Monday 23rd August 2004 Day off at Spandau.

10.2° C overnight. Sunny spells, cloudy. Woken at 5.30 a.m. by the first passing boat, went back to sleep after the boat finished bouncing in its wash. The large Czech cruiser moored in

Spandau south - Wikimedia photo by Uwe Hildebrandt

front of us left. Mike and Bill went off to the tourist information office in Spandau. Mike said later that it was no use talking to the woman in that office, she spoke very little English and couldn’t answer any of his questions - she ended up saying that it was not an information office! (The sign on the door did say information and museum) He spoke to a postman who said there was no tourist information office in Spandau, so they went in the Rathaus (Town Hall) and caused a queue. The supervisor came out of her office to assist. At least she spoke passable English and she understood what Mike wanted. He’d taken our ‘phone intending to find a person who would place an order for heating oil for him with Spingies (he took his previous

Spandau north - Wikimedia photo
by Uwe Hildebrandt

invoices from them with him) to deliver it to the boat. The lady at the Town Hall used the council’s ‘phone and placed the order for the following morning. Great! Then they found the town library, where there was just one terminal for the Internet. They booked it for 1 p.m. I did chores while they were away. The river was quieter as there was a huge reduction in the movements of trip boats. After lunch they went back into Spandau to the library and Mike posted another 35mm film for developing and printing in the UK (where it is cheaper even after adding return postage). Mike had problems with the PC in the library, the screen went off and he had to get an assistant to sort it out. She switched the whole thing off and then back on. It still wasn’t working properly, but he managed to check his e-mails and have a search for “Sun pipes” - he got one hit! They’re made by Velux, the same people who make blinds. See link. He did a printout of our ‘phone bill from WWT. Bill started doing his e-mails, but the thing went off again. They packed up and came home - the staff at the library didn’t charge them for the use of the PC or the printouts Mike had had. (It should have cost 1,75Eu for half an hour! most expensive yet). Took Bill with us to do some shopping. Mike called at an MBK shop for a new headlight bulb for the moped. Then we went to the Shell bunkerstation just downstream of the mooring in Spandau. Mike wanted the price of diesel (95c/litre) and gas (1,20 per kg) plus he got two copies of the Association of Water sportboat clubs’ annual publication which lists, amongst lots of other useful info, the

Map of Berlin waterways - Wikimedia by Chumwa

free mooring sites in Berlin. Then we went to Havel Park to do the grocery shopping. The Marktkauf was a large one. We walked our legs off  - starting off with trying to find the place to get refunds from the empty beer bottles - it was outside in the car park, a long walk. Everyone who has been before drops their empties by car, then looks for a parking place to go in the shopping centre. Learning curve again! Got most of the stuff off the list. Mike went in the DIY to get pop rivets and glue then we went home. Tired. I put the stuff away and Mike went to get a gas bottle refilled. On the way back from Marktkauf, he’d called in a garage to ask if there was a local garage which sold Auto gas. The attendant didn’t know of one, but fortunately the next person in the queue was a helpful taxi driver. He thought that there was one not far from the boat and confirmed his recollections with a call to his radio controller. The pump had a different nozzle, which wouldn’t fit our filler, and they didn’t have any adaptors. Gas is only sold at a few garages throughout Germany, so anyone with a vehicle that only ran on gas would find themselves with serious re-fueling problems, We’ll get gas later from the bunkerstation when we fill the boat up with diesel. A large Dutch barge, called Reserve V from Meerkerk, arrived and moored behind us. Bill went and chatted to the Dutch skipper. Made a stirfry for dinner with fresh beansprouts - first we’d had since leaving Holland. 

CLICK HERE - sun pipes for lighting dim places - like Mike's Mum's lounge!

Sunday 22nd August 2004 Kremmen to Spandau.

