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!

Monday 20th June 2005 KP45 nr Dzierzów to Kostrzyn. R.Warta.

Mooring near Dzierzow

7.8º C Sunny and warmer with a cool breeze. The water level in the river over the weekend had dropped by 30mms each day. Up at seven, by the time we’d fetched in all the mooring pins, ropes, poles and plank it was 8.20 a.m. Let the boats drift gently out from the bank until the current caught the bows, then we were away downriver again. Pins in and generator running with a washing machine full of jeans. With the flow we were doing 10.4 kph, estimated time of arrival at Kostrzyn 12.50 p.m. Took a

Mooring near Dzierzow

photo of more half grown storklings at KP 35 near Roskowice. A white-tailed eagle went past too quickly for me to get the camera switched on! The only drawback with this new digital camera is the length of time it takes to switch it on! The washing finished at 10 a.m. and we had to wait until we’d gone round two long bends before Mike could turn the engine off and let the boat go with the flow for the two minutes it takes to disconnect the pins. Through the bridge at Swierkocin at 10.10 a.m. past

Results of a beaver feast

the lengthsman’s house with a long row of chickens scratching in the freshly exposed sand along the river’s edge. I made some potato salad and coleslaw ready for lunch. We’d just finished eating it when we arrived at Kostrzyn, bang on the dot of 12.50 p.m. and tied to the quay, half a metre lower down than when we tied there on the outward journey in April. Mike and I went shopping to get rid of the last of our złotys. A new Inermarché had been built just five minutes walk from the quay. Bought bread and salad plus a bottle of krupnik (a honey liqueur). When we got back I counted up how much change we had left, 16,99 Zł, so Mike used that to buy some petrol for the gennie. Bill went off on his bike to stock up with beer, etc. He came back without spending all his złotys, he’d still got 200 left! Mike took photos from the road bridge. We were invaded by a Polish-Cypriot guy and his little lad – the boy really wanted to see the inside of the boat he said, hopefully, so he had the guided tour (a rare

More baby storks

thing). Mike came back and Bill sorted out some containers to get some diesel from the Intermarché. He asked Mike if he’d like to go for a drink later. Lots of people passing by in the park stopped to look at the boats. I made chicken and spaghetti (with a Polish bottled sauce) for dinner. While we were eating, two kids, lads aged about eleven, came to the back of the boat and kept shouting “hello!”, but we took no notice and they eventually went away, there are only so many times you can repeat the answers to all the usual questions in one

Moored on the quay at Kostryzn

day without going crazy! More and more gongoozlers came on to the quay during the evening, most of them just stood outside chatting next to the boat. Mike and Bill went out to have a few celebratory last-night-in-Poland beers - I stayed home on sentry duty with Fanny - the wanderers didn’t return until late.

Moored on the quay at Kostryzn - last of the river Warta

Moored on the quay at Kostryzn

Friday 17th - Sunday 19th June 2005 KP215 Lipki-via Gorzów Wielkopolskie-KP45 Warta.

Moorings at Santok, with newly added access planks and ladders

Friday 17th June 2005  KP215 Lipki-via Gorzów Wielkopolskie-KP45 Warta.

14.4º C milder. Overcast hazy clouds, weak spells of sunshine, windy. Bill managed to fall off the end of the plank and stick one leg into the mud halfway up to his knee. His ropes came off and he was away at just after eight. We lifted the stakes, hauled the ropes and plank in and were off downriver again fifteen minutes later. Clouds of small black houseflies were a real pest as we were untying and we swatted a few cleggs (a vicious type of blood-sucking horsefly) as we set off. We overtook Rosy as Mike was finishing off washing the mud

Ferry across the Warta at Notec

off the back deck. Some swans took off from the edge of the river. Mike saw a very rare sight and called me to look. It was a dead swan, floating in the river where the others had just taken off from. At 9.15 a.m. we passed through Santok and said goodbye to the river Notec and hello again to the river Warta. The posts set in the river at Santok now had wooden planks which hooked over the wooden horizontal bars with

Houses at Santok

short vertical ladders attached to the ends of each plank. I took another photo of the beaver damage to the trees at Czechów. Gorzów soon came into view, its distant tower blocks lined up along the crest of the hill looking like a modern day citadel. The cooling towers at Wawrów dominated the skyline above the little town. One had been painted blue with clouds in an attempt to disguise it. Round the last couple of bends and we were at Gorzów. Just after passing under the

