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| Water from river Fuhse joins the Aller |
Warm and sunny, but cold North
wind, very breezy. Set off at 9.15 am following the young German couple with
their little Bayliner boat called Calon back down the river Aller. Snail
followed on behind us. It was deceptively calm as we left the basin, there
appeared to be no current as we were going downstream with it. We had engine
revs set to do 5kph but we were doing 7kph, therefore there was a flow of 2kph
as we went past the prison. There was one small cruiser on the Yacht Club
moorings below the railway bridge.
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| Power station at Oldau lock |
I took photos of the flow coming out of the
old river at KP2 and the sandspits. Three inflatable dinghies with big outboard
motors that must have been launched in Celle overtook us; they chose their time
to overtake us and did it slowly before zipping off downriver. A couple in a
canoe were drifting in mid-channel and didn’t hear us coming, so Mike gave them
a beep on the hooter to get them to move, which they did and we said thanks as
we went past them. Mike increased speed to 6.5kph but we were doing 8kph
according to the GPS,
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| Ferry at Oldau |
so the current was flowing at 1.5kph, not too bad yet.
Another speedboat overtook us, again slowly so the steerer could get a good
look at the boat before he upped the power and raced off downriver. The biting
flies were out – I felt one bite (middle of my bare back) and smacked it with
my hand and killed it. On went the insect repellent. When we arrived at Oldau
the boats from Celle were organising some sort of slalom course above the lock.
Calon was in the lock with the gates closed.
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| WSA workshop above Oldau lock |
We tied to the waiting area and
Snail came alongside. Marlon, the young man with the little cruiser, said that
the old man on sticks had come along and told him to close the gates so that
people could cross the lock. Then someone else came and pressed the buttons and
he couldn’t get it to open the gates again. We waited and eventually he managed
to reset the controls and got the gates open so we could go in. Quite a crowd
had gathered to watch and the Havenmeister from Celle, Herr Bornemann, came to
ask how the trip down the river had been.
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| Boat club house in a boat on land |
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| Above Bannetze lock |
Marlon had said that his boat’s
propeller had hit the bottom once, but we’d been OK. We thanked him and he went
back to the boat club festivities above Oldau lock. The youngsters worked the
lock again, but there was another speedboat coming uphill so they left the
gates open and went out first, followed by Snail and us last this time. It was
very narrow and bendy below Oldau and we upped the speed to 7.5kph to do 9kph
downriver and keep up with the Snail.
At KP16.5 a couple in their thirties,
paddling an Indian canoe came upriver. We were skimming past trees at what
seemed an enormous rate of knots after the way we’d crawled upriver. Took
photos of the clubhouse (a boat on land) at the WMCA at KP21. The people on the
boats on their moorings waved as we sped past. There was a waterskiing zone about a kilometre above the next lock,
three speedboats with big outboards were moored, crews having lunch, and one was
zipping up and down towing a skier. The water got a bit excited for a while as
we went round the wider bends above Bannetze lock. The cruiser was in the lock,
tied to the pontoon. As we followed Snail in, Marlon closed the gates, then his
girlfriend at the far end of the lock opened the paddles and he rejoined his
boat.
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| Below Bannetze lock |
She opened the gates when the lock had emptied, we left and Marlon
brought Calon out and moored below the lock while she closed the gates. Glad
that they worked the lock as there was still a WSA workboat tied on the one end
of the pontoon for working the lock, so we couldn’t have tied to that, we’d
have had to tie to the workboat. We dodged around the sandbanks below the lock
where the river came in from our left and followed Snail downriver. We overtook
three canoes full of camping gear whose crews were paddling gently downstream.
Marlon caught us up and asked if we were using VHF Marine radio and we said
yes, he asked which channel – we were on channel six. He said he could only
listen as he hadn’t passed his test yet. We said he could try his handheld
radio to see that it worked OK. It didn’t.
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| Calon and a passing party boat |
We could hear him as he was close
behind us, but Oll who was in front couldn’t hear him. Transmit needs checking
out. He said he’d do the test and buy a new radio, someone had given him that
one. A party boat that looked like a double-decker raft with an outboard motor
came past us heading upriver with a group of about a dozen young men on board,
drinking beer and singing loudly – glad we won’t be mooring anywhere near them
tonight. Marlon had phoned the lock keeper so that Marklendorf lock was ready
when we got there; the keeper opened the gates as we arrived. It was 2.50 pm.
The keeper said he had another boat due at that lock before he closed at five
pm and that meant we wouldn’t get through the next one before he had to drive
back up to this one, so Mike booked him for 9 am next day and said we’d moor
overnight above Hademstorf.
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| Moored above Hademstorf lock |
However, Calon wound up the speed so he was down at
Hademstorf within the hour so he could get through the lock and carry on down
to Rethem as he, like Mike, was getting a bit concerned about the dropping
water levels in the river. It was 3.20 pm when we left the bottom of
Marklendorf, there was no chance that we could get to Hademstorf in an hour as
it was getting on for 12kms. Two small open speedboats were moored on the
little staging not far beyond the lock. Their crews all waved. On under the A7
motorway bridge. Road traffic was busy as it was Saturday. Made a cuppa and we
wound our way round the bends down to the lock. Arrived at 4.35 pm and moored
next to Snail on the waiting area above Hademstorf lock.
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