A chilly 9.5° C overnight. Sunny with white fluffy clouds. Breezy. Off at 7 a.m. again. Arrived

Peaceful Hohenbruch lock - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

at Hohenbruch just after the lock opened at 8.10 a.m. The young man worked the lock for us again (he’s got a new lock cabin!) I asked if Frau Peterman still worked the lock, he said “No, she has retired, she just looks after the house and garden now”. He also added that she was his mother. We said to say hello from us (last time we saw her she gave us a lovely scented geranium). It was pleasant in the early morning sunshine running down to Tiergarten. The weather was cooler, so there were not many bugs flying. The quiet middle-aged chap had got the lock ready for us with the gates open and we went alongside Rosy to collect Bill’s washing

Ruppiner kanal near Orianenberg -
Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

and Mike put the pins in to run the Markon as we dropped down the lock. Off through Orianenburg with the washing machine running with two pairs of jeans in it. A couple of young boys were swimming in the canal, one went closer to the boat than we thought was prudent. They were not cheeky - just laughing, full of energy! The first lot of washing finished as we arrived at Pinnow with a small open speed boat behind us. The stern faced young keeper opened the gates after we’d waited five minutes. I put a second load in the machine and we ran down to the Havel-Oder-Wasserstraße tucking in behind a large cruiser as we turned right, heading downriver for Spandau. The old bloke with 

Canal bridge at Pinnow - Wikimedia photo by Saxo

the open speed boat did a U-turn and went back the way he’d come, heading back to Pinnow lock. An empty pan, being pushed by a Szczecin (Polish) tug, called Navigar 3, went past heading uphill. It was followed by a big empty Berlin boat, called Sachsenhausen, whose crew waved enthusiastically. Soon after that a large hotel ship, called Fluvius from Zwijndrecht in the Netherlands, went past also heading uphill with cruisers and yachts following behind each big boat. At 11 a.m. I made a cup of soup - it was chilly - we still had fleeces on, despite the sunshine. At Hohen Neuendorf we spotted the fire brigade on exercises, a “victim” was receiving CPR on the bank.  One was performing, one was lecturing and the rest were stood around

Aerial view of Niederneuendorfersee
Wikimedia photo by Bukk (arrow indicates site of former power plant)

watching. I said I hoped it was an exercise and not for real. Mike replied that if it was for real then most of them would have been running round like legless chickens! We both nearly fell off the back of the boat laughing after that little gem. As we approached Henningsdorf, the hotel ship Astor went by, also heading uphill in amongst a crowd of little boats, coming and going. After the peace and tranquility of Fehrbellin this was welcome to the zoo! Two overhead cranes on rails were unloading scrap from a series of pans at the quay belonging to a large steelworks between KPs 15 and 14. The washing finished at midday and, as we were in a lull in the traffic, Mike stopped the engine and took the pins out. 

Spandau citadel - my photo from 2013

There were a few sail boats moving and several cruisers anchored for lunch as we turned into the Niederneuendorfersee. Several rowing skiffs and canoes went past as we ate our lunch. As we wound our way down the Havel lake the sail boats were being blown in same direction. A police launch followed behind us and a tripper was overtaking us as we were fast approaching the narrows and the ferry, when two sailing yachts approached from our left. The first one crossed our bows, decided to tack and crossed our bows once more. The second one followed the first, crossed our bows then tacked, indicating with a wave of the hand that he was going to recross in front of us. There wasn’t enough time, nor space, for him to complete the manoeuvre, Mike had to go into hard into reverse. The boat would not have turned quickly

New lock at Spandau - Wikimedia photo by Axel Mauruszat

enough to miss him, we would have hit him with either the bow or the stern. Mike was definitely not happy, he loudly shouted his disapproval at the crew as we stopped inches from their hull as it slid past our bow fender. They just grinned. How we managed to stop, I don’t know. There was plenty of space to our right, he could have delayed his tack for a few seconds, turned and crossed behind us, or tacked early and not crossed our bows at all. The police launch’s crew must have had a good view of the incident, but took no notice as we didn’t actually hit the yacht. They overtook us a few minutes later with hardly a glance and turned into the Tegelersee. Moby

 

