Saturday 19th April 2014 Füstenwalde – Schmöckwitz 31.5kms 2 locks

Under the footbridge over the weirstream at Fustenwalde

2.6°C Cold night, glad we kept the coal fire going. Grey, chilly start, sun coming out and clouds gone by 10.15 am. Up early as Mike wanted to get some bread (and eggs) from the shops at the far end of the shopping street in the town. He went to a little supermarket which was the only place open. He used the new VHF radio to call the keeper at Füstenwalde lock on channel 22, got a reply from him and he was getting the gates open on the (usual) left hand chamber as we arrived. Mike took photos of a hooded crow that had snatched a dead fish from the surface of the water in the lock then ate

And into Fustenwalde lock

  it on the lockside. I put the centre rope round a bollard set in the brick-walled chamber and we dropped down about a metre, then carried on down the last of the canalised river Spree. This lock is the last one with an electric mule system for hauling pans in and out of the chamber (we saw it in use last year). Just before we got to Groβe Tranke we noted how much damage had been done to the trees by beaver – and a lot of the trees had red rusty coloured trunks. The river was pouring over the weir at Groβe Tranke and an empty pan had been left on the one 

Hooded crow enjoying a dead fish

remaining wall of the old paired flood locks that used to be here. Mike took photos of a buzzard. A sign we’re back in an area where there is commercial traffic – wagtails started landing on the boat roof looking for bugs and spiders! I made a cuppa. Four buzzards and a white-tailed eagle were soaring on thermals to our left just past Braunsdorf. The sun came out and the clouds went mid-morning. A pair of crows were chasing a big bird of prey through the edge of the forest, the big bird (another eagle) landed in the top of a tree and still the crows dived at it. A cruiser went past at KP59 keeping so close to the bank Mike had to take a photo of it.

Rear end of a Bizon tug on the Oder-Spree-Kanal

Another overtook us just before the A10 autobahn bridge. A commercial was coming towards us round the next bend, two loaded pans being pushed by a Bizon tug from Wrocław (pronounced vrots/waf) in Poland. Had a short wait for Werndorf lock. The cruiser was tied to the waiting area for sport boots. The lock gates opened (the right hand side one of the two locks had been modernised) and the lights changed to green but the cruiser had its own traffic light and had to wait a while for that to change to green. We followed it into the lock

The weir at Grosse Tranke on to the Muggelspree

chamber. I dropped our centre rope round a big bollard on the lockside. The cruiser was having problems, they’d attached a line from their stern but there was nothing for the lady of the vessel to put her rope on, so she stayed on the lockside after chatting with the keeper who came out from his posh new cabin to help. (We think he also works Kersdorf lock from this cabin, Werndorf also has cameras so that might not be the case when we next come through this lock). I transferred our rope down on to the bollard recessed in the concrete wall as the drop was close on 5m. I didn’t transfer down any further as the walls and bollards were very muddy. Another short wait while sir picked madam up below the lock, then they turned left into the Krossinsee. Another cruiser

The Langersee side of the Weidewall

and two canoes were waiting to come up. Water was thundering over the weir between the two lock chambers and racing out from the section of Krossinsee to our right. There were fishermen everywhere and shooting was going on (maybe some sort of range) somewhere in the forest to our right. We carried on down the last of the Oder-Spree-Kanal. A small open speedboat came out of the lake and overtook us slowly (slowly for one of that type of boat) as an un-marked police boat went past heading towards the lock. The crew smiled and waved. In the distance we could see lots of sailing boats zipping around on the Seddingsee. When we reached the lake we turned left with sailing boats going every which way and headed for the islands at the end

