Monday 4th July 2005 Schmergow to Wusterwitz.

Fishing boat n the Havel

14.0º C Hot, sunny and very humid. We set off out of the basin at 8 a.m. The campers were still there on the opposite bank. Out in the lake there four or five cruisers bobbing about at anchor. A commercial was passing in the far distance, heading for Brandenburg. We paused at the yacht haven at KP 43 for some water. Bill thought we were doing a loop when we set off down the arm looking for a tap. He said I’ll see you at the other end (he doesn’t like the Havel much as he got stuck briefly on the bottom in one of the side loops). The arm had

Brandenburg

moored cruisers all the way down the left bank and bungalows on the right. At the end a small basin was filled with moored yachts. We winded carefully and went back to the guest mooring, right at the end nearest the lake. As Bill was already there, Mike suggested he should moor on the end and we’d come alongside him then we could both fill up our water tanks. Mike went to find the harbour master, who came back with him saying that the hoses wouldn’t reach us, only to find

A new mooring for canoes

Bill standing there with our hoses connected up waiting for someone to turn the water on. He charged us 2,50€ for the 500 litres we had between us. I did some chores and made a cuppa while we filled up. Set off again at 10.15 a.m. Lots of traffic about, mostly medium sized cruisers. One fast red speedboat slowed down to pass us and some other boats. A young topless lady made quite a to-do about bashfully hanging into the cabin hatchway until we’d all gone past. Then the speedboat opened up and went off at far more than the speed

Warehouses now converted into apartments. Brandenburg

limit of 12 kph. A long line of cruisers, headed by a couple of Dutch boats who were doing the speed limit, went past just as an open fishing boat overtook us. Into Brandeburg on the Stadkanal, under two low bridges, which Mike had to take the mast down for. The sunshade just missed the arch of the lowest one just before the lock. The lock was full and we both went in. A small cruiser, which had set off from a bit further up the canal to follow us, had to wait as there was not enough room in the lock chamber which was 22m long

Stadtschleuse (town lock) in Brandenburg

by 5.3m wide. Our guide book says it is only open from May to September and passes 10,000 boats each year. At the end of the lock cut we joined the Neiderhavel, which runs through Brandenburg town. We turned left and headed away from the town towards the lake. We ate lunch on the move before we got to the Breitlingsee. I took photos of the old coal unloading quay and the slipway where they used to launch the seaplanes that they built at the now flattened Junkers aviation factory. It was very breezy out on the lake as

Below Stadtschleuse Brandenburg

we crossed to the Plauersee. A couple of little yachts went past with shortened sails and several windsurfers went past at high rate of knots. The sunshade was just about on its limit, any windier and we would have had to take it down before it folded in half. The bridge at Kirchmöser was due to be rebuilt and work was going on at either end of it, where crane boats were at work piling the lake bed to make a new bridge. It was 2.20 p.m. as we passed under the road bridge into the Wendsee. A very large speedboat, called Enough, went past on tickover - until he

Junkers coal wharf on the Breitingsee

cleared the bridge – then he opened the throttles and the bows lifted and it shot off across the Plauersee. A very small speedboat overtook us and dropped anchor just round the bend in the Wendsee, the two nudists on board scrambled over the back of their boat into the water. Each had a flexible stick of what looked like fluorescent foam rubber, which they twisted round themselves and sat on! Bendy foam sticks, whatever next?  We turned right, leaving the last of the Havel lakes behind us, entering the Elbe-Havel-Kanal and joining a queue for the lock at

Bridge works at Kirchmoeser. Plauersee

Wusterwitz. A tug and two pans came down the lock. An empty 80m boat came and went into the empty lock, closely followed by a loaded 65m boat and another empty 80m, filling the 225m long chamber. No room for us and the little boats moored at the pontoon below the lock. Mike tied the stern end of the boat to a dolphin and the wind blew the boat round so it was parallel to the bank. The lock emptied again and we went up with just one of the little boats which had been moored at the pontoon – the other two boats stayed put. I

Speedboat called Enough

used the centre rope and Bill brought Rosy alongside. Mistake! We should have used fore and aft ropes going uphill in these long chambers as the surge of incoming water made the boats yo-yo back and forth. Mike had to start the engine to stop them charging up and down the chamber. As we left the lock, Mike had asked the guy in the cabin by the top gates if we could moor overnight on the pontoon and got a strange answer, he said go on the right. We ignored him and nobody said anything, we tied up on the pontoon on the

Tug towing a pan with a huge hole in its bows

left at 5 p.m.. Mike unloaded the moped and went off to collect the car from Schmergow. I prepared veg for a stirfry. I’d sprouted some mung beans, which were ready to eat, and had done more than we could eat at one sitting, so I gave a jugful to Bill who said they were OK. Mike was back at 7 p.m. No one else had moored in the basin at Schmergow and the campers were still there – the kids were on holiday now so they would probably be there until school starts again in September. Stowed the moped

Moored on the pontoon above Wusterwitz lock

back on the roof, then I cooked the chicken stirfry. Michael B moored in front of us, so Mike had to go and take photos of his namesake. Someone on the big boat played with a radio

Mike setting off on moped down towpath to get the car

controlled model motor boat, racing it up and down the canal.

