We are late. Firstly, it's the end of October, and secondly, it's early Saturday afternoon when we set off on our autumn cruise from the Havelauen marina in Werder to Hamburg. Our aim is to complete the 350 kilometres or so via the Havel, Mittelland Canal, Elbe Lateral Canal and Elbe in one week. "ETA HH next Saturday late afternoon," I read in my trip planning. "Why is that important?" I hear skipper Kathrin ask as we put the last travelling bags in the cockpit.
Now, behind the last Elbe lock at Geesthacht, we have to deal with the tides, and with the top speed of around 8 knots of our Futura 36 it makes sense to use "outgoing water", and according to the tide table, this is the case on Saturday afternoon. Kathrin nods, checks the oil, fuel and fresh water tank levels one last time, then starts the 80-hp Yanmar. Our roles are clearly assigned: She drives, I navigate. At creep speed, we push under the colourfully painted harbour bridge towards the large Zernsee lake. Despite the weekend, there is not a boat in sight apart from us as "Elle" points her straight stem northwards. We pass the Ringel marina, where we bunkered a few days ago.
Theoretically, the 200 litres of diesel should easily last as far as Hamburg, but we carry two 20-litre canisters as a reserve. At around 4 p.m., "Elle" is well moored at the outer sheet pile wall of the Havelmarin harbour. The sky clears and the evening sun gives a hint of Indian summer across the Havel.
The night was surprisingly cool at around three degrees. At around nine o'clock, we rev up the Yanmar engine and, in the light morning mist, hang in the wake of the "Bonata", a Polish barge that has just passed us. We hope that the commercial vessel will be safely registered and will allow us to pass through the locks ahead of us without having to wait in the "slipstream", so to speak. We reach the entrance to the Elbe-Havel Canal at kilometre 379 and the Wusterwitz lock just behind it at around eleven o'clock, passing through the Plauer See and Wendsee lakes, on which there are only a few paddlers apart from us and the Bonata.
The morning mist has now given way to beautiful sunshine, which bathes the banks of the river, some of which are already autumnal in colour. "Almost like being on holiday," says Kathrin and switches off the heating for good. Around 25 kilometres and the Zerben lock still separate us from our destination for today, Burg near Magdeburg. Roughly speaking, this means a journey time of around three hours, assuming that the "Bonata", which is still travelling ahead of us, doesn't leave us behind. At kilometre 351, we have to make a final decision: Will we stick to our original plan of travelling to Hamburg via the Mittelland Canal and the Elbe Lateral Canal, or will we switch directly to the Elbe via the Pareyer connecting canal? Both have advantages and disadvantages. The current would make us faster on the Elbe, but on the other hand the route is longer, even if it looks different on the map at first.
The original idea of a canal, however, was decided by the low water level of the Elbe. Although "Elle" is rather "shallow-drafting" with a draught of around 70 cm, skipper Kathrin favours the safer and ultimately faster option. After passing Zerben lock at around 3 p.m., we enter the "Wassersportfreunde Burg von 1924" facility in the late afternoon.
The harbour, which is essentially a semi-circular bulge in the Elbe-Havel Canal with around 30 berths, is almost empty when we arrive. We decide on a place on the port side and reach the friendly harbour master by phone. Day three begins as day two ended. We leave Burg in bright sunshine but cool temperatures, heading for Haldensleben. Today promises to be an exciting day. On the one hand, the Hohenwarthe lock awaits us with its impressive 19 metre lifting height and, on the other, the Magdeburg trough bridge, which at almost one kilometre long is the largest canal bridge in Europe.
Even from a distance, we recognise the imposing lock control station perched on its yellow tower between the lock chambers. "Oh, that's quite a lock. And not a ship for miles around. That could take a while," says Kathrin, skilfully positioning our 11-metre boat between the bollards of the leisure boat maintenance station and switching on the coffee machine in anticipation of a longer break. Meanwhile, I grab the microphone and contact the control centre, which is around 500 metres away, on VHF channel 26. "The north chamber is just below, please tie up on the port side between bollards five and six. Tighten the stern properly," I hear the voice of the lock master from the loudspeaker on the Icom system. I can hardly believe it. Was he really going to put this huge structure into operation just for us? And what does mooring between bollards five and six mean? As a native of Hamburg, I'm not used to this kind of service or "mooring" in a lock.
