Saturday 23rd – Wednesday 27th July 2005 Roelagebrug time off for shopping and post

Saturday 12º C Grey and overcast most of the day, still cold, drizzly on and off. We all went into Ter Apel in the car to do some shopping and collect our post. We went into

Moored on the old quay by Roelagerbrug

an electrical shop to sort out our Dutch phone SIM. We thought it had expired, but the guy in the shop ‘phoned our 'phone and it rang! It didn't do that when Mike tried it! He did the top-up for us (we’d already got a 20€ card) and it worked OK. That saved us buying a new SIM and having to ring everyone to give them a new 'phone number. Had an hour’s session on the Internet in the library, timing it just right as they closed at 12.30 p.m. Crossed over the road to the Edah supermarket and got some groceries. Started off well, the trollies took 50c pieces not 1€ pieces like everywhere else! We, of course, hadn't got a 50c piece between us. Didn't need much so we used a basket. Back to the boat for a late lunch. Bill came over to discuss where we were going. All pretty vague

Statue of bow-haulers at Oude Pekkla

at this stage, decided to go into Groningen via the Stadkanaal. He told us he had a Dutch family who had contacted him via e-mail who wanted to come and visit him for a boat trip – he said there were four of them and he could only manage two and asked if we could cope with the other two. OK by us.

Sunday 10.9º C. Cloudy, sunny spells warmer. After lunch Mike set up the generator and TV to watch F1 motor racing from Hockenheim, Germany. Alonso won again. Muggy evening, too many flies about (moored next to a stable) to have the windows open until I get some new mossie netting installed in the 

Statue of bow-haulers at Oude Pekkla

hopper windows.

Monday 15.7º C overnight. Sunny start, cloudy and showery later. On the way to the car I nearly walked through some bees nests! Mike had remarked that there was a colony of dozens of miner bees (tawny bees) that had excavated quite a large area of the sandy bank on the quay by the boat. Each one has its little nest and they keep flying in an out through holes in the sand. Took Bill to get his post from Ter Apel. None of the shops, except the supermarkets, were open including the Post Office. Ter Apel is closed from Saturday lunchtime until Monday afternoon! Two ATM machines refused to give me any cash. Mike was then worried in case the Internet banking had stopped his cards too (He’d made an error with his code three times and had to get a new one posted). Got some groceries from Edah and went back to the boats. Mike rang Nationwide and the lady he spoke to said that there was no reason for the Internet to stop the cards, in fact there was nothing wrong with them, so it’s most likely to be a fault with the ATMs. Try again later. After lunch he took Bill back to Ter Apel to see if the rest of his post had arrived. Mike came back with a new brolly, our old one had turned inside out once too many times and broken the connecting ribs. He’d had to test it when he came out of the shop – and a lady passing 

Statue of bow-haulers at Oude Pekkla

by ducked under it too to get to the supermarket without getting wet in the sudden deluge! He’d used his card in an ATM and got money out without any problems – the reason I couldn't get any cash this morning must have been because the town was closed until after lunch, ATMs don't work either! The library was closed all day. Part two of Bill’s post had still not arrived. A sad day for us as Yvonne and Ray, our UK boating companions of many years, phoned to tell us they were selling their narrowboat. End of an era for them as, after a bad stroke, Ray is too incapacitated now to continue boating

Tuesday 15.7º C overnight. Grey and overcast, cooler. Mike stripped our little Honda gennie down to try and stop it vibrating and making a noise. After lunch he went into Ter Apel in the car, taking Bill to see if his post had arrived and Bill wanted an hour on the internet. Part two of Bill’s post has still not arrived.

Wednesday 12º C Overcast, muggy. Mike and I went for a ride in the car to Oude Pekkela to photograph the statue on the towpath of a couple bowhauling a working boat. We went the scenic route following the Ruiten Aa canal, via Sellingen and Vlagtwedde, but returned on the fast route past Stadskanal into Ter Apel and back to the boat. 

22nd July 2005 Dutch border nr Ter Apel to Roelagebrug.

Bridge working instructions

12.6º C overnight. Lousy weather – it was STILL raining. Mike went to Potze’s garage and hired a key for the little Ruiten-Aa canal before we set off following Rosy at 8 o’clock. There was no keeper at the liftbridge so Mike went off on foot down to the lock to inform him we were waiting and got a lift back to the boat with him in his car. The boats set off again at 8.50 a.m. turning right on the Stadkanaal, with a couple of idiots in cruisers getting in the way on the turn. The keeper let us through the other swing and lift-bridges. A white yacht that had moored by us overnight, had set off before us and was in the lock chamber, waiting to go down. We left the lock at 9.20 a.m. following Rosy. A cruiser had just tied on the landing stage by the bridge which carries the main road over the entrance to the Ruiten-Aa, a young lad had gone to work the bridge. We went through the lifted bridge first, the white yacht carried on down the Stadskanaal, and Mike told the crew of the waiting cruiser that we would do the next bridge. When we got there the crew of a black steel-hulled yacht had just untied and they

