Chapter 2 - Norderney to Warnemunde

From Norderney we left very early about 5.45 as it is quite a long haul to Cuxhaven. The wind had dropped so the sea was less rough as we went out. On the way in we had breaking waves which were not pleasant but now it was much calmer as we motored into the rising sun which was low in the sky & made our life more difficult. We motored for several hours until crossing the mouth of the River Weser where there were a lot of moored ships. We didn’t work that out straight away as some were moving & some not! Anyway we picked our way through & the breeze picked up so we had a good sail to Cuxhaven, arriving early in the afternoon. Our early start meant we had strong tide with us as we approached the Elbe and it runs fast so we picked up time.

Giving way on our approach to the Elbe

Cuxhaven is quite a large commercial port but the town was surprisingly pleasant & we managed to find the chandlers for some engine oil, a Kartuschen Pistole & an ice cream! We ate on board and had an early night as next day was the Canal!

The run up the Elbe to the canal meant leaving about 1.00pm as the very strong tide would have been against us any earlier. There was a strong breeze from astern and with only the Genny we flew along surfing on the big waves. The Elbe estuary is huge, big tides and large ships, quite a handful but we rolled & slithered about for the 12+ miles up the river. The VHF was hugely busy with big ship movements but eventually we were able to radio the lock for an allocation. 2 small yachts entered a huge big ship lock and we were lifted the few inches needed to put us in the Canal. Apart from very low mooring pontoons (just large bulks of timber floating in the lock) it was a non event.

Brunsbuttel entrance to Kiel Canal - notice low pontoons

The transformation through the lock was unbelievable. From a rough, windy turbulent estuary of what looked like liquid mud we moved into a calm, serene environment with smooth water & green trees. We shared the canal with large ships that moved steadily past us in convoy of about 3/5 at a time. It was an eerie feeling as these large shapes appeared with apparently no one on board and slid along sucking the water away from the canal edge as they moved through. Interspersed were yachts following the edges & going in each direction. The Canal was surprisingly beautiful as we had been without any green trees & grass etc for several days. At regular intervals small car ferries cross over. They have a small inlet to park in so they don’t obstruct the big ships moving up & down the canal and seem to dart out with their cargo of cars whenever it is clear. They reminded me of spiders hiding away & dodging out to catch their lunch!

"Spider" car ferry, Kiel Canal

Because we started late we were not able to complete the 97km transit in one day & yachts have to leave the canal during official hours of darkness. We stopped after about 40k at Gieselau siding with a collection of other yachts. There were no facilities so we ate on board. Frankie went for a walk along the tow path after a rain shower and was swarmed by a flock of Swallows who seemed curious about her presence and flew very close. It was extremely peaceful & reminded me of the days of my youth (yes I was young once) when we stayed on our little boat on the River Soar under the trees & against the river bank.

Gieselau siding

Then on to Kiel. Through another huge lock with a very chatty lockmeister who had spent time in Scotland and wanted to tell me all about it. About a mile beyond the lock we found the British Kiel Yacht Club, also known as Kiel Training Centre (armed forces). They were very welcoming and we stayed for 3 nights. It was our first experience of box mooring so we learned the hard way with ropes that were too short and had to rush about tying them together. A box mooring is going end on to a pontoon with 2 posts a short way out that you have to lasso on the way in. Not easy when it is blowing but most moorings seem to be sheltered so we are getting better at the technique. We are not alone in struggling with the new technology & have met Derek & Julie Roberts who have a Warrior 40 (same size as Elixir but not so quick) & we are cruising in company. 

Derek & Julie Roberts

In Kiel we also met Horst & Janet Safarovic. She was Brit/NZ & he German. Very jolly people who like their beer. They befriended both us & the Roberts & took us out for the day on their Moody 38 to see the sights of Kiel (sailing) week. It was a real carnival a lot of classic yachts & square riggers, yacht racing, steamers, cruise ships etc. The sun was shining, not much breeze for the racers but a good way to relax & drink some Weisbeer (cloudy lager made from wheat). I don’t like lager much but the UK supply has run out so this is the next best thing before resorting to Stella which I am trying to avoid (Chris). We returned to the Club & with an expert crew managed to park the boat easily in the box. Out came the rum punch and we ended the day with Pizza on the picnic table.

