Thursday 15th & Friday 16th July 2004 above Rothensee lift to Tangermünde.

Thursday 15th July 2004 above Rothensee lift to Tangermünde.

Rosy & Temujin in the tank about to descend.
Rothensee ship lift

13.4° C Cold and windy after overnight rain. Sunshine and grey clouds in the morning, clouding over by evening, turning showery. Up early to set off just after 8.00 a.m. Mike had called the lift keeper on VHF and the ship lift was ready for us to descend to the level of the river Elbe. A pair of red kites were hanging on the wind above a stand of trees by the lift, hunting for their breakfast. I took photos as we went down the channel past the docks, wharves and old warehouses to turn left heading downhill on the river. Rosy followed us out

Below the ship lift heading on to the river Elbe

on to the river. A Berliner tug breasted up with two pans came upriver as we headed down to the new aqueduct and flew underneath it at close on 10 kph thanks to the flow of the river. Took photos of the new aqueduct, which Bill said that he thought looked very unimpressive, and the new mooring on the river at Hohenwarthe. I took a picture of Rosy coming under the aqueduct with a helicopter passing overhead, which was well timed. The sun came out briefly as we passed the entrance to the Elbe-Havel Kanal. It was 10.10 a.m. A Police launch passed us heading uphill at KP 345 near Niegripp,

The old and the new, ship lift on the right,
new lock for bigger boats on the left

its wash made us bounce up and down for a few minutes. Mike was carefully tracking the course of the channel from one side of the river to the other using the bank markers, yellow crosses on top of posts, XX’s on the left bank and ++’s on the right, marking their positions on our chart and taking note of the kilometre markers too, which also weren’t marked on our chart. A part loaded 80m boat called “Geeste” passed us heading upriver at KP 349, followed by another police launch. I made us a warming cup of soup at 11 a.m. Another

Rosy exiting the channel from the lock, pushing the flow
heading upstream on the Elbe to turn and
head downstream (to the right of the pic) 

Berliner tug went uphill, pushing two pans in line, near KP 355. The skipper didn’t return our waves, which was unusual - perhaps he was having a bad day. Near Kehnert, KP 358 - 9, the channel crossed the river from side to side on a straight section, so we took careful note of its course. Then into looping bends we followed the yellow crosses which marked a logical course around the outsides of the bends. We ate lunch on the move. A trip boat overtook us at KP 379, just as we were heading 45° across to the left hand bank - the trip boat went across too. At 2.50 p.m. we moored on the piled quay wall at Tangermünde and Bill brought

New aqueduct in distance, new moorings on right. R Elbe 

Rosy alongside us (last time we went into the basin and moored at the boat club, very precariously on their short finger moorings designed for 6m long boats) between yellow painted dolphins next to a moored cruiser from Hamburg. The sign boards indicated that the moorings downriver of where we’d tied up were for hotel ships. The police launch from Tangermünde went in and out of the basin and the crews waved cheerily to us, so the mooring must be OK for us (where else could boats of our length go?). Mike went off on the moped to collect the car. He was back at 6.45 p.m.

The new aqueduct carrying the Mittellandkanal over the Elbe

Friday 16th July 2004 Tangermünde. Heavy rain - day off.

Low grey clouds, heavy rain turning to drizzle until 5.30 p.m. then the sun came out. We were up at 7 a.m. to set off early downriver but it was pouring with rain. Mike knocked the window and suggested to Bill that we hang on a bit to see if it showed any signs of stopping. It didn’t - so we changed our plans and decided to go shopping instead. Mike ‘phoned Glyn. He’d had nothing from our surveyor but we’d got a pile of post, he said he’d ring back when the last bank statement arrived. I totted up the number of dry days

we’d had since setting the start of June -11 dry days in June and only two so far this month.

off to a drizzle we went out in the car. I slipped and banged my left shin bone getting off on the high metal edged piled quay - it went black straight away. Thought we’d try Stendal for

shopping as it looked a large place on the map. (The metal top to the piling had a raised front edge and was just above waist height – OK for the men with longer legs than mine – and there was no ladder) 

