Wednesday 15th June 2005 Lock 17 Mikołajewo to KP181 Str. Bielice.

Church at Gulcz

12.8º C overnight. Hazy cloud, sunny and warmer. Set off out of the lock chamber at 8 a.m. said bye to the keeper and his missus, who then refilled the lock for a Polish yacht to descend at nine o’clock. Followed Rosy downriver, passing the little town of Gulcz whose only building visible from the river was the church. The sun was shining on it, so I took a photo of it peaking over the flood dyke. Bill told us on the radio that there were two stork’s nests in the trees, so Mike took pictures of them. Down to lock 18, Rosko, where

Storks nr lock 18 Rosko

a young man worked the lock after taking all the details for the paperwork from Bill. Bill paid, although it was our turn, we would have to pay for the next two. Another young man came to help with the lock and two older men came to watch. Back into the flow of the Notec at 9 a.m. Mike took photos of another stork’s nest. Where we had moored to a fallen tree on the way upriver at KP 157 had completely changed. Bank protection work was under way with the bank cleared of trees and vegetation, wire gabions

Bank protection works at KP157 R Notec

placed and rocks laid up the banks. We saw the crew walking up the bank at 9.30 a.m. back to their motley collection of cranes and tractors and a small tug to push the pans of rocks about. One young man, nonchalantly bringing up the rear, was swinging two spades, one in each hand, as he walked. Bill was already in lock 19, Wrzeszczyna, when we arrived and had paid. We went alongside him and gave him the cash. The keeper said something we didn’t understand and went in the

Yacht Mamuśka

house after closing the gate. Minutes later the yacht arrived and the keeper came out to reopen the gate (the one behind us) and the old Polish man, with a resplendent set of white whiskers and a small yappy poodle, steered his yacht “Mamuśka” around our stern ends and motored all the way down the left hand side of the chamber, almost to the tail gates, bouncing along the wall while he searched for a rope. He’d told us the day before that he was going to Lübeck. Back into the flow at 10.05 a.m. The yacht was speeding off into the distance powered by a noisy

Bizon tug heading upriver 

little outboard motor. A few minutes later we had a great surprise to meet a Bizon pusher tug coming upriver. We said we were glad we weren’t tied to the bank when that came past, the waves from his wash were huge, although we were sure he would have slowed down if we’d been tied up. We had to wait above lock 20, Wieleń, as the yacht was still descending in the chamber. Across the fields to our right we could see the gatehouse to what, many years ago, must have once been an impressive German estate. Once in the lock, Mike spotted

New houses at Wielen

a hose laid out along the bank attached to a standpipe. He asked (in Polish) if it was drinking water and got the answer back in German that, yes, it was drinking water. We filled up and Bill, who had headed for the left hand wall, came back to the right to moor alongside us and fill up too. I stayed on the lockside to turn the (fast filling) tap on and off and move the pipe as the boats descended in the chamber. We said thank you to the keeper before we moved off again at 11.15 a.m. We followed Rosy downstream on the Notec,

Old houses at Wielen

through wide meadows with a gentle flow of 1.5 kph as the river had widened and deepened to around 3m. Under Drawsko rail bridge and then we waited above lock 21, Drawsko, while the lady keeper refilled the lock chamber for us. Bill paid and we dropped down the lock. It was 12.45 p.m. as we left, so I went in to finish making a salad for lunch as we went downriver on the short stretch to the last lock 22, Krzyż. There were crowds of people on the bank at the lock, including an old guy with an amazing motor tricycle. Mike missed the lockside as he was busy taking pictures of the bike! He had to back up and get the

Lady keeper at lock 21 Drawsko

boat next to the edges so I could put a rope around the recessed bollard in the wall. The motorbike looked like it had been a home conversion to a tricycle. It had a square metal top with windows and doors and something inside the back that looked like a large exhaust (for winter warmth Mike thought) and a strange handlebar linkage system of steering, which was attached to one side of the front forks. Mike paid for the last lock in Poland and we left. Around one hundred and seventy

