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| Crane boat removing wind-felled trees from the canal. |
Hazy cloud, sunny spells, cooler.
Mike took the car to Zehdenick (in case we went on further and couldn’t get the
moped off the boat) and came back on the moped. Several cruisers went up the lock as we
put the bike back on the roof and got ready to move off. Forty minutes later,
three boats came down and we followed the four cruisers and a yacht that had
arrived during that time into Bischofswerder lock. It was 11.20 am. It took half an hour to
get through the lock, which filled slowly. Two small cruisers, one big one and
two canoes were waiting above to come down. Then we heard that the reason for the lock closure was trees that had been brought down by the gale that tried to rip the boats off the wall in Lehnitz lock on Tuesday.
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| End of the queue for Zehdenick lock |
Mike had got the Markon running so
I did some washing and ironing while we did the remaining 10kms of the Voss
kanal up to Zehdenick. We paused, fore end to a dolphin while Mike took the
plate out, then followed the two cruisers into the town that had just overtaken us. The waiting area for the lock was full and there were moored boats in a
layby downstream of the startplatz, so we tied to another dolphin and waited a
short time for Zehdenick lock to empty and the bascule lift bridge to open,
then we followed the group of cruisers through the bridge to the lock.
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| Stuck below Zehdenick lock because there was no room for us in the chamber! |
At 45m
long by 9.05m wide, the lock chamber wasn’t big enough for the cruisers and us.
Luckily there was a piled quay below the lock where we could moor and say hello
to the car, which was parked opposite. We had lunch while we were waiting. A
cruiser and a rowing boat arrived at the startplatz, so we didn’t have to go
back through the liftbridge with the next downhill boats to go and operate the
green rod to activate the lock. One boat came down then we followed a small
Polish cruiser from Poznan into the chamber.
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| And going back to activate the lock was cut off by this elaborate bascule lift bridge which works automatically with the lock! |
The cruiser went to the top end on
the left and we followed in on the left then realised all the rods were on the
right side and had to swop over. Fore and aft ropes round vertical bars in the
walls and Mike turned the green rod once the rower had secured his boat. Above
the lock there were a couple of boats waiting to go down. Just above the lock
there were several marinas full of boats and the place we’d moored before was
now designated a lock waiting area so there was nowhere for us to stop. Back
again on the Havel river there was a flow of about 1 kph as it wound its way
between little lakes, most likely former sand and gravel extraction pits. The
first one, on the right, was called Prerauer Stich and was navigable.
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| In Zehdenick lock with a little Polish boat from Poznan |
There was
a large old loading/unloading place with a big rusting crane on the far side
and several cruisers at anchor. We followed a Zodiac that was going slowly and
caught it up. The couple on board wanted to ask questions but although we
thought we understood what they asked they didn’t understand Mike’s replies.
The river was beautiful, tree lined and edged with white water-lilies. Clumps
of cabomba weed, which were drifting down with the current, had to be avoided
now and again as we continued upstream with the Zodiac now following us.
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| A Free Camper moored at Burgwall |
A
floating caravan on a motorised pontoon paused at the exit to an arm on the
left and turned into the river to follow behind the Zodiac. The Zodiac turned
into the marina at KP22 where there were people on the bank at a café and more
in the water swimming. The weekend starts here! The river made some graceful
bends over the next few kilometres and bungalows appeared on the banks before
the little town of Burgwall. Here we found more of the motorised pontoons, but
with campervans on board, moored by the restaurant in the town next to a Kuhnle
hireboat. What a great idea, bring your campervan or caravan to us we’ll put it
on a catamaran raft and turn it into a boat!
What next?
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| A floating chalet - but not a hired one! |
A LeBoat went past heading downriver. Past the entrance to the
Wentower See through a small lock (44mx 5m) at Marienthal on the left. We
continued up the Havel. It was 4.40 pm and still loads of boats moving
including more of the Bungalow Boats, two went past and a WSP speedboat with a
huge outboard motor. For a moment we though the latter was turning to come
after us, but he went alongside the second of the two floating sheds. Just
around the next bend we spotted a fishing place long enough for us to moor at
around KP28. Mike put pins in the bank and we tied up. Suprisingly, it was just
deep enough to need fenders against the short wooden pilings. It was 5.20 pm
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