Rosy, the aqueduct and a helicopter

The direct route from Tangermünde was blocked off, so we went a different route into Stendal. Drove all around the place and found loads of car showrooms, garages and a Hellweg (large DIY store), even a McDonald’s, but no supermarket except small ones like Aldi and K+K! Amazing. We went back to Tangermünde on the blocked off road, followed the diversion and found a large new shopping complex with a large Edeka called E-Centre. It was pouring with rain again so we said we’d have lunch and go out again after. Dropped Bill off at the bakery so he could get some fresh bread and went back on the boat and had lunch. Set off again at 2.30 p.m. after Mike had had a short nap. It was a reasonable supermarket except for the choice in fresh meat, which was OK if you like pork chops and sausage. I found some frozen chicken in the freezer cabinets and took three packs to restock my freezer. (They were unboned chicken breasts - each pack a chicken minus its wings and legs, not bad value at 2,19€ each for 500g about £3/kg - but messy - I boned them myself when they were defrosted). Vegetable selection was a bit meagre too. Mike bought some more of his favourite wine. We’d had trouble returning a beer crate which wasn’t full of empties,

The ferry at Rogatz. R Elbe

the automatic machine which gives out credit notes for the returns wouldn’t accept it, so we had to find an assistant and she found the man in charge of the returned bottles, etc, who came and put another crate through with six bottles missing - which worked - and gave us the till ticket for our refund. The rain had stopped when we got back to Tangermünde. Unloaded the groceries from the car down the sloping bank across the roof and through the side doors. Mike went out again to get petrol for the genie while I packed stuff away. He went for another nap and I rested my aching bruised leg, soothing it and (hopefully) reducing the bruising with witch-hazel.

 Click here for Information on the construction of the aqueduct

Tuesday 13th & Wednesday 14th July 2004 Calvörde to Magdeburg above Rothensee lift.

Tuesday 13th July 2004 Calvörde to Magdeburg above Rothensee lift.

12.7° C Still wet and windy. We were up bright and early to go by car and get some groceries

Bridge with an old telegraph pole nr Haldensleben

from the village N+P supermarket in Calvörde. Bought just the essentials. Set off at 9.40 a.m. Lots of commercial traffic moving and a considerable increase in the number of cruisers - holiday season has started even if we haven’t got any summer weather yet. Dressed in fleeces and coats we looked more like we were out for a winter cruise. Made us a cup of soup for elevenses to try and warm us up. The wind was bitter cold. Haldensleben had changed a lot. New houses had been built, the canal widened and a new marina built in an off line basin (only for small boats though). The commercial haven was very busy with lots of boats loading

A nesting stork

and unloading. I read some more of the book as we travelled the last ten kilometres of the MLK. We arrived at 2.20 p.m. and tied up on a brand new mooring area (with one German cruiser in the middle of it) us at the one end and Rosy the other side of the cruiser, just above the Rothensee ship lift. A trip boat was hovering, he’d just come across the new aqueduct and was headed for the lift, which we were surprised, but pleased to see was still working although the new lock is in use. Two WSP men tied up their police boat and came to have a chat.

A tanker in Rothensee ship lift. 1999

They gave us each leaflets about the new canal and lock at Rothensee. I borrowed Bill’s duct tape to cover up the new holes in the fizzer’s cover, caused by the wind tearing it and the fact that it’s getting very thin now. (We’ve been trying for ages to replace it with no success) Mike went off to collect the car. On his return he went to see Bill to discuss the plans.

Wednesday 14th July 2004 Magdeburg above Rothensee lift.

11.4° C Cold, grey and windy. Heavy showers later. Mike took Bill to get some bio diesel (they’d asked the Polizei yesterday where they could get some from). Bill had 50 litres, Mike had 80 litres and topped up the car’s tank. When he returned he fitted a relay in the 12v circuit for the new 12v cool box in the car, so that it’s turned off when the engine is stopped, which saves us having to remember to turn it off and avoids having a flat battery. I did the chores and made some lunch. Took Bill to have a look around Magdeburg as he said he wanted to have a look at the Dom (cathedral). First we went to the tourist information to locate the library and a cybercafé for the internet. We followed Bill’s map and went through a building site and a park area