Beaver damage to trees at Czechow

new road bridge, Mike turned the bows upstream and entered the channel into the basin where there were new yellow posts to moor to in a relatively quiet hidden corner of the town. The channel was 5m deep, more than twice the depth outside on the Warta. It was 10.45 a.m. As we passed underneath the new bridge again I heard someone shouting, then discovered two teen-aged

High rise blocks of flats at  Gorzow

girls sitting on the girderwork right underneath the town side edge of the bridge. Bill brought Rosy alongside and then he went off on his bike to find an Internet café, as Waterways World and Canal and Riverboat had suddenly taken an interest in his idea to do an article on the first narrowboats to ride the Elblag lifts. I asked him if he was going to the market and saw any lettuces to get us an iceberg (they’d got none,

Cooling towers at  Gorzow

but he found lots of ladies underwear in some huge sizes - the market stalls were nearly all clothes). On his return, he said when he went past the girls under the bridge they wanted him to give them money – I dread to ask what for. Whilst at the Internet café, he’d managed to order a battery for our camera which would cost £14 plus VAT and be delivered free to Glyn’s in the UK. Mike went

Advertising on the sides of the high rise flats Gorzow

across to the Statoil garage by the bridge and bought some petrol at 4.05 Zł a litre (68p), then emptied his cans to go and get some diesel. He came back with two cans containing 54.8 litres at 3,65 Zł (61p) per litre. We set off again at 1.30 p.m. I made some more coleslaw for lunch. The weather was starting to turn grim, it started to drizzle as we set off, but fortunately stopped again soon after. The Polish yacht we’d been

Gorzow town quay and markets

seeing in various places was on the town quay by the markets (brave chap, we wouldn’t leave our boats unattended in a town). We ate lunch travelling at a sedate pace downriver to the place near Dzierzów where we’d stopped at on 21^st April, where there were several big overhanging trees which the beavers had been chewing. It was 3.15 p.m. when we got there. I threw a rope around a dead tree and Mike

Paused at Gorzow in new offline basin

brought the stern alongside the bank, slung a plank off and we put ropes around the trees. Bill brought Rosy alongside and we put poles out at each end to keep us off the sandy bottom. Decided to stay here for the weekend as Mike wanted to watch the motor racing on Sunday. We turned in late at 12.45 a.m. only to get up again at 1 a.m. after hearing strange screeching noises, something scraping

Gorzow town quay and markets - yacht moored by market

down the hull. At first we thought it was an animal. A bit un-nerved by the fact that Mike had seen torchlight when he turned the inverter off just before we went to bed. I got the big spotlight in case it was poachers or animals - that would frighten ‘em! We opened the side doors half expecting to see a large head, with fur and teeth, but there was nothing there. The wind had picked up and the terrestrial TV aerial was blowing along the roof - its aluminium elements were making the noise! Mike

Leaving Gorzow, heading downstream on the Warta

fastened it down and took the mast down as it was trying to rip all the flags off.

Saturday 18th June 2005  KP45 nr Dzierzów Warta.

Day off. 13.3º C overnight. Sunny and warmer, but still very windy. The torchlight Mike saw the previous night must have been fishermen on the far bank, just round the bend downstream of us. We had a lazy morning. Mike went out with the camera to take photos of our mooring place and the trees that were almost chewed

Pushtow heading upriver.

through by beavers. Lunch. Got on with sorting our new digital photos. Stopped to cook tandoori chicken nuggets and chips for dinner. Watched the news and weather before starting again on the photos.

Sunday 19th June 2005  KP45 nr Dzierzów Warta.

10.6º C overnight. Sunny spells, cloudy at times but still windy. Another day off. Had a lazy morning. After

Tug Bobr (named after tributary of R Oder) pushing two loaded pans

Russian orthodox church dome in Gorzow

lunch we ran the engine and did some washing. Mike put our other satellite dish out on top of the bank to get analogue French TV to watch the Formula One Grand Prix from Indianapolis. There was a big row in America about F1. Ralph Schumacher’s car had crashed in practise when a tyre exploded. Most of the cars were also on Michelins, only three teams were on Bridgestone tyres. The race started with only six cars running – the ones on Bridgestones – the other drivers refused to race. Mike retrieved the dish and coax from on top of the river bank before bedtime.

