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| Lahde coal-fired power station |
White clouds, sunny spells,
windy; sunny afternoon, temperature increased and wind dropped. Set off 10.05
am following Snail downstream and into the lock cut, which was 8.3 kms long and
cuts off several big loops of the river. In an arm off the canal was an
unloading wharf for coal for the coal-fired power station at Ladhe. We had a
short wait above Petershagen-Windheim lock (again, the locks are remotely
operated from Minden) while a WSA tug pulling a workboat came up the lock
backwards and moored on the dolphins opposite.
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| Luna in Petershagen schleuse. R.Weser |
Meanwhile a little cruiser
called Luna from Hamburg caught up and went into the lock while we were
untying. They said they were making for Nienburg and asked what speed we
travelled at. The locks on the Weser are big, 224m long by 12m wide. We dropped
down 6m using our centre rope and Mike held on to it while I made us coffee. A
loaded 67m tanker called Elisabeth went into the lock as we left it. It had a board
on the side saying German Radio language in Germany is in German (this is about
the EU plan to make all ship’s radio traffic in the EU in English) The cruiser
was soon out of sight.
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| WSA boats which had just come up the lock backwards |
In a little over a kilometre we were back on the river.
A black kite followed us, searching our prop wash for stunned fish – sorry he
found none. Greylag geese and Egyptian geese were grazing the fields and we
passed groups of swans as we went on downriver. The river went off to our right
as we entered the next lock cut leading to Schlüselburg schleuse where sheep
were grazing the sloping banks. We could see through binoculars that the
cruiser Luna was tied to the pontoon above the lock. Two cruisers came up the
lock then the gates closed behind them and the lights went to red.
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| Moored on the pontoon above Landsbergen schleuse |
As we
approached the lock the gates reopened and the lights went to green and we
followed Luna into the lock (we guessed they’d make him wait for us) and
dropped down 4.5m. Mike held the string again while I made lunch. On downstream
with a red kite soaring above the river, then a couple of rough-legged buzzards
also seeking thermals just before a big sand and gravel pit. The river was
edged in places with stone groynes marked with red and white posts topped with
red cones. At Stolenzau there was a barge named Anton from Bremen loading with
gravel opposite the quay wall where we had stopped previously. The quay was
empty and it had been grassed and there was a line of campervans about 30m
beyond the quay and downstream of it was a caravan site with small boats moored
along the rough river edge.
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| Landsbergen schleuse from the tail end bridge. |
We followed the Snail on downstream. It was 2 pm
and getting warmer. There were lots more birds, soaring buzzards, swooping
swallows and grazing geese. At 3.15 pm we arrived above Landesbergen lock and
found Luna on the mooring waiting for us. Mike put our bows on the end of the
pontoon and I stepped off to ask the skipper if he would ask Minden on the
intercom if we could stop overnight on the pontoon. No problem, he called them
and they said OK and asked if we needed electric. Nice idea but no thanks. I
told them the last time we stopped here there had been a lock keeper to ask!
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| Bootsgasse for canoes and small rowing boats, alongside Landsbergen schleuse |
The loaded boat Anton arrived and went into the lock so Luna untied and
followed him in. We got tied up and Snail came alongside. Gave Mike a hand to
unload the moped as he was going to retrieve the car from Petershagen. A lady
with a wedge-shaped fast cruiser (a Princess 18) called Pegasus came alongside
and Mike and I helped her tie alongside Snail as she was single-handed. She
said that Minden had told her she would have to wait an hour. As it happens she
didn’t have to wait that long, a commercial came up and she went off into the
lock. She told us she was from Berlin and was going to Nienburg then on to
Bremen. At 5 pm a containership came up the lock. At six a commercial came up
and came out of the lock doing a Grand Prix start, I thought he was trying to
rip us off the bank. At 6.30 pm two came up the lock, an empty and a loaded
Polish boat. Busier than we thought it was going to be.
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