Horst & Janet Safarovic

BKYC were very helpful & their sail maker, Manfred, mended my stackpack which had a small tear following the heavy seas off Norderney & in the Elbe. He has done a good job for E30 including some spare material if I have to repair it again. Cheaper than at home & very good service as well. Having done our repairs and cleaned house we decided to have an extra day to see the town of Kiel. Kiel has everything from C&A to Woolworths, we don’t know how as we thought they had both gone bust but all is well in Germany. I now have new sandals and some smart shorts as Frankie thought my old blue ones were too faded and showing their age after many years of salt water. Kiel was good we strolled with the Roberts went on a big wheel ride to see the sights high up had pork kebab on a stick & ice cream so very relaxing. The weather seems to have turned at last & we are making more use of suntan cream than oilskins so that is also very welcome.

Having thanked our hosts & paid our E18 per night marina fee we moved on to Heiligenhafen as recommended by Horst & Janet. Not much wind so motored most of the way, not a long haul as we left about 10.30 & arrived by 5.00. Next we had a day stay over in H as we had been told that Lubeck was worth a visit, which proved correct. Lubeck has lots of history & was a Hanseatic town. 

Lubeck day trip

Ancient clock in Lubeck Cathedral

We wondered the streets saw the sights & Cathedrals. Travelled by bus & train, again with Derek & Julie. Didn’t get too lost & managed to speak to the locals. 






By this time I was getting a bit shaggy so found a Turkish barber who gave me a quite decent haircut, including eyebrows, ears & nose!! For just E9. He even singed the furry bits round my neck & ears with a long taper much to Frankie’s amusement as she watched the whole performance. 

Turkisk barber's shop, Lubeck

To our surprise the train going out was very late as we had thought they would all run like clockwork but seemingly this is no longer the case. I had also hoped to pump out my holding tank which has got blocked again but their sh** sucker pump wasn’t working either. So much for German efficiency.

Next day on to Warnemunde. Lots of sun & a great sail with cruising chute up most of the way. Got told off by the Warden (river police) for having my motoring cone up when sailing. I am told they are very strict on these little matters as there is not much for them to do these days. I thought about just putting my engine on but then decided they might think I was being a smart ass so I just smiled back & took it down. 

Elixir under spinnaker

We arrived at W early evening into a huge marina, still box moorings but more room & much easier. D&J followed soon after & we were soon settled with a couple of beers & chatter about the days sailing. 

Hohe Dune marina, Warnemunde, Rostock

Next morning I decided I had done quite well with the red wine and all were a bit fragile. W is the holiday resort for Rostock. Rostock had been E Germany & was flattened during the war. (We now say that the old buildings were removed courtesy of Mr B Harris). Although some of the central square is interesting as is the odd Cathedral it is not an inspiring town with large areas of square dull blocks of flats typical of what we imagined E Germany to be like. Again we used our skill with trains & trams this time to get around Rostock. A few hours was enough & we headed back to W which is much nicer. Did the food & drink shopping & invited D&J aboard for Paella which was enjoyed by all.  

The marina is a modern complex & on Sunday we found the hotel bar in which to see England soundly defeated much to the great enjoyment of our hosts. Time to drown my sorrows methinks.

MAP for chapter 2

Chapter 1 - Beaulieu to Norderney

The Story so Far.

Well finally managed to get away from Feltham on 2^nd June. A couple of days late but not too bad as there are always more last minute chores than you imagine. Having locked the house up twice we still managed to leave a bread roll in the microwave which should by now have been moved by Frankie’s helpful neighbour who is keeping an eye on the place while we are gone.

Having transferred to the boat I then had to settle up with the harbour master & make arrangements for him to store my tender for the next few weeks. That done we set off for Brighton & arrived late afternoon following a non eventful trip mainly under engine as the wind was dead on the nose. Brighton Marina was ok so we filled up with fuel & water and had a meal ashore as both quite worn out.

Next day took the tide to Dover. Again used engine all day as wind dead against. Arrived & went into the inner harbour which was quiet. The town is not very exciting but we managed to get a computer adapter & bit for the camera so all was well. Because this was a layover day, due to tides, we wondered around the town & then took a long walk up to the Castle. It is well worth a visit; it has an underground barracks & Control Centre used during WW2 which was interesting. Much exhausted (me anyway) we went back & dropped in on the Royal Cinque Ports YC. The steward was very affable & gave me a novel to read which has proved to be a good story called “Order in Chaos”.

Next day off to Oostende. Crossed the Channel in v. poor visibility, radar on & AIS. Saw plenty of echoes but only the odd shadowy ship in the distance, then up the coast keeping out of the shipping lanes. Again all under engine & not a very memorable day.

