And now for something completey different - the Oder river

[Canal archive]

Now that is a cool piece of engineering!

[Canal archive]

They have completed the restoration of the boat lift at St Omar in France, similar but  older and smaller and in England the Anderton Boat lift plus Scotland and the Falkirk Wheel. We’ve taken a boat through two visited and one. The guys are now working out how to take a narrowboat to the new one in Germany. I really don’t think it will happen as a few beers have been imbibed so far.

[notamermaid]

13 hours ago, Canal archive said:

The guys are now working out how to take a narrowboat to the new one in Germany.

Hmm, what may sound like a beer-induced idea may not be so far-fetched. What if you could rent a narrowboat in Germany? After all, we Germans have imported a lot of stuff over the years, like old phone boxes. I will come back to that.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Oh yes please then I can pass on to the reprobates.

[notamermaid]

Perhaps this could help the boys: https://www.kuhnle-tours.com/destinations/germany/

Unfortunately they have no original narrowboat on offer but you can hire a narrowboat style houseboat.

If you want the "other" North of Germany you could check out the offer in Hamburg, which is two newbuilts modelled on old English narrowboats.

 

I have read of several anecdotal sightings of original narrowboats on canals in France and one on the Rhine (probably not for hire), but none in the East of Germany.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Okay, now that was special! Just a few days after the official opening of the Niederfinow boat lift a river cruise ship did the first sailing of the canal and lift transport. Remember that this is a route that is rarely travelled and only smaller river cruise ships up to 110m length can go through the lift. The passengers of the Excellence Coral did not only have the honour of being the first in the lift but also stopped in it to be treated to an exclusive concert on board the ship. At a height of 36m they enjoyed three live acts. The Excellence Coral sails for a Swiss company. Here is the German article from Switzerland: https://www.travelnews.ch/on-the-move/22714-die-excellence-coral-im-rampenlicht-des-neuen-schiffshebewerks.html

 

The new boat lift is of course larger than the old one and now opens up the area for river cruise ships up to 110m length, the classification for the lift has jumped to V, i.e. a higher Federal German Waterway identification number. However, I do not know if smaller locks along the Oder Havel Canal and nearby will still restrict the area to ships smaller than 110m, meaning the waterways in the East of Germany around Berlin will continue to be sailed by only a handful of river cruise ships.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

It is 2023 so let us have a quick look ahead to the season. An early sailing on the Oder will happen in March, Plantours will again sail the Oder River right up to Wroclaw. This is the route with ports: https://www.plantours-partner.de/kulturschaetze-am-oderufer-san123.html

It is a pity that this most unusual route is not offered on the international market. Later itineraries take the ship they use, the MS Sans Souci, to the lower Oder with Szczecin and the islands of Rügen and Usedom, among other ports.

 

The other ship on the lower Oder is the Thurgau Chopin, meaning the MS Frederic Chopin now sails for the Swiss company Thurgau Travel.

 

Viking offers an extension from Berlin to Poland, but focuses on the Vistula river, not the Oder.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Noble Caledonia has announced two sailings called Passage to Pomerania on the Oder, for which they have chartered the 80-passenger Katharina von Bora from Nicko Cruises.

 

The journey visits the resorts along the Baltic coast which are deservedly known as the ‘Royal’ resorts. Berlin’s high society loved the fresh summer breezes and the sandy beaches of Rugen, and Usedom which has the highest number of sunny days in the whole of Germany. The guest houses and hotels, with their typical architecture, have been restored to their original glamour and the attractive landscapes, such as the chalk cliffs on Rugen and the Jasmund National Park on the River Oder are all much admired by nature lovers. Other highlights of the voyage include our call into the Polish city of Szczecin, a lively and historic place which will also be our gateway to the Baltic Sea and the historical Hanseatic cities of Greifswald and Stralsund.

 

Something 'completely different' indeed!

 

https://www.noble-caledonia.co.uk/tour/3240/passage-through-pomerania/?search_url_id=63

 

[notamermaid]

It is 2024 and time to have another look at the Oder. I see the itinerary of Noble Caledonia coming up again through the link posted above. It says both sailings are sold out!

 

These are the sailings of the Katharina von Bora on the Nicko Cruises website:

https://www.nicko-cruises.de/en/reise/osp-bor?journeyId=648add36d9ab746e720e8cf0&startDate=2024-09-14

https://www.nicko-cruises.de/en/reise/oss-bor?journeyId=648ad693981f4f52f200d69f&startDate=2024-09-07

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

The Katharina von Bora sails to the Oder and Stralsund and the reverse itinerary but not upstream on the Oder to Frankfurt or even further. Another German company does that. Plantours is opening its river cruising season with a sailing on the Oder right up to Wroclaw. The itinerary is only in German but you can see what is doable on a small ship, the MS Sanssouci: https://www.plantours-kreuzfahrten.de/reise/kulturschaetze-am-oderufer-san0124-san0224/

 

notamermaid