On Monday the 11th of June 2018 it was departure time from interesting Minden at 8:36AM. Around 1:30PM we noticed this strange ‘hill’ in a predominantly flat scenery. ‘That must have been caused by mining’, we thought. A large ugly pimple in a peaceful setting. (Later on we read that this is probably caustic potash (Kali(umhydroxide)).)

Our overnight mooring for that day proved out to be Lohnde/Seelze – close to Hannover, where we stopped at 2:00PM. One could say it was a train-galore next to us with two double-tracks. (We slept well, thank you.)

The next morning we almost skipped a possibility to take in water and top up our diesel-tank(s) after leaving at 8:55AM. We turned and grabbed the chance to fill up four jerrycans (jerrycan = Kanister in German), over 88 litres, and for the first time in several years topped up the ‘normal’ diesel-tank by putting the diesel-hose directly into the filling-pipe, absorbing another 70 litres or so. The breeding-system, extensively adjusted during our stay at SRF in Friesland, did its job perfectly, to our great relief. Around ‘half ten’ (say the Brits, we prefer ‘half eleven’ = 10:30AM) we passed one of the busy city-harbours, in this case Hafen Hannover.

Around 12:10PM we reached the huge Anderten Lock. We had to wait over 5 quarters of an hour (the professionals of course have priority over the pleasure-boats) before we got permission to enter the lock. Here one sees the lock emptying and us, together with other boats, moving towards the entrance. The lock on the left side of the picture was out-of-use, thus preventing a smooth(er) traffic-flow.

We always prefer to publish pictures using landscape-format, because the ‘standing-up’-format takes such a lot of space. But… in this case there’s every reason to make an exception. This lock was lifting us a whopping 14,7 metres (almost 50 feet)! Therefore, this picture-format emphasizes the deepness perfectly.

Leaving the lock ever so laid-back after having been inside for almost half an hour.

We called it a day at 4:09PM and stopped at the T-crossing, formed by the Mittellandkanal and the Stichkanal (side-canal?) (nach/towards) Hildesheim. The lock at the beginning of the Stichkanal is visible here in the background. Furthermore, errrr, not all that exciting.

Wednesday the 13th of June 2018 – departure time 9:14AM. Around 12:45PM we passed another T-crossing, this time formed by the Mittellandkanal and the Stichkanal Saltzinger (PK 213). During the approach we noticed a moored up Dutch Barge, which never fails to attract our attention. When coming closer we saw, really, a neighbour of ours from Amersfoort being Tony & Fred on their barge ‘Bertillac’. We could hardly believe our eyes, changed course and used the brakes extensively. What a lovely surprise! We exchanged some info while being next to each other. They appeared to travel in the direction of Hamburg, we towards Berlin. It was a surprise to such an extend that we forgot to take a picture. When already away for, say, half a kilometre we yet took a snapshot. This is the result. It was really them two!

Around 1:30PM we passed Braunschweig’s harbour. Scrap metal obviously is an important merchandise nowadays.

After some 4½ hours of cruising we again stopped at a T-crossing, formed by the inevitable Mittellandkanal and the Elbe-Seitenkanal (Fred & Tony’s route towards Hamburg). In the background a long push-tug is doing its job. Name of the closed village/town: Calberlah. One learns some new things every day! Initially we were on our own, but that changed quickly. Later on we were accompanied by two other pleasure bots and two cargo boats.

Wolfsburg, with its huge Volkswagen business-concern on the north bank, was passed around 12:46PM. Of course we did not skip the opportunity to picture Volkswagen’s iconic headquarters.

Friday morning, on the road again. Waterway in our case. We said bye to Rühen at 9:45AM, after having had coffee with a ‘Dutch couple from ‘Hoop op Welvaart’ (Hope for Prosperity) with whom we had dinner and a few drinks the evening before. Eventually we reached our goal for that day, being a town called Haldensleben. The anticipated mooring spot appeared to be non-existing (DBA again – they’re good though), so we passed the town and ended up a few kilometres outside of it. The picture shows what it looks like. It’s at PK 301,856, the Germans even do metres. That’s called punctuality in its purest form. We decided to have an extra day off, being the Saturday. Sunday is a traditional non-cruising day anyway.