Tuesday 21st June 2005 Kostrzyn Poland to Hohensaaten lock Oder-Havel-Kanal Germany.

Three Polish rafts KP628 R Oder

12.9º C overnight. Hot and sunny. Thunderstorm later in the evening. We left at 8.10 a.m. following Rosy for the first kilometre of the two kilometres before the Odra. Bill had stopped when we overtook, he said the water was flowing at 4.2 kph according to his GPS. Ours said we were doing 9.5 kph with revvs on for 6.5 making the flow about 3 kph. At 8.30 a.m. we could see the trees on the far bank of the Odra. German trees. Nothing about as we left the Warta behind and started the run down the Odra, with Germany on one bank and Poland on the other. Back to chasing bank markers, only these were

Entrance markers to an old loop of the river

different to the Polish ones on the Wisła. The Wisła ones had posts behind or in front of each marker, so you knew immediately whether you were looking at the upstream marker or the downstream one. These had red squares spaced between the yellow Xs on the right bank and green diamonds on the left bank between the yellow + markers. They also had red and green buoys marking the navigation channel in some places. Mike found the two sets of markers were sometimes contradictory and therefore confusing, this made

Fisherman on the German side of the river opposite Czelin

him edgy. At ten to nine we passed a small WSA tug pushing a pan, battling uphill against the current by KP 622. On the German bank new earthworks were being constructed just downstream of KP 627. The very tip of a brightly painted red, yellow and black border marker post could be seen over the top edge of a concrete tube, which had been placed around it to protect it while works went on. A kilometre further on downriver we spied three rafts, moored side by side under the trees on the Polish side at KP 628. Just

Hitch-hiking white wagtail perched on satellite TV mast

beyond that the bank makers were different to what Mike had added to our chart (from Bill’s new one – ours had no marker posts indicated at all!). A loud clanking noise came from an ancient German mowing machine cutting the grass on the dyke on the left bank of the river. Black terns were skimming the water for flies. A wagtail rested on the roof for several minutes before swooping away to the bank, I’m sure they only use the boat as a convenient resting place half way across the river. We passed the arm leading to the town of

Rosy and a loaded Bromberger heading upriver KP608

Klienitz (KP 633) at 10 a.m. Close by the arm there was a fishing boat with nets drying on top of it and a set of marker flags and lights for when the nets were being used out in the river. The quay by the old silos at Groß Neuendorf was full of sculptures, mainly of wooden statues and heads. Our average speed, going with the flow, had increased to 10.2 kph. A yellow and black dragonfly rested on the sunshade then flew inside, right underneath it. It rested on my hand long enough for me to see it was a female carrying a sack of eggs - I didn’t know they did that - I thought they laid their eggs in water like damselflies. Some Germans

Behind a pusher in Hohensaaten east lock, start of the Oder Havel Kanal

had driven their car down on to a flat topped concrete groyne and were fishing from it, right opposite the Polish town of Czelin. Just after we passed the Polish waterways yard at Gozdowice we had some lunch. A loaded Bromberger went upriver at KP 658. I took a photo of the old sunken boat at KP 661 near Stary Kostrzynek, that we used for a mooring overnight when we were there in ’99 with Pensax and Fleur de Segré. Just through the next bridge was a big market on the Polish bank, where there was an old boat turned into a

Following Rosy, leaving Hohensaaten lock

landing for boat crews to stop and shop. A sure sign it was getting hotter, the extractor fan over the engine turned on for the first time this year. The red kites were back too, after their winter in Africa. At Hohensaaten, a commercial was coming out of the canal heading downriver towards Szczecin, as we started to turn across the river at the junction. The lock, east Hohensaaten, had red lights and the up and over guillotine gate was down. As we went towards the dolphins to tie up and wait, the gate went up and the light

German and Polish customs post at Hohensaaten

changed to green. We were going to stop and visit the customs, but we thought there must be a place for boats going down the lock to stop above and visit the customs post too, so we motored on into the lock and tied on the wall behind a Bizon tug pushing two pans loaded with sand. We locked down (surprisingly) off the river by about a metre. We followed the tug out of the lock, then turned right down past the west lock, which leads on to the canal route to Szczecin, and went to tie next to the outer lock wall behind some WSA

