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!

2nd August 2004 Steinhavel to Himmelpfort.

10.6° C Overcast and cold start 15° C. Misty to start off with, then the sun burnt through, but clouds built up later and became windy too. Early away again at 7.15 a.m. Mist was

Schwedtsee - Wikimedia photo by Christopher Voitus

covering the lake as we ran into Fürstenberg, following Rosy down to the lock. Above the lock a very realistic look dragon was moored - it even had an articulated tail! An infatable overtook us and went into the lock first. A lady keeper worked the lock for us, pressing the buttons to empty the chamber and we dropped down 1.7m. It was ten past eight as we went into the Baalensee. There was only a slight mist just above the surface of the water on the little lake, but when we went through the narrows into the larger Schwedtsee it was obvious that unless we waited until the sun burned the mist away there would be no photos of the monument at

Stolpsee - Wikimedia photo by Tiberius 123

Ravenbrück on its shore today. A Locaboat hireboat came up off the Havel and went into the hirebase on the bank of the lake opposite the site of the concentration camp. Bill gave up waiting for a photo opportunity and we winded and went into the short section of the Havel which lead into the Stolpsee, a much larger lake and the beginning of another series of lakes leading to a dead end at Lychen. I made tea and by 9 a.m. the sun was out and the last traces of mist had gone. A medium sized, wedge-shaped speedboat cruiser called Lea raced us for the turning off the lake at Himmelpfort. He lost as we were well in front anway, so he stood no chance. I turned

Himmelpfort lock - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

the green bar for the automatic lock as I slung a rope around one of the cabin-high wooden stumps. It took ages for the lock to empty (we’re going uphill again) considering that it was only 1.2m deep. In the meantime a young lady with a clipboard came to ask questions. Unforunately she didn’t speak any English and so I attempted to fill in her questionaire for her by reading her list of questions and she ticked off what were probably the usual answers! She was from the local tourist office and her boss was doing the same with the boats arriving above the lock. Mike gave up and left me answering the questionaire and went to take a rope off Bill to moor Rosy alongside us. The couple on the cruiser looked very miserable, it couldn’t have

 

The beautiful winding Woblitz - Wikimedia photo by Tobias 1986

been just because they weren’t first in the queue for the lock. Two small cruisers eventually emerged from the lock and we went up side by side with Rosy and the cruiser behind us. The lake above was another shorter one, called Haussee. I swept the minute tree seeds and dead flies off the roof that we’d collected overnight. The next section of linking narrow channel was called the Woblitz and was one of the most prettiest we’d found in all the Germany lakes. It’s narrow and very winding and runs through the forest. A trip boat from Lychen stopped on the far side of a 180° bend to let us through first, we both needed all the 

Grosse Lychensee - Wikimedia photo by Dietzel

width of the channel to get around the long sweeping bend. The Woblitz lead into another large lake, the Großer Lychensee, with three islands in the middle and two big bays on our right. We went to the right (south) of the largest island, while Bill went to the left (north side). As we went past the island we could see a house on the island facing us almost hidden by trees. Its outbuildings were falling down and I thought the property looked derelict but then I saw a man on the far side of the island. We went through a short narrow channel under two bridges and into the Stadtsee, a small peardrop shaped lake which is the last navigable lake in the chain. We stooged around,

Lychen - Wikimedia photo by Doris Antony

noting that there was a mooring on the north bank at Lychen, 26m long - its first 11m was set aside for paddle boats and the rest of the space (15m) was for cruisers to moor bows or stern ends to the wooden landing. No good for us - but at least they have now made provision for boats to moor there. We wondered if it was free of charge there. Rosy went through the bridges leading to the big lake and we paused to let the tripper through on its way back to its mooring in Lychen. We went back down the Großer Lychensee, passing to