Motor tricycle on the lockside at lock 22 Krzyz

kilometres to Germany, no more locks - all downhill on sloping rivers. We ate our tuna salad as we sped along the narrow, wild, un-canalised Notec. Not long afterwards we winded in the flow and came back against it to moor next to the same old dead tree that we tied to on the way upstream at KP 181. Bill fought the current and brought Rosy alongside and we threw a plank off the back deck into the nettles next to a reed bed covered in brilliant blue banded agrion damselflies. It was 2.20 p.m. I tried the new camera out on

Banded agrion damselfly

close-up, taking pictures of the damselflies, which came out exceptionally well. 

Banded agrion damselfly

Tuesday 14th June 2005 KP 102 above Ujscie to lk 17, Mikołajewo.

Onion domes at Ujscie

Chilly 4.5º C overnight, sunny and warmer, but still had a chilly breeze. Up at seven to move at eight. Mike took the stakes and plank in, while Bill kept Rosy alongside until he was back on board. Then I detached Bill’s ropes and he set off at eight. I released our bow rope from round the chewed tree after Mike had removed a compacted waterlilypad from our water intake, by this time we were ten minutes behind Rosy. We ran with the flow of the Notec, which picked up as the river got narrower, and shallower, as we went into Ujscie. There were a few fishermen along the left hand bank, where the meadow had been mown. Branches had been dropped into the river 

Junction with the R Gwda at Ujscie

but secured with string to stop them floating away. They’d been put there by fishermen to provide sheltered spots to fish in downstream of each branch, it also collected rubbish - leaves and twigs, etc (there is not much domestic rubbish in the rivers here, except for the occasional beer bottle or plastic bottle). As we went into the town, we had revs on to do 6.5 kph and were doing between 9 and 9.5 kph according to the GPS, which meant the 

Lock keeper and inspector at Nowe

Notec had picked up speed from its sedentary 1.5 kph further upstream to a livelier 2.5 to 3 kph down here. The town had an old church with two onion domes and a big glass works (with an old quay for commercial craft stacked up with crates of bottles). As we left the town behind, the river slowed down again as it became deeper and wider. Rosy was waiting above lock 12, Nowe, while the keeper filled it. Bill went in on the left and we went on the right. A uniformed man was taking the details of the boats, while the keeper worked the lock. We dropped 

Boats! Uphill traffic at lock 13 Walkowice

down 1.3m and left at 9.45 a.m. A tree was lying in the river just downstream of the lock. It had been attacked and felled by beavers recently, it still had leaves. Then we had a surprise when Bill called on VHF to say there was a boat coming up in the next lock, 13, Walkowice. When the lock was full and the keeper opened one gate, four cruisers came out! Three German ones and a Dutchman, the latter in a new replica sailing botter, who told us he was off to 

Wooden fish traps

Elblag to ride up the lifts. Bill paid for the three locks (N^o’s 12 to 14) and we were square with paying for locks. We dropped down another 1.4m and followed Rosy downriver. Mike took photos of the cable ferry at Walkowice (operated by the flow of the river, the ferryboat secured on two lines from a 6m high wire stretched across the river). The keeper at lock 14, Romanowo, was refilling the lock. He was very slow at doing the paperwork, taking

Lock 14 Romanowo

names, etc, but very friendly and spoke in German to us. Mike had plenty of time to take photos of the lock, weir and old lock house while he did it and then wound a paddle. The garden surrounding the lock sides was full of beautiful plants and trees, this time we didn’t see the old lady who lives at the lock. At 11.45 a.m. we were on our way again. At lock 15, Lipica, there were three men and a woman at the lock. Bill paid again (all the rest of the locks were 

Wagtail chicks in nest back of bar for  boat ropes

paid for singly on the way up).  The woman did the paperwork and two of the men lifted the bottom end paddles - that was Mike’s fault as he had said in the last lock that he’d never seen them lift two paddles (must have overheard him AND understood English). They also opened two gates, something else they don’t normally do! The chamber is over 9m wide! Had lunch under our blue canopy - it was getting warmer. Through the town of Czarnkow, where some houses were perched on the hill, but most were hidden from

