Denmark!

Just a very quick and short post to say we are in Denmark.

The lock-Gods were indeed very kind to us once again: as we approached the lock the famous white flashing light came on and in addition the lock master told the 'sportboote' in German as well as in English (!) that we could lock out of the canal now.

Once out in the Kieler Förde (where the water is blue and not brown as it has been for the past week or so) there was a bit of rain but the visibility and the weather forecasts were good enough to encourage us to continue straight to Bagenkop on Langeland in Denmark.

The trip was quite comfortable with a bit of water over the deck but nothing hectic and by 5:20 we were in Bagenkop. Yes, a long day (we left at 8:30 this morning), but worth it.

We will have a lazy morning and then do the 2 hours or so to Marstal where we plan to stay a few days as the wind is expected to pick up after tomorrow.





Here I am changing the German courtesy flag for the Danish one!

Location:Færgevej,Bagenkop,Denmark

In the Kiel canal

Yesterday, we did the first part of the Kiel canal, from Brunsbüttel to Rendsburg. It is 66Km so about 5 to 6 hours motoring. Usually, it is quite busy with commercial traffic, sometimes really big ships. Yesterday however it was very quiet, jus a handful of ships. On arrival at Rendsburg, we filled up with diesel and took a mooring. On the swimming platform of the boat next to us, a happy family occasion had just occurred:





We liked the proud mother and het offspring, there are probably more eggs but she was not moving!

We had a nice 'dinner on shore' with our new friends from the 'Nine Marit' and the 'Sierd Hiddes'. We usually eat out at the 'Riverside' restaurant at Rendsburg, good food at a reasonable price to celebrate the 'one day to the Baltic' mark!

This morning I had a surprise:








You may guess the occasion.....

At 8:30 we parted from the others and went back onto the canal for the final 33Km stretch. Today the traffic makes up for yesterday:









We currently have another 25Km to go to the Holtenau lock, which is often the one with a longish wait. We have done 47 locks so far and the 'lock Gods' have smiled upon us, so who knows. At that time we will also make a final weather assessment and decide if we are going to continue to Bagenkop in Denmark as is the current plan. More later....

Location:Sehestedt,Germany

Start of the Kiel Canal

My apologies for the scant information. Sunday we had a rest day in Bremerhaven with not a lot to report and yesterday we moved up the little river Geeste, the weather proof route between the Weser and Elbe rivers. Only for low motorboats or yachts with the mast flat though, as the lowest bridge is 2.70m. We spent the night at Berdekesa where the Internet signal is not good enough to upload a blogpost.
This morning, we left at 7 to get to the Otterndorf lock in time to catch the incoming tide up the Elbe to Brunsbüttel where the Kiel canal starts.
We have sort of teamed up with two other Dutch motorboats at least until Kiel where our ways will probably part.
The weather was pretty dismal today, the first 4 hours on the Geeste it rained and it was cold. When we got to the lock, the rain fortunately stopped.
By 12 we were through the lock and onto the Elbe, our last bit of tidal water this year! The Elbe is always a bit stressful as there is often a lot of seriously big shipping. Today it was relatively quiet, so that was good. The other 'problem' is that you have to float around on the river (in a prescribed 'waiting area') until you get given permission to enter the lock (a white flashing light on the lock is the magic signal). At times it can take an hour or more in a strongly flowing tide and some wind before all this happens. Our luck today however held and after less than half an hour we were invited into the lock. It's quite a big lock, with floating jetties that are just a few cm above the water line. And someone has to get off the boat to tie up as there are only rings, no bollards. This is when we wear lifejackets.





Just after the lock is the small 'pleasure craft harbour' of Brunsbüttel, where we are tied up now and will spend the night. On to Rendsburg tomorrow, two more days until we are in the Baltic!

Location:Gustav-Meyer-Platz,Brunsbüttel,Germany

Another early morning

The trip yesterday through the Küstenkanal was easy, not the most exiting stuff, 5 hours along a straight route. The canal appears to be full of Dutch boats, a bit like the Germans in Friesland. We had a short wait at the lock at the end and had a chat about our respective travel plans.





We dropped a few metres in the lock and tied up in the quite full harbour of Oldenburg. A relatively nice old university town, but the weather was a bit iffy.
The next stretch is tidal again, first down the river Hunte to Elsfleth and then down the Weser to Bremerhaven. This can be done in a single tide as long as you leave within an hour of high tide. The only 'problem' was that high tide was at 4:30..... But the conditions today looked much better than tomorrow, so we set the alarm clock for 4:30, woke up by ourselves at 4:25 anyway and we're off the mooring at 4:45 and through the railway bridge at 4:55 (fortunately it operates 24/7 and the lady operator was not even surprised when I requested an opening via the VHF).

