Tuesday 16th July 2013 Verden to abv Drakenburg lock. 41.5 kms 2 locks

Tug Buffel waiting to swap pans for the dredging gang

Grey, misty, murky start; sunny and hot later, getting murky again in the late evening. It was only 15°C when we set off at nine but that was soon to change. Down the last four kilometres of the Aller and turned left to go upriver on the Weser. A small speedboat cruiser was heading uphill fairly slowly until it cleared the junction, then the steerer wound it up and soon disappeared from sight. The first commercial went past at KP 323.5 by the first road bridge, Wilka 80m long from Magdeburg, loaded with sand, followed shortly after by another loaded boat Lübbenau (80m). 

The dredger at Nedderhode

Upstream of the road bridge Liane (67m) was unloading sand and a WSA tug Büffel with an empty pan was waiting by a dredger in mid-river with the bows of the pan stuffed up the bank and prop turning to keep it there. We went past the dredger to its left on the left side of the river as it was taking sand out of the bend on the right hand side at KP 322.5, Neddernhode. More sand, Wesertrans (77m x 8.20m) came downstream. The sun was starting to burn off the mist just after ten. The flow wasn’t as bad as we expected, around 1.5kph, and the depth ranged between 4.5 to 6m. Next loaded boat, Jupiter (80 x 8.20m 1058 tonnes), went past on a left hand bend at KP320.5 and a container barge, Dione (84.75m x 9.50m 1,338 tonnes) about a kilometre later. 

Britta 85m long heading for an 85m long lock
with cruisers following 

Two kayaks loaded with camping gear were being paddled downriver by two men at KP317. Shortly afterwards a black kite flew over and landed in the field on our right. We arrived at Dörverden lock as an empty called Ambulant (68.5m) overtook us. He went into the empty chamber of the short lock (85m) as a tug and pan and two cruisers left the lock heading downriver. The small WSA pan and tug that was moored in Verden haven and left while we were there at 6.30 am the day before, was working on the building site that was the big lock chamber. We tied on the pontoon below the lock and Snail came alongside. About an hour later the cry went up, it’s our turn we’ve got a green light! 

Sheep sheltering from the sun under bridge 54

The bollards in the right hand wall were very old ones with bars attached to them, so I had to thread the rope through each one as the lock filled. No problem, it filled very slowly. As we left the lock we moved over to the left so that the loaded sand barge, Britta (85 x 9.20m, 1307 tonnes), had a straight run into the chamber. There were four cruisers following it, one had already tied up on the pontoon, but a large Dutch cruiser kept following, as did a large German cruiser behind him. No sooner the barge was in the lock than the gates started to close and the red lights came on. Sorry, no room, only 85m long and the boat filled that! There was a whole flock of sheep crammed in together in the shade under bridge 54 at Lohof. More sand went downriver at KP303.5 carried by a barge called Hildegard. 

Liane rushing upriver to get another load of sand

Took photos of a now empty Liane (67m x 7.11m 724 tonnes) rushing upriver to get another load of sand, overtaking Snail. A downstream barge hooted, the skipper had a big grin on his face, he waved madly. Mike hooted back and waved enthousiastically. Two storks were walking the edge of a field where the farmer had just been cutting grass. Two cruisers came downriver; the first one was trying to water the fields with his wash. The sand quay at KP290.5 was empty. The flow rate had increased a bit as we were down to 5.5kph. There was hardly a breeze, several wind generators were revolving so slowly you could barely see the movement. The red roofs of Schweringen came into view and there were cows grazing the flood defence banks. A couple were launching a speedboat just downstream of the ferry at Schweringen and, as there was no quay to tie to, the wife was standing in the river holding on to the boat while husband drove the car and trailer back up the ramp and young son (already in the boat) put his lifejacket on. The lady ferry operator at Schweringen waited until we’d passed before nipping across the river between us and Snail to pick up a guy on a motorbike from the other bank.

In Drakenburg lock with Theresia and a speedboat

Another speedboat was fast catching up with Snail. At KP285 there was another stork’s nest with young ones on top of an old chimney stack. The first speedboat went past with two young lads in it; we wobbled in the wash for a few minutes. Not long after that the one that had been launching came past, again we wobbled in its wash. Our speed had dropped to 5.3kph as we were approaching the lock cut so Mike wound it up a bit. He called Minden on VHF channel 61 and got a torrent of German back! Not a word did we understand. Mike said we didn’t understand and got another long sentence and guessed something was coming down. Liegeplatz? Liegeplatz, ja! The two lads with the speedboat (the other one must have gone up the long weirstream) were tied to the pontoon, they moved to the top end and I asked if they were waiting for the lock. Yes. Twenty minutes they’d been told. We tied front and middle to the pontoon and Snail came alongside. Soon after we arrived the lock emptied and loaded sand barge Lüssen 14 came down. The gates remained open with red lights on. Ha! Something coming to go up the lock, hope we can get in too. Loaded boat Theresia (67m x 8.20m, 849 tonnes) arrived and went in slowly, the lights changed to green and we went in following the speedboat. The lock filled slowly with the commercial right up the front, rising ropeless as most of them seem to do in these river locks. It was just 6 pm as we tied on to the pontoon. The kids in the speedboat continued upriver.