Box for the key //

were working the next swingbridge. We went through and said we’d do the next. The next was the first lock and a liftbridge. I got off and opened the liftbridge, the lock was full with the gate open and so Mike called the cruiser and black hulled yacht in first. Not enough room for all four of us in the 27m x 6m chamber. Helped them through the lock, then turned the lock round for us. The rain was still pouring down. Mike pressed the

Ruiten-Aa kanaal and landing for operating the liftbridge 

green button to empty the lock and we waited and waited and nothing happened. By chance, a maintenance man in a white van arrived and told Mike he’d forgotten to turn the key in the box on the landing stage above the lock. Waah! We motored on down to the quay by the next swingbridge at Roelagebrug and tied up. It was 11.30 a.m. I made some potato salad ready for lunch. Mike put the satellite dish up and we had a quick look at the

Mooring on the old quay by Roelagerbrug

weather forecast. A great depression centred on Scandinavia was throwing rain across the whole of northern Europe, from the Netherlands all the way across to Poland. Mike put the TV on again ten minutes later, as I’d said that there was a breaking news headline about a suspect suicide bomber being shot in Stockwell. The TV came on with a horrible green screen. He turned it off and then back on and it still wouldn’t come on again. Took the case off when he noticed it was damp. Rain had leaked through the top edge of the window and dripped on to the TV. Dried it out and left it to dry thoroughly before we dared try it again (luckily, it worked OK later). Ate lunch, then Mike got ready to go and get the car, dressed in waders! When he left at 1.15 p.m it was still raining.

Here's a link to my map of today's route.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1VUS_iCSzy0.kMTmExb-XnBs&usp=sharing

Thursday 21st July 2005 Lingen to the Dutch border nr Ter Apel.

Rainbow at Lingen

12.2º C overnight. Sunny and windy first thing, clouding over to overcast later. After a day off to get our mail and Mike to do some shopping (I was still not 100%), we set off at 8.10 a.m. with the pins in and the washing machine going. I started catching up with the chores. Cleaned the floor, then sat down for a rest, my back was nowhere near right yet. Made some tea and toast before we got to the first lock of the day at Varloh. A cruiser overtook us and was waiting in the lock when we got there. Mike held

Leaving the harbour at Lingen

the string again. It was spitting with rain when we set off again at 10.15 a.m. The cruiser was waiting for us again in Meppen. The washing finished at midday as we were running through the twisty section through Meppen, where we met two blue boarding uphill commercials and a cruiser. It started raining as Mike paused to take the pins out. Lunch on the move then down Hüntel lock with another cruiser, leaving the empty lock just after 1

Contra-rotating propellers at the museum in Haren

p.m. Forty minutes later we tied on the landing below the bottom lock, Haren, on the Haren-Rütenbrock-kanal. Mike went into the office and paid 2€ for each boat for the trip up the canal into the Netherlands. We went uphill in the lock by less than a metre and tied on the landing stage on the left above the lock where the keeper had agreed to let us stay for an hour while Mike and Bill went for a look round the ship museum. A very strong wind was

Working boat cabin at the museum Haren

blowing the rain horizontal straight down the canal as we tied up. They came back with a fine collection of photos. We set off again at 3.30 p.m. Mike gave the keeper a hoot as we set off and he lifted the road bridge for us. Rosy lead the way. A lockful of three German cruisers passed us heading downhill at 4 p.m. Helen phoned to find out where we were. They had loaded their peniche Floan with a cargo of talc in Gent for

Bill admiring pistons from an old boat engine

Douai but had the day off as it was Belgian National Day. Told her where we were and she asked what the trip had been like. I said the MLK was getting busier with more and more Polish and Czech boats coming further west than they used to. She said that the Belgians weren’t happy with the big influx of migrant Polish workers, same in Britain. She said it had just been on the news that more bombs were going off on the London underground, but they were smoke bombs – still causing as much of a scare though. I wished her a good trip as I rushed out to hold a rope as we rose in lock 2, remotely operated by the keeper at the first lock with the aid of cctv (as are all the bridges and locks on the canal – he used to ride up the canal on a moped to work all the locks and bridges!) Up the third lock and through the next liftbridge at 5.30 p.m. Across the short summit, down the last shallow lock and through the last

Moored at the boat museum in Haren

swingbridge at a few minutes before six. Timed to perfection as the canal closes at 6 p.m. Still pouring with rain as we tied up on the old Dutch custom’s quay. Mike decided to leave the car where it was, safe on the car park in Lingen.

Tuesday 19th July 2005 Ibbenburen to Lingen.

