Monday 30th September 2013 Schmöckwitz to Philadelphia. 37.1kms 2 locks

Brown coal loading. Konings Wusterhausen

Cold night. Sunny but with a cold wind, especially on the wide-open lakes. Winded and set off down the big lake, Zeuthenersee, a long wide lake, heading South just after nine am. A tug pushing one pan loaded with brown coal went past heading North as we passed Zeuthener Wall island. A WSP launch was following it, but took the opposite side of the island and put the power up as it did so. The lake narrowed as we reached the junction with the Grosser Zug, another lake branching off to the Northeast and linking on to the Oder-Spree-Kanal (OSK) the route to EHS. 

Neue Muhle lock

On through two small lakes on the river Dahme,  the first was called Sellenzugsee and the second Mollenzugsee. A tug and two empty pans had been fast catching us up as we came down the big lake and so Mike paused in a wider section of the narrows near Wildau to let it past. Two guys on the leading pan were working the bow rudder with a large spoked wheel to ease the 110 metre push- tow round the two bends. 

Windsurfer on Wolzigerersee

Under the A12 autobahn bridge and past the brown coal loading staithes, where boats were busy as always loading from railway wagons, which tip as they come to the end of the rails, emptying the contents into the hold of the barge below. As we went under the next bridge the scene changed from one of intense industrial use to calm, quiet waters leading to Neue Mühle lock. It was ready, so Mike took the boat in and threaded a rope through a vertical bar in the wall. We were soon up 1.4m and on our way again. 

Kummersdorf lock 

The Dahme widens out again to form two lakes, the Krimnicksee and the Krüpelsee, a zig-zag running east as far as Kablow. Back into the narrower confines of the river for the next four wriggling kilometres running South again as far as Gussow and the Dolgensee. At the end of the Dolgensee there followed a couple of kilometres on the Dahme before heading north on the Langersee and the start of the Storkower-wasserstrasser. The Dahme continues South via Prieros and Märkish Buchholz into the forest, but not for us on this visit. A short narrow channel took us on to the Wolzigersee, a deep (10m) and almost round lake almost three kilometres across. 

Idyllic mooring at Philadelphia

The wind picked up and produced some interesting waves for the kite-assisted wind-surfers. Once on the Storkow kanal we were soon at the next lock, also ready for us, at Kummersdorf, a rise of 1.2m and then continuing again along the canal. At 4.15 pm we tied next to a wooden-edged grassy bank with stumps, under trees in Philadelphia.