Moored on the quay at Schmockwitz

of the lake called the Weiden Wall. Turned left on to the north end of the Zeuthenersee, a lake on the river Dahme which is a tributary of the Spree. Under the road bridge and turned right – a choice of where to moor on the quay at Schmöckwitz, so we tucked the stern into the left hand end of the quay by the trees and lashed fore and aft to the wooden  stumps driven into the lake bed which were provided for this purpose and Mike hung tyres on them. It was 1.45 pm. More lies on depth signboards, this one said max 0.7m when the depth was actually twice that at 1.4m. The wash of passing boats caused a constant rocking, but a fairly gentle one. Had lunch then Mike decided to collect the car from Müllrose. I helped unload the bike off the roof – we had an audience as a speedboat and a cruiser had tied up in front of us. He left around 3pm and sent me a text from Müllrose to say that the green card had arrived today! Hooray for that. Thank you Ralf and Matthias, hope your canoe hire business does really well.

Friday 18th April 2014 Müllrose to Füstenwalde. 28.6kms 1 lock

Sunset the night before at Mullrose

5.4°C Rain with short sunny spells. We set off in the rain at 10 am, winded and headed towards Berlin. A cruiser came out of the lake at Müllrose and turned on to the Oder-Spree-Kanal just a few metres in front of us – he was very soon just a dot in the distance. As we passed the new rocks in the bank at the end of the houses there was an empty commercial coming towards us. The little cruiser went within feet of the bank as it went past him, we stayed half a boat’s length from the bank as usual. It was a

First commercial this year - a Bromberger

Polish Bromberger (no names just a registration number on the bows that started with BM), we waved and the skipper waved back. Our first proper boat of the year! A bit further on there was a fisherman camped at the top of the high bank in the cutting through the forest. Just after 11 am we went past the junction with the Spiesekanal as the rain stopped, briefly, so we put the brolly down. A lone fisherman was standing on the rock edging opposite the junction. Not long after the rain started pouring down again. Brolly back up. About half a kilometre before

Above Kernsdorf lock, note all the cameras

Kersdorf lock there were two fishermen sitting on the bank, set up with about half a dozen rods apiece, their ladies were seated by a small caravan – all smiling and waving. The lock lights were on red. Mike tried the new radio, channel 82 the sign said. No sign of 82 on our new radio, channels 80 and 84 were there, - 81, 82 and 83 were missing! Checked the handbook, they should be there, all were duplex channels. Must read the book in case we’ve set it up wrong somehow. Meanwhile, we started heading for the sport boot mooring to call the lock keeper from the intercom, the lock gates were already open and the lights changed to green and so we changed direction and sailed on into the chamber. There were cameras at both ends of the lock chamber and we deduced that the lock was now remotely operated (where from we had no idea, there was a keeper here last year as they hadn’t quite finished building the lock, ie there was no sport boat mooring to wait on below the lock chamber). I attached our centre rope threading it around a vertical bar in the piled wall. We were next to the emergency phone and a pole with loudspeakers on it. The keeper asked via the loudspeaker if we were continuing through

More working boats on the quay at Fustenwalde

Füstenwalde - no, not today, we’re stopping in the town and going down the lock tomorrow. Had to tell him twice, but we think he understood. Oue new camera refused to take a picture below the lock so I fetched my old Kodak. Mike twiddled the batteries and then it worked, contrary thing, must be the damp. Below the lock on the right there was the entrance to the Kerdorfersee (a long lake stretching northwards) which was not available for motor boats. On the left the Spree joined the canal which becomes the canalised river until Groβe Tränke, where it exits over a weir by the old flood lock as the Müggelspree. I made some lunch. We’d just eaten it when we were overtaken by a smart white yacht called Joker. More

Moored in the old mill arm in Fustenwalde

rain. Two fishermen had camped under the road bridge just before Füstenwalde and they were fishing from a small boat in one of the cut off loops of the river. At the silo quay there were two commercials, a 67m long empty former Czech boat, now called Luckau, who was by the scrap berth and a loaded boat called Lucas (67m x 8.2m, 838 tonnes). We turned right into the weir stream above Füstenwalde lock, went past the WSA moorings and the weir and went into the arm to the old mill. Mike decided to make life easier he’d back out, wind and reverse into the mooring, which was empty. The piled wall was half cabin height and had little bollards along it. There were a few people walking along the river, but not many as it was still raining. Glad to tie up and get warm and dry, very glad we’d relit the coal fire this morning. Mike did an e-mail to the supplier of our new VHF Marine radio, hoping there was something we had done wrong that we could put right to get the missing channels. He’d checked and those three were the only ones missing. What next!

