Sunday 4th May 2014 Neuendorf to Parey KP349 EHK 38kms 1 lock

An empty commercial on the Plauersee

5.1°C A cold night. Grey skies, no rain but cold with a westerly wind. Untied at 7.10 am and set off down the Breitlingsee and into the Plauersee. We passed a 65m empty called Moka heading for Brandeburg halfway across the Plauersee and a 65m called Janet, loaded with wood chips, at the north end of the Wendsee, our last lake in Germany. A sign by the bridge in Kirchmoser marked the start of the Elbe-Havel-Kanal (EHK) with Kilometre Post 380, as it is classed as an extension to the Mittelland Kanal – 380 kilometres and five locks to the junction with the Ems Kanal, it really feels like we’re leaving Germany now. We

Below Wusterwitz lock on Elbe-Havel-Kanal

stopped below Wusterwitz lock on the new pontoon for sport boats at 8.35 am. The new chamber on the left was blocked off with a small pan across the entrance and the intercom didn’t work by the startplatz. Mike called the lock keeper on the radio – and got an answer. The old lock chamber on the right started to empty. A loaded Bromberger came out of the lock then the keeper called us in, he spoke a little English. There were two boats moored below the lock, an empty called Magda and Luca loaded with scrap metal. We stayed at the back end of the chamber (225m long x 12m wide)

Hotel boat Sans Souci overtaking at Gethin EHK

using fore and aft ropes going up three bollards inset into the brick walls and rose gently 4.3m. The keeper has to walk all the way to the top end gates to use the controls there (and back to operate the bottom end gates and paddles) and as we left I asked how long it would be before the new lock opens, he shrugged and said he didn’t know. As we left Navtrans IV, loaded with soil, was waiting to go down. The next boat, a loaded tanker called Marlene2, was about five minutes away from the lock when we passed it. The keeper held the lock for him. I made a cuppa. Mike lit the coal fire, saying that we should have lit it the night before, but it had been such a warm afternoon we didn’t notice the evening outside temperature plummeting. There was a fishing

Tug pushing workboats. EHK

contest just finishing on the left bank by a couple of houses called Kader Schleuse around KP368. As we were passing the fishermen, three men in kayaks paddled past followed by two small cruisers and a loaded 80m tanker called Christoph, the latter had its radar revolving. Shortly after another Bromberger went past and six cruisers. Die Bromel, a loaded 57m boat (that’s a very short one for here!) went past at KP368. As we started going through the town of Genthin Mike set the Internet antenna up for me and I went in to chat with Yvonne on Skype for an hour at 11.30 am, just as 125m long hotel ship Sans Souci overtook us. At KP361 an 80m

Moored at Parey. KP349 EHK

boat called Marlies, loaded with a thousand tonnes of slack, went past. An empty called Vorwärts went past just before we tied up at Parey at KP349. The hotel boat Sans Souci was moored on the commercial mooring in Parey while their guests were eating lunch. We didn’t think hotel boats stopped for meals. It was 1.30 pm. Gave Mike a hand with the bike and he went to collect the car from Schmergow.

Saturday 3rd May 2014 Schmergow to Neuendorf via Brandenburg. 31.1kms 1 lock

(We had the day off on the 1^st May as it was a holiday here in Germany, then the next day was cold and wet, so we went shopping in Brandenburg in the car.)

Another feathered hitch-hiker

3.7°C (Glad of a coal fire overnight) Sunny but chilly with a cold north wind blowing. A pair of swans were alongside the boat so I gave them some leftover stale bread. A couple were fishing at the land end of the basin and we’d got three campers overnight (one parked next to the boat very late the night before) Set off at 9.05 am, reversing carefully (I took the mast down to get past the willow tree on the end, didn’t dare go too far over towards the opposite bank as it was shallow and lily pads were growing) out on to Trebelsee, then winded and went slowly back to the deeper water of the main channel. A large cruiser was swinging round a single 

Brandenburg from the Havel

anchor from its bow with the gusting wind. A black kite was hunting over the lake. Mike said there were two yachts in the old basin at Deetz (our alternative mooring to Schmergow). Not much traffic about, just one guy in an open boat fishing. On our left was a range of low hills with an observation tower that we’d said several times we ought to go and find – it’s in the forest somewhere. Three cruisers went past heading upstream on the Havel, then at KP45 we met a loaded Bromberger also headed toward Berlin, still Polish registered at Bydgoszcz (Prussian name was Bromberg)

