Monday 29th July 2013 Bülstringen KP294.5 to Rothensee KP320 MLK. 25.9kms no locks

Water tap in a box. MLK

Overcast mostly, a few brief sunny spells but still hot. Rain first thing. Our weather machine had said that it would rain all day. It didn’t, just the odd light shower. We were going to fill up our water tanks but a commercial arrived before we got the ropes untied. He was there for ages, another came alongside him but gave up and left. As soon as the commercial set off we reversed up to the tap in a box and Oll got his key out. There wasn’t a proper fitting in the box and the only one that would work leaked if you turned it on too fast (now we know why the commercial was a long time) 

Wharves at Bulstringen

Finished refilling eventually and we set off to do the last bit of the Mitteland at 12.45 pm following a little brown tjalk called Vrouwe Cordelia (first private boat of any size we’d seen for ages). The first commercial past was Marie Erna from Minden, an 85m boat loaded with sand, which went by as we passed the commercial havens at Bülstringen. It was getting hotter. The moorings in Haldensleben had gone, the new marina had been extended to accommodate larger vessels and the tjalk had gone in there. There were now no mooring places in the town. New commercial quays had been built when the widened the canal and they were very busy, there was a short space for private boats at the very far end, as far away from the town as you could get. 

Was this built by a beaver??

Took photos of a wagtail that stayed on our roof while he did a full preening session. A trio of boats went past in the opposite direction as we passed the last of the quays. First was a digger in a pan being pushed by a Polish tug, then Dettmer 83 from Bremen (79.5m x 9m 1,202 tonnes) an empty tanker, followed by a loaded boat called Vorwarts from Plaue (69.8m x 8.20m 983 tonnes). The last boat went past just before we went under the Neues Sperrtor (built in 1995, to replace to one that was demolished when the new commercial quays were built). 

Polish tug and pan

The next boats went past by the silo and winding hole at KP307 Vahldorf, Dettmer Tank 51 from Bremen (85m x 9m 1,326 tonnes) followed by Sobieski from Stepnica (PL) (67m x 8.2m 855 tonnes) and three cruisers trailing behind them, one Dutchman and two Germans. An empty was catching up as a tug and pan came the other way as we entered a newly widened stretch of canal. Tug Edmar pushing a pan with boxes of sand went past first, then the empty went past slowly, Tiffany (80m x 9m 1,124 tonnes) The new banks had sloping rocks on both sides. 

Annegret overtaking.

A brightly painted little tanker from Szczecin called AGT-05 (56m x 7.5m 500 tonnes) went past. The sun came out briefly and it was very hot. A pair of red kites flew over as we passed the masses of electricity pylons we’d spotted by car the day before, the kites were gone, way over the distant trees before we could get the camera set up. Earlier a black kite had taken us by surprise, picking some poor fish from the water almost beside us then flying round while eating it, no time for a camera again before it had gone. 

Adding topsoil to the new sloping canal bank

At KP312 there was a digger on the left hand bank putting topsoil that it was unloading from a pan on to the new bank. A tug called Edwald and three pans went past. A loaded 80m boat called Annegret (with a lovely old thumper of an engine) overtook us just before a diversion to the right where they were building a new aqueduct over the railway at KP318. At 4.45 pm we moored in the short arm above the old Rothensee ship lift (don’t know if it is still working or not) opposite a large Dutch barge which was moored among the commercials. Not long after we’d tied up a cruiser moored behind the Snail.  More on the Rothensee boat lift

Rothensee boat lift at the end of the MLK

Saturday 27th July 2013 Bergfriede KP268.5 to Bülstringen KP294.5 MLK. 25.8kms 0 locks

Off our list! Mooring at Bergfriede

Very hot and sunny, but with a lovely breeze in our faces all day. The passing traffic started the boats banging against the wooden edging of the passerelle that we were tied to at 7 am. Fenders went underneath it from the drag as the big stuff went by. This mooring is definitely off our preferred list. Set off at ten following the Snail. They were going to see if they could find somewhere to get water and refill their tank. One of the cruisers that we locked with the day before overtook us at KP277. 