Cistercian cloister ruins at Himmelpfort
Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

the north of the big island and spotted a man sitting under the trees - so the house must be inhabited. We followed Rosy back down the Woblitz, which was peaceful and quiet, after the masses that were out cruising in the region the day before, a sunny Sunday, we saw only  a couple of cruisers, one sailboat and a couple of paddlers moving. We passed a large cruiser with a very distinctive striped awning around its top deck, called Heruler from Berlin, we remembered seeing it when we were in the vicinity of Berlin last time we were here. Then we passed another tripper, this one was called Havelstromer. Had some lunch on the way back to the lock at Himmelpfort. A couple of small boats were going down as we arrived at the lock, then a few more came uphill. As the cruisers exited the lock the signboard came up with a message we hadn’t seen before and the lock gates closed. Translated the sign - a working boat had requested the lock, in

Cloister brewery - Wikimedia photo by Benutzer Exxu

other words a tripper had overidden the automatic lock. We chatted to the man who had been doing the survey and he confirmed it was waiting for a trip boat. The lock didn’t empty but re-opened about twenty minutes later when Havelstomer reappeared. It went down the lock and we had to wait for the lock to refill before we could go down. We tied up at 2.30 p.m. below the lock at Himmelpfort, with our stern end on the very end stump of the lock waiting area (there were more stumps but they had no bank access) and Bill gave us a hand to unload the moped using a plank. Mike went to collect the car from Voßwinkel. The trip boats were having a good day, going up and down the lock all afternoon. I gave Mike a hand to get the bike back on board. The pay mooring on the opposite bank was now all automatic, coins in the slots for water and electricity - and an overnight mooring permit was from a parking ticket machine! Chicken and mushroom curry for dinner. After dinner we went for a walk round the old town of Himmelpfort - “Heaven’s Gate”. The old monastry looked derelict except for a display of paintings in the end windows. I was convinced that it was still a working monastery when we were there last and that there were typical products of the monastery’s herb garden (still in existence opposite the old kloster, but now full of flowers) such as honey, mead, perfume and such like, looking at the overgrown ruins I must have been thinking of somewhere else. 

CLICK HERE to see a map of today's route through the lakes

Sunday 1st August 2004 Voßwinkel to Below Steinhavel lock.

Havel at Wesenberg S of Wolbitzsee
Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

12° C Clear blue skies and a nip in the air first thing - later it warmed up considerably until

we had a big heavy shower of rain. Mike was up at 6 a.m., he likes Bill’s idea of early morning starts while it’s hot, I went back to sleep (prefer not to get up until 8 am, a lifetimes habit) and woke when the engine fired up, we left at 7 a.m. Mike collected the rest of the stuff from the car and gave the lad at the lock another bottle of beer. We crossed the lovely Woblitzsee and went up the river Havel. Disappointed to find the water was not crystal clear like the last time we were here, it was muddy from all the constant passing boats. Both banks were edged with flowering white water lilies. Into the

 

Wangnitzsee - no motor boats allowed
Wikimedia photo by Alma

Großer Labussee and cut the engine, drifted and sampled the silence for a while. As we headed back down the Havel and across the Woblitzsee I read Yvonne’s log to Mike as we went along, paused while we descended Wesenberg lock. We’d collected five cruisers behind us and a knot of canoes and kayaks. Back down the Havel Kammerkanal and through the western end of Drewensee (no props allowed in the rest of it), under the Wildhofbrug (one of several picturesque covered bridges in this area) and saw another raft. This one was a family affair, a large raft called Wewuh, with a

 

Havel at Priepert
Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

canvas covering over the living area, it was making heavy weather of being shoved along by a smoky outboard. A police launch was approaching. Hope they don’t get a fine for that smoke! Round some sweeping bends into the end of Wangnitzsee (another no props area) and the police boat followed us as we went southwest on the Große Priepertsee - he’d got a queue behind him - just like cars on a motorway!! Through the narrows at Priepert and we were back on the MHW (Müritz-Havel-Wasserstraße). Southeast on the Ellbogonsee which was 16m deep. There were not many cruisers now moored in the haven at the start of the lake. Down the L-shaped lake into Ziernsee. Lunch on the move. South on narrows to Menowsee and into the Steinhavel channel. Three large cruisers went into Steinhavel lock after the uphill traffic had