Moby Dick - my photo from 2013

Dick (the famous Berlin restaurant boat, shaped like a great silver whale) went past loaded with passengers. Another sail boat came across from our left, altered course slightly and turned behind us - he’d seen the police boat. There was traffic everywhere. New moorings had been built next to some new flats before the islands. We took the channel leading past the citadel into the rebuilt lock at Spandau. A cruiser overtook us, we’d seen them before, a stretched cruiser called Atlantik. They went for the mooring to wait for the lock and tied on the quay behind the boat that tried to rip us of the quay with its wash the previous evening at Kremmen. We hovered. A tripper was also hovering. He had a green light first. There was a separate light for sport boats! We got a green and followed the tripper and the two large cruisers into the new lock. We took the right hand wall and Bill brought Rosy alongside us

Boats in Spandau lock - Wikimedia photo by Stephen Craven

. Dropped down two metres and went out of the lock heading for the mooring. Atlantik beat us to the end mooring. I tried to ask if they’d have a mooring a bit further down, as we needed the very end to get a tanker load of diesel next day (if we’re lucky!). Mike had better luck with conveying what we wanted. The couple were very nice and Mike gave them a hand to tie up beyond a large square cruiser from Prague (Czech, wow, that’s a rarity!). We slotted into the end space between two dolphins and Rosy came alongside. Our new friends off Atlantik came with some little bottles of clear spirit, straight out of their fridge, to say “Proust” which was very nice of them and we showed them some ‘photos of boating in the UK, which they found fascinating. Mike went to see if the parking was OK, then he got the moped off  the roof on to the cabin-high quay and I helped get the gate open (at the far end of the mooring - we had to walk past all the moored boats, so we had an audience). Handed up all his gear and he went to get the car from Liebenwalde. Later Mike and I went for a walk into the old town to find the tourist information office.

Saturday 21st August 2004 Fehrbellin to Kremmen.

11.7° C Sunny spells and heavy showers. Bill went by bike into Fehrbellin to get supplies.

Many kms of minor roads are like this in E Germany
Fehrbellin- Wustrau road - Wikimedia by Norhei

Just before we set off Fanny managed to mistime her jump from our boat roof and went down the side of the boat into the water. There was a ledge on waterline where the concrete quay had worn away over the years and she got on that and refused to come out and growled at Bill when he tried to grab her! After a few minutes she calmed down and he pulled her out, she was wet but unscathed after her escapade. Left the quay at 9.05 a.m. following Rosy back up the Fehrbelliner kanal. The people at the holiday caravans and bungalows were out in their gardens to wave as it was the weekend. I did the chores and

Aerial view of fishponds at Linum-
Wikimedia photo by wolkenkratzer

cleaned up a load of mud we’d brought in on our feet the night before, then made tea. We swatted more cleggs (horseflies) on the way back down the canal. A small cruiser, called Anita, had set out from the moorings and followed us. The canal was very weedy so he kept his distance. Bill said the day before he kept picking up lots of weed we’d thrown up, so today Mike said he could lead as he knew the way back! The flush from Hakenberg lock had turned an empty workboat, whose mooring line had come undone at one end, to block the canal. Rosy acted as tug and pushed it back to the bank as the lock gates opened and we all followed on into the lock. Klaus was on duty today (with the t

Weir on Rhin at Fehrbellin - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

eenaged two lads helping) walking with two sticks now, as his wife had told us the day before. It was easier for him to operate the lock now the gates and paddles were all worked by electric motors, all he had to do was press the buttons - but they’re not on a control board in a cabin - the press buttons are by each motor, so there’s still a fair amount of walking involved. He’d got his camera out and took a few pictures for posterity. We said “Auf wiedersehen” and told him we’d be back to see him again, as we like the area very much. Mike let the cruiser go first out of the lock and Bill also let it past, as it’s not much fun for a cruiser following slow boats like ours up

