The charter base where we take over our ship is located in theMarina Rünthe in Bergkamen on the Datteln-Hamm Canal. A promenade with green areas, benches and restaurants invites you to stroll around the harbour. Around 300 pleasure craft are moored in the marina. There are all kinds of boat-related services, including a petrol station and waste disposal, and the facilities are clean and well-maintained.It smells of blossoming lime trees and freshly trimmed hedge. It's hard to imagine what it looked like here until the 1990s: The Rünthe harbour was theNumber one coal transshipment centre in the Ruhr area. From a slag heap as high as a multi-storey building, excavators shovelled the black gold onto ships, goods trains and lorries.
The facades of the houses were pitch black and no housewife dared to hang the washing on the line outside. In the words of the old fisherman on the jetty: "De Nasenstein' war'n immer schwarz un' hart wie a Brikett".
We take over our boat, aGruno 36 Compact Sport. It is the new flagship of Yacht charter Knuth. Where do you head for during a charter week in the Ruhr region? Since we don't know the area at all, we follow theRecommendation of the charter company Michael Knuth: "Head west via the Datteln-Hamm Canal, Dortmund-Ems Canal and Rhine-Herne Canal until the Ruhr branches off to the south-east and then upstream until you see the Krupp family's Villa Hügel."
Even the names of the waters sound likeHeavy industry, coke and steel. Michael sees the look on my face and adds: "You'll be amazed at how green it is here. Let the culture channel surprise you". Another questioning look.
"The Rhine-Herne Canal was the artery of coal transport. Since 2010, the waterway has been converted into a cultural canal."
Around 4 p.m. we leave the marina astern, curious about the Ruhr area. We follow the course drawn as if with a ruler.Datteln-Hamm Canal westwards to Datteln and one and a half hours later turn left into theDortmund-Ems Canal. Our destination for the day is the old Henrichenburg boat lift. At around 7 p.m. we enter a harbour basin, at the end of which an old industrial building towers high into the sky. The hoist?
The nice harbour master Roland Müller from MBC Lünen takes the lines, adjusts the fenders and is just writing out the receipt when I ask him if we are right here in front of the old boat lift. "No, this was the old shaft lock. We are the Lünen Motorboat Club. If youin front of the boat lift If you want to moor, you have to take the next entrance." He kindly hands back the mooring money and calls after him: "If there's no room, you're welcome to come back."
Five minutes later we are in the right place. The hoist from 1899 is being lit up in front of us. We take the last free guest berth in theYacht Club Henrichenburg Hebewerk and sit in the front row as the colourful illumination of the technical monument begins. Only the next day do we realise the dimension of theWaltrop Lock Parkwhich consists of the following structures, among others: Old Henrichenburg boat lift (1899-1966), Old shaft lock (1914-1989), New boat lift (1962-2005), New shaft lock (since 1989). All hydraulic structures are embedded in a park-like landscape with exhibition buildings and many technical installations.Gadgets for children and adults. You should allow yourself a whole day for this fascinating world of water and technology.
We cast off in the late afternoon and take the lock in Herne Ost. An hour later, we discover the town harbour of Recklinghausen on our starboard side and are the only pleasure craft to go alongside.
The harbour is bordered by a three-metre-high concrete wall on which the idyll of a small town is painted. Above it towers the discarded loading technology of decades gone by, half overgrown by bushes and trees. On the opposite bank, golden yellow sand has been piled up between rusty steel sheet piling - a beach bar in the middle of the industrial landscape.
From the Recklinghausen city harbour, it's about a kilometre and a half to the Strünkede moated castle in Herne.
We are now heading westwards through the centre of the Pott and have set our sights on Oberhausen marina as our destination for the day.
Encased in steel sheet piling, the Rhine-Herne Canal carries us under countless steel bridges. Old, rusty half-timbered structures made of riveted steel are replaced by modern, futuristic designer bridges made of V4A. They follow each other so closely that in some places they penetrate each other. In between, on the banks of the canal, steel robots load bulk goods or scrap from ship hulls. Goods trains thunder past.
Between container ships, tankers and freighters full of hard coal, coke and steel we head west, where the sun is always glowing red over the canal in the evening. And when Grönemeyer is blaring out of the on-board loudspeakers, it's just perfect.Pure goose bumps.
The entrance to the Heinz Schleußer Marina in Oberhausen cannot be overlooked. It bears the name of a local politician who played a key role in shaping the structural change here. Where the chimneys of the Gutehoffnungshütte once smoked, Centro Oberhausen was built in the 1990s - the new city centre. With over 250 retail outlets, it is now the largest shopping centre in Europe.
There are a number of tourist attractions in the immediate vicinity: the adventure poolAQUAparkthatSEA LIFE Aquariumthe Gasometer exhibition hall and the classicist Oberhausen Palace with its renowned Ludwig Gallery. Opened in 2004, theHeinz-Schleußer-Marina is located at the northern end of this area. The complex is very well maintained.