Hydraulic lift. Rothensee. 1999

which had been taken over by youths with mean-looking pit bull type dogs. There were lots of statues in the cathedral, many of which required a lot of renovation. The cybercafé was on the way back to the car so we went in to use the internet for e-mails. It was dark, hot and smoky, as it was being used mainly by teenagers playing games. We’d had one e-mail, a short one from our insurer, dated the 10th, still wanting confirmation from a professional that our services, i.e. gas, electricity, fuel and engine were all OK. He was not prepared to accept our word that there had been no significant changes to those systems since the last full survey report. Sent one back to say we were still waiting for a reply from our surveyor. Accessed our ‘phone bill with WWT and did a printout of the account for June, $12,38 - less than £7, very pleased with that as it was a big saving. We both went outside after we’d finished, leaving Bill to finish off his e-mailing. We sat on a shop window ledge and read the leaflets I’d picked up from the tourist office about Magdeburg. We walked back through the town, avoiding the large new shopping centre, back to the car and paused by the aqueduct on the way back to the boat. Bill

Side view of the Rothensee ship lift. 1999

had been before, by bike - he’s not daft - so he said he would stay in the car while Mike and I went for a walk to look at the Elbe. It was a long haul up the steep paved path to canal level, then it was further than I’d guessed to the aqueduct and even further before there was any sign of the river below. It started to rain on the way back. We’d passed lots of people walking and cycling the towpaths, but there were no passing boats on the canal. There were CCTV cameras strategically placed (and extremely well-advertised) to prevent vandalism. It was 6 p.m. when we got back to the boat, just enough time to cook egg and chips for a quick meal for dinner.

For technical details and the building of Rothensee ship lift have a look at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothensee_boat_lift

although the text says that the lift is now redundant and expected to be closed, it has recently been overhauled and is used frequently by trip boats which do the circuit, down the ship lift, downriver on the Elbe and back up the new Hohenwarthe locks and across the aqueduct over the Elbe.

Monday 12th July 2004 Jnc Elbe-Seiten Kanal to Calvörde.

12.7° C. Overcast, showery. The yacht was still moored on the quay at 8.00 a.m. when we

Building works underway at Sulfeld

left. I made some tea as we ran down to the lock at Sülfeld. We had a short wait above the lock. Bill called the keeper on the tannoy system as an uphill boat cleared and two started going into the chamber to descend. The keeper cheerily said “Come on in boys!” (In English!) We followed an empty 67m boat and a WSA tug breasted to a workboat modified to carry diggers and mowers. Dropped down 9m slowly, the water emptying into three economiser pounds on each side of the 220m long chamber. Building working was going on apace alongside and below the lock. It was 9.25 a.m. as we set off on to the last pound of the MLK. Two Czech tugs pushing pans set off from the moorings below the lock as we went past. They 

Czech tug and pan overtaking us below Sulfeld locks

crept past us slowly. Bill overtook us too as the rain stopped. On the railway track alongside the canal we had our first glimpse of one of Germany’s famous ICE trains (Like the French TGV, bullet trains). A WSP (Wasserschutspolizei) push tug went past, its steerer waving madly as we came to the beginning of the VW plant at Wolfsburg. I made us a warming cup of soup. I took some photos of the new, beautifully designed buildings at VW - which had only just been started when we were

New buildings at VW Wolfsburg

there last time. Three helicopters went past overhead, one by one, following the canal, as we went past the WSA/WSP haven at Vorsfelde and round a sweeping bend. The last Czech tug was still in sight as we commenced a 5 kms long straight stretch. The next shower of rain arrived. Mike put the pins in to run the Markon and I did some more washing, fleeces first. Lunch. A black kite flew over the boats, checking the canal for watery style “roadkill”! (i.e. fish clobbered by props). Saw our first white stork in Germany, spiralling uphill on huge wings. The café (a pizzeria) was still there by the old east-west