A large empty boat called Michael B moored in front of us overnight

(Please note: Google Earth image of Wusterwitz lock shows recent improvement works in progress. I have indicated very roughly where the pontoon was!)

Friday 1st - Sunday 3rd July 2005 Long weekend at Schmergow.

Friday 1st July 2005  Schmergow.

16ºC overnight. Grey and raining. Mike went in the car to Werder again to the Post Office in Edeka, still no package from Glyn. The lady in the Post Office said to try again in the morning and, if nothing had arrived, she would make a phonecall for us. Spent most of the day on the PC. Mike transformed Bill’s precious audio tapes into CDs for him and I embroidered a lilac top with zig-zag edging and pearl flowers.

Saturday 2nd July 2005  Schmergow.

14.6º C Hazy sunshine, warm. I went with Mike in the car to Werder to the Post Office. Hooray! It had arrived. Mike got some bread buns and we went to Kaufland on the southern edge of town. Bought a cake of 50 CD-Rs for 9.99€ (£6.66). Looked at their CD players.

Cheating, a recent photo of the basin at Schmergow,
hadn't changed much.

They had a mini hi-fi for 29,99€ and a boom box for the same price, neither looked much good. Decided to complete the circle, instead of backtracking through Werder and Phöben, we went back to the boat by going west via the village of Groß Kreutz. The latter was closed to through traffic, as half the road had been dug up and the other half had been reduced to its foundation layer of sand. We ignored the signs and went through the town to find our turnoff to Deetz and Schmergow. Around Deetz there were lots of cherry orchards and most of the houses had tables outside with boxes of cherries or strawberries for sale - put the money in a jar. When we got back Mike connected the Markon up and ran the engine. Did two loads of washing. Lunch, then Mike finished off Bill’s tapes, which he was very pleased with. Then he set to work sorting out the post we’d had from Glyn. A monster package with two months’ worth of bank statements, etc. I had two more birthday cards - a month late. The letter from our surveyor had arrived at last, our insurers will be pleased. Several things had gone beyond their due date - I had a MORI pole survey on amateur radio licensing which should have been returned before 30th June. Also a declaration should have been signed and returned to Lloyds offshore allowing them to disclose our investment income to the GB tax authorities, again due by 30th June. The spare battery for the camera had come, as had the new rubber bag for the air accumulator. A mixed group of twenty-something year olds arrived in cars and set up on our side of the bank, drinking, playing loud music and letting off fireworks. Noisy, but they didn’t interfere with the boats. The laughing and screaming went on until the early hours. 

Sunday 3rd July 2005  Schmergow.

12.7º C Sunny with white fluffy clouds. Hot and humid. The bank alongside us was devoid of bodies and debris when we got up, surprisingly they’d all gone home. At 12.30 p.m. Mike drove into Werder to get a stamp and post the forms back to Lloyds. He posted a couple of packets for Bill too while he was there. We had a late lunch. Mike put the other satellite dish

Recent photo of the basin with view out across the lake

up (French satellite TV) and watched the French Formula One Grand Prix from Magny Cours. Alonso started first and finished first. Mike said he was getting fed up with the racing as it was becoming a procession of cars with little scope for overtaking. A small cruiser came into the arm with a nude lady on the bows and two men in the stern with swimming trunks on. It backed off and moored behind us, where a group of motorcyclists were swimming, using the strap hanging from the tree to drop into the water. A blue car that had been parked by our stern since just after we arrived, was theirs. She put some clothes on and joined one of the men to ask Mike and Bill whether we’d made it to Poland. (They must have read the paper and recognised the boat – or seen Bill on TV – we ought to have asked). I started some new embroidery. 

Wednesday 29th June 2005 Spandau to Schmergow.

Wednesday 29th June 2005  Spandau to Schmergow.

Rosy passing Grunewaldturm on the Wannsee
read here the history of the tower

12.9º C overnight. Sunny with a nice cool breeze. Humid. We moved off early, down the Havel to the bunkerstation to get two gas bottles refilled and refill our water tank (Bill was OK for water - he doesn’t do the washing!) We had to moor alongside the little bunkership to get at the hose, which was operated for us by an eight year old boy who wanted to help and do everything, but wandered away when it was time to turn the tap off. I went in the chandlery and paid 26,40€ for the two gas bottle refills. Set off again rather hastily as the bunkerboat wanted to get moving. The pins were in and the Markon running to do some more washing. We started the long run down the Wannsee at 9.10 a.m. It was deserted, not a boat moving (for the first half hour!). I made a cuppa. Once the heaters on the washer had switched off, I did the ironing and the vacuuming, then made some more tea. I sat outside as we were going through the narrows at Pfaueninsel (Peacock island), being overtaken by a coxed