Wednesday 16th April 2014 S of Beeskow to Müllrose. 26.8kms 2 locksSpies

Painted house facade in Beeskow

2.8°C Sunny, but cold with a strong breeze. It was 9°C outside but felt more like 4°C. We got up early and set off at 8.20 am after Mike had heaved the little anchors back on board and cleaned the mud off and I undid the bow rope from around our sturdy dead tree. Mike said he saw three large dark coloured animals suddenly dive for cover in the reeds by where we moored last time; we came to the conclusion that they must have been wild piggies. On downriver into Beeskow. The marina berths were almost empty, as were the rest of the moorings for small

New marina - no boats yet

boats on the way to the lock. The concrete quay where we moored when we first came here in 1999 was occupied by a single story café, so the moorings there were no longer free. We wondered how anyone could stop to shop in the town. Mike rotated the blue pole and the lock gates opened. We dropped down 1m to the river level below. Noted that the new offline marina was also empty as we flew past at 8kph (revs for 6kph assisted by a 2kph flow) and on past the large factory which makes wooden panels, it had two chimneys belching out great clouds of steam. A buzzard sat on a milepost as we went past and didn’t move. I took two photos but

Factory at Beeskow busy making wooden panels

the new camera wouldn’t focus. At the end of the kilometre long straight between KP112 and 111 there was a newly built house with windows facing downriver – it looked empty. A stork flew over. Through the last lake, Wergensee, and we waited below Neuhaus lock while Mike found the keeper. Another young man (a different one to last week’s and the one from last year) worked the lock from the booths at either end of the chamber. Two young ladies in full combat gear were mowing the lockside grass. We hung on fore and aft ropes round the vertical bars in the brick wall while the boat rose a metre. The lad pressed the buttons to drop the road barriers

Needle weir and tiny (12mx3m) Wergensee lock  

and lift the wooden liftbridge whilst opening the top end gates. We bid him tschüs and set off on the Spiesekanal at 11 am. I made tea and buttered currant buns. Half an hour later we were turning right on the Oder Spree Kanal. More sheltered from the wind by tall trees and banks either side of the canal it felt pleasanter although the scenery was not quite so magnificent as the Spree. A pair of goldeneye ducks flew up the old section of canal at KP102. Shortly after a white-tailed eagle flew over, too fast to get the camera turned on. The WSA were still working on the bank protection at

Below Neuhaus lock

KP103 just before the start of the houses at Müllrose. Crane boat Jaguar was offloading rocks from a pan and dumping them along the edge of the bank, with WSA tug Seeotter being used as a pusher. (Noted that the tug had Wasserschutspolitzei on it. Being re-used as a work tug?) Two young men from the canoe club came on to the quay at Müllrose to lend a hand with ropes. It was 12.40 pm as we tied up. Made some lunch then, after we’d eaten, I gave Mike a hand to unload the moped off

Spiesekanal.
Tree protected from attack by beaver

the roof. He went to collect the car from EHS. When he came back he was very annoyed as the woman in the Tabak had told him they do not have postlagernd deliveries and our post had been sent back. We went shopping in Frankfurt at Real. Laid out differently to the one in EHS we had to search for things but got everything (except I forgot to get any eggs) and went home. Mike was still seething. He’d seen Christian when he collected the car and he said the first letter from France hadn’t turned up either. Is it DHL losing stuff? I beat Mike at cribbage in two straight games. Just before bedtime he lit the central heating as the temperature was dropping and he hadn’t relit the coal fire earlier.