Diamante II about to overtake us.

A commercial was catching up but in the far distance yet and a cruiser passed us coming in the opposite direction which was followed by a Berliner tug pushing three loaded 32.5m long pans. He was followed by a Polish tug, Fabico-1 pushing a loaded pan of sand and gravel. The loaded commercial behind us, Diamant II (80m 1,199 tonnes) from Bleckede, slowed down while the Polish tug went past then overtook us nice and slowly at KP279 just before bridge 457. I made some potato salad for dinner and some sandwiches for lunch. Two more loaded boats went past, King Loui a big modern boat and a Czech registered old East German boat. The canal skirted the town of Calvörde. 

Tucked in the corner at Bulstringen

There was a huge long section of piled quay with a solitary commercial moored on it and 50m at the end reserved for private boats. The next boat to overtake us was an empty Dutchman called Zwarte Zee from Teil. He went past at KP287 as we passed a brand new boat club mooring (Calvörde Motorboot Club) with pontoon finger moorings in an offline basin. There were two boats in there, a small Dutch-style cruiser and a small covered speedboat. Two pans full of scrap metal went past, pushed by Polish tug Deni from Wroclaw. At KP289.5 an 80m Dutch boat called Dianita, went by loaded with sand. At 2 pm we moored at Bülstringen in front of the Snail and just beyond a water tap in a box.

Friday 26th July 2013 Edesbüttel KP233.5 to Bergfriede KP268.5 MLK. 34.7kms 1 lock

Cruisers in Sulfeld lock

Hazy clouds, a few brief glimpses of sun, getting hotter (outside max 37.9°C). Rain later. Set off at 10.20 am with the gennie attached to the engine to do some washing. It was only 3kms to the lock at Sülfeld and we only had a short wait alongside Snail as a commercial and a cruiser came up the left hand chamber (right hand one wasn’t working) and we followed a tug and pan plus two German cruisers into the lock, 

Top end gates of Sulfeld lock

The queue of commercials arriving below Sulfeld

another cruiser followed us in. Mike sat on the roof to move the centre rope down the bollards in the wall as we dropped down 9m while I made some tea. Below the lock there was a long queue of commercials building up. Norderstadt and Saturnus, both loaded 85m boats went for the lock to go up. Granit (another 85m loaded boat) started moving towards the lock and a cruiser called Liberty (a three decker) was trapped behind it as an empty called Eimicheit started to overtake the loaded boat. 

There was room in the lock for the cruiser so he powered round the empty and aimed for the lock before he got shut out. Einigkeit arrived to wait in the queue closely followed by Axioma and a Polish tug with two pans full of gravel (82m & 32m pans pushed by a Bizon tug from Wroclaw), then Labe 21 a loaded Czech boat from Decin and a very smart German cruiser. 

VW factory at Wolfsburg

Through Wolfsburg, past the VW factory and its trip boats and the little haven of Motorboot Club Wolfsburg where we moored overnight once to go and do the VW factory tour. Mike spotted some VW 4x4s doing the test track on the right hand bank, so I took a few photos. The washing had finished and we drifted while there was no traffic about and Mike took the drive plate out. 

VW 4x4 test track Wolfsburg

Anne had spotted from our copied maps that there was a water point at KP256 Rühen and she did some washing too, but when we got there there was no electricity so the key couldn’t activate anything. Put the hosepipe away again and carried on. The café was still there just beyond where they’d installed the new tap in a box, previously it had been just a simple tap on the wall. Another empty pan and tug went past as we set off to follow the Snail. An old East German boat went past with a distinctive square wheelhouse, this one was Calbe, a tanker from Tangermünde on the Elbe. 