New buildings at VW Wolfsburg

border, although the moorings were now difficult to access due to the canal widening and bank rebuilding works. Next load in the washer as we passed through the former Iron Curtain. A red kite and a buzzard were battling each other for territory over the canal. Two Dutch cruisers had managed to occupy the whole of the 35m long mooring area at Bergfriede by tying in the middle of each side of the passerelle. The mooring was at the end of a long, long section of dolphins for commercial boats. I’d remarked that they’d probably only stopped for lunch and one of them, a large cruiser called “Shalom”, went past

 

New and old buildings at VW Wolfsburg

us a little later on. A gaggle of cruisers overtook us, all at the same time as commercials were passing in both directions which made for an interesting few minutes. Bill was disappearing into the distance. He told us he gets tired and has to go for a nap when we tie up. I read some more of of a book I was reading aloud (so Mike could share it) as we went along a very uninspiring canal section. The new moorings at Calvörder were immense. First there was a 220m section for dangerous cargoes, then a section for commercials - 740m - then a miserable 50m for pleasure boats. Nothing was moored on the commercial section until very much later in the day and there was one resident cruiser on the 50m mooring. Bill had tied up at the very end and we slotted in between him and the cruiser, filling all the available

 

New building at VW Wolfsburg

space for sport boats. It was ten to four. Mike went off on the moped to get the car at 4.20 and came back just before five with a loaf from the supermarket in Calvörde. He set off again to collect the car and I got on with the chores. It poured with rain. Two cruisers arrived and moored beyond the resident boat. Later on, after dark, several commercials arrived and moored on the long moorings. Mike was back at 8 p.m. and we had dinner and then, when the rain eased off, put the moped back on the roof. Then we found we’d got problems with the satellite TV reception. No ITV1 or ITV2, nor any BBC TV or radio transmissions except radios 2 and 4. All the other channels were OK. Mike had an accident when getting off the boat, he overbalanced and fell back on to the boat ending up with his feet between the boat and the piling, luckily standing on a tie bar between sections of piling. He’ll have a few bruises, but didn’t get wet or give himself any really severe blows. 

Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th July 2004 Jnc Salzgitter arm to Jnc Elbe-Seiten Kanal.

Saturday 10th July 2004 Jnc Salzgitter arm to Jnc Elbe-Seiten Kanal.

Dock crane at Veltenhof 2005

12.2° C. Grey, overcast and wet. It was raining when we set off at 8.10 a.m. Mike tried asking for water at the first yacht club we passed, but all the hosepipes bore signs saying not drinking water and he got a “No” from a bloke by the boats. Into Braunschweig (Brunswick) passing an enormous commercial haven with a large scrap berth and a container loading/unloading facility. We paused for water at the little boat club at Abbesbütel. A couple came out from their houseboat moored beyond the landing stage for little boats. We tied on the end mooring in a crosswind and Bill came alongside. As usual our boats were too long for their moorings. Filled up with water and chatted to the couple, who didn’t speak much English but seemed to understand our comments. I said the mooring in a basin surrounded by high banks was very sheltered and pleasant, she said it was a new club and expanding soon to make new moorings. Paid 3 Euros for the two of us and we set off again after Mike had set up the Markon so I could do some washing. When we got to Sülfeld locks there was a queue, so we moored behind a large German cruiser whose skipper came to chat to Bill and

Silo at Veltenhof 2005

Mike. The lock (there was only one in commission as they were rebuilding the other to take 3,000 tonne boats) had broken down and could take anything up to three hours to repair. He also gave them useful information about the mooring places along the rest of the MLK. We untied and winded to go back to the mooring at the junction with the Elbe-Seiten kanal (where lots of the traffic was coming from - it was built after the Berlin wall went up to enable West Germany to have access to the ports of Hamburg and Lübeck. It was 1.15 p.m. when we tied up, just in time, as the rain started pouring down again. Lunch. The rain stopped and Mike put the dish up to

Dock cranes at Veltenhof 2005

watch the F1 qualy from Silverstone and the parade of F1 cars in the city of London. He fetched the car while I was napping. A car accident had occurred just after his return, close by the mooring. The emergency services were in attendance when he went back to the car to get the rest of the gear. A car had run off the road to the driver’s right, hit a tree and bounced off back across the road and into a field. Mike went to have a look and came back with a couple of lovely large field mushrooms.

Sunday 11th July 2004 Jnc Elbe-Seiten Kanal.