Peacock Schloss Pfaueninsel
click here to read the enchanting history if the island

rowing four. As we crossed the Jungfernsee I took some photos of the Peacock palace, Glienicker bridge, some passenger boats and a Viking longship (really)! We turned right across the lake heading northwest, with Potsdam to the south of us. A beautiful (could somebody please bottle it!) smell of flowering lime trees came wafting across the lake. Into the Sacrow-Paretzer-kanal at 11.30 a.m. Pleased to see one of the last remaining “little” boats, 44m long by 4.6m wide, the 284 tonne smartly painted spits, Glükauf from Ketzin, was

A passing police boat

carrying a load of sand. We crossed the Weißersee and went back into the channel of the canal again. I went in to make some lunch and we ate it sitting under the sunshade with the wind just starting to pick up a little which will please the sailors. As we started across the Schlänitzsee we were overtaken by an empty 67m barge called Magda, its lovely slow revving engine echoing over the lake. Back into the canal again we passed another passenger boat from Charlottenberg. The horseflies came out in force and we had fun swatting them after we’d covered ourselves in

Heilandskirche Sacrow  read its strange history here

repellent. Orania, a loaded 1000 tonner carrying wood, went past heading for Potsdam. Shortly after a 1,128 tonner called Eifelstolz  went past, followed by a gaggle of small cruisers as we reached the crossroads where the Sacrow-Paretzer met the Havel Kanal and joined the river Havel navigation, which had widened into a long snaking lake. Lots of boats came together in a knot at the junction, for a few minutes there were boats everywhere heading in all directions, then nothing for a while until we passed two loaded pans near

Gleinicker bridge  read here about its role in the Cold War

Paretzer being pushed by a Polish tug from Wrocław. We passed a small official looking vessel as we were getting close to the ferry at Ketzin. It had Vermessung written large along its cabin sides. I had to look that one up the dictionary, it meant surveying. After the ferry, a Schiffahtrspolitzei tug pushing a pan made several small open fishing boats bounce about in its wash, but we ploughed through and hardly moved. Minutes later we were overtaken by a small open speedboat which made us lurch about quite violently for a

A replica Viking longboat

minute or two. At 2 p.m. as we were passing a very wide-beamed two decked cruiser at anchor with its crew still eating lunch on the top deck, a cruiser went by towing a yacht, the crews of both vessels were laughing and waving (apparently towing  is illegal for pleasure craft in Germany, so they won’t be laughing when the Politzei see them and fine them). Another cleg attack as we turned left into the very narrow channel of the Langer Werder, to the south of an island called Mittlebruch.

One of the last kahns, the beautiful Gluckauf 

Winding between lilypads and reeds, it led into the south east corner of Trebelsee. The little old harbour near Schmergow was empty, so we had it all to ourselves except for some young fishermen who were camped on the left bank (who moved later to the other bank when the fishermen who had been there all afternoon went home) Mike unloaded the moped and went off to get the car for the first time this year by moped. He called in the Post Office in Edeka in Werder to see if our post from Glyn had

1000 tonnes of wood chips

arrived yet, it hadn’t.

Thursday 30th June 2005  Schmergow – shopping and chasing the post.

12.1º C overnight. Hazy cloud, sunny at times, cool morning, hot and humid later. Lots of clegs about. Mike and Bill went into Werder in the car. Edeka, which was closed while the tills were replaced the day before, was open and very busy. Still no sign of the package from Glyn. Mike brought me a couple of bottles of pop and got a free cookery book (in German of course). While I was making salad for lunch Mike phoned Glyn and asked when he had posted the package and what it

The ferry at Ketzin

looked like. Saturday morning and it was a big package three inches thick, wrapped in brown parcel tape. He’d already had post from us which we’d posted Tuesday in Spandau. After lunch Mike did some work in the engine room with the doors open and got bitten twice by clegs. I searched the cupboards for mossie netting again and found none, but I did find my embroidery cottons and decided to brighten up some plain summer vest-style tops I bought recently with some colourful embroidery. Mike went to Werder again to the Post Office at four o’clock and Bill went with him. When they returned, without the package, Bill lit his ammunition box BBQ and Mike lit our new one. I prepared the food, burgers and sausage, spuds to bake,

Mike and Bill posing for the camera while lighting the BBQs

opened the last tin of French ratatouille and made a glaze sauce for the meat. Took it all outside on a tray. Mike put it on the folding table and as I followed him out with a glass of Bill’s Sekt (East German champagne-style fizzy wine), the tray slid off the table smashing the butter dish and tipping the food into the dirt. I had the lot back to clean it up. I made a new glaze, picked the bits off the meat and washed the plates and cutlery. All was OK on the second attempt. While we were eating, a crowd of people turned up and wandered about on the far side bank. Some had clipboards, which made us think it was a committee meeting of Schmergow council. We wondered if they were there to think up ideas to make something of the old stone loading quay and the impromptu camping site. BBQ over at 8.30 p.m. Cleared up and washed up. I finished off the first bit of embroidery, a cream top to which I added a simple orange and yellow abstract flower. Mike nodded off and woke up at 2.45 a.m. when the gennie spluttered and ran out of petrol!

Tuesday 28th June 2005 Spandau - day off to recover the car and get groceries.