Moored at Bergfriede

At 3 pm we crossed where the old border used to be – The Iron Curtain at one time – no signs of where it used to be now, fences had gone before we first went to Berlin and the watchtower that had been there had now also gone. Just trees and more trees. At KP262 a loaded 80m boat called Martha from Berlin-D went past, the skipper reclining on a sun lounger on his back cabin roof – he waved as we went past. Polish tug Fabico-3 from Szczecin (we’ve seen him before) went past at KP 265, pushing 2 pans full of gravel. At Bergfriede we moored either side of the passerelle at the start of a long row of forty one dolphins (810m) for commercials, on the bit reserved for boats shorter than 35m (which was much shorter than 35m!) It was 4.30 pm and getting hotter but soon it started raining - nice.

 More info and pix on VW at Wolfsburg

Tuesday 23rd July 2013 Jnc Salgitter arm to Edesbüttel KP233.5 MLK. 21.1kms 0 locks

Hafen Braunschweig.

Very hot and sunny again. We set off at 10.15 am leaving the Snails to follow on in their own time. At KP215 a loaded tanker Linda B went past in the opposite direction. It was German registered, but had a Polish car on the stern cabin.

Meinholz railway bridge - trains run across the top

Not long after that we went past a wharf that had containers, scrap and great-heaped piles of coal. Past a big shopping centre with a huge IKEA sign at KP221. An old tanker boat went past called Yggrrasil, registered at Desau with a German flag, followed by three cruisers – two Dutchmen and a German. It was getting hotter and hotter. 

Junction with the Elbe-Seiten canal
built so boats could travel to and from Hamburg
without going through East Germany

A loaded Dutch boat called Meandro (84m x 9m 1,600 tonnes) registered at Maasbracht went past at KP 231. We moored at KP233.5 on the junction with the Elbe-Seiten canal on the short bit reserved for us behind an empty Dutch commercial called Janny from Zutphen. 

Moored in the corner at Edesbuttel

It was 1.20 pm. A young deck hand came to say hello, he was from the Janny and told us he was home alone, left to look after the boats whilst the skipper and his wife had gone on a five-week holiday to Thailand. 

Had lunch then gave Mike a hand to unload the bike off the roof and he went to get the car. When he returned we went shopping at Real at Gifhorn, just north of the mooring.

Passing tankership Michael - well, he had to have a photo of that one, didn't he! 

Monday 22nd July 2013 Abv Anderten KP175 to Jnc Salgitter arm MLK. 38.4kms 1 lock

Bolzum lock at the start of the Hlidesheim branch

Very hot and sunny. Dredging work started around seven directly opposite the boats which made the water bouncy. Our big ball fender that keeps the stern end off walls had broken loose and was floating by Snail. It was wrecked and useless as the eye had been ripped through. That’s something else for the shopping list. We set off at 9.45 am leaving the Snails to set off when they were ready. Traffic on the canal was busy already and the motorway bridge not far from where we were moored was busy too. 

Another mountain of salt MLK

Noticed there was a camera for the lock on the first bend so it had a good view up the long straight. More biting bugs, on with the Deet. One managed to start biting Mike’s forearm before he slapped it dead. A loaded 80m tanker called Naima went past at KP177. We were overtaken by a former Bromberger barge (Polish, now German registered) at KP183. Just before the junction with the Hildesheim branch, we spotted another pile of grey stuff that might be salt, a pan moored close by was full of the stuff. 

Unloading coal for the power station at Mehrum. MLK

At the junction with the MLK there is a lock on the Hildeheim canal at Bolzum which was 80m long with an 8m lift, now they’d built a new one alongside it which looked like it was already in use. There was a WSA yard just beyond the junction then the haven of the Sehnde Yacht Club where a fat narrowboat called Razzle Dazzle was moored on the outside of their quay. The couple on it were German (it had a huge full-sized German flag on the stern) and said they were the best boats in the world and they’d bought theirs in the UK.