Brandenburg from the Stadtskanal

. Five minutes later another loaded Polish registered boat, a tug OL-10 from Szczecin (Stettin) pushing three short (32.5m) covered pans. Quiet again, for a while. Cormorants were fishing. Two cruisers were moored to the bank at the back of some small islands to our left. Another large cruiser was anchored at KP47.5 by Lange Reihe island (where Rosy got stuck on the bottom ten years earlier when we tried to go around the island, Mike marked it on our chart as not navigable after that). A red helicopter

Snazzy rent-a-boats. Brandeburg

went over, following the Havel upstream, and on our right a small airplane was towing gliders up, several were soaring on a thermal. At KP52 a cruiser was fast catching us up as a string of seven more came past heading upriver. Shortly after two men in an open fishing boat went past followed by another cruiser. As we approached Brandenburg there were three large cruisers in line abreast coming up from the Vorstadtschleuse as we were about to turn on to the Brandenburger Stadtskanal (boats that can’t pass under the low bridges on the Stadtskanal have to use the big lock) so 

Below Brandenburg Stadtschleuse.

we put a bit more welly on to get into the little canal. A small yacht was just coming out of the Stadtskanal, putting his sails up. Mike laid our mast down on the roof for the low bridges. Took photos of the town as we went searching for a tap to top up the tank with 200 litres of water. No sign of tap anymore by the shop, nor any of the new stopping places on the way down to the lock. A cruiser was just leaving the little lock (22m long x 5.3m wide) so we went straight in and down. Turned right into the town looking for a tap – and didn’t find one that we could get at. Lots of moored boats, mainly tiny ones bows to bank. A yacht haven had blue posts for electric and 

Fred Dibnah where are you......this chimney needs you

standpipes for water but there was no way we could put our 18m in one of their berths we would be half blocking the navigation! We continued through the town, passing new moorings under construction and the quay we stopped at before where Michael Bentine’s double charged us 1,50DM/m (it was 1DM/m for boats under 10m long) for a night’s stop. We crossed the Silokanal (sport boats not allowed past the first road bridge to the left, but OK for bigger boats that can’t get under the low bridges on the Stadtskanal to turn right to use the big lock). Noted there were three commercials on the quay, two empties Orion and Laura and one loaded with steel coils called Ascanien – no tap on the commercial quay either. Went straight across the 

Moored to the former Junkers coal quay. Plauersee

Silokanal into the lake beyond it where there was a regatta course with grandstands on the left and a huge number of rowing skiffs on the bank. Moored boats in one corner, still no sign of a tap. We gave up and turned around. At the crossroads with the Silokanal we slowed off for the tripper, Liberté, which had just come down the big lock to turn into the Brandeburger Neiderhavel and we followed him back into town. A shed came out of the Domstreng (a weirstream to our left) and followed us under the road bridge then turned off left up the next weirstream.

Moored to the former Junkers coal quay. Plauersee

The tripper tied on a quay and we went past. Spotted a replica DB had arrived on the pay quay while we’d been searching beyond the Silokanal. A British flag on a boat called Tadham Castle (sure we’ve seen that somewhere before) no signs of life on board. On down the Havel with more sheds milling about. Cleared the town and headed for the Plauersee. I made a cup of soup as we hadn’t had any lunch yet and the wind was chilly as we left the shelter of the buildings behind. Three large cruisers overtook us and we caught up with a shed. A tripper came in off the lake as we went into reverse to stop us from hitting the back of the shed. It turned 

View of the lake from the old quay.

left in the lake and we turned right, heading for the Junkers wall. A couple of small boats and yachts were anchored for lunch. We tied carefully to the wall’s protruding H-section girders, Mike put a tyre on the underwater wooden piling and pulled the ropes up tight.  It was 2.30 pm. I closed all the blinds on the sunny side before the temperature in the cabin went sky-high knowing what a sun trap this corner of the lake is. 