Ciszkowo ferry

view by trees. At the downstream end of town was a big woodworking factory and huge piles of wood chippings, but no commercial quay to service the factory. It was 1.30 p.m. as we arrived at lock 16, Pianówka, where the lock was empty with one bottom end gate open and no one around. A hoot brought a young man out to work the lock. We stooged about in the short lock cut, as there was nowhere to tie up and wait for the lock. A second guy came out as we went into the chamber. I threw my centre rope around a bollard, as the recessed 

Mooring for the night in lock 17 Mikolajewo

bar in the wall Mike had been aiming for contained a bird’s nest with four young wagtail chicks in it. Little grey things, they were keeping their heads down. At first Mike thought they were dead, but on closer inspection he could see little sparkling black eyes. More photos. Two paddles and two gates again. Mike got off and paid the 11,36 Złotys. Fifteen minutes later we were speeding our way down the Notec again. The ferry at Ciszkowo was doing a brisk trade (it is free of charge to road traffic) with tractors pulling double 

Weir at Mikolajewo

trailers carrying big rolls of hay. At 2 p.m. we had started looking for a suitable tree to tie to and found nothing. First we were too close to a noisy road as far as the ferry, then there were no felled trees to attach to, so we continued down to lock 17, Mikołajewo, where a friendly couple worked the lock. Bill gave the lady the boat details and paid for the lock, while the man talked to us in German as he worked the lock. Mike said we weren’t going through the next lock at Rosko today, we would look for a mooring between the two locks. The keeper said it was OK to moor below his lock. Mike went to look. The sloping banks were no good for us. The keeper said he had no boats booked until 9 a.m. next day, so we could stay in the lock overnight if we wanted to. OK by us. Bill moved over on to the shady side in front of us (we’d swopped sides and we were on the left). The keeper and his missus got their bikes out and pushed them across the top end gates - work over, we were their last boats so they were off home! An old lady in pinny and headscarf came to look at the boats from the lockside. She and Mike chatted in German. She’d seen us go upriver, but hadn’t been able to get to the lock in time to talk to us. Mike went for a snore while I finished off the log entries and checked them. I opened a Polish bottle of sweet and sour sauce, added some fried chicken and onions and boiled rice for dinner. Watched the weather forecast on Sky TV, it looked OK. Around midnight torrential rain and a thunderstorm arrived.

Monday 13th June 2005 Below lock 9, Nakło Zachód to KP 102.

Paddle gear at Gromadno

Cold 1.3º C overnight. Sunny but breezy morning. Windy in the afternoon and a very heavy rain storm later. Mike was up at seven and we were off at 8 a.m. with the sunshade up - but not for long when the wind picked up. We had revs to do 6.5 kph but were doing 8 kph - so the flow on the Notec was around about a gentle 1.5 kph. Some of the meadows on the left bank had been cut, the grass now lay drying before being gathered in. A buzzard hovered over the field looking for furry things for breakfast - we had tea and toast. Into lock 10, Gromadno,

Wide open landscape of the Notec valley

where the keeper, a pleasant middle-aged man, was wearing a grey cowgown and a baseball cap. The top end gate lowered and we went in and Bill brought Rosy alongside. The lock was already paid for (we had paid for five at Nakło). Mike got off and took a photo of the paddle gear, which is like Hatton’s enclosed worm-geared paddles, but with a horizontally extending marker instead of the large white cylinders that they have on Hatton. They were made by Fritz Hantz & Co Nordhausen. We left the

Rosy about to go under the 190 road bridge

bottom at 9.45 a.m. following Rosy along the shallow lock cut back into the flow of the Notec. Bill was going slow, Mike went slower so as not to catch up. He told Bill we couldn’t take photos of him if he was behind us as the sun was behind us too. Had a cup of soup, new stuff, Polish-bought Knorr chicken noodle. Cheap and tacky, greasy and thin on ingredients. Mike took photos of Rosy going under the 190 bridge, with the Debowa Gora hills in the background. Down lock 11, Krostkowo, where a