Cruiser overtaking CZ boat Beatrice
with coal boat coming from opposite direction

I started making a new fly net for the bedroom door as Mike had wrecked the one for the front door so I’d replaced that with the one from the bedroom, as it was white voile and non-see through. The new one was black mossie netting, which can easily be seen through but, obviously, stops mossies. Coal boats were unloading at the power station at Mehrum KP194.5. I could swear I heard crickets in the woods. It reached a scorching 38.3°C. I made some tea as a loaded old Czech boat called Beatrice (79.4m x 8.2m 1,010 tonnes) went thump-thump-thumping past us, 

2,600 tonnes of coal in a push-towed pair

overtaking us slowly. A cruiser with a Brandenburg flag overtook us as loaded boat called Elbe went past at KP208. We went under the road bridge at Wolftor and found shade on the right hand bank and gratefully went closer to the bank to get full benefit for the next few kilometres. The cruiser went right up behind Beatrice before it overtook it, also keeping in the shade as long as possible. More coal went past. 2,600 tonnes in a push towed pair of 80m boats called Neidersachsen 1. It was followed by Alm from Haselt (Belgian!) 86m x 9m 1,600 tonnes. It was 3.50 pm when we moored in the corner of the big layby at the junction with the Salzgitter arm.

Sunday 21st July 2013 Haste KP137.5 to abv Anderten KP175 MLK. 37.2kms 1 lock.

Berliber tug and pan carrying a field winding

Hot and sunny. Afternoon temperature reached 37°C, too hot. Set off at 9.40 am picking a slot in a queue consisting of two commercials, two cruisers and another commercial, between the two cruisers. The rest of the queue all overtook us within minutes. Had trouble with all the slosh from passing traffic and the magnetic effect of the piling – the boat wouldn’t easily reverse away from the bank. It did when Mike spoke to it! 

Heavy traffic MLK

Took photos of an old Berliner tug pushing a pan containing an outer field winding (stator) from a power generating plant that looked as if it was going somewhere for repair, which overtook us at KP144. The canal winds its way through the city for the next 20kms or so. 

Continental tyre factoey in Hanover

It was sizzling hot eating lunch in the stern. Mike’s straw (paper) hat decide to go for a swim. It had been sitting peacefully on the roof since we set off, as he’d put the sunshade up, and a sudden gust of wind swept it overboard. Rather than swamp it trying to reverse to it Mike asked Oll on the radio if he could fish it out as he went past it, which he did. Snail then went past us to deposit the soggy hat and went on to find a spot for a brief doggy rest stop. 

Anderten lock's huge empty chamber, one of a pair. 

There were masses of Sunday afternoon cruisers about and the towpaths were thronged with cyclists and walkers, all gongoozling like mad and taking phone photos of the funny boats. A large Danish cruiser overtook us and turned left into the Misburg arm, where there was a large yacht haven belonging to the Hanoverscher Motorboot Club. 

Bottom end shaft lock guillotine gate

We pushed on to the locks. Yes, 175kms and this was the one and only lock up on to the summit. Called Hindenburgschleuse at Anderten, the twinned locks are each 220m long by 12m wide and lift boats 14.7m up to the summit level using several economiser pounds. The summit level is 61kms long and Sülfeld lock then drops boats down 9m to the last pound which finishes at KP325 where the new aqueduct takes boats over the river Elbe and a new lock takes boats down onto the Elbe-Havel kanal or another new lock takes boats down on to the Elbe (not sure if the ship lift at Rothensee still works). 

Keeper oversees both chamber from the
long dark building above the lock

No one else in sight, just a WSA boat moored between the two lock chambers, so we moored on the left in the area for spoort boots waiting for the lock and Mike called the lock keeper on VHF. Didn’t understand the answer, but we’ll wait until we get a green light. A German cruiser came and tied on the wall behind us. 

Buildings housing working mechanisms  of the lock.
Note original name of lock - Hindenburgschleuse

Both chambers emptied. Two 80m loaded boats came out of the right hand chamber and we got a green light as the keeper shouted over the tannoy system “spoort booten in der schleuse”, or something like that, and we followed the cruiser into the vast empty chamber. A trip boat came out of the left hand chamber as we went into the right. The cruiser went right up the front end of the empty chamber. 