The Marina in Oostende was fine & we found space quite easily. Next day we did food shopping and had a walk around the town. It is not bad, a bit like an up market Cherbourg. Plenty of bars, restaurants, patisserie etc. Picked up ½ kilo of prawns some salad & bread & went back to the boat for tea. Excellent!

Oostende to Scheveningen (unpronounceable in English )was another slog without sail. The town has no interest & the marina was packed with rafted boats. We had a short walk but found no interest or even a bar. So back to the boat & ready for the next.

Next was Oudeschild the first of the Friesan Islands. More motoring and we arrived in the evening & found some space. They have some unusual systems & a funny fob which gets you everything from a shower to power for the boat, water, etc. Unfortunately you have to buy a fob & the office is closed for all but 4 hours a day. We did cope! Next day was rain strong wind & horrible weather so we stayed & did some food shopping to replenish supplies & got soaked in the process.   Then did the washing, so it was a day for chores and not much else. The next day was better, sun! so we stayed went to the town of Den Burg & had an enjoyable morning wondering about having a Vietnamese roll for lunch, ice cream, coffee and being a general tourist doing window shopping. 

"Den Burg" lunchtime - Vietnamese Spring Rolls with sweet chilli sauce

We also met an English artist on the bus (Martin) who was very talkative& his girlfriend & told us lots of stuff. Apparently he paints seabirds & nudes, which seems a strange combination  but it takes all sorts. We then went by bus all round the Island to Den Koog, another walk & finally back in the evening to eat on board. The Island was very picturesque & a holiday resort for Dutch & Germans. 

Den Burg, Texel

The boat next to us had a (large) German couple but were very friendly & helped us with the odd systems, washing machines etc. They had 2 dogs on board one a Hovawort which I correctly identified, was quite proud of myself! It was also suggested that we should move on via the inshore route. This is not recommended in the Pilot books but we were told that it was well buoyed & shouldn’t be a problem so we did. It got a bit interesting at one point when the depth got down to ½ metre under the keel but all was well & we were safely through. There were a huge amount of boats out, many old Thames barge type as well as a lot of yachts heading for Harlingen. 

Traditional Dutch botte - Waddenzee

We were also told that they had some sort of pop festival on one of the Islands so it was BUSY. Got boarded by Douane in their big rib who wanted passport & ships number. A bit daunting at first but “Jan” was very friendly & put us at our ease, I think we should have offered them a coffee, next time perhaps, They just chatted  talked about sailing sat around for a bit & then went to find someone else!!

We went to Vlieland. A new Marina with lots of space and nice big pontoons. Because of our early start, delayed by some other Germans at the fuel berth! we arrived early p.m. Had a chat to the Harbourmaster & then decided to hire a bike to tour part of the Island. We took a tandem as I had never ridden one before, bit of a rip off at 20E but worth the experience. There is a definite technique & we found it easiest for me to start pedalling & for Frankie to join in once we had started. It was a bit embarrassing when early on we stopped in the town & couldn’t get going again, much to the amusement of the locals, but by the end of the day we had our system cracked & it worked fine. Not sure I will be able to persuade her to have a tandem next time as she complained she couldn’t see anything back there & her handle bars didn’t work. We had a tour of one of the Island tracks, very peaceful amongst the sand dunes but it rained & we stopped under a tree – still got wet getting back! As we had the tandem for more time we went back to the boat, dried out & then off to the town for a meal out. We even rode back without falling off.

From Vlieland we sailed to Borkum. Another Friesan Island (German not Dutch this time). Actually managed to sail most of the way which was a first. The Marina is in part of the Port & not very inspiring, the town is a long way away so we stayed put. The HM was very friendly & took our order for Bread the next morning but the place had nothing to offer and was just a staging point. We didn’t even try to explore. The main highlight was a seal lying on the sandbank as we came in so you see what I mean.

From Borkum another good sailing day to Norderney the next Friesan Island. Coming in was very exciting as with a strong onshore breeze we had to follow a channel through breaking waves to get round the corner & into the harbour. 

Surfing into Nordeney

It definitely got the old adrenalin going a bit so we arrived on a high to find everything closed but the bar. Shame! Had a curry from the iron rations & collapsed. Layover next day (today) as we have to replenish the food store. Got sore feet carting everything back from town but had a good ice cream and a tourist day in the town. Norderney is a holiday resort so very relaxed & pleasant. Not sure about the breaking waves though & we have to navigate through them again to get out.

Tomorrow off to Cuxhaven so the next chapter to follow soon. 
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