Rhin at Fehrbellin - Wikimedia photo by Doris Antony

a very weedy canal. We turned right and went down the arm to Linum, past the many ponds which belonged to a fish farm years ago but is now a wildlife park. The trees were encroaching from both banks, making the channel seem even narrower and the weed was even worse than the canal we’d just turned off. Two guys were taking trips out on two small open motor boats. When they saw us coming they moved their boats to the very end of the quay, so we had somewhere to moor, which was very good of them. We moored alongside Rosy and had an audience, lots of people came to ask questions. We had another look at the old agricultural equipment was still adorned the field beyond the

Kremmener Rhin - my photo from 2013

quay. All of it needed renovation, or at least a good coat of paint to cover the rust! I made some lunch and Mike said we ought to leave while there was room to wind, as the two trip boats had gone out again loaded with passengers. We lead the way, Bill was having troubles with the weed again. As we went back along the Kremmer Rhin through the nature reserve we swatted more cleggs. We saw the little cruiser Anita heading back to Fehrbellin, the crew waved. It started to rain, only a short but heavy shower, just before we tied up at 4 p.m. next to an old stone quay at Kremmen. There were small rings of rebar set into the edges of the concrete top of the quay, which were very useful to tie to. The launch, which was used as a tug for

Quay at Kremmen - my photo from 2013

pushing pans of soil for backfilling the bank edges, was moored at the one end of the quay. This quay too was also covered in small piles of soil. We took ropes for Bill so he could moor in front of us and, shortly after we’d tied up, a cruiser went past, heading for Hohenbruch, making an enormous wash, trying to wash us off the bank. Later a small cruiser arrived and moored on the very end of the quay beyond the tug, but continued towards Fehrbellin after about an hour. Mike had the weed hatch up, for the first time in ages, just to check all was OK after all that weed - there wasn’t the slightest bit of weed on it. He made a new gasket for the base plate using a cereal box. I made Indonesian chicken fried rice for dinner. A noise on the roof caused Mike to go and look outside - we’d got a man standing on our roof (which was on a level with the quay!) he was fishing, using a seine net along the side of the boat. Mike told the cheeky wotsit to get off, which he did when Mike said “This is my boat, get off it!” (In German!) Whatever next? 

Friday 20th August 2004 Altruppin to Fehrbellin.

14.6° C Sunny spells, between thick black clouds, thunderstorms with heavy rain - and

The new church steps - my photo from 2013

windy again from just after lunch. Set off at 7 a.m. I did my chores, while it was still cool, going back down the Ruppinersee. Mike turned down the arm, opposite Neuruppin, called the Lanke. Bill carried straight down the big lake (he doesn’t go to the ends just to say he’s been there like us!). I got the camera out for Mike to take photos of the new steps in front of the old church at Neuruppin, he also took photos of the mooring quay by the building site (which will be gone very shortly as

The new hotel at Neuruppin - my photo from 2013

they are building a new hotel) and the statue of a tin man with a boat on his head and a whirlygig. (Looked it up, many years later, and found it is Parzival or Sir Perceval in English, from the legends of King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table) All five trip boats were in their berths. That left a couple of small havens for tiny boats and nothing for the likes of us to tie to. We caught up with Rosy as we reached the entrance to the channel to Altfriesack lock. It started to rain heavily, so we sheltered under the road bridge while Mike put the radio, phone and GPS in plastic bags. The lady

Nel's photo of Hackenberg lock in 1999

keeper (the usual resident one today) lifted the bridge when the lock was full. As we sailed in I asked if we could have some drinking water. Yes, no problem. We filled both tanks and chatted to the keeper. She showed us the photos she’d taken when we were there in ‘99 with Pensax, Fleur-de-Segré and our Dutch friends Nel and Arend’s cruiser Liberty. Mike was keen to know how many other narrow boats she’d seen. I asked, and was surprised when she said none, she’d only ever seen our boats. We waved, see you again, as we left her lock. The rain stopped as we crossed the Bützsee lake. I made us a warming cup of

