Monday 7th October 2013 Abv Neuhaus lock to EHS for Winter. 31.1kms no locks

Sign Winter's fast approaching - chimney smoking.
Neuhaus

Grey, overcast, but milder dry and no wind. It took us forty minutes to untie and heave the quant poles back on board plus all the planks, ropes and pins. Set off at 10.10 am. 

Tree felled by beaver. Spieskanal

A small boy on a bike had been past towards the lock then back – he and his mate were fishing about 50m beyond the place where we’d been moored. Mike asked if there was no school today – no, they replied, they were on holiday, but both were looking very furtive and guilty so we think they were bunking off. 

Shooting hide - note others in far distance

On up the Spieskanal taking photos of trees the beavers had eaten and a series of shooting hides around the edges of a very large open field. Turned right on to the OSK at 10.35 am with nothing else moving but us. 

Another tree eaten away by beaver

At KP99 we passed the abutments of a long demolished bridge just before the hamlet of Biegenbrück, on our right, and a road appeared beyond a narrow belt of trees and remained parallel to the canal for the next 2kms. A passing lorry hooted – and we replied – as the road veered away from the canal. Just us and the forest again. 

Junc Spieskanal and OSK looking towards Berlin

A dark brown bird of prey flew fast between the close-packed silver birch trees to our left and was gone. Mullröse’s moorings in a small lake looked full, but the new(ish) 48hour moorings on the main canal were empty except for a lone youth who was fishing there. 

Old house at Mullrose

Surprised to see a group of mergansers that were swimming along the canal take off and fly past the boat. Bare pieces of tree branches were floating in the canal – the remains of beaver snacks! 

Can't see the woods for the trees!

A fisherman was sitting next to the canal by a layby that had a huge pile of rocks at the back of it. He didn’t speak or wave. Under the road bridge at Rautenkranz, noting two strain gauges under the bridge and signs that looked like a large vessel had at some time hit the middle of the bridge taking chunks of concrete out of it. 

Two of the half dozen mowing machines. 

Saw the fleeting glimpse of a deer and more mergansers. A group of tractors, at least five maybe six of them, with long arms for mowing were cutting the grass along the right hand side where the canal was on a small embankment as it turned gradually to the right, running in a more south-easterly direction. 

New bridge under construction at KP118

Spotted several large shaggy parasol mushrooms growing along the bank, inaccessible to us due to rocks all along the edge (but I’m sure our old mate Ray would have found a way to get them). Took photos of the new road bridge under construction at KP118 and shortly after we saw more deer and I managed to take a photo (not very good too far away). 

EKO Steel works at Eisenhuttenstadt

Under the Pohlitz/Ziltendorf road bridge and two youths who were fishing just beyond the road bridge started laughing as we went past and didn’t return our greetings, but a short distance after that an old chap who was fishing waved and smiled, which made us feel a whole lot better. I took loads of photos as we passed through the sprawling industrial site of the EKO steel works on the outskirts of Eisenhüttenstadt, with piles of raw materials on the left bank and covered conveyers to take them across to the right bank where the steel making plant was located. 

An old lastkahn, equivalent of French peniche. 40m x 5.1m

Ofthe four blast furnaces only the newest was working with wagonloads of materials being hauled up a steep railway to tip their contents into the top of the furnace. An old unmotorised lastkahn was moored on the dolphins on the left and an old tug. A new industrial hafen had been constructed since we were there last and a lone Bromberger was at the far end, either loading or unloading (we couldn’t tell which). We passed more old, redundant boats by the bunker station – and got a hearty wave from someone on the bank there. 

Home for the Winter MYCEH

There was an old former Czech boat called Brussow, with a narrow wheelhouse (we’d seen several like it still working on the Mittellandkanal) sitting on the quay beyond the bunker station. Under an old disused railway bridge and into the Mielenshafen basin. It was 3 pm. A familiar friendly face appeared – it was Klaus – come to welcome us. We went to the top end of the basin past all the moored boats, in fact the whole basin is now being used for moorings as the motorcycle club (which had been on the opposite bank to the clubhouse) had now relocated. Mike winded the boat so the side doors were on the outside and we came alongside the metal landing staging. Eisenhuttenstadt Motor Yacht Club - Temujin's home for the Winter!