Tug with two pans loaded with coal -

12.2º C overnight. Sunny and pleasantly warm. Mike packed all his stuff in a rucksack and went to catch a train back to Eisehüttenstat to collect the car from the boat club. Bill went into the city to visit the museum. I stayed on the boat, did the chores in the morning, let Fanny out for a run around and then put the gennie on at midday and had some lunch. Bill was back at 12.20 p.m. having seen a copy of the Rosetta stone (the British museum has the original) and Nefertiti, although he wasn’t too pleased with the exhibition

- changing ends as there isn't enough room -

itself, which was about the influence of Egyptian art on modern day art. He gave me some of the asparagus he’d bought on the way back. I made a start on scanning a bagful of letters which had been stored under the bed. (I got the bed up looking for mossie netting and the big white sheets to cover the roof when it gets really hot) Mike returned at 2.20 p.m. I hadn’t noticed the phone flashing – he’d sent me a text while I

- to swing around the junction in one go -

was out with Fanny! He lay on the bed for half an hour to recover. Parking in the road by the quay was now on meters, 1€ an hour until 5 p.m. then it’s free! We went to the new shopping mall, Spandau Arcade, found the post office first - on the third floor and posted some snailmail letters. Groceries from Real, (a big brand new one) and then back to the boat at 5.30 p.m. I packed the stuff away and cooked fish and potato pancakes for

- so they just change ends - simple!

dinner. Mike went out to move the car on to the free car park. Bill called to see if we fancied a cold beer. When he came back (there was a new one way system) Mike went with Bill for a drink at the bistro by the mooring.

Monday 27th June 2005 North Spandau to central Spandau.

13.5º C Sunny and hot but with a cool breeze. We set off at 8.10 a.m. heading for

View from mooring at North Spandau

Spandau lock. Rosy in the lead. Bill had to swerve to avoid a small yacht which went across his bows as if he wasn’t there – with all that space to play in too! (The lake is about 500m wide) He stopped and so did Rosy. We went round the corner to the lock waiting area. The lock was full, gates open and red lights on. As usual, we’d just thrown a rope around a bollard when the lights changed to green, then we all piled into the lock. Rosy alongside us and the little yacht right behind us. It’s a huge lock, there was no one

Same bridge in Spandau in daylight.

else to share it with and all three boats were occupying about 35m of one side of one wall in a lock that is 120m long by 12m wide! I’d got the centre rope around a vertical bar recessed into the wall. The water went out very fast and the surge caused the boat to yo-yo back and forth (I’d got nothing to put an extra turn on to as I was using the bar in the wall) so Mike started the engine to counteract the rushing backwards and forwards. I’ll remember next time we’re in Spandau’s lovely new lock, (which took an eternity to rebuild), to either use the centre rope on bollards or use ropes fore and aft around the bars when going downhill. The moorings below the lock opposite the old town were almost full.

Tug and pans of coal for the power station. Central Spandau

Bill went to investigate a gap at the end nearest the Charlottenbrücke road bridge, where there was one cruiser in a bay between two of the dolphins. We went to look at the space behind another cruiser at the other end of the moorings, where we really needed to be when our delivery of fuel oil arrived. There wasn’t enough space, so we went to tie alongside Rosy. The cruiser in front of Rosy had just decided to leave, so we had the whole bay, which left just enough space for a little one between our bows and the next dolphin (if there had been one brave enough!). Mike and Bill went off on foot into the town to organise a delivery of heating oil. They found a computer shop where a guy spoke good English and they asked him to ring the fuel place, Spingies, for us,

Tug and pans of coal for the power station. Central Spandau

which he did. The fuel would arrive at midday. That was quick! Mike was sure that the delivery men who have been to us on the quay before have had keys to the chain across the cobbled road along the quayside. The fuel delivery tanker came at midday and the driver hadn’t got a key to undo the chain, so we had to move the boats. The cruiser at the other end of the moorings must have felt intimidated by the two breasted up narrowboats encroaching on him from behind and left, so we’d got the whole bay for ourselves. (Good thing too because the space we’d just vacated filled up within minutes) Mike asked the driver for a smaller sized delivery nozzle to fit our filler and we filled our tank first, taking on 350 litres. Bill had 318 litres to top up his tank. It was 63c per litre (47p litre or £1.90 per gallon) ouch! The last load we had was in August the previous year and that was 54.4c per litre - a whopping 15% increase in ten months. We paid him 425€ (it should have been 417,69€, but told him to keep the change for a drink). Lunch and then Bill went off on his bike to get groceries from the new Real by the station on the opposite bank of the river. I was delaying going shopping until we got the car back, I’d had enough of carrying stuff in rucksacks or borrowing Bill’s bike and looking like a Chinese coolie! After lunch we all went to the Internet café by the railway station, which was crowded and noisy as usual. On the way back through the railway station into the town centre, Mike got his railway ticket to go back to EHS the following day. It cost 10,50€ (£7) which we both thought was good value. It was six o’clock by the time we got back to the boats. Our drinking water filter took that moment to decide to stop working, so we spent the next hour and a half searching for the replacement cartridge. I was sure it was in the one of the boxes in the engine room. Mike thought he’d seen it in the roll-out cupboard. Nope!  Found it in a corner of a large storage box under the sink. Glad to have the water back on to make a cuppa. Chicken risotto for a late dinner. 