Tug Rudolph pushing an empty pan going to pick up more dredgings

14.2º C Heavy rain overnight. Hot and sunny morning, giving way to heavy showers when the wind picked up mid-afternoon. I had another really rough night, waking each time I tried to turn over. Mike set off at 8.15 a.m. Arrived at the first lock down, Bevergern, on the Dortmund-Ems-Kanal (DEK) at 9.30 a.m. An 80m barge and two French péniches (one from St Mammés!) went into the lock and we weren’t allowed in, as the lock keepers in Germany don’t allow pleasure boats to use the space on the wall

Bill on Rosy in Bevergem lock

opposite commercials. After an hour’s wait two commercials came up, Thoedor and Diena, then we went down, just the two of us. Mike had to do the ropes and fenders himself. At the next lock, Rodde, a loaded tanker was coming uphill. We went down as soon as he’d cleared the lock. We left the bottom ten minutes later at 11.15 a.m. Dropped down the third lock, Altenrheine, at midday and I made some lunch. We had to increase speed to keep up with an empty tanker called Schildhorn to get in with him at the fourth lock, Venhaus. We left the bottom at 1.45 p.m. I made a cuppa as we ran down to Hesselte. The lock was empty as the commercial had gone much faster than us. Another loaded tanker came up and we went in after just a half hour wait, during which time Mike had nipped in the cabin and made himself a sandwich.  We dropped down the lock and left at 3.45 p.m. The last lock of the day, Gleesen, had an empty Czech boat and a loaded Dutchman coming up in it, so we had to wait again. The wind had picked up and had blown Bill’s planters full of geraniums

A very odd-looking  workboat with a split hull

over on Rosy’s roof. We went into the lock chamber and had to wait again for three cruisers to arrive and share the lock with us. It was 4.30 p.m. by the time the lock started to empty. One cruiser turned left and headed up the Obere Ems, the other two went past us to moor in the harbour at Lingen. It was 6 p.m. when we arrived at Lingen. Plenty of room left for us to tie up, even enough space so we didn’t need to tie side by side. Forty minutes later Mike went off on the moped to get the car and was back at 8.30

Liquid gas carrier Eiltank 4 at Hesselte

p.m. 

Rosy passing the scrap berth in Lingen

Monday 18th July 2005 Bramsche to Ibbenburen.

Boy on bank at KP6 MLK looking for his friend who is swimming
 with mask, snorkel and flippers somewhere in the stern wash

12.1º C. Sunny spells with dark clouds. Humid. Set off just after 8 a.m. I’d had a really rough night, kept waking up. I was horizontal all day. I managed to make some tea, slowly, and salad for lunch. When we stopped in the old canal arm at Ibbenburen, Mike went off to get the car and called in the local supermarket for beer, sausages and bread. He lit our BBQ and Bill lit his and they sat out,

of this passing commercial! Idiot child!

Mike cooked sausages and he’d bought some ribs from the supermarket for Bill to cook for him and Fanny. I spent most of the day sprawling flat out on the bed. It was very hot and sticky.

Sunday 17th July 2005 Bad Essen to Bramsche.

Just shows you - big boys get it wrong sometimes

11.2º C overnight. Chilly. Sunny spells cloudy later. Mike installed some capacitors in the wiring for the big new powerful extraction fan in the engine room. He started off well by melting a test lead by attaching it to a live connection first and accidentally earthing it! Not a good start. Set off at 8.20 a.m. following Rosy. Then it was my turn for a disaster. I stepped back into the cabin, after tidying up the ropes and fenders on the front deck, and had a huge stabbing pain in my back. I took two pain killers and lay on the bed. I managed to make some tea 10.30

Sand unloading crane at hafen Engter

a.m. then crawled back on to the bed. I took some more pain killers at midday and made some salad, just in time for Mike to have his lunch after tying up at KP 34 Bramsche. Bill had no map for this end of the MLK and had forgotten where we’d moored on the way over. Mike said he’d remarked first thing that we’d got a shorter day today - so he knew what kilometer post to look out for - but then he went past it! I helped tie up by throwing a rope around a bollard. A camper van was parked by the slipway and a tent had been pitched there too. Some people

The writing on the silo says "Eyes open when buying eggs
 - only German eggs have DE written on them!"

had slipped a small speedboat and were zooming up and down in it. After lunch Mike unloaded the moped and went off to get the car. It was 2 p.m.

Saturday 16th July 2005 Minden to Bad Essen.

From the mooring at Minden

14.9º C overnight. Much cooler. Cloudy and breezy, with sunny spells. Set off at 8 a.m. backing out from under the stern of m.v. Schulau. It was very quiet first thing, not many cruisers or commercials about, but it made up for it later. A Dutch pusher pair went past, an 80m boat pushing a 67m, both loaded, being overtaken by an empty German 67m. The wind was getting chilly so we both put fleeces on. We

To a mooring at Bad Essen

noticed that the Polish boats seemed to be going further west (and some Czech ones too) as we were overtaken by a Transbode-9 from Wrocław at KP66. An empty Dettmeer tanker, N^o87, went past heading uphill. The Wiehengebirge hills came into view directly in front as the range of low hills got closer to the canal at Bad Essen. At 2.30 p.m. we moored at KP 61, Bad Essen, on a 50m long piling (on the sloping end again), behind a German cruiser, whose occupants sat on their top deck looking down us while we tied up and never said a word. Rosy came alongside. Unloaded the moped and Mike went to get the car.