Ellbogonsee - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

cleared the chamber - there was no room for us so we went back to moor by the bank. The next lockful came up and we were first in the queue to go down. The old chap working the lock seemed very happy in his work as he packed a large cruiser in behind us, plus a speedboat and another bunch of paddle boats. Below the lock there was a queue of eighteen boats (not counting the multitude of canoes) waiting to go up the lock. It took forty minutes for us to lock through and no more than three or four cruisers would fit in the chamber together, so the last few in the queue would have a wait of three hours plus! We tied up in the woods at 2.45 p.m. leaving the car where it was at Voßwinkel. A trip boat went past shortly afterwards to test our roping. Mike set up the BBQ and we had sausages and chops with baked spuds, broccoli and ratatouille. A heavy shower threatened to send us indoors before the fire was ready to cook on, but it didn’t last very long. There were butterflies everywhere and hoverflies galore. Mike found a beautiful longhorn beetle. Fanny fetched sticks and Mike made more charcoal with them. 

CLICK HERE for a map of today's lakes

Saturday 31st July 2004 Stayed abv Voßwinkel lock - A visit by car to Ravensbrück

11° C overnight. Sunny morning, clouding over by midday, thunderstorms later. Set off in 

Ravensbruck by boat- Temujin in 1999 - photo by Nel Mandemaker

the car at 8.45 a.m. to Templin first to collect the post. There was a road diversion, the direct route was closed so we had to go via Neustrelitz. Got our post, Bill’s had arrived too. We stopped at Ravensbrück to have a look at the museum of the women’s concentration camp. Mike stayed in the car, listening to the radio. I went with Bill and Fanny down to the lakeside first, where we looked at the memorial and the crematorium. I held on to Fanny while Bill went in the block which had memorials to a different nation’s dead in each of the cells. There were a lot of wasps about, Mike had heard that it had been a record year for exterminators of insect pests. Took Fanny back to the car. Mike was dozing and Fanny

Ravensbruck memorial garden, my photo from 1999

had had a drink from the lake and got her feet wet, so Bill fastened her lead through the car window and she lay down beside the car while we went in the commandant’s office. It seemed to me - after a four year gap since the last time I’d been there - that they’d somehow sanitised the museum. Only pictures remained on display of the objects they’d previously housed in glass cases. A lot of the outbuildings had been smartened up, painted and given new doors and windows. The garages, where we saw lots of stuff left behind by the Russians, were now locked and there was no display of items from the period of Russian occupation as they had suggested 

Monument at Ravensbuck - Wikimedia photo by Pawel Drodz

back then that there might be later. The site of the barracks, where the women prisoners lived when they worked as slave labourers for Siemens, making parts for the V2’s, had been completely demolished and the large flat area was now covered with a layer of shale. Where we’d seen an exhibition of paintings by a Dutch woman who’d been in the camp, there were now photographic exhibitions, mainly of the choosing of the sculpture for the memorial by the lake from several that had been submitted. Bill said he’d had enough doom and gloom for one day so we went back to the car. On the way home we called in Neustrelitz

 

Ravensbruck - the area where the wooden prison huts used to be
Wikimedia - photo by Norbert Radtke

and found a large Edeka supermarket and bought some groceries. Bill and I did the shopping while Mike stayed in the car again with Fanny having a lie down in the shade after Bill had fixed her lead through the car window again. I went into mild panic when I finished at the checkout as I’d given Mike his wallet while Bill and I went round the camp as I didn’t want to carry cash money with me - his wallet was still in the car. Fortunately Bill had enough cash to lend me 100€ to pay for mine too. Back at the boat there were two trip boats at the lock, one going up and one down. Mike had a chat with the keeper and arranged to be through his lock when he opened at 7 a.m. We carried the perishable stuff and things we needed right away back to the boat, leaving crates of beer, tinned stuff and spuds in the car to collect next morning when we take the boat through the lock. The mooring was lined with holidaymakers’ cruisers waiting to go down the lock. We sweated buckets as we carried the groceries past them back to the boats. Sweat dripped off my nose as I packed the groceries away and then I had to close the doors as we had a sudden sharp downpour of rain. It didn’t last very long thankfully and I opened all the doors again only to close them again ten minutes later for a second downpour. Then we had a good thunderstorm which cooled the air a bit. Boat traffic continued, up and down the lock. I made a sandwich. Mike opened the post. Checking the statement for Nationwide he noted we’d had a sum of $100 (£55.20) deducted from our FlexAccount on 16th June, soon after we started using the callback services from WWT. He was livid, we’d arranged to pay monthly by direct debit. He rang their customer services line, but as it was Saturday he got an answering machine. It was 9 a.m. in Minneapolis. We’ll have to try again on Monday. We both went to sleep, heat exhaustion I think. Mike was up first when Bill came over with his chart to find out where we were going the next day and sort out the itinerary.