Bechbuttel railway viaduct 2005

10.6° C Sunshine, windy with white clouds and heavy rain showers in the evening. A day off for the racing. Mike did the engine room checks in the morning. Bill had a problem with his cooker, a two burner and grill gas cooker. He’d been cleaning it and the fastening that secures one burner had broken. Mike suggested how he could fix it and Bill found he’d got all the bits he needed, drills and screws, etc. I did chores. Tried the new 12v cold box in the car boot for size. It just fitted under the “plage arrière” (rear shelf). Lunch. Mike put the TV on to watch the F1 from Silverstone. Schumacher won. I made a beef stew for dinner with carrots and onions and

Tug and four pans of scrap metal nr Elbe-Seiten jnc

pearl barley. Mike fitted a cigar lighter socket (donated by Bill) in the boot of the car to power the 12v cold box. (All we need now is some summer weather to go out for trips in the car). A yacht came in to moor, but almost came through one of our front windows! Mike was watching from the bank having just returned the ZX to the car park area by the bridge. Luckily the yacht missed, but only just! 

Thursday 8th & Friday 9th July 2004 Anderten to Junction with the Salzgitter arm.

Thursday 8th July 2004 Anderten. Fixing the moped

11.6° C overcast and dull morning, showers. Mike was up early at 7 a.m. to make a start on fixing the moped. Bill gave him a hand. I got on with the chores. Rain stopped play at 9 a.m. Mike got the bed up and the welder out then reinstalled the Markon (taken apart to do the pump repairs) so he could power the welder. He went to get a new fan belt at 10 a.m. and the rain stopped ten minutes later. Bill came to find out why he wasn’t back at work. Slave driver! They worked on it when he got back, running the welder in the drizzle. Finished at 1.00 p.m. He’d welded a bracket to the nut on the exhaust pipe, and using allthread had secured it along both sides of the cylinder to another bracket at the rear of the cylinder. Then evenly tightening up the bolts on each side pulled the exhaust pipe firmly into the exhaust port. Lunch. After lunch Mike and Bill went out in the car to get some bread and try to find a tackle shop to get Bill a fishing brolly, thinking it would be a good way to make it stop raining. They couldn’t find one after visiting several large DIY stores and garden centres. Bill had been trying to keep dry using a cycling poncho and his sunshade. They came back with some bread and Mike got a few more bottles of Erben Spätlese wine. Once the gear they’d been using outside dried out I put it away and stowed the stuff back under the front seat. Later Mike was looking out of the side doors when a passing cruiser’s wash rolled down the gunwale and came through the side doors on to the steps! He stowed the welder away back under the bed. A cruiser and a yacht moored behind us overnight, overlapping on to the moorings reserved for commercials. Mike worked in the engine room, changing the pulley and installing the new fan belt, plus making an alternator extension adjuster for tensioning the drivebelt.

Friday 9th July 2004 Anderten to Junction with the Salzgitter arm.

13.6° C overnight. Grey, showery and overcast. Set off at 8.00 a.m. We paused at Sehnde

Silo loading chutes at Sehnde. Jul 2005

MBC for water. There was no one around except the crew of a boat which had stayed overnight. Most of the taps around the small basin were turned off. Mike ran out two hoses and then discovered how slowly the water was coming through, so he measured how long it took to fill our little 5 litre bucket, then calculated it would take three quarters of an hour to fill our tank and then the same to do Bill’s. We moved on! A bit further on we came across several people adopting strange poses on the towpath, as if they were skiing - they had ski poles and were dressed for skiing. Weird? I thought someone was taking photos, but Mike said he saw no photographer. Nutters escaped? At 10.15 a.m. one of the cruisers which had moored behind us the previous night overtook us and, as they passed us, the skipper asked Mike if his wash was OK. (More