The only thing we found annoying was the six-lane A42 motorway on the opposite side of the canal. The local skipper of our neighbouring boat from Essen didn't seem to mind at all:
"Dat is dat Meeresrauschen im Pott".
There is so much to discover that we don't untie the mooring lines until the following evening and leave the Oberhausen marina in our wake. To be able to sleep more peacefully at night, we look for a berth without the "noise of the sea". We find one just under five kilometres further west in the upper water of the Oberhausen lock. The small jetty for around 20 pleasure craft on the green southern bank of the canal bears the grand name of"Oberhausen harbour".
The hosts guide us to a free guest berth, take the lines, lower the fenders and hand over the keys for the entrance gate and the sanitary facilities. We feel very welcome.
The charm and ambience of this simple facility are somewhat reminiscent of the small self-built jetties in Mecklenburg shortly before reunification. We enjoy the tranquillity of the mooring in the countryside and chatting with the hospitable boat neighbours over a beer from the bottle.
After a quiet night without motorway noise, we lower ourselves into the Oberhausen lock. Now it's only a few kilometres to the Rhine. Ahead of us lies Duisburg-Ruhrort with its gigantic industrial and harbour facilities.
What is our tiny nutshell doing in this area of heavy industry? To our relief, we can turn left into the Ruhr estuary and then head upstream. Peace at last. Ships, cranes and quays remain astern. Only the cascades of road and railway bridges remind us of the proximity of the conurbation.
The Ruhr, which gave the Pott its name, becomes more and more beautiful the further uphill we cycle. Above Mühlheim, the river is mainly flanked by meadows and fields.
We pass the Raffelberg lock and discover a small but very pretty town harbour four kilometres further up in the centre of Mühlheim, where small water scooters are rented out. Our skipper is sceptical as to whether we will even fit in there.
On the website of the city of Mülheim an der Ruhr, we find in the description of the city harbour that two yachts up to 15 metres in length are allowed to moor here. We steer in at walking pace and moor alongside on the promenade. All around us are cafés, pubs and urban life.
Because we still want to pass through the next lock, we cast off again after half an hour. At 3.35 pm, the friendly lock master waves us into the Mülheim lock. As he guides us up the lock, he warns us: "There's about to be a storm with rain and thunderstorms. It's best to lie down in the upper water on the left on the berth of our authority." "Are we going to get into trouble?" we ask. "No, I've just given you permission. You'll only get into trouble if you moor opposite the White Fleet. They don't like that at all."
"And where are we going to weather the storm?" "Go over the lock bridge toFranky's water station. This is theBest address on the Ruhr."
We run over in the pattering rain and board the Cuba Bar on the first floor of the water station. Over tasty mojitos, we watch as the thunderstorm causes havoc in the Ruhr.
The next morning, we leave Mülheim's upper lock canal, on the banks of which is the Haus Ruhrnatur adventure museum. There, children and adults can experiment with wind turbines, water turbines and solar panels to learn from nature.
Two kilometres further uphill, we pass the harbour of the Mülheim a. d. Ruhr motor and sailing yacht club. But we want to see Villa Hügel today if possible. So at lunchtime we take the Kettwig lock and leave the inviting-looking Motorboat Club Kettwig 1965 on our left. At around 2 p.m. we reach the beautifully situated Essen Outboard Club at kilometre 25.7 on the Ruhr and moor at a free jetty.
We are not sure whether it makes sense to sail further into Lake Baldeney via the Baldeney lock, on the northern shore of which Villa Hügel is located, as it can only be navigated through the centre. There are no guest moorings. The sporting friends from the Outboard Club offer a practical solution:
"You're not allowed to moor anywhere up on the lake. Leave your charter boat with us and take a taxi. Then you'll get to the villa today. It's only five kilometres".
The Outboard Club has electricity, water and sanitary facilities. On recommendation, we book a table for the evening at the Landgasthaus Schevener Hof right next door.Terrace with a view of the harbour.
The visit to Villa Hügel is the geographical and emotional conclusion to our cruise through the Ruhr region. Situated high above Lake Baldeney, the villa symbolises the rise of the Krupp family and the entire Ruhr region to become the centre of heavy industry in Germany.
In an impressive exhibition, visitors learn a lot about 200 years of industrial history in the Ruhr. Founded in 1811 by Friedrich Krupp, the family business with the three rings was transformed into a foundation by Bertold Beitz, General Plenipotentiary, after five generations and the death of Alfried Krupp in 1967.
The Krupp family opened their former residence to the public as early as 1953. Exhibitions have been held here ever since. The villa has also often been a prestigious venue for artists, scientists and state guests - including Andy Warhol (1972) and SED leader Honecker (1987).
In the evening, we enjoy the view of the harbour of the Essen Outboard Club on the Ruhr from the terrace of the Schevener Hof with Swabian cheese spaetzle and a Palatinate Pinot Gris.
The small club harbour, surrounded by greenery, is the most beautiful berth of our trip, which was full of impressions.
We have reached the furthest point of our trip and will take a little melancholy with us on the way back.
This report appeared in Boote 02/2018