Friday 30th July 2004 Wolfsbruch lock to above Voßwinkel lock

9.6° C overnight. Clear blue sky, sunny – another “Simpson’s sky” by mid-afternoon. Away

A Tom Sawyer Tours motorised raft. Vosswinkel

again at 7 a.m. A beautiful morning. The lake was still, flat calm and placid - nothing moved but us. We went to the end of the Palitzsee, Bill stopped halfway down the lake and enjoyed the silence, drifting with the engine turned off until we came back. We went down the lock at Strasen. One cruiser was waiting above on the long moorings for the lock. (On the approach to the lock I picked up three empty bottles from under the bridge - on Mike’s instructions - that’s 30c, Scrooge!) A young lad pressed the buttons to operate the lock and we went down with the cruiser, dropping down 1.5m. Two cruisers were waiting below to go up once we’d cleared. We headed northeast on the Ellbogonsee to join the Obere Havel

Osprey - Wikimedia photo by Mauricholas

Wasserstraße - upper Havel navigation or OHW, then north past Priepert and into the Große Priepertsee, followed by the cruiser. Nothing else was moving on the big lake at 9.50 a.m. Five minutes later three came past heading down the lake and three were overtaking us. Round the western edge of Bülow Werder (a large lake with islands shown on our chart as a “no props” area) and northwest into Finow Havel. We locked up Wesenberg lock, just the two of us side-by-side with a handful of canoes behind us, after a chamber full of canoes had descended. A Dutch couple from Dordrecht came to chat to Mike as we came up. Above the lock we met a Dutch barge (you see about as many of those here as narrowboats!) called “Jan Van (something I couldn’t spell)” with radar turning, heading for the lock we’d just left. Out on to the Woblitzsee, past the town of 

Hafen at Neustrelitz

Wesenberg, which was hiding from view behind a screen of trees. I made lunch as we crossed the lake. Mike spotted an osprey’s nest in a tall pylon just beyond the lake edge - and he saw the one parent bird land and the other lift its head above the edge of the nest. Saw a tripper boat called Antje (that’s pronounced anti) from out of Neustrelitz. Followed Rosy into the Kammerkanal and waited while several cruisers came down Voßwinkel lock. The keeper came down to tell us that the trip boat would be back in five minutes and he had precedence at the lock. OK. It motored speedily into the chamber and went into hard reverse to stop. (The skipper obviously hasn’t had the experience of what doesn’t happen if a plastic sack is picked up on the propeller blades, ie stopping! - Comment from Mike). It went up with five canoes behind it. Meanwhile one canoe’s crew decided to use the bootschlepper - a trolley on rails to transport it up to the next level without using the lock. Five kilometres of 

Replica Viking ship and a fast cruiser. Neustrelitz

the kammerkanal wound through the woods to the shallow (3m) Zierkersee. We overtook Rosy, Bill pointed out that he didn’t have white buoys on his chart. The seagulls had perched on them and covered them in so much bird excrement that they were no longer green buoys! In the lake there was just one sailing yacht and four cruisers moored side by side with just one of them having an anchor down. We stooged up to the harbour at Neustrelitz and took photos, then turned round and went back across the lake. Bill had stayed well out from the shore, definitely not happy with the buoys, channel markers and 

cardinals, etc leading into the harbours. Had some long cold drinks going back - it must be 