Coal unloading at Mehrum power station

strange behaviour?) I took some photos of the coal unloading at the power station berth at Mehrum. That little boat called Wels overtook us again and then stopped to empty rubbish, then overtook us again. A large Dutch commercial called Licentia went past, its stern deck was covered in flowers - it even had hanging baskets under a large sunshade awning, lovely. We paused again to search for water, this time at Peine MBC, they had no taps (and no boats there either) and the lone guy who was there said that the landing was only for boats of less than one and a half tonnes - which excludes most cruisers! We carried on again. Our friendly Dutch skipperess off “Spes Mea” was loading rocks at KP 202, she waved - but still scowled - as we passed by. We had a sandwich for lunch on the move as Wels

Girder railway bridge nr Thune KP224 MLK 

overtook us again, its crew waving again, they’d been moored lunchtime at the café at Sophiental. We stopped at 2.20 p.m. and moored near the junction with the Salzgitter branch. The mooring sign had changed - it now said no mooring. We couldn’t see why and ignored it - all the bollards were still there for small boats to tie to. Mike went to collect the car and he called in Peine to find an internet café. We’d had a reply from our insurers on the 9th June to say sorry about the delay but they’d had a computer problem and had asked for a small boat safety scheme cert as a matter of course. They said they would re-read the application and report and would be in touch again. Mike sent an e-mail back to say we were in Germany and gave them our telephone number again. I made chicken curry for dinner. As we were putting the moped back on the roof in a shower of rain, a woman on a bicycle stopped to ask if she was going the right way to Sophiental. I showed her the map, yes, she was going the right way, two more bridges. It rained again later during the evening. 

Wednesday 7th July 2004 Haste to above Anderten.

A chilly 7.3° C overnight due to an open sky. Several boats had gone past during the night.

Below Hindenberg locks at Anderten
Note boats going wrong way as this was
a photo from 2005 return journey

We set off at 8 a.m. It was sunny but breezy with a keen east wind blowing. Canal traffic was busy, although we had lulls of about half an hour when nothing passed or overtook us! Mike spotted a coal mine at Kohlfeld - aptly named (coalfield), but as the area was very green with no sign of any coal we realised it must be a museum. Mike looked at our copy of Sportschiffahrtskarten Binnen no 4 to see where it started covering the MLK and found we were just at the beginning of its coverage as we approached Hannover. Bill had just asked if he should continue straight on, (he was in front) -  the canal straight on went into Hannover’s docks with the MLK swinging off to the left. Mike told him that from this junction our route was covered by the chart he’d bought at the chandlers, (he hadn’t managed to get a map for the MLK). Mike used the Callback service to phone Jenny at the bearing company to tell her we’d received the package. Then he tried ringing Glyn and got his answering machine. As we ran round the suburbs of Hannover the towpath was crowded with cyclists, joggers and walkers and the canal traffic suddenly got a lot busier as we were approaching the Hindenburg locks at Anderten. Four kilometres before the lock the canal became narrow, the WSA were busily back-piling and widening it. Three Danish flagged boats, (two cruisers and a yacht), went

 

Wouldn't like to even try to climb that!
14m lock ladder in Hindenberg lock (2005)

past heading for Minden (and France?). We had lunch before we got to the lock. Just after we’d speeded up to keep out of her way to get through a narrow section, a Dutch woman steering an empty called Spes-Mea never smiled or returned our waves, she just glared as she overtook us (unusual for a Dutch lady!). Then we were overtaken by a loaded tanker called Marlene whose young skipper speeded up, causing his chimney stack to belch out clouds of black smoke, then he slowed down again to follow the Dutch woman through a narrow section under two old railway bridges towards the lock. Bill told us later that the tanker driver had tried to overtake him in a no overtaking section. Mike called the keeper at Anderten to ask if we should follow Marlene into the right hand chamber. The question was asked in English, and he was surprised when the answer came back also in English. Ja! OK. When Genius and a loaded 80m cleared the chamber, we went in following Spes-Mea and Marlene. The two big boats sat crosswise in the chamber with their bows against the right hand wall and the crews just put bow ropes on the bollards. Mike and I did fore and aft lines, Bill came alongside. The lock, (we’d found last time), tried

 

