General Witterings -
Aerial Photos of Eisenhüttenstadt

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The first aerial photo of our winter mooring - Mielenshaven - in Eisenhuttenstadt was taken in 1992.

'A' - 'B' is the Oder-Spree canal  The River Spree and Berlin are way off to the left.

About a km off to the right is a big, doubled lock that takes boats down to the River Oder, and thence to Eastern Europe  We will be using the lock on our way to Poland ..  sometime later this year when the winter floods on the Oder quieten down a bit  Since the end of the Second World War, the River Oder has been the international border between Germany and Poland.

'C' is a club house of the Mielenshaven Boat Club, with showers, toilets and a washing machine  Extensive cellars are used as workshops and storage areas.

'D' is a big shed belonging to the Boat Club where their boats are stored during the winter.

'E' is a (now disused) extensive dry dock facility  There are multiple docks which could be independently drained and flooded.

'F' is the town fire station.

'G' has been further developed, and is now a small shopping centre with an Aldi, baker, butcher, chemist etc.

'H' are some of the original 1950s housing put up when Eisenhuttenstadt was built  They are now boarded up  At the bottom of the photo, between the two 'H' blocks, can be seen the communal washing lines!

The road 'J' - 'K' crosses the Oder-Spree canal on a bridge  The bridge looks a bit wide because on its right-hand side is a now disused railway bridge  Beyond the point marked 'K', the road continues to Eisenhuttenstadt railway station  Much of the industrial area to the right of point 'K' is now disused and derelict.

'L' is a magnificent brick built grain store that is still in use.

'M' is the haven, itself  Originally, the left-hand side was a general, commercial wharf, whilst the right-hand side was a coal wharf - shipping out the brown coal mined nearby  There was also a factory there that compressed the brown coal into briquettes.

Now, the haven is mainly in the hands of a boat club  Since the photo was taken, staging has been installed on the left-hand side allowing, in places, boats to lie alongside, and in other places to lie on finger piers  There are water and mains electricity outlets at intervals along the staging 

At the far end, on the left, there is a slip way where boats are hauled out for repairs etc.

Just after we arrived (in October) a crane was brought in, and all the boats were lifted out for the winter  Most are stored in the big shed marked 'D', and on most days one or more club members are inside the shed, working on their boats.

At the moment, our boats are the only ones afloat.

'N' are some old industrial units.

The shopping centre that we mainly use is just off the bottom of the photo, and to the left by 100 metres - a mere 3 or 4 minute walk from our mooring in Mielenshaven.

The second aerial photo of Mielenshaven was taken a few years later in early 2001  The staging has not yet been installed, and my partner boat - nb Temujin - can be seen moored alongside the quay wall  Much of the derelict industrial units at point 'N' have been cleared.