Bill on rope duty at Krostkowo lock

young man worked the turf sided lock (no sign of the two teenaged girls who worked it last time - probably at school). Bill took Rosy in on the left and we hung on to the stumps on the right. On the way in we took a photo of the last surviving needle weir on the Notec. Lunch - the usual salad. It was windy as we wound round the bends of the river as it meandered across a very wide flood plain for the next 43 kms before the next lock. Around KP 92, we passed a beautiful little sail-assisted, two-person, rowing boat, complete with

Keeper winding a paddle at Krostkowo lock

camping gear. It had two lovely brightly coloured sails and oars to row it too. The crew waved and we both took photos of each other, then they carried on rowing. A flight of cranes passed over us, one poor thing had a spindly leg dangling as it flew which it must have broken - no RSCPA Animal Hospital here! Bill came on VHF to tell us that a man with a horse and cart had tried desperately to tell him something. When we passed him and his colleague and a child, he talked very earnestly to us but we hadn’t a clue about what he was saying. He didn’t believe our “Nie rozumiem’s” and kept talking! They had a horse and cart and

Beautiful bright sails on a small rowing boat

appeared to be reed cutting. Two fields further on another old man was turning hay using a horse drawn appliance that would, most likely, have been used when the canal was opened two hundred years earlier. We could see black clouds in the distance over Ujscie and rain leaking from it. We hoped it would be gone before we got there. No such luck. It was torrential. At least we had time to get the gear packed away and waterproofs on (for what good that did!) before it poured down. Bill had

Crane with a busted leg.

overshot the mooring place we’d been aiming for at KP 102, where we’d moored before, easily done in the low visibility in the heavy rainstorm. It was 4.30 p.m. as Mike slung off a plank into the reeds and took a bow rope around a beaver-chewed tree. Bill turned round and came back to moor alongside. The rain stopped as soon as we finished tying up and the sun came out again. Later, when Mike went out to turn off the inverter, the river was covered in thick mist, but the stars were still visible.    

At times we really wished we knew what they were saying!

11th & 12th June 2005 Weekend off - below lock 9, Nakło Zachód

11th June 2005  Below lock 9, Nakło Zachód.

Moonlight at sunset

Day off. Milder 8.5º C overnight. Grey, cloudy and windy. Mike said the cruiser that had anchored in the middle overnight had gone past very quietly at 7 a.m. - lock opening time. I didn’t hear a thing. Mike had his breakfast then went down the engine room to investigate the problem with the air accumulator tank. Inside it was a large black rubber bag, which had split along one edge and was starting to perish on the inside. Needs a new one, so he ‘phoned a UK chandler. The chap he spoke to said at first that it was cheaper to buy a new unit as they were only twenty quid. Then, when Mike explained that we were in Poland, he told him he had some units in the workshop which had failed, they had pinholes in the welds, each one had a new bag inside. He said he would extract one and drop it round to Glyn’s for us (which was extremely

Moored on the quay below Naklo Zachod

nice of him). He only charged us a tenner for it. Meanwhile Mike put a cycle inner-tube patch on the bag and reassembled the accumulator. He refitted it back into the water system - bet it won’t hold until the replacement arrives! Salad in a bowl for lunch. Mike went for a siesta. Bill knocked. He asked if he could have copies of our photos from Bydgoszcz onwards as we had forgotten to do him a disc, he’d brought us four UK waterways magazines, one which contained his letter about the statue of three men in Berlin where he mentions he’s cruising with us and gets in a plug for his website billybubbles.

Sunday 12th June 2005  Below lock 9, Nakło Zachód.

