After having been in Potsdam for another 8 (free) nights we left on Tuesday the 10th of July at 8:40AM. Werder was passed around 10:00AM, so you can see why we skipped it. Just before we passed Werder there was a notable noise in the air above us, combined with the penetrating sound of clatter. Seconds later we noticed a large flight of cormorants, landing next to us in the wide river Havel. Later on we inspected our ship for marks of droppings, be it liquid or solid. The damage was a lot less than we expected…

A random picture of what’s to be seen on the banks of the river Havel. This, the roof of the church-building we mean, made us think of many such-like roofs we’ve seen in France.

We left the main channel of the river around 11:20AM, to see if there was a place to be found in a side-loop where the town of Ketzin is situated. To our delight there was just one space, on the outside of one of the fixed pontoons of the local boat-club, big enough to accommodate a ship of our size. Consequently we stopped, moored up and switched off the engine at 11:50AM after a fabulous cruise on the splendid river Havel. Because we had been self-supporting for almost three weeks we thought it to be wise to connect to the mains for a night, in view of pampering our much appreciated battery-bank.

Ketzin was left behind on Thursday the 12th of July 2018 at 9:44AM. Something completely unusual happened that day. Rain poured down for several hours!! Believe it or not, we loved it – after all those (too) hot days. We have felt being in the south of France, or something similar, for a long period. Not for the first time a white wagtail (witte kwikstaart) accompanied us.

We decided to give it a go and leave our intended route to see if we could stay in a place called Plaue, because we were told that the mooring space there is for free, unlimited, and we are not in a hurry. Lucky us, when we arrived around 2:00PM there were only three house-/holiday-boats moored, about to leave because it was their lunch-break. So here we are, since last Thursday, moored at a comfortable quay. Yippee!!

The last picture shows two bridges, an old and a new one. Only walkers and bikers are allowed to use the old bridge nowadays. A disused tramway is still visible. The surface of the former foot- and/or cycle-path has been removed and, as you can see, the dangerous open surface is extensively fenced off. The old bridge, by the way, dates from 1904, when the Deutsches (Kaiser) Reich (Imperial Germany) still existed.

That same Saturday, the 14th of July, a ship was moored behind ours, extensively decorated because of a wedding.

Our Dutch neighbour, John from Zaltbommel on ‘Andante’, played his soprano-saxophone spontaneously to enhance the festive atmosphere.

Of course all attention was focused on the happy couple.

As usual, us Samaritans offered a place to a late arriving boat with a bunch of people -and a dog- desperately seeking for an overnight mooring-possibility.