The "Blue Paradise" - that's what Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania call their extensive, glittering network of waterways between the Baltic Sea, Elbe and Oder. Not exactly modest - but in a way, it is completely justified. After all, anyone who has ever travelled on their own keel in the north-east knows that the landscape and weather there offer a thousand different moods. In addition, there are exciting cities and a now largely perfect infrastructure that leaves little to be desired.
We travelled through "paradise" on two charter trips last summer. The first one-way trip took us in early summer from Werder near Potsdam, in a wide arc across the Upper Havel and Müritz to Waren.
We pick up our boat for the almost 220 km journey - a Succes 108 steel displacement boat - at the Yachtcharter Werder charter base on the Großer Zernsee. There are plenty of parking spaces on the grounds of the Vulkan boatyard, and we do our shopping for the week on board at the Norma supermarket at the railway station, which is only about 300 metres away.
Keyword one-way trip: The charter company organises a shuttle service for the return journey from Waren to Werder. The taxi for a maximum of six people costs 180 euros and the journey takes around two hours, depending on traffic. The other option is by train, which takes around three hours via Berlin. This costs around 30 euros per person (without Bahncard).
As we don't want to stop the boat in Werder itself the next day, at least an evening walk to the town centre, which is about 1.5 km away, is a must. To get us in the right mood for the forthcoming Havel cruise, we treat ourselves to a drink at the Arielle" fish restaurant on the city island - no longer an insider tip, but as good as ever. The restaurant also has a jetty for guests.
The swallows are flying low as we leave Werder to starboard the next morning (water hiking rest area with "yellow wave" between the island and the lakeshore, equipped with water, electricity and WC, access at km 12.7 of the Potsdam Havel, tel. 0171-401 02 06).
We are not intimidated by the gloomy sky, cross the Schwielowsee, the eye of the needle near Caputh to Lake Templin and approach Potsdam, whose "panorama of prefabricated buildings" is dominated by the classicist dome of the Protestant Church of St Nicholas.
The best way to explore the city and Sanssouci Palace is to take the Potsdam marina on the west bank, directly opposite the Hermannswerder peninsula at PHv-km 22.8 (electricity, water and full service, harbour café, 1 euro per person and metre boat length per night, tel. 0331-97 47 29.
At the northern exit of the deep lake, we reach the Glienicke Bridge, which was used as an exchange centre for agents during the Cold War. The public jetty (without service) on the western shore directly under the bridge is better left to the many anglers lurking there to catch fish: The swell at this junction of three lakes rarely allows for calm conditions.
North of the bridge, the Potsdam Havel flows into the Lower Havel Waterway, which we follow northwards into Berlin via the Kladower Seenstrecke. Passing Pfaueninsel and Schwanenwerder, the route continues northwards on the approximately 500 metre wide water surface of the lake section. On the hilly eastern bank, the Grunewald Tower and the bright white antenna domes of the former American listening station rise up on the wooded cone of debris on the Teufelsberg.
Shortly before the storm breaks, we are moored for the night at the jetty of the Marina Lanke Registration and berth allocation take place at the harbour office (harbour with full service, berthing fee according to boat length, approx. 13 euros for 11 m, tel. 030-36 20 09).
The next morning, we sail through the middle of the city for a few kilometres. Before the Spandau lock, we moor under the Juliusturm bridge at the sports boat waiting area and have to let two Polish pushers in front. In between, an 8-metre sports boat also tries to "push ahead" and shoots into the last gap at full throttle, a little further forward at the already full sheet pile wall - and crashes into the stern of a Linssen with a swing. A badly bent bathing ladder and a lot of shouting followed ...
After almost two hours of waiting and a tough lockage (one skipper stubbornly refuses to switch off the engine despite a packed chamber), the gates finally open and our caravan moves out onto the small Spandauer See. Now on the Havel-Oder waterway, we pass Tegeler See and Niederneuendorfer See, green idylls with moorings in the reed bays, before the canalised Havel begins at Henningsdorf.
We reach Oranienburg in the afternoon and turn onto the Oranienburger Havel, which is navigable for around 2.5 km and leads directly into the city centre. We moor at the "Bollwerk", a well-plastered public quay wall with neat bollards and a water depth of 1.40 metres - but without any services. Opposite the WSC "Möwe" Oranienburg, which has guest berths, the water is very shallow in places.