Tuesday 15th April 2014 Kossenblatt to S of Beeskow 22.4 kms no locks

The new weir, lock and old lockhouse (old lock has been infilled)

3.8°C Sunny spells, lots of grey clouds but no rain until late afternoon, still breezy which made it feel cold. Set off at 9.30 a.m. backing through the last pair of red and green channel marker buoys, then winding where the weir stream joined the Spree. We set off downstream doing 7.5kph with revs for 5kph which meant the river was flowing well at 2.5kph. In a big field near KP141.5 there were cranes and deer – until the deer started running and the cranes flew off! At KP141 we took a photo of

The weir running well. Kossenblatt. R Spree

the sign that said the depth was only 0.5m. That is disgraceful, making the sign read a metre less than it should to deter boats from doing the last three kilometres to Kossenblatt. Over that 3kms our echo sounder never read any lower than 1.5m. Onwards downriver, meandering gently. Near Briescht there was a herd of cows in a field, all lying down until one spotted the boat, then they all stood up one by one to get a better view. Nosey lot! In the next field there was a flock of black sheep with little black

Must be a lady ostrich?

lambs, all racing around - and a strange big bird, maybe a female ostrich? We wondered, as we went through the wooden liftbridge at Trebatsch, how often it gets lifted, if ever. I made a cuppa as we went through the village and put some baguettes in the oven to cook for Mike’s lunch. As we ran down the last river section before the lake we spotted the canoeist we’d seen the day before, a young man with two small children. We overtook them shortly after we entered Glowersee, which at around 2m deep was shallower than most of the river (3 to 5m deep in places) and now we’d lost the assistance of the flow Mike had to increase revs to keep up an average of 6.5 kph. Followed the buoyed course around the lake, where the canoe could just paddle straight across.

The top end gates of the disused lock at Trebatsch

The wind was stronger out in the open, crossing the lake, but nowhere near as bad as the day before. Through the narrows and into Leissnitzsee, again following a circuitous buoyed channel. There were lots of grebe on the left hand side, fishing by the reed beds and a pair of terns were hunting for lunch along the lake. At the northern end there was a large black-hulled cruiser called Morgendamerung (Dawn) anchored a few metres from the bank. A little further on there was a small cable ferry at Leissnitz on the right bank for taking people (max 10) and bicycles across to the far side. A convenient Imbiss (snack bar) was located by the ferry. The

What a bit of artwork!

lake narrowed and we continued following its buoyed channel north, taking photos of the first goslings we’d seen this year. Mike tried taking photos of the many birds prey that we saw soaring on thermals, but all were too far away for a decent photo. After the village of Kummerow, whose houses had long gardens sloping down to the river, the river became narrower and wilder. We kept our eyes open for a different wild mooring. Tried the east bank but the boat was on the bottom at least a metre from the tree stumps we were aiming for. Carried on

Foot passenger ferry at Leissnitz

downstream until we were within 300m of where we moored last time and found a very large dead tree, lying horizontally across the river, ideal to tie our bows to. We were sheltered from the wind, so Mike slung two anchors off the stern towards the bank and we finished tying up. It was 1.30 pm. There were many wooden stumps just below water level between the boat and the bank, which was a good two metres away – maybe the remains of a former landing stage (had to drop a tyre over one stump that was right next to the side doors) – and the

First goslings this year.

rusting remains of an old engine in the herbage on the bank. In the distance we could hear a tractor, but all other noises were made by birds. Peaceful in the sunshine. Lunch. Showers returned around 4 pm.

Moored with bows tied to another dead tree.

