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Sunday 14 July 2013

Saturday 13th July 2013 Celle to abv Hademstorf lock. R.Aller. 46.7kms 3 locks.


Water from river Fuhse joins the Aller
Warm and sunny, but cold North wind, very breezy. Set off at 9.15 am following the young German couple with their little Bayliner boat called Calon back down the river Aller. Snail followed on behind us. It was deceptively calm as we left the basin, there appeared to be no current as we were going downstream with it. We had engine revs set to do 5kph but we were doing 7kph, therefore there was a flow of 2kph as we went past the prison. There was one small cruiser on the Yacht Club moorings below the railway bridge.
Power station at Oldau lock
 I took photos of the flow coming out of the old river at KP2 and the sandspits. Three inflatable dinghies with big outboard motors that must have been launched in Celle overtook us; they chose their time to overtake us and did it slowly before zipping off downriver. A couple in a canoe were drifting in mid-channel and didn’t hear us coming, so Mike gave them a beep on the hooter to get them to move, which they did and we said thanks as we went past them. Mike increased speed to 6.5kph but we were doing 8kph according to the GPS, 
Ferry at Oldau
so the current was flowing at 1.5kph, not too bad yet. Another speedboat overtook us, again slowly so the steerer could get a good look at the boat before he upped the power and raced off downriver. The biting flies were out – I felt one bite (middle of my bare back) and smacked it with my hand and killed it. On went the insect repellent. When we arrived at Oldau the boats from Celle were organising some sort of slalom course above the lock. Calon was in the lock with the gates closed. 
WSA workshop above Oldau lock
We tied to the waiting area and Snail came alongside. Marlon, the young man with the little cruiser, said that the old man on sticks had come along and told him to close the gates so that people could cross the lock. Then someone else came and pressed the buttons and he couldn’t get it to open the gates again. We waited and eventually he managed to reset the controls and got the gates open so we could go in. Quite a crowd had gathered to watch and the Havenmeister from Celle, Herr Bornemann, came to ask how the trip down the river had been. 
Boat club house in a boat on land
Above Bannetze lock
Marlon had said that his boat’s propeller had hit the bottom once, but we’d been OK. We thanked him and he went back to the boat club festivities above Oldau lock. The youngsters worked the lock again, but there was another speedboat coming uphill so they left the gates open and went out first, followed by Snail and us last this time. It was very narrow and bendy below Oldau and we upped the speed to 7.5kph to do 9kph downriver and keep up with the Snail. 
At KP16.5 a couple in their thirties, paddling an Indian canoe came upriver. We were skimming past trees at what seemed an enormous rate of knots after the way we’d crawled upriver. Took photos of the clubhouse (a boat on land) at the WMCA at KP21. The people on the boats on their moorings waved as we sped past. There was a waterskiing zone about a kilometre above the next lock, three speedboats with big outboards were moored, crews having lunch, and one was zipping up and down towing a skier. The water got a bit excited for a while as we went round the wider bends above Bannetze lock. The cruiser was in the lock, tied to the pontoon. As we followed Snail in, Marlon closed the gates, then his girlfriend at the far end of the lock opened the paddles and he rejoined his boat. 
Below Bannetze lock
She opened the gates when the lock had emptied, we left and Marlon brought Calon out and moored below the lock while she closed the gates. Glad that they worked the lock as there was still a WSA workboat tied on the one end of the pontoon for working the lock, so we couldn’t have tied to that, we’d have had to tie to the workboat. We dodged around the sandbanks below the lock where the river came in from our left and followed Snail downriver. We overtook three canoes full of camping gear whose crews were paddling gently downstream. Marlon caught us up and asked if we were using VHF Marine radio and we said yes, he asked which channel – we were on channel six. He said he could only listen as he hadn’t passed his test yet. We said he could try his handheld radio to see that it worked OK. It didn’t. 
Calon and a passing party boat
We could hear him as he was close behind us, but Oll who was in front couldn’t hear him. Transmit needs checking out. He said he’d do the test and buy a new radio, someone had given him that one. A party boat that looked like a double-decker raft with an outboard motor came past us heading upriver with a group of about a dozen young men on board, drinking beer and singing loudly – glad we won’t be mooring anywhere near them tonight. Marlon had phoned the lock keeper so that Marklendorf lock was ready when we got there; the keeper opened the gates as we arrived. It was 2.50 pm. The keeper said he had another boat due at that lock before he closed at five pm and that meant we wouldn’t get through the next one before he had to drive back up to this one, so Mike booked him for 9 am next day and said we’d moor overnight above Hademstorf. 
Moored above Hademstorf lock
However, Calon wound up the speed so he was down at Hademstorf within the hour so he could get through the lock and carry on down to Rethem as he, like Mike, was getting a bit concerned about the dropping water levels in the river. It was 3.20 pm when we left the bottom of Marklendorf, there was no chance that we could get to Hademstorf in an hour as it was getting on for 12kms. Two small open speedboats were moored on the little staging not far beyond the lock. Their crews all waved. On under the A7 motorway bridge. Road traffic was busy as it was Saturday. Made a cuppa and we wound our way round the bends down to the lock. Arrived at 4.35 pm and moored next to Snail on the waiting area above Hademstorf lock.

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