Wednesday 30th April 2014 Spandau to Schmergow 37.8kms no locks

Tug and pan. Spandau

11.4°C Grey clouds but bright first thing, sunny and getting hot later. We were woken by the rudder clanging as something went past fast at 5.30 am. Must remember to lash the tiller with a fender between the rudder and the stern to stop it making noises. We set off from Spandau early, around 8.15 am, after a police launch had gone past with a tug pushing an empty pan following it, heading south down the lake. I decided that as we may not get a good Internet connection later that I would stay indoors and get the blog up to date, starting with putting

Fire dept boat. R Havel Spandau

seventy photos through Paintshop before editing yesterday’s log and blogging it. The washing machine was running too. Mike said the big lake, Wannsee, was virtually empty, he’d never seen it so quiet. One police boat had come up from the the direction of Zehlendorf, but had ignored us and gone past, then a Kuhnle hireboat went past hugging the left bank of the lake. The only other traffic was two commercials as we went into the narrows between the main lake and a smaller one at Sacrow. Through more narrows into the Jungfern see, now heading northwest. I took Mike a cuppa and sat out as we went through the building works

Start of Sacrow-Paretzer kanal

that is still (it was like that last September) surrounding the start of the Sacrow-Paretzer kanal. Mike had slowed down to follow a Bromberger (now Berlin registered) through the restricted one-way working for commercials. Shortly after we were overtaken by a large chartered cruiser and police launch 4 (they’re all numbered, one day we’ll have spotted the full set!) went past in the opposite direction, crew smiling and waving. At last it was quiet on the wide canal, only us and a few fishermen. At KP25.5

Signs by the building works on the Sacrow-Paretzer

they were starting to build another new road bridge, 200m further on there was a shiny new rail bridge. As we crossed the little Schlänitz see we passed the tug we’d seen first thing, now minus the empty pan, going in the opposite direction. The A10 crosses the canal and boy was it noisy from all the traffic thundering overhead. Different world down here! The underside of the bridge was red rusty, looked like it had never had a coat of paint. Goat willow trees were dropping a blizzard of fluff on to the breeze, it looked like snow. Glückauf, one of the lastkahns (German equivalent of the

Hitch-hiker!

French péniche and Belgian spits, 38m x 5.20m) that we saw working here (there were only three, everything else was much bigger) when we were first here in 1999 was moored before the Ketzin ferry, its skipper must be retired now. Still looking very smart. Took photos of the cable ferry hauling cars across the Havel lake. A little further on downstream we spotted our first Dutch boat, an empty 80m (1,175 tonnes) called Maro from Maasbracht, it was tied to dolphins by a long narrow island of trees in the middle of the Havel. A speedboat came past heading upriver, then a load of cruisers (someone must have let them out) two went

The tug that passed us before we set from Spandau.

past, the speedboat went back downriver, the charter boat we’d seen earlier was setting off from Ketzin and appeared at the edge of the chain of islands. Three more cruisers went past, all heading upriver, the last one was a big one towing a speedboat behind it. A honey buzzard was hunting over fields to our right and a black kite was circling. We turned left into a narrow channel around the south side of Mittelbruch island (there are four big islands in the Havel just downstream of Ketzin and the channels through them are interesting, except the wide main one through the middle for all the big stuff. There was a fisherman fishing across the entrance.

Car ferry at Ketzin.

He smiled, said hello and reeled several lines in - we dropped out of gear to avoid catching any of his lines. He was having competition from a tern who was fishing close by – it left as we went past. The sign at the entrance said it was 0.6m deep, wrong again. A nice winding channel with reed beds and warblers singing loudly, a black kite was hunting for fish down low (but too far away for a photo). We emerged into the eastern end of the Havel lake called Trebelsee and went gently, as it wasn’t very deep, across to the old basin at Schmergow. The wind was blowing a little too much for reversing into the basin (and there was another fisherman on

Moored in the old basin on Trebelsee nr Schmergow

the corner) so we turned around and went in bows first and tied carefully along the left hand concrete wall; carefully as there were old bolts protruding which once secured baulks of timber fendering along the walls. With strategically placed fenders and tyres the hull was protected from scrapes. It was 2 pm. Mike decided to go and get the car from Schmöckwitz. He had planned to collect it Thursday, which is a holiday here, May Day, but we had arrived earlier than planned as we had set out early. No need for a plank as the grassy quay is almost cabin height. I got on with the log and photos and was amazed to find we had Internet on 3G. All mod cons! Mike sent me a text to say he’d arrived OK at Schmockwitz on the moped after being pulled in for a documents check by two policemen on big BMW motorbikes near Potsdam!

