Saturday 17th May 2014 Haste to Nordholz. 31kms no locks

Catamaran called Eat Me

5.6°C Cold and misty, visibility about four to five kilometres but very grey, no signs of the distant hills. Still cold. Sun out much later in the afternoon. Boats were moving from first light as always. All the boats had gone from the quay we were moored at, including the large cruiser behind us when Mike got up at 7 am. The little yacht with outriggers that we photographed yesterday went past early. Mike put the pins in to run the Markon and we set off at 8.20 am. An empty called Franada from Gräben (67mx8m 699T) went past at KP137, followed by a loaded

Confidence, a loaded Dutch boat, hardly a ripple.

boat called Lusitania (82mx8.2m 1860T) from Schwante, (it had a website www.ms-lusitania.de written on the cabin). Poseidon from Berlin-D (67mx7.2m 736T) loaded with scrap metal went past at KP136, just before Idensermoor bridge. Idensermoor boat club had grown, the offline basin had been extended and was packed with boats. An empty tanker called Elan (80mx9m 1400T) from Hamburg overtook us just after the road bridge as Gota an empty from Duisburg

Passing boats pulling the water - the stones should be underwater.

(86mx9.5m 1380T) went past. It was followed by Ruth, loaded with coal. Morgenstond (70mx7.2m 1030T) a loaded boat from Groningen NL with a large playpen on the hold covers went past at KP134, followed by Jupiter (80mx8.2m 1059T) a loaded boat from Ostrh(hauder)-Fehn and a loaded Bromberger PL. Views were opening up between the stands of trees of fields and villages, but still no signs of the distant hills. At KP131 we were overtaken by an 80m loaded boat called Charon from Papenburg and another loaded boat Jantje (85mx9m 1425T) from Nieuwelande NL, the latter went past with hardly a ripple, lovely

Cormorant watching the traffic going past his little lake

shaped hull. At KP130 an empty called Charlien (79.3mx8.27m 1060T) from Hamburg went past. The catamaran called Eat Me was still on the bank a bit further on, more photos, it was there last year. At KP129 Balge (100mx9.5m 1822T) from Weyhe went past, loaded with coal slack. I went in to cook some part-baked bread buns for lunch and change over loads of washing. Loads of boats had gone by and we’d done 10kms by the time I sat out with a cuppa as we were going through another shallow cutting through woods at KP119.5. A Dutch

A very unusual boat

cruiser went past with navi lights on, followed by a German cruiser called Troll from Verden (we were there last year – on the R Aller) and its crew were waving as we passed the silo quay at Meerbeck. A winding hole had a board with dimensions, max 80m length and depth 2m. Three boats were coming towards us and two were getting ready to overtake us. A duck flew across right under our bows – playing chicken?? Empty Nebokanezer (85mx9m 1437T) went past followed by Bonata (80mx8.20m 1084T) from Wrocław PL at Br158. At the same time as loaded boat Confidence (62mx8.2m 900T) from Krimpen-a-d-Ijsser NL was

Busy Mittellankanal. View of Porta Westfalica
and you can just see the monument to Kaiser Bill
sticking up on the skyline halfway up the slope of the hill

overtaking us a loaded 85m boat called Silvia went past. We got stuck on Confidence’s stern wave – had to stop the washing machine so Mike could slow the engine speed down and drop off the stern wave. The skipper looked back to check, he knew what was happening and waved. I started the washing machine again, it has a rinse and spin function so I set it on that. At KP117 Mike took photos of Egyptian geese with goslings – the camera failed to focus – he’s threatening to buy a new one. At KP116.5 Christina overtook us (80mx9m) another Dutchman

Plaque on the 9 degree east longitude line by the mooring at Nordholz

from Groningen. Same thing happened, we got stuck on his stern wave and had to cut the generator. Set the machine going again on spin-dry. A cruiser called Hippo was trailing the last commercial and asked him on the VHF radio if he could overtake him. At KP116 Wild Katz an empty 80m boat from Minden went past, the cruiser overtook Christina and all went quiet for a while. At KP114.5 Morane (85mx9,5m 1404T) from Ibbenburen went past. Two more loaded boats were catching up. The trees on the left bank thinned out and we had views across the wheat

Just us moored at Nordholz. Quiet when they've all tied up for the night

fields to the village of Seidlung Baum and the distant grey hills of the Bückeberge beyond appeared at last. At KP113.5 an empty called Ascania (62.5mx6.20m 540T) from Datteln went past. Mike spotted a cormorant in an offline lake and took photos as an empty called Moa (78mx8m 1044T) a Dutchman from Leeuwarden went past. There was a cruiser moored at a private quay at the end of a garden at KP112.5 and a small boatyard had a crane and several boats out on the bank. A couple of small speedboats were zapping about (well, it is Saturday) and there was a very strange looking boat moored on the right, so we took photos of it. We were overtaken by Passant (80mx8.2m 1143T) NL from

Nordholz on the Mittellandkanal

Sliedrecht. At last we could see the Porta Westfalica (the Westphalian Gap) in the far distance and the monument on the hill to Kaiser Bill, the mist must be thinning out. The next boat overtook us, Moca (80mx8.2m 1057T) with a lovely old engine going kah-chunk, kah-chunk, kah-chunk, at about 120 revs per minute. Sweet sound. Someone was flying model aircraft as a bright red airplane flew over the trees and across the canal skimming over the trees. A cycling club was on an outing as loads of them went past waving and shouting hello. At KP108.5 an empty called Einigkeit (62mx6.4m 442T) from Hamburg went past followed by a loaded tanker called Tanja Deymann (84.3mx9.5m) making a lot of wash – Mike took photos of the water it pulled back along the bank. We stopped at KP107.5 Nordholz at the end of a long empty quay with silent wharves and unloading quays opposite. It was 1.30 pm and immediately a loaded boat called Ventura went past to test our ropes. OK, we’d got 3.2m under the bows according to the echo sounder. Lunch. Mike decided to leave the car where it is until we move beyond Minden as parking is a problem. Internet was a very good 3G signal Around 4.30 pm we had a visit from the police launch from Minden. A very pleasant crew, Mike went to the side doors to chat with them (excellent English) as they wanted to know the usual things, where we were from and how we got here – across the Channel, no the North Sea – pause – on a lorry on a big ferry boat to the Netherlands. Aah! Yes.