In any case, the best option in the meantime is the very beautiful Castle harbour located another 500 metres north of the "Bollwerk". Water, electricity and sanitary facilities are available there as well as slip and faeces extraction facilities (82 berths, tel. 03301-20 31 35).
But no matter where you moor, it is never more than a ten-minute walk to the palace and its extensive park. The entire area surrounding the magnificent building, which Elector Friedrich Wilhelm had built in the mid-17th century for his Dutch wife Luise Henriette (of Orange, hence the name), was extensively remodelled for the 2009 State Garden Show and is definitely worth a longer stay (including the museum).
Back on the HOW. On the Lehnitzsee, boats are anchored in the packet outside the buoy line. Shortly afterwards, we arrive at the Lehnitz lock, but the display board for the next pleasure craft lock is blank. We pick up the phone: the friendly information says we'll be on in thirty minutes and we'll be locked even without a commercial vessel. That's what you call nice service!
The Oder-Havel Canal, which is partly dead straight and continues for the next 11 kilometres, is flanked by sparse pine forest, through which the sandy heathland of the Mark Brandenburg shimmers from time to time. Cyclists and anglers use the farm tracks on both banks for their Sunday excursion, there is not much going on on the water; only a few commercial vessels are on the move, all of them old boats from the Czech Republic or Poland.
After we turn off the Havel-Oder waterway onto the Upper Havel waterway, it's all over. The banks get closer and are now lined with reeds instead of a wide strip of gravel. Three self-service locks follow on this day: Liebenwalde, Bischofswerder - which seems like the slowest lock in Germany - and finally Zehdenick, whose bascule bridge is also linked to the lock.
In the city harbour of Marina Zehdenick We then find a quiet spot for the night (electricity, water, sanitary facilities, boat service and water filling station with petrol and diesel. Mooring fee 1 euro per person and metre of boat length, electricity 2 euros, restaurant-café "Zum Blauen Anker", tel. 03307-31 03 58). However, we are drawn to the "Havelschloss" next door, which also belongs to the marina. In the rustic historic vaults, we round off the day with a hearty meal of venison from the barrel and roast saddle of sheep from the Mark.
Perhaps the most beautiful section of the "Blue Paradise" now lies ahead of us: first we take a look at the marina in the Ziegeleipark at OHW-km 21.5. The harbour (Tel. 03307-42 05 04, www.marina-im-ziegeleipark.de) is fully equipped and leaves nothing to be desired. The museum of the old brickworks with its huge ring furnaces is a real gem of Brandenburg industrial culture, well worth a visit!
The Havel then begins to become a real nature experience: Reed islands and pond lilies drift along the banks, butterflies and dragonflies hover over its narrow bends. Gnarled pines and twining oaks spread their canopy of branches over the river. The sun plays in the undergrowth between their trunks. Even the self-service locks get smaller and smaller (though not emptier!): Schorfheide, Zaaren and Regow are passed, and at the Bredereiche lock - the last one of the day - children take a dip in the river using a swimming ladder they have brought with them.
After so much idyll, we moor in the late afternoon at the town jetty in Fürstenberg, with an unobstructed view over the Schwedtsee, on whose northern shore rises the memorial site of the former Ravensbrück women's concentration camp - an all the more sombre contrast in the midst of such an innocently beautiful summer landscape.
We pay 13.20 euros for our 10.80 metre long displacement boat for a berth with electricity (registration at the Fürstenberg Yacht Club next door, where there are also guest berths). If you don't want to cook, you can also satisfy your hunger in the restaurant "Im Yachthafen" (Tel. 033093-392 06).
Good shopping facilities are about a ten-minute walk away at the market on the city island. The next day, while low clouds lay a fine veil of rain over us, we set course for the Mecklenburg Kleinseenplatte. There is now so much traffic in front of the locks that we always have to wait - sometimes for up to an hour. We start in Fürstenberg, followed by the Steinhavel, Strasen, Canow and Diemitz locks.
The Kleinseenplatte - starting with Ziernsee and Ellenbogensee - offers a welcome contrast to the river and canal trips of the last few days. Forest-lined banks with the wooden boathouses so typical of the region pass by.
boathouses so typical of the region. The clouds have cleared and the golden light over Lake Pälitz illuminates the green nature in countless shades. Against this stands steel-grey water - picturesque moments!
