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| Silvia with a load of scrap metal. Bad Essen. MLK |
Grey skies all day, pouring with
rain when we got up. The commercial moorings were now empty. At 8 am one had
come in to moor right behind us and left his prop turning, when Mike looked out
he said it was a wonder it wasn’t going over our stern deck. He’d gone again
before nine. Fleeces, jackets and winter boots on as it was 12°C when we set
off in the rain at ten. We’d stayed for three days while Mike took his Mum home
and were pleased to find that Oll’s key worked in the blue electric boxes and
we had one near enough to the boats to plug into.
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| Antares landing at quay by KP71. MLK |
Before we left Oll checked
the electric supply, we’d used just over 2€ the day before for the two boats.
Silvia, a Belgian boat from Antwerp went past loaded with about 1500 tonnes of
scrap metal. Two kilometres further on loaded boats Alm (Dutch, 1500 tonnes)
and Avaro (Belgian 1300 tonnes) went past. The canal banks along this section
were covered in ox-eye daisies. At KP64 Orca from Papenburg (German 1600
tonnes) went past, followed by a Danish cruiser. Another cruiser was overtaking
Serfra, a Dutch boat (820 tonnes) from Zwolle, loaded with rebar, at KP65.
Another cruiser was fast catching it up. We could see glimpses of the misty
hills of the Wiehengebirge where there were gaps in the trees on the right hand
bank of the canal.
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| Canal workmen's accommodation boat. KP74 MLK |
Villages were mostly hidden by the trees and larger towns,
like Preussisch Oldendorf and Lübbecke were further away from the canal at the
foot of the hills. It was quiet for a few kilometres, the rain still poured
down. At KP67 a Czech tug with twin props was pushing two loaded pans totalling
2387 tonnes. He was followed by a German 1500 tonner, called Heinrich from
Haren-Ems. Mike made a cuppa while we had another 2 kms of calm water. Peace
was shattered at KP69 when Stadt Lindenfels from Hoerstal (1,329 tonnes) went
past. For some reason known only to the bridge builders the bridge after number
70 was numbered 101! Two cyclists wrapped in rain ponchos stopped to take photos
of the boats as we passed them.
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| Diver in the canal. Yellow helmet showing. KP74 MLK |
A surprise for us at Br 102 when a passing WSA
tug and workboat called Gehle shouted “Welcome in Germany!” (twice) on his PA
system. Two cruisers were catching him up, we bounced around in their wash for
a while. Passed a yacht haven in a layby at KP70.5 by the little town of
Getmold, then beyond the next bridge was a long commercial haven, starting with
a sand quay and finishing with a wood yard. A loaded boat called Antares (1,130
tonnes) was heading for the quay, so we moved off to the left out of his way. A
cruiser went past followed by Lesath from Hamburg loaded with 1,500 tonnes of
scrap metal. As we passed a mooring at KP73 we’d once used which was next to a
country “pub” that was very busy on sunny days, a loaded Polish boat called Ola
from Bydgoszcz went past. The mooring was the usual paltry 50m at the end of a
quay, the rest of which was exclusively for commercials, which stretched from
Br 106 to Br 107 a distance of a kilometre.
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| We fill the "sport" boat moorings. Behind us, as far as you can see, is mooring reserved for commercials. KP89 MLK |
At midday it was still cold with a
sky full of grey clouds, but at least the rain had stopped. We passed a
workmen’s accommodation boat with a van on the towpath and a crane. At the end
of the crane arm was a diver on a platform being supplied with air from the
bank, he was working on something on the piling below the water, we could just
see the top of the yellow diving helmet. Today the birdsong was dominated by
the song of yellowhammers. Lunch on the move as we passed another yacht haven
near Lübbecke. Wilka from Magdeburg was loaded with sand as he passed us at
KP81. A German-flagged Dutch botter caught us up and overtook, its steerer was
kitted out for arctic weather – it was only 14°C. A row of green buoys guided
boats over to the left hand side of the canal passing under bridge 118 where
work was in progress on the bridge.
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| Mooring at Hille KP89 MLK |
A sign said no passing so we hung back
while loaded boat Weserbergerland (884 tonnes) from Querfort went through
first. A smart Dutch cruiser was following it, nice boat shame about the wash
it was creating. The first empty boat we’d seen for ages went past us in a
rush, a tankership called Tessa from Oosterhout (1,112 tonnes) followed by two
pans of road chippings (2,437 tonnes) being pushed by Polish tug Fabrico 3 from
Szczecin. The next was a loaded Dutch boat at KP85.5 called Hendrika from
Nijmegen. We tied up at Hille, KP89, on a mooring that said it was 50m long (we
filled it with our combined length of 39m) at the end of another kilometre long
piled quay exclusively for commercial craft. No sooner had we tied up than two
loaded boats passed, one in each direction, passing right by us to test our
ropes. Next to the mooring was a wooden shed that looked just like a bus
shelter so we went to investigate. Actually it was a sort of “bus” shelter as a
tripper runs from Minden to Bad Essen on the first and third Sundays from April
until October and this is a stopping place for it.
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