Nel's photo of Hackenberg lock in 1999

soup. Bill paused mid-lake to get his lunch out, it was 10.50 a.m. Turned right after four kilometres of the Bützrhin, into the Alter Rhin, a winding remote river. The cleggs (biting blood-sucking horseflies) were out in force. The keeper at Altruppin was right, for the first three kilometres we did nothing but swat flies. Had lunch on the move, still swatting flies before they tried to bite us. A buzzard flew over and sat in a tree close by the river, mewing softly as we went past. As we arrived at Hakenberg lock, we spotted someone in blue overalls lifting

Old fabric factory (Nazi - see link) at Fehrbellin
Wikimedia photo by Doris Antony

a paddle. We hovered, nothing happened. Mike hooted. I spied a big brass bell by the lock next to the fence. Mike twiddled the bows round to get to the bell and I clanged it several

Church at Fehrbellin
Wikimedia photo by Doris Antony

times. Nothing. Mike hooted again. A young man came over from the house to say they were closed until 2 p.m. Mike thought it was ten past two, then he looked more closely at the radio’s clock (which was still in its waterproof bag) - it was 1.10 p.m. Sorry! We’ll tie up until you’ve had lunch! The lady keeper we remembered from last time came out to press the button and open the gates at 1.50 p.m. she remembered us too. I asked how her husband was, she told us that Klaus (who has MS) was getting slowly

Below Altfriesack double chambered lock - my photo from 2013

worse. He was sleeping after having gone a long way in his wheelchair, he likes to keep active and is a great one for DIY. Their dog, Willy, was barking at Fanny, who was barking back. We said we’d see her again the next day as we were off to Fehrbellin. She told us she’d had a big boat through her lock, it must have been that Swiss tjalk we saw last week at Liebenwalde. Also she made comment that there were lots of biting flies this year and bug repellent didn’t seem to work on them. Great! Hope ours

Mooring at the end of the Fehrbellin kanal 2004

does! We continued along the Alter Rhin’s meandering bends, took a right hand bend where the Rhin went over a weir to become the Rhin kanal. There was lots of frogbit in the canal and a red kite flew overhead. The mast had to come off to go under the motorway bridge, which had 3.2m air draught. The wind blew even more strongly as we went along the next section, then sharp left when faced with a very low road bridge, past the moored little boats (half a dozen small cruisers and a few dayboats) of the Fehrbelliner Motorsport Club and a couple of chalets, then more caravans and bungalows. The waterways staff had been doing some work by the weir and had occupied half the quay with a crane boat. It was

Lovely graphic illustration of the Summer Triangle
Picture by Starry Night Education

Friday, so no one was around. It started to rain heavily again as we tied up, with Rosy alongside us, at 3.45 p.m. When the rain stopped Mike went off to find a shop for bread and stuff to BBQ. I prepared spuds, egg mayo and coleslaw to go with the sausages and pork steaks Mike bought from an E-Activ supermarket in the village. (He bought double the quantity of meat, but Bill had already made himself some soup as he didn’t know we were doing a BBQ - neither did we until Mike returned having found a good supermarket). Set up the BBQ on the quay amid fishermen and piles of sandy soil (messy stuff) and cut fir trees belonging to the waterways bank edging team. Mike got our two director’s chairs out (one for himself and one for Bill) and I got my recliner out. Bill came and sat out with us until dusk. Mike finished off burning wood for charcoal and then we packed up too. The stars had just come out and we could see the summer triangle – three bright stars - Vega in the constellation Lyra, Deneb in Cygnus and Altaire in Aquila.

Sorry about the Google translations in the following links from the Berlin History Workshop but you'll get the rough idea!

Click here to see more about the old fabric factory

AND this tells more of the girls who were forced to work there

Thursday 19th August 2004 Lindow to Altruppin.

15.4° C Sunny spells, lots of dark clouds. A strong southwest wind picked up mid-morning.

