July 2022 – Part 2
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Arriving at the outskirts of Hannover we found a mooring as we motored in, seemingly not a great place, right next to a scrap processing plant on the Mittellandkanaal, but it was the closest we could get to the airport for a visit from Amy’s friend, Paul, who was arriving later that evening.
However, whilst the mooring was not great, the location did work out quite well – we hadn’t realised at first, but we were close to the terminus for the tram line directly into the centre of town and with a monthly ticket costing only 9 euros, it was easy and cheap to get in and out. By now the weather was very hot, almost too hot at times, and it seemed there was a heatwave going on just about everywhere you could think of. Our highlight of Hannover was its beautiful gardens which were only a few stops away, so that made for a great day out.
Paul stayed with us for three days, leaving Sunday evening, and the following morning we were off again, finding a mooring spot along the way where we all took a deep breath and plunged into the canal (dogs included) which was fantastic as the weather was just so hot by then – we hadn’t realised just how much we really needed that in order to cool down! It was pretty good fun too, and we decided we’d try it out again a few more times along the way. Leaving Hannover, we were seriously low on water and so tried a few places on the way for a top-up but no-one was willing to help us out, and with temperatures over 40′ that was not at all helpful.
Continuing on we joined the Elbe Havel Wasserstrabe canal, stopping overnight and having a nice cooling swim before heading off to Brandenberg for the night. Our mooring close to the centre wasn’t great, but adequate enough for the night which was a little cooler. After Brandenberg we were hoping to stop in Potsdam for a night, but sadly it wasn’t feasible as we were deemed ‘too big’ for all the havens. Nor could we get any water anywhere, which had become a big problem as we were running on just the dregs of the water tank at that point. Finally though, we did find a small fuel pontoon which was willing to supply us with water along with a small amount of fuel, and with a sigh of relief we were able to forge ahead and find somewhere to stay for that night. As it turned out, we retraced our ‘steps’ and found a lovely mooring at the Lebnitsee alongside a large grassy area with cycle path and some peaceful, wooded walking next to the river, and Amy and the dogs went in for that night’s swim. Amy and I cycled into town to sample the highlights. Nothing particularly impressing but it was a nice ride through the parklands into town. With the hot weather there were a lot of people around relaxing and swimming in the clear water. At one point we appeared to be cycling through the local naturist area. Bit of bike wobbling.
At last, four days after leaving Hanover we arrived at our destination of Berlin, initially mooring on the outskirts of the city at a grassy bank along the Spree-Oder-Wasserstrabe, a spot that turned out to be within a very short walking distance from the Schloss Charlottenburg, which was well worth a visit. Chatting with a local guy, we found out that (disappointingly) we had missed the Gay Pride Parade earlier that day, which sounded as though it would have been an exciting spectacle. There was some evidence of it here and there, but that wasn’t quite the same as seeing it.
We spent one night at this mooring – not too uncomfortable but quite noisy with lots of party and trip boats passing continuously until late in the evening – and the next morning pushed further into Berlin to get closer to the centre and see more of its sights. This second mooring was very unpleasant with lots of people hanging around near the boat, loud music into the early hours of the morning, people talking – definitely not a place we’d go back to (unless we were desperate), but during the day we walked over to see the Brandenberg Gate in the morning, passing through a Canary-Wharf-type area and into the vast Tiergarten – a large park area (littered with rubbish and especially with glass shards) – and soaked up some of the atmosphere, although the heat made it pretty exhausting.
Next morning we were off again, this time just a little further along the canal, and tied up at S.Bahnbrucke-Friechstrasse opposite the Reichstag, the parliament building. It was just a couple of minutes walk from the train station – Nicki and Amy took the train the next morning into the centre of Berlin for a few hours of shopping (in intense heat) while I stayed relatively cool on Shensi. The town itself was very busy with so many tourists around (ourselves included), but definitely worth the visit.
Our next port of call was a stop to visit the Berlin Wall, and so we moved on to a mooring next to a hostel/hotel boat, which to our astonishment turned out to be right outside of a 1.3 km section of the Berlin Wall. Who knew we would be mooring quite so close. In fact, this section was known as the East Side Gallery and was particularly famous for its various artworks and graffiti. That evening Andrew and Nicki popped into the Hostel Boat next door for an English speaking comedy club night whilst Amy dog sat for us.
With this section of the Wall to our left, ahead of us was the equally well-known Oberbaum Bridge, a stunning piece of architecture during the day and beautifully illuminated at night, and a couple of lightboxes had been installed playing the old ‘rock/paper/scissors’ game throughout the evening. We made another visit into the town via train and tube, but felt we’d seen enough after a short while and returned to Shensi. Later in the evening we all took a short walk along the bridge and to get a closer look at the lightboxes.
We took another trip into Berlin later in our stay, this time visiting Checkpoint Charlie, and seeing a little more of the history of the Berlin Wall – it’s fascinating and interesting in equal measure to see these such-recent parts of history.
Two days on and we began retracing our journey back along the river, returning to our first Berlin mooring at Charlottenburg. This time we visited the gardens during the day and at night, which were very structured and attractive.
Moving on again, we continue along the Spree river, eventually joining the Havel River and making our way to the town of Spandau. Our primary aim here was to pop into an IKEA store, which turned out to be a 15 minute walk from our mooring. Despite initial misgivings, the mooring wasn’t too bad, with a little green area surrounding a children’s play park, and we were close enough to take a short stroll across the bridge into the surprisingly large old town.
Early the next morning we were up and ready to head off but immediately got held up at a nearby Schleuse where we had to wait for quite some time before locking in. Eventually though we were out the other side and (with more delays at several other locks on the way) almost eight hours later in lovely sunny weather we managed to find that night’s mooring at Schleuse Liebenwalde – probably one of the worst we’ve been at (but not quite), right next to a great of rubble with nettles, weed, long grass to hack down before we could even get of the boat! Amy did have an evening swim with the dogs again, which was fortunate for them as there was nowhere for them to exercise.
Next day dawned sunny and dry again, and we continued along the Havel River for a couple of hours until we came across a nice little free mooring at the town of Zehdenick just before the Schleuse, with a nice walk along the cycle/tow path to the nearby Cistercian Abbey remains where we could wander into the gardens, stopping in its little cafe for drinks and cake.
Leaving the abbey we took a lovely woodland walk that we had spotted just across the road, after which we walked into the town, checking out the bridge and schleuse in readiness for the next day’s move.
