It was a grotty, wet morning and indeed, the forecast for the weekend was for much the same but the coming week, our last on board CW this season, looks promising. The berth we were currently in was only empty for last night, its owner was due back today so we had to vacate it and in the rain, I went to the Havenmeister’s office at 09:00 to see if anybody had left. I was told to move to berth B27, quite close and on the same pontoon as our current berth. I was pleased that we had a solution so quickly headed back to tell Julie the good news, passing B27 on the way. Now a word of explanation – with finger pontoon berths, there is room for two boats per pair of fingers, one attaches to the left  hand finger and the neighbouring boat attaches to the right and so on all the way down the pontoon. Now if both boats are narrow, there is tons of room and even if one is quite portly like CW, then there is ample space. When I got to B27, I saw that the people on the boat in B25 were busy with lines and one of them was running across to the finger on B27. They were a pleasant Dutch couple and when I enquired what was happening, they explained that their engine was overheating so they couldn’t use it and as they had to vacate B25 they were moving across to our berth, B27, the harbourmaster on duty the previous evening had told them to do so! However, I understood them to say that B25 was vacant until Monday so I thought that that was no big deal, we would come into there instead so off I went to ready CW for the move. This involved half dropping the cockpit cover as well as detaching the electricity supply and all the warps so it took a few minutes and we were both pretty wet by then as it was raining hard.

As we approached B25 and the newly occupied B27, I started to worry that we might not fit, as our Dutch neighbour was very wide but as the owner was standing by on the pontoon to take our lines, we had a second pair of eyes, well 3 counting Julie of course and we thought we might just fit. With lots of fenders out it doesn’t really matter if you don’t fit, no harm is done as long as you’re careful and after a couple of minutes efforts, we concluded that we weren’t going to be able to get in. When he then said that we only had the berth until Sunday anyway, I realised that all our efforts had been in vain so with much gritting of teeth, we returned to B36 and tied everything up again. I then went back to the harbourmaster and explained the situation and he had already realised that he had made a mistake but he had nothing else to offer. He told me to go back on board and he would come and tell me when a berth became vacant, so we left it at that I went back to have our much-delayed breakfast.

We had just finished our boiled eggs (nice and fresh, courtesy of Janet who had brought them from her local egg supplier in her village) when I noticed a message from Janet saying that a berth near her, E27, was vacant and that we should come over and I was just about to reply when there was a loud knock on the hull, the Havenmeister was there to tell me the same, as was Janet just behind him! Both looked pretty soggy, neither of them were wearing waterproofs but anyway, we had a result so we set about moving again and Janet kindly went and waited to take our lines, she was utterly soaked at the end of all this! By 10:30 then, we were safely secured in our new location and with the assurance that we could stay until Monday at least, which suited us perfectly. Janet had suggested that we take the ferry into Kiel later that day (13:15 ferry) so we agreed to meet at 12:30 to walk round to the ferry terminal together and in between time we could dry off and hope for better weather, which indeed worked as the rain pretty much stopped for most of the rest of the day.

The ferry from Laboe is a converted tug and is capable of quite a decent turn of speed, so the few miles into Kiel shouldn’t take very long. However, the route in is a zigzag with numerous stops on each side of the fjord so the actual transit time is over an hour. Still, it’s an interesting hour as Kieler Förde and Kieler Haven (as the the outer and inner parts are known) are busy waterways with innumerable small yachts bustling about and amongst them, large cargo vessels working their way to and from the entrance to the Kiel canal with it’s access to Hamburg and the waters of the North Sea beyond. Kiel is also a popular venue for cruise liners and there were at least 4 in the lower areas ie in Kieler Havn. Finally, Germany still has a busy, if not thriving ship building industry and Kiel has its share of it. One interesting shipyard is called Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (often abbreviated to HDW) and it is part of the giant ThyssenKrupp group. Now HDW make non-nuclear submarines and a couple were visible as we passed. The ones we saw were pocket-sized, but Horst told me that they were very effective as they use fuel cell technology and the engines  have no moving parts so they can run extremely quietly, rendering them almost invisible. Clever stuff. Actually, I found all of this activity somewhat depressing as poor Britain struggles with its weak pound, even weaker government and the chaos that is Brexit. Germany looks a so much better bet to me!

Once in Kiel, which sadly does not have an attractive centre due to its being rebuilt hastily after being flattened by the Allied bombers, we strolled through the shopping areas and ended up in a brewery, or a pub that brewed on the premises, called sensibly enough, Kieler Brauerei and there we had a couple of half-litres (Julie had coffee) and chatted a while and then, it was pretty much time to head back (via a supermarket) and we were back on board CW by 18:40, just in time to change and head out to the Italian restaurant on the quayside. There we had pizzas (Janet & me, mine was a pizza with shrimps, very nice indeed and Janet’s had hot salami, spinach & Gorgonzola, equally nice) Julie had grilled salmon and Horst pork medallions. It was all very good and three of us had beers (Weissbier) and Julie stuck with water, total bill including a generous tip of €60 per couple, not bad, considering we’d had several beers each. We had nightcaps on board Tutunui and returned to CW by 21:45, we both felt that we needed an early night.