Moored at Hohensaaten

boats as we could see nowhere else to tie up that would give us access to the customs office without an excursion of several kilometres by road. Before the ropes were tied, a man in blue overalls came to tell me (not the men) that we couldn’t moor there. (Mike said later, wonderful how the first words from a German were “Verboten!” Welcome back to Deutschland!) Mike explained that we only wanted to stay for half an hour to visit the customs and he said please, we’d push over to the other side, where the official mooring was, as soon as we got back – and the guy said yeah, OK. Grabbed ships papers and passports and presented ourselves to the Polish customs. The officer filled in our details on his portable computerised machine, then wrote everything down into a book too. Next we went upstairs to see a very jovial German, who just took note of our name and the boat’s name and registration. We spent more time with him looking at a big map of East German waterways and telling him we’d been to most places on it last year. On the way back Mike tried a burst shot (rapid series of photos for action shots) when he saw a snake (actually a slow worm) trying to climb up the back of a WSA boat. Back on the boats and we moved to the far side of the weirstream, where the official overnight mooring place was. It had a yellow painted metal edged quay for tying to, complete with little bollards and patch of close-mowed grass. It was 2.45 p.m. Later a cruiser and a small yacht filled the rest of the space. It was stiflingly hot. We both spent the rest of the afternoon dozing and sweltering. We had a thunderstorm and torrential rain. At 8.30 p.m. a hotel ship came up the lock. 82m long by 9.5m wide, called Swiss Coral it was offering Transocean Tours. Suddenly, after the calm and almost deserted navigations in Poland, we’re back in the busy world of German waterways!

Tuesday 19th April 2005 Słubice to Kostryzn.37.8kms

Lebus - Wikimedia photo by Lienhard Schultz

We got the boat ready to leave at 10.30 a.m. It was sunny but windy. Mike went to the local Intermarché to get a broom handle to make a replacement flagstaff. He was not amused at the rude treatment he got from the young checkout assistant. He’d got a pole that belonged to a brush. He didn’t want the brush, so he went and found a different handle. Once sawn to the right length and equipped with a few cup hooks it made a passable flagstaff. Pity our old ensign was in such a tatty state. Some time ago we’d tried painting it with fabric paint as it had faded, but had given up and bought a new one. Mike said he’d have another go at painting it later. Lutz and Bernt arrived ready to set off at ten thirty. They came with us on our boat as Bill was having an attack of

Fortifications at Kostryzn - Wikimedia photo by Norbert Radtke

nerves about getting back into the flow on the Oder through the chicane under the bridge and round the submerged sandbank – he said he only wanted to be responsible for one death by drowning  - his own! We went first, he only had to follow us. It was cold in the strong wind blowing upriver, but the two German men sat out on our front deck, Bernt taking photos and Lutz smoking as ever. I found our spare binoculars, which Bernt found very useful when pair of beautiful goldeneye ducks took off. The Germans went inside and got warmed up and I made some coffee and found some photo albums for them to have a look at. We passed two customs vans sitting on the riverside, watching for more smugglers. Lebus stood on its crag, where the generals in WWII watched the battle below on the plain. I made lunch. We had sandwiches on the stern and I gave Lutz and Bernt a tray with salad, cheese and cooked meats plus bread buns to have on a plate or as sandwiches as they wished. We were making good time going downstream with the flow. The GPS said we were flying along at 11 kph, we’d engine revvs for 6 kph which meant we were assisted by a flow of 5 kph. A German tug from Eberswalde set off from the bank, pushing an empty pan just before we arrived at the junction with the river Warta. Under the bridges, passing the old red brick fortifications of

River Warta at Kostryzn - Wikimedia photo by Axe

the old town of Kostryzn (flattened in WWII) and we turned carefully to our right, avoiding the sandbanks at the junction, and headed upstream on the Warta. The wind was no longer in our faces and we were sheltered by the bulk of a large coal-fired factory complex. The change in speed was dramatic, we had slowed down to around 4.5 kph. It was 3.00 p.m. when we arrived at the quay, which was cabin roof height, so I stepped off the roof with our centre rope and tied it to the pole supporting the sign that said Kostryzn (with a couple of letters missing!). Bernt got off to help knock stakes in. Bill kept Rosy in midstream until we’d moored, then came alongside