Moored above Anderten and glad to stop. HOT
Note this photo was taken later when in shade

I took photos as we went in and more when the lock was full. The bollards set in the wall were the right distance apart for us to do fore and aft ropes. The incoming water blew our bows off the wall to start off with, temporarily, and then settled down to do the express lift – filling so fast that I only just had time to lift the ropes from one bollard to the next. There were crowds of gongoozlers behind railings on the lockside. Waved to the keeper, who must be somewhere in the smoked glass cabin above the lock chamber, as we left the lock. There was a mooring above the lock on the left (couldn’t have been on the right hand side in the shade) in full glare of the afternoon sun. It was a blistering 37.2°C at 4.20 pm

Saturday 20th July 2013 Nordholz KP108 to Haste KP137.5 MLK. 30.6kms 0 locks

Snail being overtaken and passed at KP124 MLK

Grey, overcast and chilly first thing. Sun came out around 11.30 am and it was hot again. Set off at 10.05 am and Mike soon asked for his fleece as it was cold. We’d got the Markon running to do some washing so the Snail had gone first and gradually lengthened the distance between us. The canal was very busy with commercials and cruisers and yachts. On our left were the low forested hills of the Schaumburger Wald and on our right was the forest covered Bückeberge. Between the canal and Bückeberge were many small villages and the towns of Bückeburg, Ober-Kirchen and Stadthagen, none of which we could see from the boat. 

Catamaran Eat Me

Once the washing was done we drifted while Mike took the drive plate out, choosing our time so there was a break in the passing traffic as it’s not a good idea to have no engine running when there are other boats to negotiate. Just after we set off again we were overtaken by a tug pushing an empty pan as we came to the first mooring after Norholz at KP123.5, a further 15.5kms and a couple of hours travelling which would have been a bit too much the day before. There was one large German yacht on the far end mooring (there were two small spaces for private boats, one at either end of a long section for commercials). Snail was about ten minutes in front of us and being overtaken by the tug and empty pan while another commercial was coming the other way. 

A mountain of salt. KP135 MLK 

All good fun. And in all this mayhem there was a grebe, fishing, and taking no notice of the boats. Took a photo of a large sea-going catamaran on the bank. It was called Eat Me and I wondered if its owner was referring to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, she drank from the bottle that said Drink Me and became smaller, then ate the cakes that said Eat Me and became bigger. It was 2.45 pm when we arrived at Haste where the Snails had just moored. The long quay was a communal mooring, no “Ausgenommen kleinefahrzeuge” (except small boats) on the mooring sign. 

Moored at Haste KP137.5 MLK

We winded and moored to the right hand bank with our side doors on the outside so we could open them easily. Snail also winded for the same reason. Within minutes a guy on a bike stopped to say hello (he had a Rowsy dog, smaller but still Labrador/German Shepherd mix) as he wanted to chat about visiting the UK with his camper, mainly Wales and Scotland.

Friday 19th July 2013 Abv Petershagen lock to Nordholz KP108 MLK. 21.1kms 1 lock

Strange little boat on skis at Petershagen

Misty grey start, but the sun had burned the mist away by the time we set off at 9.05 am. A busy road ran alongside the left bank of the lock cut, a long one, it took us an hour to clear it. At the junction with the river there was a tent city of very well sun bleached tents and we wondered if it was a Scout camp. Saw no traffic moving except for a couple of speedboats, who overtook us slowly before speeding up to their maximum throttle settings. 

Hay collecting

At KP210 there was a motorised hay gatherer and a tractor pulling a trailer that the gatherer was filling with cut grass. In front, the channel was marked with red and green cones and the distant misty Weihengebirge hills were coming into view. Behind us the steam from the coal-fired power station at Lahde puffed out paper white clouds in a cornflower blue sky. Gulls seemed to occupy every post along the riverbank. Charon, a loaded 67m barge came past us blue-boarding, so we moved left to let him have the deepest water. 