A few minutes later, the north gate actually lifts, the signals turn green and we pull in. "Tighten the stern well," the voice on the VHF device warns us again. Unbelievable, this man really does see everything.
Then everything happens very quickly. 45,000 cubic metres of water flow into the chamber and "Elle" slides safely 19 metres up the floating bollards. Once at the headwaters - from now on the Elbe-Havel Canal is called the Mittelland Canal - it is another 2.5 kilometres to the next attraction of the day, the trough bridge over the Elbe. Here, too, you need to register via VHF or intercom. So I pick up the microphone again and say my line. "I almost thought so," a now familiar voice sounds from the loudspeaker. What we didn't know was that the passage of the trough bridge is also managed by the Hohenwarthe control centre.
Travelling on the trough bridge is no different from a normal waterway. Stay to the right and keep your speed up - that's all you need to do. Nevertheless, the view over the Elbe flowing below makes it an experience.
The logbook notes the following 20 kilometres on the Mittelland Canal as "dreariness". The route is mostly dead straight through the Elbe lowlands, and even the bridges are like two peas in a pod. As the Haldesleben marina is already closed at this time of year, we choose the Calvörde marina (canal kilometre 286), which is around 15 kilometres away. There are guest berths sorted by boat length on the starboard side of the harbour. We have a free choice and take one of the first 10-metre spaces. A glance at the digital fuel gauge shows a remaining fuel level of 64 per cent (130 litres). Considering that we have already covered around 140 kilometres since the start, the average consumption of our 80 hp Yanmar is 0.5 litres per kilometre. A very good figure. The remaining fuel would be enough for the 210 kilometres to Hamburg. Nevertheless, we decide to top up the canister reserve the next day.
Day four, Tuesday. The sun breaks through the cloud cover, but at ten degrees it is anything but warm - the heating is on. At around 10 a.m., "Elle" pushes her bow back onto the canal over the port side and we set off for Wolfsburg, 42 kilometres away. A short stage then. The Mittelland Canal is in its most beautiful autumn colours, but that doesn't change the dreariness of the miserably long, dead-straight passages.
Even today, on a weekday, there is hardly any boat traffic, let alone pleasure craft. The telephone registration with the 1st Wolfsburg Motorboat Club goes smoothly and we are allocated a place directly opposite the harbour entrance. And this harbour has it all. With an estimated width of just under eight metres, we have around two metres to each side. Not a problem so far, if it weren't for the strong currents caused by passing barges. So Kathrin waits for an oncoming vessel to pass and then boldly swings the bow of our wave-driven displacer with bow thruster assistance into the entrance and then into the box directly ahead. Chapeau!
If you have enough time, the Autostadt, the car museum or the Wolfsburg outlet centre, for example, are all within walking distance. Definitely a harbour for more than one night.
The next morning, the weather has changed: rain and a 4 Beaufort wind remind us of the season - autumn. Back on the canal, we pass the VW factory and the Autostadt to Sülfeld lock just after Fallersleben. Having become routine for us, we pass the south chamber in a mere 30 minutes and reach the entrance to the Elbe side canal around midday. Our AIS only signalled two other boats around ten kilometres ahead, so there was no chance of us joining them and passing the Uelzen lock, which was around 60 kilometres away, in daylight. Decision: Wittingen marina at kilometre 39. The four hours or so are easy to manage and we also have the opportunity to meet friends from the "beer town" of Wittingen for a drink.
The colour of the water changes from grey-blue to grey-green, and the forest along the banks seems to consist exclusively of birch trees. Kilometre after kilometre the same picture, and we seem to have the canal all to ourselves. From kilometre 31 onwards, the mobile phone network lets us down, making it impossible to call the harbour in Wittingen. At around 3 p.m. we reach the marina, which is "temporarily closed" according to the internet. What now? As an alternative, we moor at the new small craft mooring just behind the bridge on the east bank.