Black kite - Wikimedia photo by BbIX MbIXMAHH

We left at 7.10 a.m. hovering in the basin while Bill got Rosy untied as he was going first and picking the evening’s mooring place. Back through the lake to Lindow, under the brick arched railway bridge and out into the Gudelacksee. Rosy was circling the bay in front of Lindow checking out the mooring possibilities. A black kite went past, gliding across the lake on outstretched wings following the breeze. We ran back across the lake taking the northern route and entered the river Rhin, (pronounced rin to rhyme with tin), and crossed the northern end of the Mollense

THIS is a horsefly (cleg) - Wikimedia photo by Jim Conrad

again. There were lots of little boats still tucked into the gaps in the reeds all along the edges of the lakes. Back into the Rhin again. A lady from a riverside caravan took a flash ‘photo and very bashfully said hello as we went past. The woods here have a distinctive smell, like old damp leather. Turned into the Zermüttzelsee heading south. At 10 a.m. I made some tea and while I was making it I put some part baked bread buns (schrippen) in the oven to cook for Mike’s lunch. Heading south on the Tetzensee the wind picked up. There were lots of people sitting out at the holiday chalets, sheltered under the

Altruppin lock - my photo from 2013

trees, all along the lake at Molchow. We met our first boat of the day as a cruiser came upriver at the bridge at Molchow. Several cruisers came up the lock at Altruppin and then we went down with a tiny cruiser called Starfly. Chatted to the lady keeper. She asked where we were going and I told her we were off to Fehrbellin next. She said there were lots of biting insects there, “Bremsen?” (horseflies or cleggs) I asked and she said yes. Her little schnauzer dog was making friends with the people on the cruiser, but when she came over to visit Bill Fanny went wild, she wanted to jump off and beat her up! A cruiser was waiting below to go

Old bridge nr Lindow - my photo from 2013

up the lock. The cruiser we’d locked with overtook us - the lady of the boat filming our funny boats as they went past. Past the backs of the old houses in Altruppin, lots of them with really splendid gardens. The Springer narrowboat, which was for sale, was called Belinda from Bad Essen. Under the road bridge, following Rosy. A trip boat went past coming from the lake, it was heading for the lock. We all watched to see if the steerer had to duck to get under the road bridge (he didn’t!). Beyond the road bridge on the right hand side there was a nice grassy bank with tree-stump piled bank edging. It looked like it had been much used by canoeists, so we winded and tied up. It was only 11.30 a.m. but it looked a much better mooring than the quay wall by the building site

A typical German getrankemarkt - Wikimedia photo

in Neuruppin, besides the wind had picked up and the mooring in Neuruppin would have been a bit sploshy. A second big trip boat went past, followed by another cruiser and then a large cruiser converted into a trip boat (its steerer even had the uniform - white shirt with epaulettes) with several old dears sitting out on the large stern deck. The latter must have winded below the lock, because it came past again very shortly afterwards with a cameraman on the stern deck - filming those peculiar boats again! I’d spotted a large black and yellow spider by our stern, a female Argiope, quite common but still spectacular to look at, its web was in the low vegetation along the lake edge.

AND THIS is the other type of horsefly that plagues canals
in Europe (& UK at times) - Wikimedia photo by BJ Schoenmaker

Whilst mooring, Bill had managed to put his foot down a hole in the bank that the thick grass had been disguising - he got his jeans wet and muddy as far as his knee! Made lunch. Mike looked through our old log to see where we went in ‘99, then at 1.30 p.m. he went for a nap. I also had a sprawl out on the side bed as it was hot and sticky again and dozed off too in the heat. At 2.30 p.m. Mike went for a walk into Altruppin looking for an Internet café. He should be so lucky! He found two physios, a large drinks emporium (like wine warehouses in GB, but here in Germany they sell all sorts of beer and soft drinks) a bakery and an Aldi. The road bridge nearest the boat was under reconstruction, so pedestrians weren’t permitted - only cars - so he had to walk back towards the lock to cross the river and the Aldi was almost right opposite the boat. Foolishly, he hadn’t taken any money, otherwise he could have bought some fresh bread, but he said it was too far to walk all the way to the other road bridge to go back to the Aldi, then all the way back again, just for a loaf. I sweltered cooking fish and chips for dinner.

Wednesday 18th August 2004 Neuruppin to Lindow.