They keep a very close eye -
some of Hindenberg lock's cameras (2005)

to throw the boat off the wall at first, then settled down to just a back and forth pull. As we rose in the chamber I put the line over each of the bollards up the wall above my head using the hook on a short boat shaft (a tried and tested method!). When we left the lock we trundled on to the end of the moorings - 30m for us at the end of 100m for commercials (plus the whole of the far bank). I spoke to the lock via the intercom installed by the mooring, a lady answered. I asked if she spoke English and she said yes, a little. Permission has to be asked from the lock to moor where we’d tied up. She said yes, OK, we could stay there and wished us a good holiday. Helped Mike unload the moped and he went off to thread his way through Hannover back to Haste to collect the car and find a garage which sold fan belts to get a longer one so he could install the new pulley for the Jabsco cooling water pump. When he returned he told me that the moped’s exhaust had come loose again in the cylinder where the threads in the aluminium casting had worn away. He said he must fix it. He’d spent ages trying to find somewhere to buy a new, longer, fan belt. Each place had suggested somewhere else until finally he’d been directed to a large stockist one kilometre away from the boat in the opposite direction to which he’d set

Lock buildings between the two chambers at Hindenberg
(photo from Jul 2013)

out. Too late this afternoon now, he said he would go in the morning. I’d made a turkey casserole for dinner. Mike went to tell Bill about the problems with the moped. We stood outside on the bank helping Bill to empty a bottle of Amaretto (delicious Italian almond liqueur). Mike had finally calmed down, stopped blaming himself for not getting the bits (when he could have bought them easily in France and he knew they would soon be needed) and set about thinking of ways to fix the moped without resorting to a trip back to France or finding an German MBK dealer, where they would have to order the parts

Moored abv Anderten with Wandering Snail
(Photo from 2013)

(because German MBK’s are scooters, they don’t have MBK mopeds) and we would have to wait for them (plus pay extra for the handling).

Tuesday 6th July 2004 Minden to Haste.

Sunny! Set off just after 8 a.m. As we went across the old aqueduct over the Weser, which is

A  mountain of salt KP135 MLK - photo from 2005

now just for pleasure boats, (It can’t take the weight of the larger boats! - Sarcastic comment by Mike). A large cruiser took the new aqueduct, which is for commercials, to overtake us at high speed. It was quiet for the next hour and a half. Then we were overtaken at KP 109 by a large square fronted empty 80m called Petershagen. The next bridge was occupied by nesting swallows. Mike put our big oblong blue sunshade up for the first time this year and took it down again less than an hour later. Although the sun was shining most of the time the wind was chilly, so we put our fleeces back on and I made us a cup of soup for elevenses. On our left side was the beautiful forest of Schaumbergerwald and the first red kite of the year was circling on the thermals above the trees. A rough legged buzzard hovered for a while then did likewise, climbing swiftly before gliding off to hunt somewhere else. We had lunch on a 9 kms long straight. It was 1.45 p.m. when we tied up at Haste, KP 138. A small cruiser called Wels had overtaken us some twenty minutes earlier and was now moored in the middle of the pleasure boat section of 50m having lunch. Bill tied on the straight behind him

Moored at Haste in July 2005 (on the way back)

and we winded (due to trees blocking the view to the satellite as we were on the south bank of the MLK) and moored at the other end of the sportbootliegestelle. Helped Mike unload the moped and he drove off to get the post from Bad Nenndorf and the car from Minden. The cruiser left when they’d finished lunch and Bill moved Rosy into the space in front of our bows. I did the chores and prepared Indonesian chicken fried rice ready to cook for dinner on Mike’s return. He was back at 5.30 with a battered package from the bearing company addressed to Bad NN Dorf (even though he’d spelled it out to her!). The new pulley and bush were undamaged, they’d just tried to break out of the two bags and paper that they were wrapped in. After we’d stowed the moped back on board Mike went to change the pulley while I cooked dinner. The new fan belt he’d bought was too short, so he had to reinstall the old pulley. The canal was very busy until late, several boats moored behind Rosy on the 430m long commercial moorings. At 9 p.m. the hotel boat Koningstein went past heading for Minden. There had been lots of gongoozlers on the road bridge and on the towpath - the bench by the bridge was constantly occupied by cyclists taking a breather and a good look at the funny boats. Later a band of teenagers came and sat on the edge of the canal bank by the bridge, chatting and smoking, but caused us no bother.