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??

Wednesday 1st June 2005 Przegalina to jnc Jagiellonski canal

Dolphins at Przegalina lock
Wikimedia photo by Gdaniek

A chilly 7.7º C overnight moored next to an ancient accommodation barge on the Wisła above Przegalina lock. It was sunny first thing, then black clouds rolled over and we had showers until mid-afternoon, when the sun came out again but the wind was still cold. We set off at 8.20 a.m. and turned the corner out of the lock channel heading upstream, against the flow on the Wisła. It was five kilometres to the lock at Gdanska Głowa, where we would turn off on to the Szkarpawa. The river was flowing at about 4 kph and we were making about 4 kph against it. I went in to bake some bread buns for lunch as we’d eaten all the bread. When I’d finished making the dough and kneading it, I put it in the engine room to rise. We were at the lock after a run of about an hour and ten minutes. One lock gate at Gdanska Głowa was open ready for us to go down. Bill went to pay the woman while the old man worked the manual lock. We dropped down 1.1m (it was 1.7m rise when we went uphill so the river level had dropped by over half a metre since we were there last time). Set off again at 9.45 a.m. on the placid little river Szkarpawa. The flow was against us by about 1 kph (they told us that the Baltic has no tide?). Stopped again

Gdanska Glowa lock - Wiki photo by Lukasz Katlewa

at Drewnica at 10.10 a.m. to wait for the pontoon bailey bridge to open. There was nowhere to tie up and wait, so Mike put our bow fender on one of the pontoons (called Alexandra – strangely all nine floating boxes had names!) I tied the bows to it and he threw a small grapple anchor out on the windward side. Bill brought Rosy alongside. The next opening time was eleven. The bread was ready for knocking back and shaping into buns. At eleven o’clock Mike got off on to the bridge and went to find the bridge workers. OK. They were coming. They wouldn’t if he hadn’t gone to tell them we wanted passage through the

Pontoon bridge at Sobieszewski - Wiki photo by  Jarba

bridge. Bill untied and backed off, then Mike lifted the anchor and we did likewise. The middle section of the bridge motored open and we went through. Just in time to get the bread out of the oven. For a while a silvery male hen harrier flew along parallel with us over the reeds along the edge of the river. White and yellow water lilies were just starting to bloom along the banks. We had a salad in bowls for lunch with my fresh brown bread buns. The boat went under the big yellow liftbridge at Rybina with the mast off to get under the bridge deck at 2.58m, so we had no need to wait for its opening time. Herons, black-headed

Pontoon bridge at Sobieszewski - Wiki photo by Yanek

gulls and terns were fishing along the next stretch of river. The clouds had blown away behind and in front of us and we had blue sky and warm sunshine, shame about the chilly wind. Had a cup of hot coffee to warm us up. At 2.50 p.m. we turned right out of the Szkarpawa’s widening channel before it arrived at the lagoon and started heading into the Nogat. The wind was blustery and two fishermen with a khaki camouflaged boat were checking fishing nets. A small yacht from Gdansk was moored in the reeds, it had a small solar panel on its stern. A man came out to wave and say hello as we passed. We were going with

Pontoon bridge at Sobieszewski - Wiki photo by Yanek

the flow now, again about 1 kph. Lots of water lilies, both white and yellow, lined both banks. We slowed down when the cable ferry at Keparybaka went across. Bill didn’t slow down and went past us. Mike had to tell him on the radio that there was a cable about 1.5m above the water (plus two more on water level). He hadn’t see it and thought the cable was underwater. The ferry went back again, then the operator lowered the cable and called us through. At 4 pm the water flow changed and started running the other way. The access into the other route to the lagoon from the Nogat, the Cieplicówka canal, was blocked

Pontoon bridge at Sobieszewski - Wiki photo by  Karina

with reeds and water lily pads. There were two small boats with people fishing from them by the entrance to the Jagiellonski canal. We turned into the canal and moored next to the piling for the third time. It was 4.30 pm. Fanny had rolled in something stinky again while Bill was tying up (she did it last time we were there) and had to have a bath - which she didn’t like at all and barked at Bill. A medium sized wedge shaped power boat went past. He'd slowed down, but his wash (from the speed he had been doing) caught up with him

Liftbridge at Rybina - Wiki photo by Andrwej Obtrebski

as he was passing us. Prat. He went through the bridge, turned round and went back again the way he'd come! Bill came over to have a chat about where we would be stopping on the Wisła. If the Wisła was flowing at about 4 kph it will take us four days to get to back upriver to Bydgoszcz. We should make 30 kms per day against it and be able to stop at Grudziadz and Chełmo, but the first night will be difficult as there was nothing that we noted as a mooring possibility on the way down. I helped with the video camera re-assembly by cleaning all the lenses. It still didn’t work. Back to the drawing board. Not another dead camera?

Tuesday 31st May 2005 Yacht club Neptun on the Wisła Smiała to Przegalina.

