Haren Rutenbrock CanalWe went from the Netherlands into Germany via the Haren Rutenbrock Canal as soon as we ere at the border the bridges and schleusen were all automatic. We came out of the Rutenbrock and down onto the Ems River then down onto the Ems- Dortmund canal. There are 9 double schleusen about 165m long and and either 3.5 or 7.5 m lift, only one side was used and barges and pleasure boats went in together. The bollards are too far apart to tie front and back so we put the hook on the ladder and then used the back rope to go up the wall bollards. Occasionally we had a bollard for the front rope. Every lock we have been in all over France, Belgium, Netherlands and now Germany cater more for the large barges and the smaller boats take pot luck to attach to a bollard.
Ems- Dortmund canal
Waiting for the lock to open
The barge first then the pleasure boats 
From the bottom to the top and all tied up and waiting for the barge to go out. 
A view of the lock as we were leaving. 
Mittelland Canal Our first view of the Mittelland canal. We stopped overnight on a mooring on an offshoot of the canal at the 4k mark.
Next morning we were up early and started photographing the normal view of the Mittelland canal we passed through over the next few days. Bridges and Barges. 
We saw these two houses from the canal with solar panels covering the roof. There were 112 panels on the first one. 
Around now we had to slow down as fumes were coming into the salon. We pulled into a deserted factory to check out the motor. 
Kevin found that the nut on the injector pipe was leaking. After trying to tighten it without much success he searched in his come in handy box and found a tube of liquid steel. This worked well and off we set again. Down the way we will have to get a new pipe made. Still more barges and factories along the canal. A wire factory 
Wood chips 
We wondered what the skipper of this one was like. 
We stopped overnight at the Mindiner Yacht Club and arrived just in time for the Saturday BBQ.
Paid our money and enjoyed spare ribs, steak, bratworst, potato and sauerkraut and salad. What a feast. 
Along the canal are the Sicherheitstor, we think they may be lowered if the canal floods. We will have to find out. 
The trip along the Mittelland is fairly boring. We once drove across the Nullabor Plains in Australia on a track following the railway doing 20k an hour, with its unending vista of red dirt and blue sky and few trees. The Mittelland has an unending vista of water and trees and bridges and at 11k an hour it gives plenty of time to try and relieve the boredom. We even resorted to playing eye spy but ran out of clues. We should have had our granddaughter Ashleigh here playing with us she always thinks of unusual clues. Counting bridges could also be a pastime. The bridges are marked with kilometres and the number of the bridge. As you can see by the number below, we go under more than 1 a kilometre. 
More barges. 
This one with a playpen for children on top. 
we take to counting the different colours of the bridges 
We pulled in for the night as we were at Hannover and we wanted to visit the city and get a German sim for our mobile. As we pulled in beside the canal in a sportsboote area we noticed a New Zealand Flag. Peter the owner of Kapiti came out to help us tie up. We had a great night chatting then off to bed for a good nights sleep. In the morning we were having breakfast and a police car called in to see us, apparently there had been a big oil spill down the way and they wanted to know if we had seen anything suspicious. After looking at the back of our boat and Peter’s off they went. A helicopter was flying up and down the river so the spill must have been bad. We waved goodbye to Peter as we were going a little further up to get diesel. 
We got the diesel at the Yacht club at the 163k mark and parked the boat and rode the bicycles into Hannover city. The photo below shows the building Georges Passage. On seeing the sculpture of St George slaying the dragon I will have to find out more about the history of the Hannover Kings. 
It is a nice city with a lovely tree lines shopping street. 
We looked around the old city 
And visited the Lutheran Church the Marktkirche, an organist was practicing for a concert to be held the next week so we enjoyed some of the music. 
We found a phone shop asked about a sim and was told we needed a german address. We walked into another shop and got one without an address. We got Blau which only costs 19 cents a minute to phone in Germany and only 9 cents to a fixed phone in Australia, so we were very happy. While walking around the city Kevin spied this young man selling hot dogs. What a lot he had to carry. 
We also came across this sculpture of an old man with an umbrella. The ground was wet around him and we noticed water leaking from his umbrella. Presumably there is a story behind the sculpture. 
We went to a boat shop and got charts for the next part of our trip, then back to the boat and off we set again. Our next experience was going through the Hindenburg schleusen at Anderton. 
It was raining quite hard at the time. The Anderton is 217 M long and 12 M wide with a 14 M lift. We followed two barges and squeezed in at the back. After all the locks we have been in over the years I still get a bit uptight when it is raining or windy, our boat is low so it is a bit more difficult to get the ropes on. Now I secure a middle rope using a hook so we don’t blow around then I get the front rope on and Kevin comes out to do the back. 
We decided to stop the night when we came out the other side as it was still raining. As we settled in nice and warm, a young couple on a half built catamaran pulled in. They had a little child in the tent on top and I suppose that is where they slept. How hardy they must have been. 
Up early and we are getting excited about getting off the Mittelland. The bridges now are a much older style. Obviously they survived the bombing during the war. 
We got all excited when we saw this sign. A dream coming true. 
Elbe Seiten Kanal
at the 233k we turned into the Elbe Seiten Kanal heading North. 
Not as many bridges but we passed about a barge every kilometre coming in the opposite direction carrying all sorts of cargo and some quite colourful. The scenery was different with pines lining the canal
A fuel barge 
Scrap metal. 
One full, one empty.
Fortunately the speed limit on the Mittelland and this canal is 12Kph so barges are not a problem. We get more wash from small boats passing. 
We did some shopping 5537
And saw this cute fella made of logs on the way back 
After leaving here in the morning we came to the Uelzen Sleusen with a bit of trepidation as it was a 23 metres up or down, the deepest we had been in with Courlis. We followed the barge in and tied up, no problems, but quite eerie when you start going down. 
8 metres and still going down. 
there were good sliding bollards.
23 metres down and time to move out. 
A few more bridges 
Kevin is getting bored again following the barge so a few more chunks of chocolate go down well. 
We are almost at the end of the canal now and the most exciting part is to come, the 38 metre Luneburg lift at Scharnebeck.. A giant tub 100m by 12m where we drive in, tie up and go 38metres down and drive out onto the canal again. Fantastic engineering. We went in with a yacht while the barge went in the other tub. 
This is the view of the canal 38 metres below before we started the descent. 
On the way out after our after our 2 minute ride. 
Finally we are out on to the Elbe River. We were warned that the river has many sandbanks and navigation can be difficult if the water level is low. We had 4 kilometres to go to Lauenberg where we would get more information.
