Monday 5th August 2013 Deetz to Spandau R Havel. 44.6 kms 1 lock

A bank of weed at the top end of Treblesee

On the 3rd August we heard from the Snails who had reached Wittenberge on the Elbe where they had been stopped by the Wasserschutspolitzei and fined for not having the correct licence and not having a pilot. They had a police escort part way down the Elbe next day. It appears that our ICCs (helmsman's certificates) are not recognised by the German authorities for boats over 15m long. The trip to Poland is now off again as the Snails had to tell the Police when they would be leaving Germany, so they are going to winter in the Netherlands.

Sunny start then cloudy, sunny and hot again late afternoon. We were up early (6.30 am) to get a good start. The woman off the little boat hat had moored  in front of us overnight went off on a bike with a bag. Didn’t see any shops in Deetz, maybe she knows something we don’t. We set off at 7.20 am with a golden oriole singing merrily away in the trees by the basin. I rinsed more dead mayflies (how can you have mayflies in August?) off the roof as we went full pelt out of the basin so we could drift through most of the weed bed and not collect it on the prop. 

Widening work on Sacrow-Paretzer kanal

An empty commercial had already gone past. Back into the marked channel and we continued upstream on the river Havel as it ran through its many lakes. Took a photo of a big bank of green weed on the surface at the end of the Treblesee. We were overtaken by a loaded tanker called Christoph as we entered the channel between the islands at KP386. Mike was glad to see that the ferry at Ketzin was still working as he would need that later to get back to the car. Into the Sacrow-Paretzer kanal. 

Heilandskirche, now restored.

A loaded Polish Bromberger, now registered in Berlin, went past heading downriver – the skipper waved. An empty was catching us up. Mike had to throw half his tea away as a very large cleg (type of bloodsucking horsefly) had taken a swim in it and drowned. I made him another cuppa later. Under the A10 autobahn bridge then the empty, Trans 2, overtook us at the entrance to the Schlänitzsee, a small lake. Two fishermen in a small open motorboat with a high upturned bow had just collected fish from the staked nets around the little lake and one of them was sorting them, throwing the small ones overboard, which the seagulls were attempting to catch before they swam away.

Gleinicker bridge - the bridge of spies

 Mike took the sunshade down as the sky had clouded over and we now had a cold wind blowing in our faces. Back on the Sacrow-Paretzer kanal. The first cruiser of the morning went past at KP23 heading in the opposite direction. Shortly afterwards WSP boat number 8 overtook us, crew waving cheerily. Into the Weissersee, another small lake on the course of the Havel and there was a sign to say work would start in the section KP21 to KP19 in June 2013 and finish at the end of Nov 2014. They were widening and piling the banks of the narrow section as it went into the Jungfernsee, a much larger lake that gradually opened out like a cornet with a choice of directions we could take from either of the ends of the widest bit. 

Alte Meierie - the diary in the new garden

We went for the northeast exit, which passes the Sarcower Lanke and joins the Wannsee, the long Havel lake that is Berlin’s playground. Took photos of the Glienicker bridge or bridge of spies as it became known during the Cold War. As we got nearer to the big lake the traffic got heavier with Potsdam water taxis, sail boats, cruisers, commercials and trip boats besides speedboats and rowing boats, all taking their own course through the lake, it was complete mayhem for a while. Near Sacrow we passed the now restored Heilandskirche, Protestant Church of the Redeemer, whose campanile (bell tower) had been incorporated into the Berlin Wall and the church became inaccessible until the Wall came down in 1989. 

Lustschloss on Pfaueninsel

Passing to the southeast of the Pfaueninsel (Peacock island) with its wooden castle, built as a ruin at the end of the 18^th century by Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II for his favourite mistress, we headed north into the Wannsee where we were surrounded by boats and trippers - the restaurant boat Moby Dick (yes, it was built to look like a whale) went off to the southeast into the Grosse Wannsee and a Tom Sawyer raft (really, looks like another floating shed), powered by a little outboard motor, bobbed about in the wash from a trip boat. 

Beautiful old boathouse. Pfaueninsel.

On past the Schwanenwerder island on our right and beyond it the Grunewald, the 16c hunting reserve of the Prince-electors, which is still the home of deer, stags and wild boar. From the midst of the forest looms the red brick Grunewaldturm (tower) built in 1887 by Kaiser (Bill) Wilhelm I. More and more sailing boats were starting to emerge on to the lake and trip boats went here, there and everywhere. Where the lake narrows at its northern end there were several yacht harbours on either side. 

Moby Dick

Past many moored commercials before the tankstelle, Shell bunker station, in Spandau, then the moorings for sport boats on the right before the junction with the river Spree (which was flowing quite well, we had to increase revs) then to the left, with the Citadel in the background hidden by trees, was the rebuilt Spandau lock. We hovered with two cruisers (one on each of the two waiting places) while three cruisers came out of the lock chamber that had just emptied. 

Top of  the Grunewaldturm

Waited for the lights to change to green, which seemed to take ages, then a third cruiser followed us in. Another wait before the gate closed behind us (just in case there were more little boats?) and we rose 1.9m gently, until a WSP boat arrived above, then it filled more quickly. WSP 11 called Mollymauk, had a good look and the steerer just about acknowledged our waves. On upriver to the new mooring by the new flats in Spandau. One large cruiser was already moored there and, as we turned to moor, a cheeky beggar in a small cruiser plonked himself on the end of the mooring we were aiming for. Luckily for him there was plenty of space as we tucked up behind the big cruiser. It was 3 pm.