Thursday 12th August 2004 Altenhof on the Werbellinsee back to Liebenwalde.

Werbellinkanal - Wikimedia photo by Ralf Roletschek

17.7° C overnight. Hazy sun with mackerel clouds, cleared mid-morning to give another hot and sunny day. Very late in the evening we had heavy rain. Before we left, Mike took a walk to take a photo of the wreck of the cruiser that burnt the night before. We set off with the pins in again to do some more washing as we went down the last of the Werbellinsee. I did the ironing. Paused the washing while we waited for the lock at Eichorst. The young man working the lock didn’t appear until Mike hooted and he took his time to work the lock. Did the rest of the washing and ironing as we went along the canal to the automatic lock at Rosenbeck. Mike turned the pole and the

Eichhorst lock - Wikimedia photo by EvaK

lock filled. He’d just turned the pole to empty it when a cruiser came into view. Too late! Two men (grasscutters) were in the lockside cabin having a break, so he asked if they could stop the gates from closing. No, the computer works the lock. Sorry! Back through the little lakes onto the OHK as a loaded Polish pusher was passing. We nipped across to Marienwerder yacht club basin on the far side of the canal and stayed in the middle of their basin until the next pusher had gone past. It sucked

Below Eichhorst lock Wikimedia photo by Ralf Roletschek

the water out, then it came back in and Mike brought the boat alongside the end wall. He asked if we could have some drinking water. Bill had followed us across, after he’d said he didn’t need water, muttering something about pumping fuel, but he winded again and went off towards Liebenwalde to secure a mooring place for us both. While the water tank filled Mike chatted to the crews off several cruisers who had stayed overnight in the basin. Mike gave the youth we’d spoken to 1 Euro for the water. As we were filling the water tank the water pressure suddenly increased and shot the hose out of the tank spraying water up the inside of the

Rosenbeck lock Wikimedia photo by Ralf Roletschek

cabin wall - luckily the HF radio set had got its cover on. I dried it off. It was 10.30 a.m. as we backed out into the canal - the next convoy was passing, heading for the Oder. The last of the previous lot heading for Berlin was still in sight and beyond him Mike could see Rosy through binoculars, maybe five kilometres away down the straight. The canal was very busy too with sport boats in both directions. Arriving at Liebenwalde we moored next to Rosy at the top end of the quay – cruiser Melian had moved to the far end of the mooring (hmm, we must have been right, he's here for his hols!). We were surprised that the big cruiser was still there. It was 1.15 p.m. hot and sticky. I put heat reflectors in the starboard side windows. Bill went to get some shopping by bike from the Plus in the village. We’d said we were going in the car next day but he said he wanted to go to the Plus (he's not a fan of big supermarkets). I made coucous for dinner with some tinned ham and tinned vegetables specially prepared for couscous. 

Thursday 5th to Sunday 8th August 2004 A nice rest at Liebenwalde

Thursday 5th August 2004 Liebenwalde

11.6° C overnight. Blue skies, sunny and hot. When all the little boats behind us left, we moved the boats to the end of the quay furthest from the canal - so we could run engines or

A typical Kaufland supermarket -
Wikimedia photo by Frank Vincentz

the genie without disturbing the crews on other cruisers, yachts and canoes. As we were getting ready to go shopping, the lady from the house (Somersalt’s) came by with her dogs, taking them for a walk - she breeds black and chocolate Labradors and black long haired Retrievers. We went outside to have a chat with her. She remembered us and said it was OK to park the car in the lane by her house. The dogs made a huge fuss, she’d brought one black Labrador bitch out for a walk who’d had eleven puppies earlier in the year - she was a beauty with huge shoulder muscles like an Olympic swimmer - and two Retrievers, mother and “baby”, the latter wouldn’t stay out of the water and chased anything - she was following the ducks while we chatted. Took Bill with us shopping by car, calling at the post office in Liebenwalde to post our letter to the bank, and then went shopping at Kaufland in Orianenberg. There was a huge road diversion, so we had to back-track through Liebenwalde and went via Zehlendorf. The store was as we remembered it, big, untidy, sprawling, with stuff everywhere - not laid out logically - so we ended up walking round the place three times. Bill had been waiting ages for us - he’d finished his shopping, paid for it and was waiting beyond the checkouts. Shattered. Back to the boat and unloaded the car by the boat. Bill ran Rosy’s engine. Mike went for a nap - I dozed in the heat with a noisy 12v fan blowing cooler air. The weather was stifling and very muggy.