Tuesday 29th April 2014 Treptow to Spandau south. 22.2kms 3 locks.

Treptower Park, moored trippers  

7.6°C Sunny and getting warmer. Woken very early by loud noises outside. The charter boat had left early. We set off at 8.45 am. The farthest end of the park was full of moored trippers and houseboats; a Shell bunker boat was making his rounds between them doing some refuelling. Then the trippers started moving. Under the S-Bahn railway bridge and road bridge. Coming into view was the giant statue called Molecule Man on the site of Wall and beyond that the Oberbaumbrücke, famous for being a border bridge between East and West Berlin, the far side was Allied-held West Berlin, where we were was Soviet controlled East Berlin. The

Bunker boat refuelling trippers. R Spree

entrance to the Landwehr kanal was just past the statue on our left. Two trip boats were overtaking us so we stooged slowly up the right hand side of the Spree, then a slow cruiser came past the opposite way heading upriver. Mike called the lock control on Ch78, as usual no reply. However, the top end gate lowered (one of the type that drop down to lie flat on the canal bed) and the lock lights changed to green. I took a photo of a large commercial being unloaded on the left just before the lock. As we attached to a bollard a tripper came up behind us so we moved right so that he could come into the chamber as it was an old square one that formerly had

Anything that floats - as long as it's less than 15m long!!!!!

offset gates but now had in line ones on the left. The tripper stopped outside the lock and its skipper came shouting at us in German. He changed to English. We weren’t allowed in the lock before 11.15 am, police rules and we had to leave the lock and wait. How stupid. Whoever invented that regulation? It’s bad enough that the Landwehr is now one way, but now it’s time-restricted for sportboots too. Trip boats rule! We backed out and tied to the dolphins above the lock. I said the next thing will be “you’re not allowed to moor there!” The tripper went down the lock and I caught up with the blog from the day before. Mike made a cuppa and sat out on the stern

Old crane by flats R Spree

reading the Kindle. At eleven o’clock someone arrived at the lock and started shouting. Mike wandered down to the lock side to see what he was shouting about. You’re not allowed to moor there, police regulations – and you’ve come past a red light, you should be on the sport boat waiting area. We hadn’t seen it, or the red light, it was on the on the far side corner by where the big boat had been unloading. Can’t we just wait there for another ten minutes? No, Police regulations! Another tripper was heading for the

One of the remaining sections of the Berlin Wall
see link to Wiki

lock. Meanwhile the bloke was having a right old slanging match with two guys in a canoe who’d come up in the lock – they’d passed a red light and they were going the wrong way on a one way canal!! We gave up and backed off to the sport waiting place and as soon as we got there the red light (specially for that waiting area) changed to green. The two lads in the canoe spoke English, as they came past us I said did you have a telling off too. One replied yeah, the guy’s a complete asshole! Much spluttering from us as we followed the tripper into the lock and shoved over to the right again. No sign of the lock-keeper or whoever he was. Mast off while we went under the

Molecule man, on site of the Wall on R Spree

low bridge just beyond the tail end of the lock. When we first came here in 1999 there was a hippy peace camp on the left bank of the canal where the Berlin Wall was – left bank East Berlin, right bank West Berlin, the peace camp was still there or at least the hippies were. A short distance and we passed mooring no 10 (we’d stayed there a few times over the years, now it had a time restriction – no mooring between 13.00 and 14.00hrs) The Wall turned left roughly following the Neukoliner kanal, we turned right staying on the Landwehr. A long street market was in full swing along the left bank and some mouth–watering smells were coming from several stalls. Past mooring no 9 on the wide Urbanhafen (no mooring 12.00-13.00hrs). A few trippers and restaurant boats were moored there, but it was so busy with passers-by and overlooked by high-rise flats that we’d never fancied staying there. The tripper in front was pulling away, we were doing the speed limit of 6kph so he must have been speeding. Another was soon catching us up. Herons were so tame they stood by the

Molecule man and Treptowers R Spree

banks or in trees and watched us go past without flying off and there were many swans and ducks about. Under a succession of bridges close together, an X bridge with a crossroads on top (and a hippy shop next to it) and then an elevated section of the U-bahn railway was right next to the canal and I took photos of a train in Möckenbrücke station, round a right hand bend then the Deutsches Technik Museum was on our left with an American Liberator aeroplane hanging from its roof. Mike took photos of bullet holes in a wall alongside the right bank of the canal then photos of the plane.