Day off. 5.5º C overnight. Cold and windy with fast flying clouds, sunny spells. Mike

Paddle gear on the Notec

tried ringing Glyn to tell him about the man calling round to deliver a black rubber bag for us, but he was on the ‘net (anyone remember dial up??). Bill brought his laptop round to show us a programme called Irfan that he uses for organising photos. The details he gets for each photo come from the summary section on properties, which is a function available on XP, but not on our ancient Win98. Glyn called back ten minutes after Mike had rung and left a message. He told us that he now has a new hobby - he has started doing watercolours. Mike took some test photos using the tripod and various settings on the camera. Then he put the generator on and ran the PC. To check that the cloned copies of the Kodak programme ran OK, he

Flags fluttering.

uninstalled it off our hard drive and used the clone to reinstall it. The copies of the photos we’d got saved on CD had no captions!! Waah! All that work for nothing! Bill came round to have a look at what Mike was doing on the PC and loaned us a book, Mark Twain’s “Life on the Mississippi”. Mike tried various methods to keep captions with the photos, nothing worked, it didn’t even save the “tags” which mark chosen photos as favourites or the locks it can put on to prevent accidental deleting. Stir-fry for dinner. Mike started watching the Canadian Grand Prix on TF1 (French TV) at 6.30 p.m. but they took the racing off to show scenes of the homecoming of a female French journalist who had just been released by terrorists in Iraq. He gave up and turned it off.

Friday 10th June 2005 Osowa Góra to below lock 9, Nakło Zachód.

Summit level of Bydgoski canal

Really chilly night 1.3º C, we should have lit the fire! Sunny day, but with a cold wind blowing. Mike had to get up at 4.30 a.m. as the smoke detector started giving low beeps indicating the battery was on its way out. Bill set off on the dot at 8 a.m. We had a few extra items to sort out, pole and plank had to be brought back on board first. We set off at 8.10 a.m. along the 16 kms long summit pound of the canal Bydgoski. It was elevated on a small embankment to start off with, taking a more or less

Hrse drawn hay turner

straight course through farmland and meadows. The surface of the water was covered in a light layer of foam. We passed the junction with the canal which leads to the Warta via Posnan at 8.30 a.m. I had to take a photo of a young man driving a horse powered hay-turner in the field on our left. My mother used to drive one of those when she was in the Land Army during the war! Further on there were lots of men fishing around several pools on the left near the village of Gorzen. In the far distance

Below lock 7 Josefinki

we could see a low down band of cloud. The weather forecast of the previous night showed rain to the west of us and also a band of rain to the east, while we were in a corridor of cloud-free space. How long before we get wet? The top lock, No 7 Jósefinki, was ready for us, full with top end gate open. We went in, Bill brought Rosy alongside and Mike held the string. A pleasant quiet young man worked the lock. A man with two small yappy dogs worked lock 8, Nakło Wschód lock. This time Bill had gone in first, so we tied on the outside

The town of Naklo nad Notecia

of Rosy while we descended. Three workmen off the waterways tug and pan moored below the lock came to chat to Bill. They wanted to know where we’d come from and where we were going. We motored down the river (now on the Notec) to the waterways yard at Nakło. No one around, it was midday. Tied to one of the old boats moored there. Bill brought Rosy alongside and we had some lunch. Mike got a list together of things he needed to do at the Internet café and took two birthday cards to post.

Below lock 8 Naklo Wschod

Then he almost forgot to take his carefully written out list with him. The gate was locked, so they had to find the alternative way out. The Belgian hotel boat, tjalk “Archimedes”, went past heading downhill (same way as us) at 2.20 p.m. When the men returned from their expedition into Nakło, we set off again at 2.50 p.m. following Rosy down to lock 9, Nakło Zachód, which was empty when we got there. Strange as a trip boat had not long come uphill. The keeper, today a young man dressed in

Junction with the River Notec

camouflage gear, came from the house on the far side of the weir on the right hand bank and refilled the lock for us to go down. The top end gate lowered and we went in. We paid but Bill stepped off to give them the cash, 56,80 Zł, for the five locks (7 to 11). He said there were two other blokes in the little lock cabin and they had already got the paperwork done and ready for him. He’d also asked them if we could moor on the quay below the lock again for the weekend. It was 3.50 p.m. when we tied up alongside Rosy

Trip boat above lk 9

on the quay. During the evening it rained, heavily at times. A very smart looking cruiser arrived and anchored in the middle, where it stayed all night although there was enough room behind us on the quay for it to moor. There was nothing to tie to - we had had to improvise (what’s new?).