 Wisła Smiała - Wiki photo by Pumeks

10.6º C overnight. Cold, grey clouds with a blustery westerly wind. Bill had run out of bread, so I gave him a half a loaf of rye as we’d still got some white bread and toasting sliced bread. Set off at 8.35 a.m. heading into Gdansk to see the shipyards and the Napoleonic fortress at Westerplatte. Set the video camera up on the tripod on the front deck and started filming as we went under a new suspension bridge. Beyond it was a railway bridge with a swinging centre section (which was high enough for us to get underneath) and some very battered wooden fendering around the piles on which it stood. Not long after that the shipyards began appearing on each bank. A small fast police boat (a semi rigid inflatable) came to have a look at us, he went past us, turned round and went back where he’d come

Ferry across the river at Wisloujscie
 - Wikimedia photo by  M Minderhoud

from. Loads of ships were under construction or awaiting repair. A great orange painted ship had Kingstown as its home port and a helicopter landing pad above its front deck. All the floating docks were occupied by ships. A very large crane on a barge set off from the bank on our right and went past carrying a large rectangular construction on the end of the crane hooks. A large ferry boat went across carrying cars from one side of the river to the other. A trip boat overtook us then another one came towards us, the latter was a paddlewheeler with paddlewheels on each side. At Westerplatte we went past the fortress, called Twierdza

Fortress Twierdza Wisloujscie
Wikimedia photo by  Andrezej

Wisłoujście, which looked very much like the fortifications Vauban built in France. We winded, as to go any further would have taken us out into the Baltic. The ferry was setting off again with another load of cars. A pilot boat, heading out to sea, had to stop and let it pass. Mike called me to steer while he went in the cabin. When he came back he said what’s our tripod doing in the water? The video camera and tripod had gone swimming (trying to commit suicide and join the other two dead cameras) and was being dragged along by its twelve volt cable. I pulled it back on board and water poured out of it. Well, that’s the end of another camera! Mike said I’d left the legs of the tripod at unequal lengths which made it unstable and the wind had blown it overboard. I thought I’d left it secure with one leg between the

Fortress from the river bank
Wikimedia photo by  M Minderhoud

moped and the day tank. Mike dried it out, took its covers off and hung it up in the engine room to dry out, but didn’t hold any hopes that it would survive as I had left it turned on, on standby. We decided that a circular trip around the city was out of the question as there was yet another pontoon bridge blocking the through passage. Next time maybe. I made a cup of soup to warm us up. We motored back through the shipyards. The sun came out briefly, but black clouds were gathering over Gdansk. We’d planned to arrive at the pontoon bridge at Sobieszewko at its opening time of 1 pm. The paddle wheeler was catching us up, we thought he was going

Gdansk dockyard cranes
Wikimedia photo by esbi

to go through the bridge too, but he turned and moored at a quay before the bridge. The wind picked up as another squall hit, just like the day before. The waves coming from behind us were getting quite choppy and at one o’clock there was no sign of anyone coming to open the bridge. Mike sounded the hooter. Nothing. I tried the phone number on the sheet of paper given to us by the Polish yachties. It said invalid number – there must be a Gdansk area code to go in front of the numbers. At ten past the bridge workers appeared and opened the bridge. Mike was not happy about being kept waiting while the boats were being bounced about by the waves and asked the guy if he needed a new watch as we went past. From the blank stare, he

The pontoon bridge at Sobieszewko
Wikimedia photo by Merlin

either didn’t understand or couldn’t hear with such a strong wind blowing. The black clouds rolled on by and the sun came out, but it was still windy as we ran down to the lock at Przegalina. The landing stage Bill had previously spotted in the old channel of the river had no access to the bank. The pilings by the lock had no bank access either and the dolphins looked a bit too far apart for our length. We went into the lock and asked the keeper if there was anywhere to moor overnight. He said it was OK on the other side of the lock. Bill thought when Mike said “tie up on the other side of the lock” he meant in the lock and moored on the other wall. Mike paid for the lock - Bill would pay

Old lock at Przegalina
Wikimedia photo by Nandi

for the next one. The wind was howling through the lock chamber, as it was blowing directly from behind us and covering the boat roof in sand off the lockside. It was a bit more sheltered beyond the lock and flood barriers. Three ancient accommodation barges were moored next to the dolphins on the right bank, so we went to ask if we could tie to one of them overnight. The end one looked inhabited and a bald sunburned bloke came out with something smoking as we went past. I asked could we tie up overnight, he shrugged, so Mike turned the boat around and moored next to Marta of

"New" lock at Przegalina
Wikimedia photo by Pumeks

Warszawa (Warsaw), who had seen better days, all three were very old boats. Bill moored Rosy behind us. It was 2.50 pm and the sun was out again for a few minutes before the next shower of heavy rain. The “something smoking” was some wood in a drum the guy living on Marta had just fired up to make charcoal for a barbecue. We went in and got on with some chores. The video camera wouldn’t power up to eject the tape. Mike applied power to it with batteries to get the tape out. Most likely the processor was fried. Hope we can save the tape
.