Channel markers in the Weser below Minden

The river current was noticeably faster as we got closer to the lock (about 2.5kph) and where the river narrowed as it flowed through Minden. Mike called Minden controllers on VHF to ask to lock through the shaft lock (schachtschleuse) and was told to moor on the startzplatz für kleinefahrzeuge, the waiting area for small boats. We moored on the 3m high piled wall behind a Polish tug and pan, Rentrans Cargo 1 from Szczecin, which blocked the view of the lock. We could just see the lock lights down the side of the tug. Snail came alongside. 

In Minden Shaft lock

It was 11.25 am. Fahrgästschiffe (passenger boat) Helena and a small yacht came down the shaft lock, the yacht went on downriver but the passenger boat (with only half a dozen passengers on board) made a hard turn to his right to go upriver on the Weser. Mike said the passenger boats do a round tour, down the shaft lock and up the two modern locks. The lock lights remained on red. Mike went up the ladder to have a chat with the young Polish skipper of the tug moored in front. He wasn’t going up the lock he was waiting while the river level came up a bit as they were running water from a reservoir to top it up so he could get upriver to deliver a big paper filter roll to a power station. The filter paper weighed 138 tonnes and on it was printed “Projekt Leopard”. 

In Minden Shaft lock.
Bottom end guillotine gate

At 12.15 pm Minden called us on VHF to tell us to go into the lock. We think they said tie up on the right side. We followed Snail into the shaft lock and both stayed on the right hand wall. The spacing was OK for Snail to use for and aft ropes, we used our centre rope and the incoming water between the boat and the wall shoved us out into the middle. No big problem, we just loosed the rope off and let it do it, and then as the turbulence subsided we went back against the wall and put the rope back round a bollard. It did that several times as each economiser pound put water into the deep chamber. The Snails were OK with fore and aft, they didn’t get the same effect. We left the top at 12.50 pm. We carried on to the Mittelandkanal and turned right then winded to moor by the water tap in its box. Oll came alongside and we refilled our water tanks using Oll’s key. 

Minden Shaft lock full - on to the MLK

Set off again around 1.30 pm, noting that all the available mooring space for spoortbooten on the junction was occupied. We continued along the MLK, crossing the mighty Minden aqueduct over the Weser, passing Lyko 1 a loaded Polish boat from Szczecin, then an empty tanker called Tom Burmester (1600 tonnes) followed by a cruiser. 

Leaving Minden shaft lock.

Another cruiser went by as we went under Sperrtor V, the fifth set of floodgates on the canal, these were to protect the canal from the flooding of the little river Aue, 

Water tap on MLK at Minden

and to protect the little river should there be a serious problem with the canal aqueduct. 

Moored at KP108 MLK

At 2.35 pm we stopped at KP108 to moor at the end of another 1 kilometre long empty stretch of commercial moorings at Nordholz on a 25m long mooring for spoortbooten. 

Friday 28th June 2013 Bad Essen KP61.5 to Hille KP89. 27.4 kms no locks

Silvia with a load of scrap metal. Bad Essen. MLK

Grey skies all day, pouring with rain when we got up. The commercial moorings were now empty. At 8 am one had come in to moor right behind us and left his prop turning, when Mike looked out he said it was a wonder it wasn’t going over our stern deck. He’d gone again before nine. Fleeces, jackets and winter boots on as it was 12°C when we set off in the rain at ten. We’d stayed for three days while Mike took his Mum home and were pleased to find that Oll’s key worked in the blue electric boxes and we had one near enough to the boats to plug into. 

Antares landing at quay by KP71. MLK

Before we left Oll checked the electric supply, we’d used just over 2€ the day before for the two boats. Silvia, a Belgian boat from Antwerp went past loaded with about 1500 tonnes of scrap metal. Two kilometres further on loaded boats Alm (Dutch, 1500 tonnes) and Avaro (Belgian 1300 tonnes) went past. The canal banks along this section were covered in ox-eye daisies. At KP64 Orca from Papenburg (German 1600 tonnes) went past, followed by a Danish cruiser. Another cruiser was overtaking Serfra, a Dutch boat (820 tonnes) from Zwolle, loaded with rebar, at KP65. Another cruiser was fast catching it up. We could see glimpses of the misty hills of the Wiehengebirge where there were gaps in the trees on the right hand bank of the canal. 