Above lock 9 Naklo Zachod

Thursday 9th June 2005 Bydgoszcz to summit above lock 6 Osowa Góra.

Statue of a high wire artist above the canal in Bydgoszcz

Cold 4.4º C overnight. Clear blue skies, sunny although cold with the north wind blowing, clouding over after lunch. Mike was up at 6.30 a.m. having had more thoughts on repairing the video camera. We left at 8 a.m. A four man rowing skiff came through the railway bridge at the end of the regatta lake. It followed us through the bridge and overtook us. Crossed the next small 

Rosy. River Brda old granary in Bydgoszcz 

lake and went under a pipe bridge and another rail bridge. Two men came running down to the river’s edge, one of them fending off a dog. They ran along the bank under the trees, up to no good we were sure. Minutes later a man appeared with the dog, chasing after them. We wondered what they’d done. The water in the river Brda was so clear we could see all the weeds on the bottom. Six 

Double railway bridge

goosanders, all in a row, were swimming along the edge under the overhanging trees. As we drew level with them they dived under the water one after the other, like synchronised swimmers. The tower blocks of the city centre came into view at 9.10 a.m. A crocodile of schoolkids crossing the road bridge by Tesco’s depot were mouthy and impolite. Even though they spoke no English

Power station Bydgoszcz

we could be sure they were being rude, especially as one stuck up two fingers. Not the British two fingered salute, this was index and little finger. We motored on, still going against the flow, on into the city centre. Took photos of the boats and statues. A tightrope walker balanced above the river made a pretty picture, an unusual statue. The barge Bill 

Lock 3 Okole Bydgoski kanal

had seen go through the lock was moored in the centre, it was a Belgian flagged Dutch tjalk called Archimedes. On board were lots of bikes and a few passengers, it appeared to be a hotel boat that did cycling tours. We wondered whether it had come up or down the Wisła. Lock 2, Bydgoszcz, was ready for us. We went in and put ropes on bollards in the wall, while Bill brought Rosy in alongside. Ground 

Lock 4 Czyzkowko Bydgoski kanal

paddles kept the boats glued to the wall. There was not much need for ropes and the fenders were in danger of being pancaked. When the lock was full we refilled our water tanks and Bill paid for the lock plus the next one. A trip boat was waiting below for the lock as we left the top. This lock and the next two are all modern locks, electrically powered, which replaced five old locks dating back to upgrading of the canal

Old lock house lock 5 Prady Bydgoski kanal

by the Prussians in the 1870s. Up the first deep lock, no 3 Okole, on the right hand wall, flattening the poor fenders again. No need to pay, money collected at the next lock. A short pound, with rocks along both banks which showed that filling the deep lock had drawn off about half a metre’s depth of water, and we were at lock 4, Czyżkówko, where the lock cabin was on the left. We set up the ropes 

Temujin & Rosy  lock 5 Prady Bydgoski kanal

to go on the left hand wall and were sent on to the right hand wall by the keeper. The boat pulled off the wall to start off with, but was OK when the second side pond started filling the lock. Bill gave me a hand with the rope, putting a loop of the rope on to the bollard higher up the wall, ready for when we reached it. Mike paid the middle aged couple who were running the lock. It was midday as we went along the mucky pound to the last two locks up on to the summit. Bill stayed back until we

