Heidanger

On Sunday we left Mölln harbor. An hour and a half later than we had agreed, when we had gone to bed dead tired that evening.

The young people wanted to experience the hoisting in Luneburg. Niklas found out that they could be in Copenhagen in the evening if they could catch a train from Luneburg at 16.35. Carl calculated the distances and figured they would be able to reach the train if they were put off the boat right after the hoist. 

The hoist is a ship lift that lifts the boats 38m. It contains 11.800 tons of water and a trip takes approx. 20 min

We continued on the Elbe-Trave Channel, walked through 2 locks, sailed 400m on the River Elbe and turned into Elbe-Seite Channel.

Elbe-Seite canal connects Mittellandkanal with Elbe. It is 115km long and opened to traffic in 1976. The purpose of the canal was to connect the West German part of the Elbe with the Mittellandskanalen. The channel also had another purpose. Its rather high ramparts were to act as obstacles for tanks in the event of an attack from the east.

It was really hot. Niklas bathed in a rope after the boat, Daniel sat at the helm and Emilie relaxed on the front deck.

Everything breathed peace and quiet.

But when the time due to waiting time at the 2 locks and more waiting time at the hoist, suddenly became scarce, the idyll was replaced by a slightly hectic discussion about what we should do.

The plan was to go the 4km from the lift to the station. If you could drive the taxi instead, the train could still be reached. 

Niklas managed to book a taxi that would wait for them at the hoisting station at. 16.00.

It was probably such a wild experience to pick up the ship lift. We could see the 38m down from where we came, the ride in the heavy lift went fast and the heavy hoist sounded like a normal lift.

Right after the hoist, we dropped the young people off. They climbed a fence and ran with suitcases and bags down a steep road. The taxi kept as ordered and they reached the train and ferry and were home at 22.30 - exactly according to plan.

Carl and I sailed on to Uelzen. It took us further 3 1 / 2 hour and we were there at. 19.30.

There was very little water in the harbor.

The harbor master warned us not to go in because we had a draft of 1,53m. At the far end of the harbor was a boat we had been following the day before. We knew it had a draft of 1,60m. So it had to be possible for us to be there too.

There were very few ports on the line and it was getting dark. We decided to do the attempt and listed at the speed of the boat at the bottom of the harbor.

To the harbor master's amazement and our own relief, we came in without any problems. However, the harbor master warned us that the water level could easily both rise and fall 40cm in a few minutes.

Luckily the water level remained the same and we got out without any problems when we left the harbor the next morning.

We had not sailed long before we reached the lock Uelzen. Carl called the lock guard on the VHF. The guard asked for our length and said we would be locked through with Lower Saxony 2 - a mega-long river bar that lay by the business quay. We were told to lie down at the short distance for Sportboote at the far end of the quay and wait for instructions there. 

When the light at the lock turned green, the long river ledge sailed over towards the lock and suddenly it sounded from the speaker "und jezt die Sportboote" and saw something more we could not quite understand.

Lower Saxony 2 filled almost the entire 185m long lock. We moored humbly at one of the last 2 bollards.

When the water was let into the lock, the bollard rose along with the water. Smart, because now with the mooring in the same bollard we could raise the 23m.

There was a lot of traffic on the channel.

Along the way we met over 30 oncoming long river battens and even overtook 3 (rather nerve-wracking to overtake a 150m long river battens without knowing if an oncoming one is coming)

After a couple of long hours we reached Mittellandskanal, turned to starboard (sorry right) and continued until we reached the canal Salzgitter. We sailed it a few kilometers down until we reached the harbor Heidanger - an old gravel pit that has been converted into a harbor.

The last 3 days we have sailed 114cm - sorry 205km - south and are 60km east of Hanover.

It is very hot with temperatures up to 31 degrees, but on Friday there is a change of rainfall and almost half the temperatures.