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| Below Drakenberg schleuse. R. Weser |
Heavy rain in the night, lots of
grey clouds and sunny spells until we tied up, then we had torrential rain on
the edge of a thunderstorm. Mike was going to move the car first but changed
his mind. There was an empty called Wendy coming up in the lock, it cleared,
then after getting the OK from Minden controllers we followed a loaded boat
called Johanna into the lock. It was just after ten. Mike set the generator up
(so I could do some washing and ironing), while we dropped down 6.40m in
Drakenberg schleuse. Below the lock Albatros was waiting, tied to the dolphins,
and Helga was catching up to share the lock.
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| Stork on a chimney |
When they built the new locks and
weirs on the Weser they added small locks in some of the weirs and there is one
at Drakenberg, 23m long by 6.60m wide, called a prahmschleuse, it’s located
next to the hydroelectric power station on the weir. To work through the lock it’s
necessary to call the WSA and book in advance. At KP289 there used to be a
ferry a tethered to a chain fastened mid stream, which went across the river by
angleing into the flow, without the use of an engine. The slipways had been
rebuilt and the new ferry operates on suspended wires 7.5m above the river. A
lorry went across on it just before we got there. Close by the river we passed
a stork standing on a tall metal chimney.
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| Cable ferry at KP289 R. Weser |
Shortly after that a seagull was
chancing his luck by attacking a buzzard. At KP291 a loaded boat called Anni
Stühff from Minden went past heading upriver with a cruiser following it (not
seen many cruisers moving the last couple of days). A loaded boat called
Mariëlla and an empty called Roger went past heading upriver while I was in the
cabin ironing and doing the vacuuming. We paused on the quay at Hoya while Mike
disconnected the drive. The long quay in the town had no restrictions for sport
boats mooring on it but the only boat there had moored right at the downstream
end, leaving as much space as possible for any commercials which might want to
stop there.
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| Dorverden locks. R.Weser |
It was 12.15 pm when we set off again. I made some lunch. Berlena
loaded with 1,296 tonnes of coal went past heading, no doubt, for the coal
fired power station at Lahde. Mississippi went past heading upstream, empty.
Mike had chatted with the skipper when we were in Minden and had asked him
where the chandlery was – there wasn’t one. He leaned out of the wheelhouse and
waved. We rolled on down the winding river and just had time to finish lunch
before we arrived at the lock at Dörverden. There are twinned locks here, the
old one at 85m and the new one at 225m long, both are still here, but only the short
lock seems to be in use and lots of work was going on around the long lock.
Black clouds were gathering. We tried calling Minden on the intercom on the
pontoon, but got no answer, maybe because there was a storm coming. Managed to
get tied up before it started to pour down. It was 1.45 pm. Rain came down so
hard we couldn’t see the lock for a white mist!
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