Moored above lock 6 Osowa Gora Bydgoski kanal

were a couple of hundred metres in front. He said he could see all the bubbles and muck our prop had thrown up off the bottom starting to subside. We said we’d go along the right hand side of the pound and if he kept to the left of the channel he should miss most of the rubbish. The last two locks were old locks, manually operated, but with drop down top end gates. Lock Prądy was ready with both gates open. We were directed by the keeper to go up to the front of the lock on the left hand wall. Not too happy about being so close to the gate but, after a bit of a strain on the rope to

A visitor on the mooring

start off with, it was OK. And we rose another 3.4m. A man with a little yacht was waiting to descend. We motored on to the last lock No 6, Osowa Góra, where a middle aged couple worked the lock and took the money. Bill paid. This time we stayed at the back of the chamber and it was much better, no strain on the ropes. The keepers came to ask questions about the boats, but with no English or German it was difficult to understand what they were asking. We asked if we could moor above the lock, yes OK on the left. We’d been hoping we could stay on the nice concrete quay on the right, but the path along the bank lead to a house, while

A very strange looking scarecrow goat?

the old sloping concrete bank on the left backed on to a field where a tractor was working and two cows were grazing. Bill moored under the trees. I’d walked up from the lock, so I caught a rope for him. Mike brought our boat along the bank further on and tied to a stump in the canal at the stern, threw a pole out at the bows as we were on the bottom and a plank out for me to get back on. It was 1.30 p.m. the earliest we’d stopped for ages. Made a salad for lunch. Mike went to sort out why air was getting into the cooling water system when he turned the engine off. He re-sealed a 

Trip boat heading for lock 6 Osowa Gora

pipe. Bill came round to say that he’d had a text from our friend Hans to say the maps he’d sent to us poste restante at Malbork had finally come back to him from Poland, marked unclaimed!! Bill had a look at our new Kodak digital camera. He said his was getting old and hadn’t enough pixel power. Mike went to look at “the big red thing in the engine room” (a note to that effect had been written on the whiteboard in the cabin for ages as a reminder for one of his jobs to do). There was water in the air accumulator where there should be air, so maybe the membrane has a leak. Further investigation needed. I made a chicken stirfry for dinner. The night was very dark and starry. Getting cold again.

Wednesday 8th June 2005 Bydgoszcz.

Leaving Brda lock on the 9th

9.3º C Cloudy, sunny spells, cold and windy. Bill went shopping and bought a new TFT computer monitor from Auchan. He said there was a special offer on, buy one and get a voucher to spend in the store giving 30% of the value of the purchase off your next lot of shopping. Bill said he couldn’t use it, so he gave it to the salesman, who almost had tears in his eyes when he told Bill it was equivalent to a week’s money for him. We had lunch then borrowed Bill’s bike (to carry our groceries back on)

Crossing Regata lake on the Brda on the 9th

and went to Auchan to restock the cupboards and the freezer for the trip back to Germany. As we went through the garden area around the lock Mike got on the bike and rode it. He stopped and fell over, landing full length on the tarmac. He must have misjudged the distance to the floor (Bill is taller) and his foot didn’t reach. He had an audience too. The security guard had just gone to meet a group of schoolkids who were on a visit to the lock! At Auchan, Mike finally got his

Log rafts on the river Brda

new varilux specs from Vision Express. Then he posted our last print film off to the UK. Then, besides the normal groceries, I bought a couple of tee-shirts (19Zł and 11 Zł) and Mike had two packs of 10 CD-RWs for 20 Złotys each. It was 4.30 p.m. when we got back, luckily the gate was still unlocked. It took ages to pack everything away, put the washer on and do two loads of washing and cook chops for dinner. My legs were aching. Bill called to say he’d lost his Nationwide card and the security guard on duty wouldn’t let him out. Mike went with

4 man rowing skiff going into Bydgoszcz

him to tell the guy it was important for Bill to get back to Auchan as he’d lost his credit card in the shop. He’d already cancelled it by ‘phone. They had got it in Auchan. Mike had almost done the same thing in Vision Express - went away leaving his card in the machine! Bill said a new one was already on its way to his address in Britain. 

Bydgoscz or Bromberg as the Prussians called the city