Friday 6th August 2004 Liebenwalde

13.5° C Clear blue skies, sunny and hot. I was up first at nine. Mike slumbered on. It was too

Rathaus (townhall) in Liebenwalde -
Wikimedia photo by Lucien Monfils

hot to make any toast for breakfast. When Mike got up he had cornflakes. I did the chores, then read some of Bill’s old copies of Waterway’s World magazines. Spotted an error! A picture of  Helen’s Petrel had been labelled as GUCCCo motor acting as host boat at the Easter Ellesmere Port boat gathering. I'm sure it’s an FMC motor! I checked in the listings in my books - “The George & Mary” and “FMC” to be sure. We had some lunch and then went out in the car, calling via the post office to send off three 35mm films for developing in the UK. Mike was pleased to find that the Freepost system works here too. He asked about Internet and the people in the Post Office, after a short debate, said that they thought that only private houses had Internet, they suggested we could try at the Rathaus – but they didn’t open until 4 p.m. We gave it a miss and went to see if we could book the locks on the Finow kanal. Mike went to have a word with the lock keeper at Ruhlsdorf, the top lock, and the keeper booked us for 9 a.m. on Monday morning. A sign said that the canal was open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. all week from May to September. So we probably didn’t need to book! We’d spotted a service station selling bio-diesel in Zerpenschleuse, so Mike collected two loads in cans for us - 243 litres at 76.9c - then did another run to fetch some for Bill to top up Rosy’s tank. I did pasta with a bottled Tuscan sauce (Mike’s gone off tomato based sauces, but it was too hot to cook from scratch). The mooring filled up again with small cruisers. One large cruiser stayed, called Meilan from Emereich on the Rhine - he must be staying here for his holidays – well it is a very pleasant spot! 

Saturday 7th August 2004 Liebenwalde

Malzer kanal - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

12.4° C overnight. Sunny and hot again. Mike took Bill with him in the car to get more bio-diesel from Zerpenschleuse and to collect ingredients from the Plus supermarket in Liebenwalde for a BBQ later. Put the genie on to run the Mac and did some catching up. Mike and Bill returned after their second run to Zerpenschleuse for bio-diesel for Rosy. We’d got a slight diesel leak on the ZX (car), so Mike fixed it. I switched the genie off at 2.30 p.m. then made some sandwiches for lunch. I got on with the chores and Mike went for a siesta. Bill was trying to get Fanny to swim. She’s not keen and hates going in the cut where she can’t easily get out, so he grabbed her by the scruff and lowered her into the canal in front of the boat by the

Langer Trodel (unnavigable end of the Finow canal)
Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

quay. I suggested she could try climbing up our ladder, as he says she can climb ladders. She didn’t like the boarding ladder as she was in too much panic to get her feet on the rungs properly. Mike lit the BBQ and I prepared the veg etc. The lady from the house came past with five black dogs today, Fanny barked at them but they were all friendly. A young couple had arrived with a canoe and had set up their tent opposite our bows. They came over to chat while we were eating and bought some sour apple schnapps with them. They were Berliners on their way to Rheinsberg (their car was already there). After a few jars, Bill went to sleep sprawled on his new chair - which had collapsed and flattened - he said Mike had told him that it was a good buy at 9€! The canoeists went to their tent at 11 p.m. and Mike helped Bill back over our boat on to Rosy while I cleared the debris from the BBQ. We’d both been bitten by the mossies at dusk and had ended up covering up as much skin as possible and spraying more insect repellent on so as to remain outside. There were just three small boats moored overnight at the other end of

Zerpenschleuse - cut off, filled in end of the Langer Trodel -
Wikimedia photo by Olaf Tausch 

the quay and their crews had all gone to bed hours before. It was midnight by the time we’d packed everything away except for the BBQ and the chairs.

Sunday 8th August 2004 Liebenwalde

11.5° C Sunny, warm and breezy. At 9.30 a.m. Mike started the genie to read my log on the Mac. Bill loaned us the log of his first boat, a Norman Conquest (23 foot centre cockpit) he’d bought in ‘81 from Davidsons at Sawley. I checked our log for ‘81 and, although we’d been in a lot of the same places during that year, we hadn’t been in any of them at the same time, so our paths hadn’t crossed. The name of the cruiser had been changed to Christmas by Bill, for his wife Chrissie and son Thomas, but had previously been called Tina Two which rang bells, but I couldn’t place it. I read some more of Bill’s back copies of WW. The moorings had filled up during the evening and the overspill (three cruisers) had moored opposite us on the lock island.  

Wednesday 4th August 2004 Havel KP31 to Liebenwalde

12.1° C. Clear blue skies, cool morning hotting up later. A Simpsons sky again. Continued on

Empty moorings by the cafe at Burgwall (photo from 2013)

our way down the Havel at 7.15 a.m. following Rosy for the first hour or so. One cruiser went past us heading uphill at 8.20 p.m. Just after the junction with the Wentowersee, the moorings by the restaurant at Burgwall were still full when we went past. I got on with some chores before it got hotter. The theme park that used to be at the old brick works site, Zieglei park, at Mildenberg seemed to be gone. There were no signs of the Disney style “railway” engine that hauled the kids around the park. Bill called on VHF to say he’d like a look around one of the bigger claypits which was still connected to the Havel, so we motored into the Prerauer Stich. Three small cruisers were anchored (probably FKKs -

