Goodbye to the tideless sea

Another early start, for a quick one kilometre motor to the entrance to the Kiel Canal lock.

We were a tad nervous about it, given our experience 3 years ago. Back then we were caught up in chaos as the backwash from a giant tanker's engine swept yachts in all directions inside the lock. We survived unscathed due to Nic' s quick reactions.

So this time we were mentally prepared. But there was no need. Only a few yachts chugged into the massive lock and there was one smallish tanker with his engine off. Quick and easy, what a relief. But farewell to the blue waters of the Baltic.

We had been planning to take two days to traverse the 60 miles of canal. However we were safely through the lock by 0830 and decided to do the whole thing in one go, staying the night just inside the opposite end of the canal.

It has been roasting hot all day - about 30C.

Nic has set up a sunshade for whoever is on the helm (we do 2 hours on, 2 off) which has a 'chequered' history. It is in fact, a tablecloth. (See pic)

It was bought in a Danish charity shop for 4 euros, used to wrap our precious charts for the train journey to Germany, and used as a temporary sheet in the heat of our forepeak bedroom. Now it is a 'bimini', held up by clothes pegs to the backstay.

The best 4 euros we ever spent.

We have been passed by maybe a dozen large container ships or oil tankers (See pic). Far fewer than last time we were here, 3 years ago. The wake they create slaps our boat around like a toy in the bath. But this canal is a wonderful piece of engineering which cuts 100s of miles off the journey and we are grateful for it.

First leg

Another Scorching Day and largely windless. We managed half an hour with the engine off; the rest was motorsailing to keep up the minimum 5 knots that ensures we reach our destination. Pic shows Lesley happy on helm.

In fact by cutting a corner and going through a 'Uboot exercises area' (sadly no Uboots were spotted), we did it in 8 hours for 40 nm (nautical miles).

We found a berth quite easily in what was originally the British Kiel Yacht Club, now a German marina. Everywhere now has the automated machines where you pay for your berth and are given the code for the toilet & shower block ... except here. Because we got to the office at 1705 we were classed as a late arrival - office closed - "you must walk 500m to hotel to get entry card, and put cash into letter box". Soooo old-fashioned and a damned nuisance in this heat. 

The Kiel area is like the Solent in the UK, very boaty with lots of beautiful yachts, example in pic.

Vittled and watered

One day left to departure meant a massive shopping trip to get food and drink staples and fresh stuff. 

Lesley went with mask and gloves in a prebooked taxi. It was one of the island's biggest supermarkets but very busy and as usual, hard to find what was on our list. 

She thought she had booked a return cab,  but it turned out the cab firm had  'no taxi for 2 hours, nein!'' There was some waiting outside the supermarket in stinking heat with 130 euros worth of food, until a rival taxi firm came to the rescue. 

In the meantime Nic was tidying away clothes, cushions, an unwanted liferaft- frame, making the bed, filling water bottles- you get the picture. Once the food was crammed into the boat fridge, our lovely boat felt like home again, ready to go.

We spent a happy two hours doing the chartwork and navigation for Monday's first leg to Kiel. The forecast is for easterly winds, force 4, and we are going west - fingers crossed that weather holds!

Tonight our first meal on the boat for a year- a very basic old dish of meat stew, plus no alcohol beer. (See pic) Tomorrow is an early start for our 45 mile, 9 hour trip to the start of the Kiel Canal. So goodnight from us and the boat.

Dressed and almost ready to go

Aagh it is SO hot! Total lack of wind this morning was perfect for putting the sails on; everything went smoothly, no tangles, still takes 4 hrs with all the ropes (generic term), battens and ties. Then reconnected all mast electrics, a sweaty job at sub cabin floor level due to keel-stepped mast. All appears to be working. So now she's 'dressed', with just a few jobs left.

Had 2 hours off this pm to visit our lovely friends Susan and Rene - they gave us superior kaffee kuchen. We will come back to stay with them on this delightful island of Fehmarn even though the boat won't be here. 

V busy in Burgstaaken harbour including some interesting classic boats (yday a British tall ship was in, forgot to get pic). 

Floating free

Today started at 0545, preparing the boat for the nerve wracking process of being lifted into the water and having her mast reattached by crane.

The photos show it all happened as planned. And best of all, we got a prime position in the marina on a hammerhead pontoon. The engine started like a dream after sitting for a whole year. All this was done in stinking heat, and many other jobs reattaching the boom, tensioning the stays,  and collecting the clean sails which had been couriered to us from the UK.

We are exhausted but happy. Our darling boat is floating again and that makes the world feel like a better place.

(Too) many trains

The day started well, leaving our comfortable Premier Inn room for a 5 min stroll to St Pancras and a crisply on time Eurostar to Brussels (pic from my seat - not busy).

Then comes the harder bit; five trains across Northern Europe, with some tight changes (pic). All was well until Dusseldorf where the Hamburg train would be 60 (sixty) minutes late ... in Germany ... whoever heard of such a thing! We would miss the connection to Lubeck. So we jumped onto another train to Hamburg requiring a tight extra change at Hannover. Getting slightly sweaty now; as bad as missing a tidal gate with a foul wind.

Semi-realtime reporting now. Hannover was a mess, but we survived: arrived 3 minutes late (yes. I know, but in an 8 min transfer it matters); raced to advertised platform but turned away - last minute change; down the steps and up the escalator again; screen says 1st class at front (yes, I know, but we're going for lowest density of travellers), but it's actually at the rear. So we're v sweaty (well I am, L is glowing) in quite busy 2nd class. That was worse than wind over tide on the Elbe estuary ... well, not quite.

Puff ... Puff ... late in again, made the change at Hamburg to the Lubeck train by running, with only a minute to spare. The lift wasn't working and if we hadn't positioned ourselves first out of the door we would not have made it. Deeply disappointed in Deutsche Bahn. Maybe it's because all the businessmen are on hols in Aug.

And we're on the last train, (actually the seventh train of the day)Lubeck to Fehmarn Burg - just a small frisson of uncertainty because there were two trains on the same platform so the signage (to a non German speaker) was confusing. To be fair,  the DB staff have been unremittingly friendly and helpful.

OMG we've arrived in our little apartment - the taxi was ready for us at the station, and Jutta was ready for us here. A blizzard of unpacking and off to zzzzz

First step

Our first stage of a long journey came today, from Plymouth to London to stay in a faceless hotel block close to St Pancras for catching the early Eurostar tomorrow.

It feels quite weird being back in London, hearing sirens and breathing dirty air. But we were able to distract ourselves by chattering about the routing of our yacht trip according to tides and even look at wind predictions for next week...will we really be lucky enough to get easterlies to blow us home? 

We took a stroll from the hotel to the nearest green space in Tavistock Square, a dusty haven for pigeons and crows. It turned out to have sculptures of Gandhi, (see pic)Virginia Woolf and the first female surgeon, and also something which was a moving reminder of Lesley's grandfather George Brogden. There is a large stone memorial to Conscientious Objectors. (Pic) George was a CO in the First World war and was jailed in Wormwood Scrubs with hard labour. 

Tomorrow will be a long day of many trains but we have masks, gloves and a ton of home made sandwiches. It seems odd to be leaving the UK even though it's now perfectly legal. We will be super careful on our way.