Moored boats and coal-fired factory at Kostryzn

us. Bernt ‘phoned Siggi. She’d been at Seelow, which was not far away and arrived to pick them up in her green Berlingo. I asked if she’d like to come in for coffee, but she said, no, they would like to get home. Bernt certainly enjoyed his day out even if it was freezing cold, Lutz too said he had enjoyed himself. We waved bye, bye as they left. Bill went to take photos from the bridge and Fanny took her ball to play with two young Polish girls who giggled a lot. Mike had another go at repainting our ensign out on the bank and a gang of four young lads came to look at what he was doing and practise their English. He’d just put our surveillance camera on the mast – they were quick to spot it. Bill

Broom handle for a flagstaff! 

asked if we’d got pictures on our TV! Watched Channel Four News. Seventy eight year old Joseph Ratzinger, a German cardinal and good friend of Pope John-Paul, had been elected Pope on the second day of voting, he is to be called Pope Benedict the sixteenth but the media were already calling him God’s Rotweiler!^.  Later, what sounded like a few pebbles landed on our roof, so we went out to investigate and found Bill out on his stern too. Three youths were walking nonchalantly towards the road bridge looking completely innocent, except there was no one else in sight. Hoped this wasn’t a sign of things to come. I couldn’t find the stones they’d lobbed. The roof was getting covered in dust again and loads of seeds off the plane trees in the park by the mooring. Lit the coal fire as the temperature started dropping rapidly.

Monday 18th April 2005 EHS to Słubice Poland. 37.8kms 1 lock

The shaft locks at Eisenhuttenstadt

Sunny and warm, windy. Up bright and early to get the boat ready to move. Hans the school teacher came round to say farewell and tell us he couldn’t accompany us with his inflatable Zodiac (gummiboot in German!) as his new young radio amateur friend had decided not to c with him. He looked very disappointed as he cycled off. Our green card for the car insurance had arrived from France, so Mike went to tell Christian - who didn’t understand a word. Mike went across the road to the car

Our friend Hans come to see us off

dealers where Klaus works to tell him so he could pass the message on to Christian that our insurance documents had arrived so no need to check the post for us, but he wasn’t there. Hans-D arrived and Mike asked him to explain to Christian, after he’d explained the situation to Hans-D himself. Christian was busy moving a boat. Another one of the members had hauled a trailer with the boat on it down to the side of the club using a small tractor. He’d turned it and had caught the stern end of the boat

Rosy leaving the shaft lock EHS 

on top the fencing along the edge of the quay as there wasn’t quite enough clearance and the boat was now bending the fence. Not the right moment to talk to Christian! We left the basin at 10.30 a.m. with Rosy following, and ran down to Eisenhüttenstadt twin shaft locks. Christian had already ‘phoned them for us to get the lock ready. The right hand chamber was full and ready, but the lights were red. We stooged about until the invisible keeper changed the lights to green. Hans-D had cycled down the towpath and went on to the road, which ran across the tail of the lock on a level with the top of the lock. The descent was, as usual, very slow and gentle, with a musical, screeching floater to hang on to - which stuck every now and again as we descended sometimes dropping suddenly around a metre, or so, as the change in water level left it hanging. Hans-D came across Furstenberg to the Customs office. We moored with our bows on the Customs landing and our stern end on the new landing stage for the trip boat, which doubles as a mooring for pleasure boats too. We went in the office with all our papers. Hans said he’d see us later and didn’t come in with

Rosy below the shaft lock EHS

us. Neither the German customs officer nor the Polish lad spoke much English. First we went in the German officer’s office and he took a few notes. Then we went next door to see a very young Polish Custom’s officer. He used a portable computer to swipe our passports and then wrote down all the details in two books. We’d just told Bill that we’d had our passports stamped when we came through last time. The lad must have understood because he asked if we wanted stamps on our passports. We all