Kammerkanal nr Neustrelitz -
Wikimedia photo by Reinhard Schiewe

getting warmer! An old-styled wooden boat like a Viking ship with a steering board out on his starboard side was heading for the town (we later learned that there was a Vikingfest in Neustrelitz over the weekend - glad we didn’t decide to stop) I took a photo as a speed boat went past it. Back into the kammerkanal and moored in the jungle above Voßwinkel lock. Mike trampled down the overgrown bank behind the posts, it was thick with creepers -bindweed, goosegrass and hops. He went down to the lock to check the parking and speak to the keeper. The latter said he could leave our old ZX next to his motor on the lockside, it would be OK there for a couple of days. I got my jeans and shoes on (protection from the biting flies and mossies) and gave

Woblitzsee - Wikimedia photo by botaurus stellaris

Mike a hand to unload the moped and push it across the very rough ground and through the jungle to the sand track by the house. A new house had been built just down the lane from the lock, very posh with a painted plastered wall around the house and garden and a smart wooden car port. He went off to collect the car from Waren at 5 p.m. and I got on with the chores. We’d arranged that he’d call me on the ‘phone, cut off and I’d ring him back - he wouldn’t answer it and I’d go and help shove the bike back through the jungle. He ‘phoned twice before I had chance to get to the ‘phone and call him back! He said later he thought he’d got the engaged tone. I pulled my jeans, shirt and shoes on again as some protection against the biting flies and went to lend a hand. The lad at the lock had said he could put the car next to his, so Mike took him a beer later to say thanks! Helped load the moped back on board and then I cooked a stirfry for dinner. 

Click here for a map of the trip through the lakes

Thursday 29th July 2004 Above Wolfsbruch lock to Rheinsberg and back.

6.7° C chilly overnight. Clear blue sky, warm and sunny all day. Bill went for bread before we

set off, he fetched some brown buns for Mike too. Three cruisers came uphill in Wolfsbruch

l

Aerial view of large new marina below Wolfsbruch,

Wikimedia photo by Robert Grahn

ock first at 7.00 a.m. lock opening time, then we went down. The keeper was an older man, not our young lad of the previous evening. It was just 7.30 a.m. as we left the chamber. Mist was rising across the surface of the water as we ran south down the chain of lakes to Rheinsberg. At 9 a.m. all the marina berths were still full. We took a photo of the palace with the sun behind it, then stooged around waiting for the overnight moorers to vacate. It was like Saturday morning on a Sainsbury's car park. As one boat left, one that had spent the night anchored out in the lake, came in to take

Our photo of Rheinsberg castle in the morning sunlight

its place. It was made even more difficult for us as the wooden stagings had no fingers and the cruisers were mooring stern ends to the staging. Mike spotted a space next to a big hire cruiser moored bows to the quay wall - it had a very short finger alongside it to tie to! We moved in and left space between us and the finger for Rosy, then we breasted up and tied bows to the bank. Bill and I went off to get some groceries while Mike contended with the ex-Stasi gorilla in overalls who came and demanded in loud German that he had to go and

Rheinsberg form the bank
Wikimedia photo by Thomas Kohler

pay at the Haven master’s office. Mike growled back at him in guttural English that he would pay before we left. Meanwhile Bill and I had walked into the town centre and found no shops, so I asked a lady on a bike for directions to the supermarket and she pointed to a passageway through a new building which lead into an area of open waste ground covered with sandy pathways. We could see the new supermarket, a small Plus, and a Schlekker (something like Superdrug, but also selling washing powders and household cleaners, etc). I bought sausages, bananas, spuds and some toast bread. Mike was not happy when we got back about having to pay 2 Euros for an hour’s mooring to go shopping. Water was expensive too. We were down to half

Rheinsbergersee and Remus island
Wikimedia photo byAlma

a tank (300 litres) so we fed the coin operated tap and got 100 litres for one Euro (compare that to the 700 litres we bought at Schwerin for one Euro!). Just shows what a tourist magnet this place is. We left at 11 a.m. touring round the island in the Rheinsbergersee. All the hireboats and cruisers were just starting to get moving and traffic was busy going back up the canal. A miserable old bloke in an open speed boat came head on straight at us, his face set in a grim stare. He swerved around the bows as Mike also kept going (bounce off that then!). Everyone else we saw was smiling and waving as we

