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.