Thursday 10th April 2014 EHS – Müllrose 20.9 kms no locks

Setting off from MYCEH in the rain after our winter mooring there.

5.7°C Cold wind, heavy showers until mid-afternoon. Mike saw Christian and paid him for the electricity that we’d used over-winter. He said anytime we wanted to come again just give him a ring. Topped up the water tank, hauled the electric cable in and set off at 10.45 a.m. Nothing moving on the Oder-Spree-Kanal (OSK) and no commercial boats moored just beyond the first bridge only the old Czech boat Brussow and few old tugs by the former bunker station. It was 7°C, the wind was blowing straight in our faces and it was raining when we set off – something we said we weren’t going to do but

Old boats at the former bunker station EHS

 if we took note of the weather forecast we wouldn’t be setting off this week at all. Eko-stahl was chucking out great clouds of yellow-orange smoke as we went past the cupola. After the steel works there was a man fishing next to a tent on the right hand bank, so we’re not the only mad ones about! Ducks flew off in front, landed and took off again until they decided to circle round then there were more ducks to do the same thing. The trees on the left bank had been chewed by beaver and their “snacks” – small branches stripped of all their bark – were floating in the

A chewed tree soon to be toppled.

canal. More of this damage was to be seen all along the canal. A pair of swans took off in front and did the same as the ducks, landing and taking off until they were in the territory of another pair who did likewise. I made a nice hot cup of tea to warm us up a bit, it didn’t work too well – I went in and put my winter boots on and added an extra fleece layer. Still cold, it’s the wind. The arched metal section for the new road bridge at KP118 was almost ready for sliding across into position. Mike took a photo of a couple of deer that were grazing on the canal bank just beyond the layby at Rautenkrantz. I took photos of the two arms leading into the now derelict

Deer grazing by the Oder-Spree-Kanal

Brieskower kanal and the little houses along its banks at Schlaubehammer. The village of Kaisermühl now has a footbridge which has made its ferry redundant - it is now on the bank as an ornament next to a section of bank marked as a sport boat mooring (too short for us and we’re pushing on to Müllrose anyway). Two more kilometres and we were tying up (with an audience of two guys from the local canoe school, both taking photos with their phones) to wooden posts on the new piled quay at the little town of Müllrose. It was 2.15 pm. A sign said 48 hours but there were two cruisers moored there that looked permanent and we filled the rest of

Moored at Mullrose - and the rain stopped

the space. Put all the gear away. Typically it had stopped raining just before we landed.