17.4° C overnight. Hazy sun first thing, but it clouded over around 9.15 a.m. and thick grey

Keeper's cabin Altruppin lock - my photo from 2013

clouds swept in from the south bringing rain which lasted until mid-afternoon, then the sun came out again. Set off at 7 a.m. following Rosy up the lake into the channel at Altruppin, passing back gardens of lakeside bungalows and caravans with lots and lots of small moored boats. One house had a very unusual garden ornament - two tree trunks had been turned upside down and replanted so that the remains of the roots looked like wild hair, faces had been painted on the trunks and cartoon-type arms with big hands added. At the end of the moorings was an old Springer narrowboat. It was for

 

Beautiful little river Rhin - my photo from 2013

sale. On the opposite bank, a man in a dressing gown off for a dip said “Good morning” in good English, but that was the sum of his mastery of the language. Mike asked him about the narrowboat, but he didn’t understand a word. The lady keeper emptied Altruppin lock as we arrived on opening time 8 a.m. I knocked over a bag of bottles on the front deck and she came over to say something. I didn’t understand - so she went to speak to Mike - there was a bottle bin and rubbish disposal across the grass from the lock, by the road. Very useful, as for the most part there is a great shortage of bins and taps by the navigations in Germany! Out of

 

Dampfmuhle nr Lindow - my photo from 2013

the lock and into the first lake, Molchowsee, in a chain of three medium sized connected lakes. Into a narrow section near the village of Molchow, where there were lots and lots more holiday bungalows and more people in dressing gowns, also out for their early morning dips, as we ran on towards the next lake, Tetzensee. The forest closed in as we went to the northern end and there were more boats moored as we went into the dog leg leading into a wide channel under a bridge to Zermützelsee. To the northwest of this lake was another chain of lakes, starting with Tornowsee, but these were only accessible by paddle boats, props were forbidden. It started to rain! Brollies up! I made tea as we went into the winding course of the beautiful river Rhin. A pair of ospreys flew in front of the

 

Gudelacksee - my photo from 2103

boat, going from one perching place to another in the tops of trees for about ten minutes, giving us good close views through binoculars. A small cruiser overtook us. The first life we’d seen moving on the water. The cleggs were out in force, why does rain seem to bring them out in droves? A large Berlin cruiser, called Santomar, came downstream round the bends where the trees gave way to a large watermeadow on our left. He was followed by a tiny cruiser with a massive 90 hp outboard. A third cruiser went past as we reached the bridge at Zippelsförde, where there were mooring places either side of the bridge,  A little further on we spotted a tree on the right

 

Gudelacksee from the end of Veilitzsee - my photo 2013

bank which had been chewed (but not quite enough to fell it) by beaver. Well, we knew the area was home to beaver, and otter, but we’d never seen any or any evidence of them until now. We crossed the north end of the long lake, called Mollensee, and went back into the Rhin, which wandered through the forest until we emerged in the Gudelacksee, a large lake with a big island, Werder, in the centre. We took the course to the south of the island, then swung around a tiny island with a few small trees on it, into a shallow narrow channel under a brick arched railway bridge and road bridge at Lindow, passing more and more bungalows, caravans and moored boats. We

 

Vielitzsee nr Lindow - my photo 2103

twiddled through fishing nets on posts round bends at the beginning of the last navigable lake, Vielitzsee and motored on to the top end of the lake in the rain. At the end of the lake Mike let the bows gently ground on the shelving sandy bank (always have to go right to the limit of navigation!) and then we backed off and set off back down the lake following Rosy (who’d stopped half way down the lake) back to the arm near Lindow where we’d moored last time we were here. The rain stopped. An inflatable boat went past with two policemen on board, they waved. It was 1.15 p.m. when we tied

 

Old quay in arm off Vielitzsee - my photo 2013

alongside Rosy next to the old abandoned quay. Two old rusty pans had been lifted out on to the quayside and turned upside down. At the end of the quay a very old craneboat had been moored. The place was infested with wasps. Before I could get the net in the side doors there were lots of them inside the cabin, which I swatted as I made some lunch. More got in through the curtain, so I had to close the front doors. Mike went poking around outside. After lunch he went for a nap. Later we had a ‘phonecall from a guy at WWT in America (our callback telephone system) to tell us our new access number, which will change over on the 1st September, he also gave us a new code for accessing the web page for our account. Bill came on board to discuss where we were going next day. There were too many wasps about to have a BBQ on the bank. Hot and very sticky again.    