Kuhnle hireboats overtaking us on the canal below Wolfsbruch

passed or they overtook us. We followed a small Kuhnle hireboat through the first canal bridge and found out why they’d fixed lots of wooden fendering inside the bridge walls and

why it was so battered and covered in multicoloured paint - they bounce through it with all hands on deck shoving and heaving on their plastic-ended boat shafts. What a performance! When we emerged into the next lake, Schlabornsee, we turned right into a narrow channel under a small bridge (with a navigation yellow diamond on it and red and white markers for the edges, (obeying EU regs to the letter) into the Bikowsee, a W-shaped lake we’d not been in before. The water was brown,

Rosy on the Dollgowsee

light tan coloured. I made some lunch on the way back into Schlabornsee and we went straight across into Dollgowsee, where the water was khaki green and almost phosphorescent. The sky was deep blue and full of small puffy white clouds - we dubbed it a “Simpson’s sky”. While we went to the end of the lake, Bill stopped for a cup of coffee letting Rosy drift in the middle of the lake by the island whilst he made it. Back into the Schlabornsee, headed north back up the Hüttenkanal then turned left into the Zootzensee. Bill said he was tired and would anchor up for an hour and have a sleep while we went down the rest of the lakes and back. We changed our plans and both went bows into the reeds at

Sailing canoe on the Zootzensee

the top end of the lake, slung anchors and mud weights out and stopped at 2.30 p.m. Bill went for a nap, so did Mike and I put the Mac on to try to do some catching up. We set off again just after 5 p.m. after a guy had come over in a outboard powered dinghy to tell us that the police would fine us if they saw us in the reeds, you’re supposed to anchor at least 3m away from the bank (that was kind of him, must remember that – just like in the Netherlands – niet in der riet, or something like that). We went back up the Schleusenkanal to Wolfsbruch and went up the lock with a family in two kayaks behind us. The keeper was the same young man from the previous evening and I asked him if it was OK to stop overnight above his lock again. “Yes, no problem”. It was 5.55 p.m. when we tied up. I made a chicken chili (cheating with a bottled sauce and extra red beans) and rice for dinner. 

Click here to see map of today's trip through the lakes

And for history lovers here is a link for the palace of Rheinsberg

Wednesday 28th July 2004 Lärz via Müritz Arm & back to above Wolfsbruch lock.

Rosy  winding at Buchholz, southernmost end of the Muritzsee

8.8° C We still had a clear sky, now blue and sunny. Clouds built up towards midday and 
thinned out again. It was warmer! Mike was up early and set off at 7.00 a.m. retracing our steps of the day before back north into the Kleine Müritz, then southwest down the long narrow Müritz Arm. I had been up at 5 a.m. coughing again, but went back to bed and didn’t wake again until 8 a.m. by which time we were off down the lake. I got the chores done first thing expecting it to get hot later. We winded at the end of the lake in front of the marina at Bucholz. On the way back we decided that discretion was the better part and didn’t

 

Boathouses on Muritz

try to get through the very narrow shallow reedy channel into Thüren and Nebel at Alt Garz. I took photos of the house boats. Turned into the Kleine Müritz again and took a photo of the signpost and Rosy. A very large fast cruiser coming from the direction of the Müritz cut across the corner and went the wrong side of the green marker buoys, made a sudden large stern wash on both sides of his boat as he came into very shallow water - that slowed him down! We turned right into the MHW again and the big cruiser followed, it was called Rockin’

 

Signpost on the Klein Muritz

Chair from Berlin! I took a photo of him (and his wash!) just before he overtook us. As we went along the canal section to the quay at Lärz we had another cleg attack (horse flies that bite). It was 10.50 a.m. The trip boat from Mirow went uphill, passing us at KP 27. More boats came past from Schleuse Mirow, then we went down it with Rockin’ Chair in front of us and two smaller cruisers. The lady keeper only appeared at her upstairs office window as we left the chamber - she operates the lock from up there with the use of CCTV. It took an hour to clear the lock, it was just 11.50 when we passed a queue of sixteen boats waiting below to go up. We turned left and went to have a look at the Mirowersee. Moored in