A waterways boat on the slip in Furstenberg

said oh yes please, very eagerly! The two Customs men came to have a look at the boats and we showed them a few photos. Bill asked the lad if he wanted to take a look inside Rosy, but he declined. The older German guy, however, asked if he could see inside Temjiun and Mike took him for the guided tour, while I stood on the stern chatting to Hans-D. Marianne was shopping at the market, he said, for some fish for their lunch. We wished Hans a good holiday in Britain in May, they’re going for about a month and reminded him to send us postcards and to write to us. He said he would. Mike

The customs pontoon in Furstenberg

said he should have had a ride with us down to the Oder. Next time! The German officer was taking photos, so Mike did a twirl with the boat – a figure of eight – before we set off on to the Oder, waving bye bye to Hans-D. The river was flowing well with still quite a bit of flood water – there was no sand showing anywhere and all the groynes were well under water. A stork flew over as we entered the river, heading downstream towards the Baltic. A tug pushing a craneboat went past motoring hard, running uphill. I made some lunch, which we ate as we went along, sitting out in the sunshine. Willie wagtails were hitching lifts on the boat roof, but didn’t seem interested in searching out insects

Frankfurt. Rosy heading back upstream on the Oder
into the harbour at Slubice 

around the planks, etc, as others had done before them. Just before Brieskow-Finkenheerd, at KP575, border patrol boat No 43 came upriver at very high speed, slowed down to look at the two strange boats, then went back to high speed once it had had a good look and passed us both. We’d forgotten to bring out the ‘phones (both Polish and German ‘phones will work for the next couple of days) and we’d got an SMS from Peter on the Polish phone. He’d received the post from us, liked the picture in the papert, he said, shame about all the errors in the write up. Under the autobahn bridge above Frankfurt, then under the town bridge and a swift turn round in the current to battle back

Frankfurt from the Oder

upstream, between the sandbanks and back under the far arch of the road bridge into the arm where there was a good quay mooring at Słubice. It was ten to four when we tied up. Surprised to find we had to step down off the boat on to the quay. When we were there last time we had to climb up on to the boat roof and then use the tractor tyres, which festooned the walls, to climb up on to the quay. We hadn’t realised how much flood water was still running down the Oder. It was interesting to look back at the photo of the mooring last time we were there. Bill came round to tell us that his friends from Frankfurt were coming to see us at 7.30 p.m. We all went for a drink in the bistro by the quay, a very short distance away up a flight of steps. Steffi, who is a journalist, arrived with her husband Lutz, a retired actor, and their friends Siggi and Bernt. Both women spoke quite

Frankfurt from the Oder

good English, but the men didn’t. Lutz said he learnt French at school, but said he didn’t remember much! He smoked a lot (and coughed a lot too). We sat outside under a huge umbrella, drank bottles of Tyskie beer and chatted until the sun went down. Fanny barked at every dog that went by – there were a lot of dogs around, most of them much bigger than her! Bill came back from a visit to his boat with the astounding news that the red ensigns from both boats had disappeared! We couldn’t believe it, we were only yards away. We hadn’t locked the doors either. I went to make sure the boat was OK and locked the stern doors. Steffi asked the landlord of the bistro if he would ask the lads who were fishing at the waterways yard house opposite if they’d seen

Moored in the harbour in Slubice - Poland!
(Sorry for bad quality of photo - very early digital camera)

anything. No. Wonderful. Our first night in Poland and somebody steals not only our red ensigns but the flagpoles too! Steffi said she hadn’t been able to come and photograph the boats going under the bridge at Frankfurt as she’d been reporting on the WWII commemorations a bit further north upriver at Lebus, site of a famous battle in the latter days of WWII when over 50,000 Poles, Russians and Germans died. She also told us that the German customs men had made a record bust, catching smugglers with a million Polish cigarettes. Mike and Bill asked the Germans if they’d like to come with us the next day for trip down the river to Kostryzn. The women said no, but the men said they would like to come with us. Our visitors went home at 9.30 p.m. Mike and Bill sat out a bit longer, but I went back on the boat as I was starting to feel cold.