Oberbaumbrucke, former East-West crossing
See info on Wiki

Potsdamer Platz was off to our right with many tall buildings, the National Gallery, the Statsbibliotek, the Kultur-Forum. We slowed down for the tripper to overtake us in a wide section. Good thing we did as Belvedere was a wide as most of the bridges (NOW we see why the canal is now one way – two like that would have a hard time finding passing places) The tripper crawled through the next arched bridge on a bend. All the top hotels were lined up on our left as we passed the Tiergarten on our right and under the twin Lichtenstein

Following tripper out of Obereschleuse - mast down for that bridge!

footbridges in the park. Kids on bikes were crossing as well as many pedestrians. The next lock, Unterschleuse, could be called on Ch81 – but not by us as that channel is missing from our new VHF Marine radio (still no message from the seller or Yaesu). The big tripper was squeezing into the lock, no room for us, so we hung ropes on the fence and waited in the designated area. Cameras everywhere, like the Obereschleuse, making this a remotely operated lock so the keeper

Bullet holes in stonework of bridge. Landwehr kanal

could be anywhere. The next tripper was a slimline one, Spree Prinzses, so we followed him in and dropped down 1.3m. Below the lock there was a WSA workboat (flourescent green!) waiting to go up the lock. We passed the moored houseboats in the weirstream below the lock, right next to Charlottenburgtor (gate). One of the guys who lived there asked us when we came here first if we’d like to moor alongside his boat for the winter and keep an eye on it for him. We declined as we’d already booked our winter mooring at MYCEH. It was 1 pm and

Elevated section of U-bahn next to Landwehr kanal

getting much warmer. Lots of people were picknicking or sunbathing along the sloping grassy canal banks under the trees as we ran down to the crossroads junction with the Spree and the Charlottenburg Verbindungskanal (the latter went straight ahead). We turned left heading downstream on the Spree after a tripper had gone past left to right on the Spree. Tripper Belvedere was on its way back into the city on the Spree. Under the Röntgen-Darwinbrücke there were beds laid out where the homeless were camped – first ones we’d seen in Berlin.  A little further on the little Dutch barge (belonging to the father of a young

Deutches Technikmuseum

man who we met at Burgwall) was still tied on the mooring area, all alone. At the next bridge there was a 24hr mooring and there were a couple of boats on it, a Pénichette called Ruddelin and a catamaran called Catfish of Chester with a red ensign on the back – but no one home! Probably sight-seeing round Charlottenburg schloss. There were gates and fences under the bridge leading into the palace grounds, must be locked at night. A Le Boat hireboat went past heading upstream, followed by a cruiser. We were overtaken by tripper Spreekrone, who winded by the weir taking up the whole of the canal to do so and causing Mike to go into reverse.

Following tripper Belvedere

Trippers rule! The Westhafenkanal went off to the right and we turned left for Charlottenburg schleuse. A cruiser was sitting on the corner, not tied up or anchored and a couple were standing on its bows talking. Wonder what that was about? Green lights for the big lock, just us and no lock keeper, all operated by someone at a desk somewhere. We dropped down just over a metre and left the lock free for loaded 80m tanker Regina W who was waiting below. 5kms left of the Spree to the junction with the Havel. I made some sandwiches for lunch so it would be ready when we tied up. Past the power station serving a big industrial complex and Siemens Stadt to the north. Noted there were coal boats – but not brown coal.

Waiting "fence" abv Unterschleuse. Landwehr kanal

Nothing moving and no boats about, the moorings were empty at Spandau south, mooring no 12(and no sign to say no mooring between 12.00 – 1300hrs). Secured the boat between the dolphins and Mike went to take a photo from the bridge as a tripper went storming past causing the boat to rock quite a bit. Lunch. I started work on the log and blog while Mike checked e-mails etc. Around 6 pm a passing loaded commercial made the boat bang against the piling so we went out and tightened up the ropes, using a sheeting knot to make them as tight as possible.

Below Untershleuse - Charlottenburgtor

Leaving Charlottenburg schleuse

Junction R Spree & R Havel Spandau lock to left out of view

Mooring at Spandau R Havel