Footbridge in Zehdenick (photo from 2013)

nudists) but they upped and left as soon as they saw us. We went to have a closer look at the commercial oil dock berths in the top right hand corner of the lake next to the big brickworks - they looked derelict. The brickworks were still functioning, but one of the two quays on the Havel for unloading and loading commercial craft looked as if it hadn’t been used for a few years, the other looked to be still used, although nothing was there when we passed by heading downstream for the lock at Zehdenick. The hirebase moorings in the town were vacant (closed down?) but the yacht harbour was doing good business and the waiting area

Liftbridge below Zehdenick lock - Wikimedia photo by Olaf2

for the boats to go down the lock was full. We hovered behind the queue, luckily there was little breeze and two more cruisers tagged on behind us. When the uphill lot vacated, three medium sized cruisers went to the end of the chamber with two yachts and a large Swiss cruiser called Viva Allegra took the right hand wall, we took the left wall and called Bill to bring Rosy in between the two of us and I stood ready to throw a rope around his front dolly as Rosy came alongside. Lock full! All the space in the chamber, 45m x 9.5m (a wide one), of the automatic lock was full - there might have been space for a couple of canoes - and we dropped down 3m. Beyond the lock a bascule lift bridge (two decks like the Tower of London) was open. The lights

Vosskanal - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

changed to red as we were the last boats through so we hurried in case the thing started to close. Needn’t have worried it had just gone to green on the other side to let the boats through who couldn’t get under the lowered bridge. The lock had two sets of controls for going uphill, a set either side of the lift bridge. One set for boats who could get under the liftbridge and another for those who couldn’t. There was just a couple of little cruisers going uphill. The vast crowd we’d locked with had all cleared off down the Vosskanal. The link between Zehdenick and the Oder-Havel-Kanal (OHK) had been built to bypass the winding river Havel as a deep

In Bishofswerder lock  (photo from 2013)

wide ship canal and a more recent upgrading of the locks had commenced when they had replaced two chambers with a deeper (3.3m) longer (85m x 10.6m) one at Bischofswerder, alongside the old lock, but they hadn’t extended the bottom lock at Liebenwalde which remained a short 51.3m with a 2m drop. The Vosskanal was quiet so I sent Peter a text. The next downhill lockful passed us. I made some lunch and we ate it en route for Bischofswerder, where we caught up with the crowd which had overtaken us earlier who were waiting, moored three deep, on the lock waiting area while one small boat came uphill in the big lock. The lock keeper on duty was working the lock from a shed on the lockside, a young man in long shorts with biker’s long hair and beard, he packed ‘em in until

Below Liebenswalde lock  (photo from 2013)

there was no more space and he had to leave just one out. He managed to get fifteen boats in the chamber. Needless to say they all whistled off into the distance as soon as the gates were opened. Except for the last but one boat that came in behind us and he turned left, directly across the path of the two small cruisers who were heading for the lock, and went in between the mooring dolphins for the commercials where two bikini clad teenagers were waiting to be picked up. I made us some long cold drinks on the way down to the next lock, Liebenwalde. There was just one sailboat waiting to go

The mooring place below Liebenwalde lock  (photo from 2013)
now overgrown and used by WSA for storing rocks

down the lock. I threw a rope around a dolphin and we twiddled round that for a short time while the keeper refilled the lock. The large cruiser, called Trinity, which had picked up the two girls, stooged past Rosy and when he got to us he asked Mike if he could go in the lock first, so we said OK. Another young lad was working the last lock. He also had the job of packing as many into the chamber as he could, nine altogether in the shorter lock. Alongside him the officers of the WSP were doing speed checks. Mike said that’s a bit of a sneaky thing to do when the boats are hurrying to get into the lock. The limit on the canal was less, at 8 kph, than it had been on the river, which had been 12 kph (and most of the cruisers were exceeding that!). We dropped down the 2m slowly, then Rosy followed the two little boats which were first into the lock, not waiting for big boy Trinity to get untied, so we followed on behind Rosy and the young keeper started shouting you must go out in the order you came in! You must let the big cruisers go first! Nuts to that!  We had overheard the cheeky so and so discussing with the lock keeper about mooring on the left below the lock, where we were planning to stop too. Now we know why he wanted to go first. Bill kept alongside him, on his left, whilst we kept tight behind Rosy. He couldn’t wind on the power and cut across in front because the police were watching. We dodged between the dolphins and Rosy dropped into the space two cruisers had just left as they set off for the lock. Another cruised moved out from a space further back, which meant the cruiser also had a slot to drop into - jammy creep. It was 3 p.m. when we tied up. Mike went to check out the parking before we unloaded the moped. He had always parked by a house at the end of the lane by the waterways houses. He didn’t know if anyone was home, but there was a big black dog there in the garden and so he guessed that the lady with the dogs was still there. He went off to get the car from Himmelpfort at 4 p.m. The few spaces that were left on the quay soon filled up. I cleaned the fan blades on my 240v fan and mended the broken wire on the 12v one in the kitchen, prepared the ingredients for a stirfry for dinner then I put the satellite dish up and was just getting it tuned in when Mike returned. We put the moped back on the roof, with a huge audience - the crews off all the small cruisers were all sitting out on the grassy bank beside the quay. Printed the letter I’d done to go to the bank’s head office to get the £55 back that they’d paid in error to WWT and also to ask for compensation for ‘phone calls. We had a beautiful red sunset illuminating the low hanging clouds on the horizon, directly across from the starboard side of the boat. When I looked outside later I could see a flickering light on the far side of the canal and wondered what it was - then I saw more of them and realised that the cruisers nearest the main canal were setting lighted tealights afloat on the canal - crazy.  