As always, the morning light was beautiful. It was just getting light as we left, sunrise was only at 5:19.











The heron (and the duck you can just see) were clearly up early too!

With the tide behind us, we were doing up to 9.5 knots and at exactly 9 we were in the lock leading into the marina in Bremerhaven:





This is a nice and comfortable marina with excellent facilities (including Internet) and after all these long days with lots of miles, we are going to have a rest day tomorrow!

Location:Am Neuen Hafen,Bremerhaven,Germany

Onto the Küstenkanal

We had a really nice trip into Germany today.
Off the mooring at 6am to make use of the incoming tide up the rover.
It's nice to leave early, the sky always seems to look prettier and today there was no wind which made it even better:








The current got quite fierce, at some stage we did 10.4 knots and we were certainly not pushing the engine.








By 10am we were already at Papenburg, where the Meyer shipyard builds cruise liners.





The landscape along the river is really very attractive, the fact that it is tidal and that there are lots of little muddy creeks along the shore makes it even better. And there are sheep grazing as well.






Soon after Papenburg you get the first lock, after which the river is no longer tidal. By now we were 'stuck behind a barge, which is not a bad thing as the locks as a rule don't operate for pleasure craft on their own, but you can 'hitch a ride' with commercial traffic. We fitted into this lock (Herbrum) and the next one (Bollingerfähr) with the barge and 4 other pleasure craft. The next lock (Dörpen) is smaller and only two of us could join the barge. Actually, we would have been fourth and having to wait but two of the others (#2 and 3) wanted to travel together so they let us in first.
So all in all it was a very pleasant day with lots of good fortune!
We are now in Surwold, 10 Km up the canal. Tomorrow we will do the remaining 55 Km to Oldenburg.

Rumour has it that there is free WiFi in this very friendly harbour, so I am going to try to upload this post now.

The 'Onbekommerd Express"

We had a very busy day and unfortunately have no pictures to show it.
We set off at 8 this morning and travelled the Prinses Margriet Kanaal (which later is called the Van Starkenborgh Kanaal) to Groningen. It was quite busy with commercial traffic, some of which are faster than us and others slower. But all have right of way. For faster ones you cling to the side of the canal to let them pass, slower ones you call on the VHF and negotiate an opportunity to pass. A few bridges have to open, but most are high enough for us to pass underneath. And there are a few locks, which you have to share with the big ships.
But having said all this, we were at the Oostersluis, the lock at Groningen, just after 2. We looked at tomorrow's weather forecast and decided to carry on to Delfzijl, another two and a half hours, including a few bridges and a lock.
So just before 5 we were safely tied up in the nice marina at Delfzijl. We did our last Dutch shop (at Albert Heyn) and are now tired but satisfied.
Lyn has a raft of ELS emails to reply to and I have also done some admin stuff.
Tomorrow we take the early (6am) tide up the river Eems into Germany. We don't have iPad or iPhone data for Germany yet and it will be a day or two before we do. So no blogs or emails until then!

By the way, did you know that by clicking on the 'Location' link / text below you get a nice map showing exactly where we are? Try it!

Location:Handelskade West,Delfzijl,The Netherlands

Destination Baltic

Two days ago we 'palavered' (a 'palaver' is the Dutch word for a meeting between skippers to make maritime decisions) with a group of 4 boats about our trip to de Wadden islands. We carefully looked at the short as well as medium term weather forecasts and found that there would be good conditions to go to Texel, the first island on Tuesday (yesterday). Looking further ahead however there were lots of problems: lots of wind on Wednesday, possibly a gap to move on on Thursday and very unstable and windy for a week thereafter. Now we are not in a hurry, but this looked like slowing us down a bit too much and the others had various commitments on shore later too. So we decided to abandon the Wadden plans and head through Friesland and Groningen to Delfzijl and take the 'weather safe' route to Kiel through the Küstenkanal. This is more or less the way we came back last year.

So yesterday morning we set off for a very nice trip across the IJsselmeer, in windless and glassy conditions:





In Stavoren we stopped to fill up with diesel (there is a place there which is known for inexpensive diesel) and to get a full gas cylinder.

Then we continued and spent the night on a jetty just past Grou (in the Doekesleat, which is on virtually no map). Today we'll continue to Groningen and Delfzijl tomorrow.

As it turns out, the weather forecasts have improved quite a bit, but we are now committed to this route. Still pretty cold though....

Location:Hôflân,Grouw,The Netherlands