Canal workmen's accommodation boat. KP74 MLK

Villages were mostly hidden by the trees and larger towns, like Preussisch Oldendorf and Lübbecke were further away from the canal at the foot of the hills. It was quiet for a few kilometres, the rain still poured down. At KP67 a Czech tug with twin props was pushing two loaded pans totalling 2387 tonnes. He was followed by a German 1500 tonner, called Heinrich from Haren-Ems. Mike made a cuppa while we had another 2 kms of calm water. Peace was shattered at KP69 when Stadt Lindenfels from Hoerstal (1,329 tonnes) went past. For some reason known only to the bridge builders the bridge after number 70 was numbered 101! Two cyclists wrapped in rain ponchos stopped to take photos of the boats as we passed them. 

Diver in the canal. Yellow helmet showing. KP74 MLK

A surprise for us at Br 102 when a passing WSA tug and workboat called Gehle shouted “Welcome in Germany!” (twice) on his PA system. Two cruisers were catching him up, we bounced around in their wash for a while. Passed a yacht haven in a layby at KP70.5 by the little town of Getmold, then beyond the next bridge was a long commercial haven, starting with a sand quay and finishing with a wood yard. A loaded boat called Antares (1,130 tonnes) was heading for the quay, so we moved off to the left out of his way. A cruiser went past followed by Lesath from Hamburg loaded with 1,500 tonnes of scrap metal. As we passed a mooring at KP73 we’d once used which was next to a country “pub” that was very busy on sunny days, a loaded Polish boat called Ola from Bydgoszcz went past. The mooring was the usual paltry 50m at the end of a quay, the rest of which was exclusively for commercials, which stretched from Br 106 to Br 107 a distance of a kilometre. 

We fill the "sport" boat moorings. Behind us, as far as you can see,
is mooring reserved for commercials. KP89 MLK

At midday it was still cold with a sky full of grey clouds, but at least the rain had stopped. We passed a workmen’s accommodation boat with a van on the towpath and a crane. At the end of the crane arm was a diver on a platform being supplied with air from the bank, he was working on something on the piling below the water, we could just see the top of the yellow diving helmet. Today the birdsong was dominated by the song of yellowhammers. Lunch on the move as we passed another yacht haven near Lübbecke. Wilka from Magdeburg was loaded with sand as he passed us at KP81. A German-flagged Dutch botter caught us up and overtook, its steerer was kitted out for arctic weather – it was only 14°C. A row of green buoys guided boats over to the left hand side of the canal passing under bridge 118 where work was in progress on the bridge. 

Mooring at Hille KP89 MLK

A sign said no passing so we hung back while loaded boat Weserbergerland (884 tonnes) from Querfort went through first. A smart Dutch cruiser was following it, nice boat shame about the wash it was creating. The first empty boat we’d seen for ages went past us in a rush, a tankership called Tessa from Oosterhout (1,112 tonnes) followed by two pans of road chippings (2,437 tonnes) being pushed by Polish tug Fabrico 3 from Szczecin. The next was a loaded Dutch boat at KP85.5 called Hendrika from Nijmegen. We tied up at Hille, KP89, on a mooring that said it was 50m long (we filled it with our combined length of 39m) at the end of another kilometre long piled quay exclusively for commercial craft. No sooner had we tied up than two loaded boats passed, one in each direction, passing right by us to test our ropes. Next to the mooring was a wooden shed that looked just like a bus shelter so we went to investigate. Actually it was a sort of “bus” shelter as a tripper runs from Minden to Bad Essen on the first and third Sundays from April until October and this is a stopping place for it.