Wednesday 23rd April 2014 Wolzig to Schmöckwitz 31.6kms 1 lock

Misty morning Wolzigersee

10.2°C Grey skies and everywhere was wet after yesterday’s downpours. The sun burned through the mist by lunchtime, then late afternoon grey clouds rolled in but no rain fell. We set off at 9.10 am on to a misty, windless lake. Nothing but us moving on the Wolzigersee. There was a lone goldeneye duck fishing along the reed bed by the canal entrance. The first passing boat of the day was an inflatable powered by an outboard motor with two men in lifejackets which went by as we entered

More fishing nets and poles

the Langersee, winding our way through the fishing nets to the buoyed channel. We paused in the middle of the lake while Mike put the pins in to test the new washing machine on Markon power. Turned right into the Dahme channel leading to the Dolgensee. Both banks were lined with chalets and houses of all shapes and sizes, no two were alike with simple wooden bungalows next door to mansions. Under the footbridge and out on to the lake. It was still, dead flat calm and only two cruisers were anchored by the banks. In the far distance was a cruiser which had set off from

Recovered wreck. Abv Neue Muhle lock

the Langersee. The sun was still hazy but getting warmer. Two paddlers went past heading upstream, keeping to the edge of the lake. Mike went in the cabin and said that the washing machine had stopped and had an error code E5. I had to put the Internet on to find out what that was, overvoltage. Now that Mike knows it’s very fussy about voltage he’ll keep it below 230v, it must have gone higher when the heater went off. Had to turn the power off completely and start again. Put it on a cool programme as it had already heated the water. It started again OK and continued washing. I did the washing up

Painting the bollards. Neue Muhle lock

and kept an eye on it. Made a cuppa and sat out, except I caught the speed lever and increased power, shut it down again as soon as I did it but the machine had another error code LE – huh, it thinks the door is open! Switched it off again, Mike brought the engine back up to speed and I set it to rinse and spin (no manual advancing of stages of the programme like the old machine) and it said it would be 17 minutes. Mike said we’ll be at the lock in 12 minutes according to the GPS. I kept watch on it. It finished spinning as we reached the lock waiting area. I turned it all off

Loading pans with 1000 tonnes of brown coal

and we hung on the fence above Neue Mühle lock. Took photos of a boat strapped on a WSA workboat, the cruiser had been mostly submerged at the top end of the Langersee for ages. There were no signs of damage or fire so we wondered why it had sunk. The lock gates opened, there was a small open WSA workboat in the lock chamber on the left hand side and a guy was standing in it painting the bollards and ladders down to waterline with bright yellow paint. We went over to the right hand side and I held the string while Mike took the keeper a pot of

Empty pans waiting to be filled with brown coal

seedlings. A younger man, he spoke English and seemed pleased to have a present from the odd English boat. Below the lock the brown coal loading staithes were working again now the holidays were over. Took photos and waved to the crews and crane drivers as we went past. There was a train of filled pans waiting for a tug to deliver them to the big coal-fired power station on the Spree in the north of Berlin near Spandau. Not much was moving still, then a tug set off from the Möllenzugsee heading towards the coal loading staithes by the Nottekanal hafen. I made some sandwiches for lunch

Tug motoring out of the Mollenzugsee

and we ate it on the move. An open motor boat followed us up the Zeuthenersee. I took photos of the Kuhnle hire base, all their boats tucked up again after last weekend’s holiday. The boatyard next door to it was decked out with fluttering metallic bunting – a favourite here for dissuading birds from perching on yacht masts, etc, and covering the boats with bird pooh. A police helicopter circled as we motored on up the lake. Another designer shed went past heading upstream. A black kite took us by surprise, snatching a fish about a foot long from the water about 50m from us and taking off before we could get the camera switched on. The quay at Schmöckwitz was completely empty so we backed into the corner at 2.20 pm and tied up.