Monday 14th April 2014 S of Beeskow to below Kossenblatt. 22.6kms no locks

Storm clouds over Leinitzsee

5.1°C Short sunny spells, windy and heavy showers, thunderstorms and hail later. Spent the morning doing chores, then Mike decided he wanted to move on although we’d had torrential rain in the night and more was forecast for today with high winds and thunderstorms, he said we’d wait a bit and see if it rained. It didn’t so we set off just after midday. I steered while Mike put the two folding anchors away and sluiced off the mud and reed debris with the mop. Ten minutes later we’d got the brolly up and the wind was trying to rip it to pieces. I got

Remains of Trebatsch lock

soaked holding on to the back and side of the brolly as the water ran down the insides of my sleeves soaking my jacket and fleece. Good start. It didn’t get any better. In a lull I made a cuppa and we had some buttered currant buns as we’d had no lunch as Mike had said he would wait until we stopped. Crossing the two lakes (Leissnitz and Glower sees) was rough, the rain poured down and we had a very strong side wind making the boat list hard to port as we followed the buoyed channel, then turned right back into the narrow confines of the Spree. On the

A crane and two herons in a field

lake we saw cormorants and crested grebe fishing, plus gulls and the usual ducks and swans, while overhead several black kites circled, searching for dead fish. Back on the river at 1.45 pm, it was a bit calmer sheltered by the trees. As we passed through the village of Trebasch and bypassed its old lock chamber (out of use for a long, long time) we were sheltered from the wind, but as soon as the river swung round to the West, where the wind was blowing from, we had the full force of it again. Mike had left an old blue Melamine plate on the roof and the wind skimmed it into the canal where it sank like a stone. To our amazement (and theirs) we passed a canoe coming downriver by KP140, a young

Wooden liftbridge at Briescht

man paddling it with two small children in the front. Just after that there was a sign indicating the depth as being 0.5m – it lied as the echo sounder said we had 1.4m under the bottom so that’s 2m+. At 1.75kms left to go before stopping there was a flash of lightening and a very loud peal of thunder then it poured again, then the torrential rain turned to stinging hail. We were both getting very cold by the time the lock at Kossenblatt came into view through the sheeting rain. Astounded! They’d rebuilt the lock! And it was DIY! We gratefully tied up below the lock at the very end of the waiting area. It was 4.30 pm. The new lock had been built in the old weirstream when they rebuilt the weir; a notice said 2006 with an EU flag below it. The old lock, right next to the lock house had been filled in, leaving the masonry in situ. When the rain stopped, or rather when there was another lull, Mike went to take some photos and came back with the news that although they’d rebuilt the lock it wasn’t the same dimensions as the original. He said it looked too short. The Internet was only EDGE, very, very slow, but

Moored below the new lock at Kossenblatt

we managed to find some info about the rebuilding of the lock and it confirmed that the new chamber was 13m long (the original was 43m long) so we won’t be carrying on along  the other 11kms of the Spree to Alte Schadow lock (also restored) and into the Neuendorfersee. (Beyond is a maze of small waterways with 10m long locks.) That was a bit of a let-down. 

Saturday 12th April 2014 Day off. Moored in the wilds South of Beeskow on river Spree

Bow line around a dead tree. Anchors at stern
mud weight to keep the boat by the bank
no access to dry land!

1.8°C A cold night, sunny with clouds. On with the

View from the roof

  chores and a few jobs. A rowing four went past heading upstream and came back again about an hour later and one small speedboat with a large outboard went roaring past, also heading upstream and came back within an hour or so. The tree our bows are tied to is still standing and the stern anchors and mudweight don’t seem to have moved much. Lunch. Mike converted a battery charger for Ni/Mh AA and AAA rechargeable batteries to run directly on 12v instead of mains 240v as he thought it was daft to run an inverter just to recharge batteries. The mains transformer in it was removed and discarded and replaced by a fixed 9v regulator. The installation was slightly complicated by the original circuit having two separate DC feeds, one for each pair of batteries, and a further third separate feed to the control circuits. All the returns were common. Piece of cake Another small boat went past, an inflatable with outboard, much slower than the last one. Took photos of the mooring, a little difficult as we can’t get off the boat.