After asking our local friends, we are told that we can still moor in the harbour and that the mooring fee can also be deposited in the post box out of season.
No sooner said than done. Five minutes later, we pass the shallow entrance with a water depth of around 1.4 metres and moor "Elle" at the completely free guest jetty. The mooring fee is calculated according to the notice and deposited in the mailbox.
Friends and colleagues, first and foremost BOOTE travel editor Jürgen Straßburger, had warned us: "There are two obstacles on the Elbe side canal that are almost impossible to calculate in terms of time. The first is the Uelzen lock and the second is the hoist in Scharnebeck. You'll never get through there in less than an hour or two." Well, obstacle number one lies in front of us the next morning with an open gate and double green. In disbelief, I reach for the VHF radio, switch to channel 65 and ask about the expected waiting time, as I have to assume that we will have to wait for the next barge. "Waiting time? The chamber is green, you can enter immediately," is the answer from the lock keeper. Once again, we can hardly believe our luck. 20 minutes later, we pass the Uelzen lock in record time and continue northwards towards Bad Bevensen.
Although the remaining 45 kilometres to the Scharnebeck boat lift seem within a day's reach, we decide to make another stopover in the tranquil town of Bad Bevensen, which we reach in the afternoon. The sports boat mooring there offers no infrastructure whatsoever, but is quiet and a little off the canal in a turning area. With only one or two degrees, the nights are getting much cooler and our on-board batteries (3x 120 Ah) have to power the 230 V toaster and coffee machine in the morning as well as the heating.
We follow the "Heide-Suez", as the ESK is also known, through an autumn-coloured pine forest to the Scharnebeck boat lift tourist attraction. Registering via the intercom system results in a waiting time of around ten minutes. We slowly begin to enjoy the benefits of our "solo trip" and arrive behind a barge. Once we arrive at the hoist, everything is much easier than expected. As we are lifted up in a kind of "bathtub", the procedure is similar to normal mooring. You don't have to worry about varying water levels or dirty sheet piling. According to the logbook: "Pull in, moor, pull out - done."
From Scharnebeck, we cycle ten kilometres in a dead straight line towards the Elbe, whose current makes us almost 3 km/h faster when we reach the village of Artlenburg. At last. Feelings of home arise when we have "our" river under our keel and Kathrin sets off on a westerly course. When we arrive in Geesthacht, our final destination, we are met with a bleak picture. The jetties there are being renovated and are not actually intended for guest use - especially not out of season. A call to the harbour master of the Geesthacht Sailing Association reveals that we are nevertheless allowed to moor at the main jetty for one night. However, there is no infrastructure.
The next morning, the first thing we reach for is the VHF set again. We listen to VHF channel 1 as our breakfast radio and wait for the next barge. After barely ten minutes, we get the expected news: a commercial vessel is passing our mooring downstream towards the lock, and we are on board. Barely 30 minutes later, we are in the underwater section of the Geesthacht lock and thus finally in the tidal area of the Elbe. As calculated at the start of the trip, the Elbe current and tides pull us towards Hamburg at plus 3 km/h past the Zollenspieker restaurant and the Bunthäuser Spitze. At 2 p.m. we make the last turn to starboard into the Dove-Elbe at river kilometre 615, our destination. We reach the lock there with a more than adequate water level, despite the "water running out". After passing through the last lock, our final destination, the Möller marina, lies ahead of us.
Looking back on the entire autumn trip, we can say that the route from Werder an der Havel to Hamburg could have been completed in less than a week and without refuelling our boat (200 litres). All in all, autumn has many advantages as a cruising season, but thorough preparation for the trip and obtaining information about harbour and lock operating times, for example via ELWIS.d e, an even more important role than in summer.
This article is from BOOTE 10/2022-since 14.09.2022 at newsstands or online directly in the Delius Klasing Shop.