Tuesday 17th August 2004 Tiergarten to Neuruppin.

Mooring quay at Neuruppin. Ruppinersee

14.4° C Hazy clouds, sun burnt through mid-morning. Later in the afternoon black clouds came over but it remained dry. Mike was up first and untied, setting off at 7 a.m. to get to the first lock, Hohenbruch, for opening time 8.00 a.m. A young man worked the lock, we rose 0.7m in almost complete silence. Wonderful – we could hear the birds. The canal above was narrow and wild, running through mixed forest of birch, alder and fir. A kingfisher obligingly sat on a branch by a sign, which had been put up by the newly created pathway, which indicated that this was the habitat of kingfishers. Two small cruisers went past

Common European kingfisher -
Beautiful Wikimedia photo by Ryan Cheng

heading downstream as we went into the first small lake of the Kremmener Rhin, which is in a nature reserve. The lake was almost choked with yellow and white water lilies and masses of swallows were diving over the water after flies. We’d been having cleg attacks, but we doubted the swallows would eat anything that big. Among the water lilies were the small flowers of the common frog bit (not so common - we hadn’t seen any here before) with three-petaled tiny white flowers on slender stalks they resembled miniature water lilies. We passed a waterways launch pushing a pan of sand, out came the camera. The chap driving it must also have been the driver of the digger on floats, which was waiting for the sand to continue back filling behind a row of tree stumps to make a new bank edge at the end of a mooring restriction, which had lasted all the way

Tin man with a boat on his head.
(Actually Parzival,
from medieval German romantic poem)
Neuruppin

through the nature reserve, 4.5 kms. Just after the junction with the Alter Rhin we met another cruiser heading downstream. We’d been battling with clegs, so I’d tried a ruse by drawing eyes on a piece of paper, I cut them out and stuck them on the backs of our hats to confuse the blighters who like to get behind and bite – to my great surprise it made them circle! Bill had paused for a cuppa beyond the next bridge, I’d just been inside and made one too. We passed two more downhill cruisers at the entrance to Bützsee, another small lake. It was 11.30 a.m. and the lake was bubbling, pooh! methane! The sun had come out. Another cruiser went past, its crew waving madly. The kilometre posts had been attached to tree stumps in the lake bed. It was midday as we arrived below the staircase lock at Altfriesack. We expected to have to wait two hours while the keeper went on her lunch break, but she emptied the top lock and we got a green light. She came down alongside the big square bottom chamber to make sure we could get across the cill, which has 0.9m clearnace. No problem, we only draw 70cms. As we were rising 1.1m, Glyn ‘phoned to get an address for the mail. He’d had a letter from the bank, not their fault, they said, so they couldn’t accept my claim for compensation for the calls and they’d still got our old address. The lock filled and the keeper

Holy Trinity Church at Neuruppin

lifted the bridge beyond the top gates and we motored on to the Ruppinersee, a long narrow lake varying from half to a full kilometre in width. Lunch. A small police launch went past as we were eating our sandwiches. Several cruisers were moored along the edges of the lake and one lone sailboat braved the gusting wind, which had started to pick up. At 2 p.m. we moored by the old wall in Neurrupin, behind an old trip boat. The building beyond the quay had been demolished and was now a building site. It’s going to be a hotel, so the quay will disappear according to a man (called Wolfram who moors there) who came to talk to us. He remembered the three narrowboats from four years ago (Temujin, Pensax and Fleur-de-Segre). New steps had been built in front of the twin spired church and a tinfoil man with a boat on his head had been built by the small boat moorings. Rosy came alongside and Mike set the TV up. The wind picked up and rocked the boat most of the afternoon, but calmed down again in the evening.