View of the lake

Friday 11th April 2014 Müllrose to u/s of Beeskow on R Spree. 26.5kms 2 locks

0.3°C Sunny spells and clouds. Only 3°C when we got up, but the sun soon lifted the

Misty canal - view from our back deck

temperature into the low teens. We put the moped on the roof using a plank, then covered it and roped and locked it down. One swallow was steaming up and down the mooring! There were lots of mossies hatching out, clouds of them as I walked down the wet side gunwale. Set off at 9.30 am with an audience; a cyclist on the road bridge, two men on the bank and a guy leaning out of the house window by the boat, they all smiled, waved and said good morning. Made a cuppa and sat out in the sunshine. At KP103 the WSA were busy edging the banks with rocks to slow down bank

WSA added rocks to the canal banks Oder-Spree-Kanal

erosion from the wash of the big stuff they’re expecting when they finish building the new locks. There were birds of prey in abundance, first an eagle then several black kites. At last Mike got to play with the new radio we bought for the engine room and we tried out the new 64Gb thumbdrive that had all the music we’d copied so far (nearly 200 albums). On random we reckoned it had more than 3,000 tracks to choose from. Mike was pleased with it. At 10.45 am we turned left on to the Speiskanal running down to the lock at Neuhaus. The trees along the banks of the canal showed lots of signs of beaver damage and the largest trees near the canal

Workmen before they spotted us
and trees protected from beaver attacks

all had wire mesh around their bases to keep the rodents at bay. A couple of blokes with a tractor watched and waved as we went by – you could see that look on their faces “Well, I’ve never seen anything like that before!” Tied to the floating box above the lock and Mike went to find the lock keeper. He was just emerging from the workshop next to the lock house. The young man pressed the buttons to drop the road barriers and lift the bridge as the top end lock gates were opening. This lock is rectangular with offset gates, built to pass two working boats at a time and ensures that the

Above Neuhaus lock on the Speiskanal

first one in is the first one out as it enters through gates on the left side of the chamber then has to move over to the right to let the second boat in alongside him but the first boat is now facing the bottom end gates which are on the right hand side of the chamber. There are still quite a few locks like this about, mostly in the Netherlands, but only on what we’ll consider as “remainder” waterways, ie with little or no commercial traffic. I put our centre rope around a bollard on the left hand wall and we dropped down about

A white-tailed eagle in flight. R Spree

a metre. We crossed the little Wergensee lake and went on to the river Spree which flows off to the right and we went left, heading upstream. The Spree is a lovely little river here, winding through open farmland edged with alders or through bits of forest. Within ten minutes we saw two mink ambling along the edge of the river bank, fields with flocks of geese grazing and loads of duck and swans, plus a stork flew overhead. Two cruisers went past heading downstream, Ramona at KP110.5 and Ahette 

Mink, checking the river bank.

at KP112, while I was cooking bacon and egg butties for lunch. There was a coot fight going on in the little lake called Oegelnischer, they ignored us completely and kept on sparring. There were several fishermen on the banks as we neared the town of Beeskow. On into the town, passing a huge factory on the outskirts. The lock at Beeskow used to be a big bottleneck as it worked automatically every half hour whether there were any boats in it or not, on the hour it filled and on the half hour it emptied – but not anymore! Now it works like the other DIY German locks and is automatic, pull the blue rod out from the

Control rod abv Beeskow lock. R Spree

wall and it operates the lock, same thing when inside the chamber and we went up less than half a metre. All through the town there were moorings for small boats at various restaurants and cafés, then at the far end of town there was a large marina (virtually empty) but we carried on round the next bend then tied the bows to a dead tree and chucked two small anchors out from the stern and had a great wild mooring next to reed beds one side and a small lake on the other. It was 3 pm. Mike added a mud weight to keep the boat next to the reeds. We hadn’t been tied up long when a fisherman went past in a small open boat with an inboard engine. There were marked nets on the far side of the lake, but not his, as he went straight on heading into Beeskow.

Beeskow lock and weir. R Spree