The Journey -
Across the Elbe on Rosy

I left you last time with Rosy and Temujin leaving Berlin and heading west towards Magdeburg.

Our progress was delayed somewhat as mail for Temujin was not at the post office as expected, so we had to laze around for a couple of days until it arrived.  Eventually we got going, and headed down through Brandenburg, and through the lovely little sports boat lock (it is a common European habit to call a non-commercial boat a 'sport boat') that is overlooked by an old tower, and a Soviet style war memorial.  Thence through some lakes to get ourselves onto the Elbe-Havel-Kanal.  This is the start of a long two- or three-week plonk along broad, commercial waterways.  Over 300 km of canal interspersed with less than a handful of locks - BUT ...  What locks!!!!!

And suddenly, there is an abundance of boats.  Heavy commercial traffic, mainly carrying sand, gravel and aggregate, and a fair number of German and Dutch boats.  (We have only seen one other British boat in Germany).

The locks give preference to commercial traffic, and at the first, we had to wait more than an hour before there was room to lock through the several pleasure craft.  At the second lock, a gaggle of us were crammed in, but the rise was quite gentle so there was no bumping.

The scenery was quite good in places, with vistas over fields to the spires and chimneys of distant towns.  I saw cranes on the ground for the first time - we've often seen them flying overhead, where their discipline is abysmal - You go first.  No, I've been first, it's your turn.  They waste more breath arguing about it than in the actual flying.  Eagles, too were seen, and a fair number of hares - that always set Fanny the Woof off on a barking session.

The end of the Elbe-Havel-Kanal is quite spectacular.  If you wish, you can lock down onto the Elbe - but we did that last year.  This year...

We got to ride up an 18.5 metre lock (luckily with rising bollards) to bring us up to the level of the new aqueduct across the Elbe - the longest navigable aqueduct in the world.

Although it is l o n g and LARGE, it is not (to be honest) very spectacular.  It's underneath (which we saw last year) is a touch more interesting and thrilling, but the aqueduct itself is ... well ... a bit dull!!  One can hardly see over the sides of it, and never once did we even catch a glimpse of the mighty River Elbe.  I guess that it scores a few points as a feat of engineering, and of course, for functionality, but for a really thrilling aqueduct, then go to see the Ponty-wot-not in Wales on the Llangollen Canal.

Since then, our days have been blighted by rain.

We spent the night near the aqueduct, moored just above the Rothensee ship lift (that we went down last year, to get onto the Elbe) and set off the next morning along the Mittelland Kanal.  We gave up just about lunch time as the rain came down (not too bad) but then it became cold and windy as well.  We were near the town of Haldensleben so went on a supplies shopping trip.  Our mooring was of interest to epicureans, in that there were lots of edible snails wandering about - though we let them be (except Mike who accidentally trod on one).

This morning we set off in high hopes of reaching Wolfsburg.  We sped through it last year on our way East, but this year I do, at least, want to see the VW plant visitor centre.  However, our hopes of reaching Wolfsburg were thwarted by the rain again, and we moored just after lunch.

Time for an engine oil change on Rosy.

And that brings us to now, so, until the next time ... that's all folks!!

Toodle pip!!

Bill

(N.B. Along with this episode, Bill has sent an updated version the European Rules and Regulations article.)