Thursday 16th June 2005 KP 181 Str. Bielice to KP215 Lipki.

Road bridge at Drezdenko

11.0º C overnight. A hazy, cloudy sky first thing. Sunny and warm with a gentle breeze. Mike and I transferred the anchor from the front deck to the engine room. Unhitched from the tree at 8.10 a.m. and followed Rosy downriver, overtaking as we came in sight of Drezdenko. The old chap with yacht was moored stern into the bank. He was wading in the river with his trousers off, washing the hull down to remove the dirty marks around water line. We waved. A bit further downstream, two people on the bank stopped mowing a hay field with scythes to wave too. It was 9.15 a.m. when we arrived at

Moored by the road bridge at Drezdenko

Drezdenko town. Mike winded the boat and stuffed the bows into the bank (the water level was considerably lower than when we were here last time) and I tied to a root and threw the bow line on to the bank, but couldn’t reach the posts which were well set back from the edge. Mike put the plank out off the bows and I went to take a stern line and attach that to another post. The bows were on rocks again and we listed

Moored by the road bridge at Drezdenko

slightly to port. Bill went off downriver to turn Rosy - Mike said he’d gone agricultural boating! He brought Rosy alongside as a German couple on a cruiser went past heading upriver. (It is getting busier). Mike helped Bill get his bike off over our boat, he went to get resupplied and to the post office, so Mike asked him to post a letter for us. He was also going to try and find an Internet café, so Mike asked if he would look on Kodak’s website and see how much their batteries for our

Old German built house in Drezdenko

camera were. Mike went a walk into town to get some bread and veg, while I put the inverter on and the PC to catch up with the log, which had been sidelined the past couple of days. He was back at 10.10 a.m. with tomatoes and two small bloomer loaves (they had no brown bread) and a cabbage, (they had no lettuce, broccoli or cauliflower either - good job we’d got plenty of tinned stuff). He brought back

Polish houses by the road bridge in Drezdenko

some more cans of Tyskie beer and put it in the 12v ice box to keep cool. He went to take photos of the boats from the road bridge, then lay down and snored while I finished off the log, bang up to date. Bill was back at 11.30 a.m. having found a library with free Internet, but hadn’t been able to order a spare battery for our camera. We set off again downriver at 12.10 p.m. As there was no lettuce at the supermarket, I

Polish yacht moored at KP210

made coleslaw for lunch, which we ate sitting under the blue sunshade. We passed a stork’s nest with three or maybe four little half grown storklings! No time to take a picture as we flew on down the river at almost 10 kph. We passed our mooring of the Saturday and Sunday 23^rd & 24^th April at KP 202, the fallen tree and cut off stump were still there, but the reeds were much higher. A day for butcher birds! We saw three or four red-backed shrikes sitting on lookout posts atop trees. There were no birds in the big meadow downstream of the road bridge 157 and lengthsman’s

The Bizon tug going past, heading back downriver with two pans 

house, there were very noisy bridgeworks going on with one man dressed like a deep sea diver cutting concrete with a high speed grinding disc. We kept a lookout for otters, but this time we saw none. The Polish yacht was moored, tucked well into a gap in the bank downstream of KP 210. There was no sign of the man or his dog. We’d expected him to have motored on to Santok. Shortly afterwards we started looking for tree stumps to tie to and suddenly there was nothing but reeds and goat willow. Mike spotted a stunted stump and we turned back upriver to go and tie to it. It was pretty rotten, but held while Mike got the plank off and banged stakes in. Rosy came alongside and Bill attached a bow line to a live tree a bit further upstream than our rotten one. It was 3.50 p.m. by the time we’d finished lashing to the bank. The soil was black and loamy, excellent for growing things but terribly mucky on shoes and carpets. At 4.45 p.m. the Bizon tug came back downriver, pushing two big pans. Amazingly the tree held and didn’t break off! Mike stood on Rosy’s front deck to take photos, waking Bill who’d missed the commercial going past. Chicken saté stirfry for dinner.

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.