No map needed - no lakes today just the lovely Havel river and Vosskanal.

Tuesday 3rd August 2004 Himmelpfort to Havel KP31 (in the wilds)

12.9° C Sunny, breezy and one short, but heavy, shower of rain. The boat roof was covered

Rosy abv Bredereiche lock Upper Havel 2004

in condensation when we set off following Rosy across the Stolpsee and turned left into the Havel’s twists and turns. We were overtaken shortly after we set off by two cruisers and a canoe. I made some tea. The Havel was peaceful and serenely quiet. Bredereiche lock’s guillotine gate lifted as we arrived and we were followed into the chamber by a small open motor boat. Dropped down 2.9m with the keeper, an old chap, pressing buttons in the second storey of the lock cabin. He leaned out of the window to say “tschüs” (bye) as we left. We noted that there was CCTV above and below the lock chamber, with cameras strategically placed so he could see when the boats were all in (or out!). The river emerged from the forest into open farmland for a while and the banks were bordered with meadows.

An edible green frog. Upper Havel Aug 2013

A field of golden sunflowers was the first we’d seen this year and a bit further on we saw a Hereford bull in a meadow with a herd of cows. All along the banks had been edged with cut tree stumps, making underwater piling and this had been backfilled with small rocks to prevent erosion from the wash of passing boats. Two cruisers came up in Regow lock and the gates opened to let them out just as we arrived. The lock was automatic, so I turned the green pole and we went into the lock with three boats behind us, a large cruiser, called Silvia, a small yacht and a small wedge shaped speedboat cruiser. We dropped down 1m. About 100m below the lock a gaggle of canoeists had pitched camp by the weirstream. They all waved and shouted hello as we passed. The cruisers which had been behind us in the lock overtook us on the first long sweeping bend - good job nothing was coming as they always seem to under estimate how

Upper Havel navigation - photo by Bill

long it takes to get past 18m of boat. At KP 39 a WSA tug from Zehdenick was moored with its bows up the bank while the crew of two older blokes watched the youngest strimming the area of bank round the kilometre post. It was 6 kms to the next lock and the river passed between some lovely low sandy hills covered in trees, ideal terrain for paddlers to camp overnight. The cruisers were going down in Zaaren lock when we arrived. I turned the green pole and we waited. Two yachts came uphill and then we went down, as there were just us two to drop down only 1.1m, we descended ropeless. Bill was eating his lunch at 11 a.m. - he said he does that when he has an early start - has an early lunch. Below the lock the WSA men who were grass cutting took time out to watch the two funny boats go by. I went inside to ‘phone the bank about the fact that they had paid £55 ($100) to WWTelecom in error. I spoke to the branch customer services manager, who said they couldn’t reverse the payment and I would have to phone or write to their head office. Very helpful! At Schorfheide lock there were several boats in the lock coming up 0.6m. In the short time that we waited a

Moonlight over the river. KP31 Upper Havel Aug 2013

whole armada of little boats arrived to queue behind us. Only three piled in behind, and they didn’t offer to squeeze up so that any of the others could get in too. As we left the lock the first of the three behind us forced past on a right hand bend just as we were going past the junction with the Templiner Waßer - Mike said to me what happens if I decided to turn left here - do I take him with me? The cruiser was on our left about half way along our cabin side. We continued a few kilometres further downriver and moored in the wilds at KP 31, (same place as we did when Glyn was visiting four years earlier), in the middle of nowhere, next to a nice sandy bank which had obviously been used many times for an overnight camping spot for the paddle boating fraternity. It was 12.30 p.m. so we had lunch sitting in the cabin for once! There was a lot of uphill traffic during the afternoon, including a WSA tug from Marienthal. After lunch we had a siesta. Mike set up the BBQ on the bank. Bill had already cooked his dinner as he said he’d nowt to BBQ. I marinated some cubed pork in pineapple juice and threaded them on skewers. Mike saw a fox looking at him from the thicket. It must get a few pickings from what the campers leave behind. We all sat out chatting and had a few beers while Mike cooked. The woods were full of white campion and pansies - plus lots of toilet paper left by the happy campers! They’d had camp fires, their ashes were left behind - so why couldn’t they burn their paper? Bill went in at 9.30 p.m. I collected up the plates, etc, and went in at 10 p.m. leaving Mike burning wood to make more charcoal and sinking a few more of his Holstein Pils by the light of a Tilley lamp that he hadn’t used for years. 

As today's trip was mostly on the beautiful little river Havel there's no need for a route map this time!