We leave the lake district again at Zotzensee and our destination for the day, Mirow, is now close. We head for the tubular town harbour in the shadow of the castle island and find one last spot at the very front of the jetty. However, we have to go in "backwards" (which is no problem thanks to the bow and stern thrusters) and then sit "like a cork on a bottle". We pay 11 euros with electricity to the friendly harbour master, who also gives us the key to the clean sanitary facilities.
Off we go for a walk to the castle, which was built around 1700 as the widow's residence of Duchess Elisabeth Albertine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The dreamy grounds, surrounded by old chestnut and beech trees, may have had a comforting effect on the widow - after all, there is a small "love island". Anyone who dares to climb the crow-filled brick tower of St John's Church (open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) will be rewarded with a sweeping view of the surrounding countryside. The "Ritterkeller" in the Seehotel provides the right culinary ambience afterwards (Tel. 039833-203 46).
Now we are ready for the final stage: crossing the Müritz. And the "Little Sea" - because that's what the name, borrowed from the Slavic, means - makes every effort to live up to its name. It has freshened up from the west, and after the last section of the Müritz-Havel waterway with the Mirow lock, our forecastle is already getting really wet on the Kleine Müritz.
The sea comes in short and steep from port in a staccato, and we are already well before the "Müritz-Mitte" buoy, glad to be well protected on the flybridge. It only calms down again under land just beyond Klink Castle, and we finally reach the Binnenmüritz with the town of Waren on its north-eastern shore, passing the shallows of "Dicker Baum" and "Ecktanne".
Less than half an hour later, we are moored and calm at the first jetty of the "im jaich" city harbour. Our first cruise of the 2009 season through the "Blue Paradise" ended here in Waren - and it was not only "paradisiacal", but above all varied: from the residential towns such as Potsdam and Oranienburg to the narrow Havel bends and the fitting "refreshment" at the end - the Müritz. In the late summer of last year, we returned to paradise once again. We travelled by boat from Rechlin to Schwerin.
This report will follow here in the next few days.
WHAT SKIPPERS NEED TO KNOW
The companiesThe one-way charter cruise described above is offered as a co-operation between two companies, Yacht charter Werder (Werder near Potsdam) and Charterpoint Müritz (Waren an der Müritz}; the booking is possible
The direction of travel depends on when and where the desired boat is available.
The boatWe were travelling on a Succes 108 from Charterpoint Müritz. The 10.80 metre long steel displacement boat is ideal for two couples, with two convertible berths in the saloon. The cosy boat is fully equipped for cruising, and there is also a television (DVB-T) on board, as well as bow and stern thrusters. Weekly prices range from €999 to €999.
The precinctThe SBF Binnen is mandatory for the one-way trip. However, the area is easy to navigate. However, on the southern section of the route - and especially on the Havel-Oder waterway - commercial shipping must be expected. Waiting times in front of the locks should be planned for along the entire route (especially in the high season). The waterways travelled (from south to north, according to the itinerary):
- Potsdam Havel: Branch from and confluence with the Lower Havel Waterway, length: 30 km, locks: none, maximum speed: 12 km/h, clearance height: 4.90 m.
- Lower Havel waterway:From the mouth of the Spree in Spandau to the confluence with the Elbe, length: 149 km, locks: 6, maximum speed: 9 km/h (12 km/h in marked sections).
- Havel-Oder waterway:From the mouth of the Spree in Spandau to the confluence with the Oder, length: 94 km, locks: 4, maximum speed: 9 km/h (12 km/h in marked sections).
- Upper Havel waterway: From the mouth of the Havel-Oder waterway to Neustrelitz, length: 97 km, locks: 11, maximum speed: 9 km/h.
- Müritz-Havel waterway:From the junction of the Müritz-Elde waterway to the Upper Havel waterway, length: 32 km, locks: 4, maximum speed: 9 km/h.
- Müritz-Elde waterway:From the mouth of the Elbe to Buchholz, length: 184 km, locks: 17, maximum speed: 6 km/h (25 km/h in marked sections and on lakes), clearance height: 3.73 m.
The cruise stages
Werder - Marina Lanke 33 km
Marina Lanke - Oranienburg 33 km
Oranienburg - Zehdenick 36 km
Zehdenick - Fürstenberg 44 km
Fürstenberg - Mirow 36 km
Mirow - Waren 35 km
Total 217 km
