A little later we were overtaken by an old man driving a small open speed boat. He didn’t look, just lifted one hand as he went by. The scenery opened up as we came out of the cutting after crossing the little river Fuhse on an aqueduct. The old man with the speedboat stopped at the little boat club on the right and was putting his canopy up as we went past him. Everything went quiet for about an hour, just the WSA with their little launch moored under Berkum road bridge while they were grass cutting with strimmers. At KP

Silo loading chutes at Sehnde KP184 MLK

199 we could see Rosy in front and the speedboat starting to catch us up again, way in the distance behind us. A cruiser overtook us as we went into the next cutting at Sehwicheldt, the old chap in the speedboat went past again too. Bill called on the radio. He said he was coming to a place he could moor and was going to stop for a while as he was feeling a bit queasy. He’d tied to bollards in a winding hole at KP 195, so we went and hovered alongside while he went inside and took a pill. I noticed the edge of the piling, which was about cabin height, was covered in coal (whoopee freebies, coal gleaning!). Mike and I picked up the biggest lumps and dropped them on the

Polish pans being loaded with sand at Sehnde

roof as we sloshed back and forth. I gathered the coal up into two carrier bags as we set off again, following Rosy when Bill said he felt much better. Two boats, which had just unloaded at the coal wharf for the power station at Mehrum, were backing up to the winding hole and made it quite clear that they wanted us out of their way. Fine, we were leaving anyway.  There was a disgusting stink as we went past the power station, but I didn’t think it was coming from there. A little further on more boats were loading at a silo quay. It’s that time of year again. A cleg bit my

Polish pans being loaded with sand at Sehnde

leg! She died, I flattened her (always the females that bite, they need blood for producing their eggs). I went inside to apply more repellent and made a cuppa. It was midday. A loaded 1000 tonner, called Bella-Vista from Gorichem in the Netherlands, overtook us at KP 190, then a cruiser and a German thousand tonner went the other way. Salad for lunch. Polish tugs and pans were loading soil by the bridge at Sehnde, just before the junction with the Hildesheim branch. Three empty 60m boats went by, two Dutchmen and a German. A lovely converted launch overtook us, called Lousche 3 from Nekarrems, it was followed by a young couple

Bolzum lock at the start of the Hildesheim branch KP183 MLK

with a cruiser called Balu at KP 179. A crowd of youths aged from about twelve to eighteen, were swimming or playing about on the banks either side of bridge 309, near Höver. We met one empty 80m before the bend at Höver and a loaded Dutchman called Licentia, a thousand four hundred tonner from Delfzijl, followed by 67m Waterman – another Dutchman. Harvesting was under way in the field before the locks on the right bank. A whole crowd of cruisers was waiting for the lock. The waiting area was full so we motored past them and moored to the bollards on the quay beyond, right in front of the old man in his speedboat who was at

Rosy going under bridge 309 at Hover
where there were lads swimming in the canal

the head of the queue. Rosy came alongside. As we went past one of the big cruisers, a lady said “lovely boat” in English! That came as a surprise. Once we’d tied up, Mike and I unloaded the moped and he went off to get the car. Sometime later the lock gates opened, two commercials came out, followed by a dozen or more cruisers, then the cruisers moored behind us set off - except two. One of which moved right up behind us! I was going to move us back down the mooring to the other end! I called the keeper on the intercom and asked (in German – he didn’t speak English) if it was OK if we stayed overnight. Yes. Then he said “night!” I noticed that the crews of the other cruisers didn’t ask on the intercom if they could stay. One which had just come up the lock dived in to the gap behind them and joined their friends. I put extra ropes out. Bill took Fanny out for a walk for some exercise. Mike returned with the car around 5pm. I nearly dissolved cooking dinner. During the evening one of the passing boats strained my side rope on to Rosy that last little bit and the rope parted, I shortened it.