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| The marked channel through Butzsee |
Grey and overcast, then cloudy
with a few sunny spells, torrential rain and distant thunder after lunch. Mike
went to Netto in the car to get some bread buns before we set off at 10.20 am with
the plate in to run the gennie and do some washing. I made a cuppa and sat out
to drink it as we went through the nature reserve, passing islands with loads
of yellow owl notices “Naturschutzgebiet”. There were no boats moored anywhere
but there was one fisherman in a little boat, didn’t think that was allowed in
a nature reserve.
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| The waiting area below Altefriesack lock |
Took photos of some big mushrooms growing on trees around
KP18. A self-built shed on a pontoon went past and a Bungalow Boat, then some
canoes and nude men swimming. Two cruisers went past and Mike shouted for help
as he was having a cleg attack – dozens of them – probably the result of a
tractor doing something in a field beyond the trees out of sight but within
hearing distance. Paused briefly next to some stumps and Mike slung a rope
around one while he took the plate out, a cruiser overtook us and went past
without speaking. I made some sandwiches for lunch and we ate them as we went
across the Bützsee.
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| Fungus growing on trees |
Our chart says this lake is a “sog” (couldn’t find a
sensible translation for that) and to keep within the marked channel. There was
no depth marked on the chart but it seemed to be around 3.5m deep in the
channel. Past a big island at the end of the lake where a large white floating
shed had been stooging around until we got closer then they took off towards
the back of the island, well out of the marked channel. We left the lake on a
short canal leading to Altefriesack lock (a staircase whose bottom chamber is
only used when boats have a draught greater than 90cm) at KP29. It was 1 pm.
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| Altefriesack lock |
The cruiser which had overtaken us while we had paused to take the plate out
was waiting on the lock waiting area. Mike went to check the lock opening times
and found that the lock keeper has lunch from 12 until 2 pm. Another hour of
waiting time for a lock. I did some crochet and Mike cleaned some dirty marks
off the white paint, them he went to take some photos of the lock and suddenly
realised it was a staircase, he’d forgotten! The lock emptied at 2 pm and we
followed the cruiser straight into the top chamber. Bollards were in awkward
places and we ended up doing fore and aft ropes and they weren’t quite far
enough apart, good thing it was only a metre rise.
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| Altefriesack lock |
The lock keeper (a middle
aged bloke) opened the liftbridge above the lock and then stood chatting with
the skipper off the cruiser while the lock filled. It took twenty minutes to
fill and the water level in the lock was lower the marks on the chamber walls –
was this a result of the dry weather we’d had lately, we wondered. A short section
of canal ran between smart bungalows with very neat gardens and then we were at
the southern end of the Ruppinersee, a 14 kms long, wide, deep, winding lake.
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| Carved tree above Altefriesack lock |
Not long after we’d started up the lake it started to rain quite heavily, but
it didn’t last long. Mike got the brolly out but didn’t put it up as the rain
stopped and the parasol started to dry out again. Two floating sheds went past
heading slowly down the lake towards Altefriesack. Several small cruisers and
sailing boats were anchored around the edges of the lake. A small open
speedboat came down the lake towards us doing about 40kph – what 25kph speed
limit! On the big bend before Neuruppin a yacht came towards us sailing gently
down the lake so we went left to keep well out of his way in case he needed to
turn or tack. A trip boat, Kronprinz Friedrich, came out from the corner also
heading our way, plus a small cruiser. The sun came out again, but only
briefly, as we sailed past the town of Neuruppin stretched out along the lake
on our left. A WSA speedboat went past heading down the lake.
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| Neuruppin along the banks of the Ruppinersee between the downpours of rain |
The giant modern
art sculpture best described as a tin man with a boat and a whirlygig on his
head was still there, but the quay wall had gone (as the bloke who moored there
when we were there last had said, they’d demolished it to build a large hotel)
Beyond that was another building where there were nudists, some of whom were
going into the lake down some steps to swim. The road crossing the lake was on
a causeway with two bridges, one for uphill traffic and one for downhill, we
went to the far right as the wind started to pick up and after we’d gone under
the bridge the rain started to bucket down again. We’d got the brolly up but
were still getting soaked with sideways blown rain so I went in and fetched two
waterproofs. Thankfully the last section of the lake was not very long and it
stopped raining as we entered the narrow channel at Alt Ruppin. There was a
fisherman, fishing right where we needed to stop to get the satellite (due to
trees on the opposite bank!) We tried mooring before where he was, couldn’t get
to the bank for vegetation, so we slowly went a bit further along the wooden
edged bank 20 metres beyond the guy, Mike banged a couple of pins in while we
packed up and checked out the satellite. The fisherman didn’t speak, he packed
up and went off in a huff, swearing in Mike’s direction as he rode his bike
down the track into town. He probably hadn’t caught anything all day and it was
all our fault! We moved the boat back to where he’d been fishing and moved the
mooring pins. TV perfect. It was 5.45 pm.
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