Rosy turning on the Klein Muritz

the corner of the lake with the rest of the WSP boats was a Katastrophenschutz, which we took to be a fast response emergency police boat. We motored on to the top end of the lake, noted that we could have gone beyond the “no propellers” marker by 350m to a “holiday village” and hireboat (Kuhnle) base at Granzow. We winded before the start of the narrow water lily bordered channel and headed back south again at 12.20 p.m. I made some lunch as we rejoined the MHW and we ate it as we followed Rosy across the Zotzensee. There were canoes, cruisers and hireboats everywhere! Several very fast speed

 

Speeding Rockin' Chair

boats zoomed across the lake and there were loads more paddle boats as we entered the recumbent L-shaped Vilzsee, turning right to steam on up to the end (like the Mirowersee, we’d missed this lake last time we were here). At the end of the Vilzsee is a small blob of a lake called the Zehtnersee, which we did a tour around before heading back along the Vilzsee to wait in a queue for the next lock, Diemitz. There was a big queue, we dropped a rope on the stumps and Bill brought Rosy alongside. A lockful came down and the queue moved forward. Fanny had to have a quick shampoo and dip in the lake - she’d rolled in something smelly while Bill wasn’t watching! The keeper, a middle aged bloke, was packing the boats in and we went in, still moored side by side, behind a cruiser which had to shift its inflatable dinghy for us to get in and still the keeper packed some more canoes in

Rosy leaving Mirow lock

behind us! No spare space in this lock - he’d make a good Thames lock keeper! We dropped down just 1.2m and went out on to Labussee. After crossing the lake we had to wait again for the next lock, Canow, this time we were left out and therefore first in the queue for the next locking. Two small cruisers, one large one and a stack of paddle boats filled the lock chamber and we dropped down 1.4m with a young man pressing the buttons. The queue below the lock stretched out on to the lake, the Canowersee. Got the camera out to photograph a lovely sailing canoe with two minute sails out. Through the narrows into Kleine Palitzsee, running east, then swung south to the Rheinsberger schleusenkanal. The blue and cream painted Dutch hotel boat, Greta von Holland, was moored in the corner of the lake by the narrows. Having too much airdraught for the bridges on the canal to go directly there, we presumed they would take their passengers to visit Rheinsberg by minibus. We tied up at the beginning of the moorings for lock waiting and I took a walk down to Wolfsbruch lock to ask permission to moor there overnight. There was a lockful coming up, no access on to the lockside from the road bridge and a crowd of gongoozlers on the bridge. When the boats left the lock I shouted down to the people on the l

Boathouses at Mirow - same view as in Mr McKnight's book

ockside, one of whom replied when I asked if they spoke English - but in German - he was the keeper, a young wiry lad aged about 25, who understood what I’d asked and said “Yes, it would be OK”. I also asked if there was a bakery in the village, to which he said “Yes”. I cooked chicken and chips for dinner. Peter sent us a text which we received just as we finished eating. He wanted to know if we wanted to try calling on HF. Sent him a message back to say we’d be putting the antenna up. We tried 40m but it was not very good as the QRM (interference) was abysmal, but we managed a short QSO (conversation). He said he’d got some traction batteries for his boat from a breakers yard. He wanted some

A sailing canoe on Cannowersee

information from Bill about taking dogs back into the UK. His new dog, a boxer bitch called Sandy, had been vaccinated against rabies and been chipped too. He didn’t want to have the same problem Bill had when trying to get his dog back into the UK when he comes over here to visit. He had to finish at 9 p.m. as he’d got to go and eat his dinner as he had to go work for 10 p.m.

CLICK ON THE GREEN WRITING AND GET A MAP OF THE TRIP THROUGH THE LAKES

A map of this trip, hopefully, my first attempt at doing a map