June 2026 (part 2 – 16th to 30th)
The previous evening whilst moored up in front of Lock 4, another boater called round to ask what was happening. He said that they would get to the lock for 8am so we agreed to be ready in case the lock should open.
Sure enough the lock gates started to open up but had to shut again as the other boat was too close to the swing bridge! That meant a little messing around, but eventually we all were underway although for the next four hours we experienced delay after delay at locks and bridges, until we finally arrived at our planned stop in Haren, Germany. A nice 60m wooden staging for mooring, very conveniently located near the town center and an Aldi store, which worked out well for us
We decided to stay a couple of nights here before pushing further into Germany, and on 18th June we set off to join the Dortmund -Ems waterway. Firstly we passed through the final lock on the Haren-Rutenbrock canal (where we had to pay €10 for the pleasure of our entry to the lock), then a right-hand turn into the main route the Ems river.
This part of the cruise was all very pleasant and problem free … until we reached the first rather large lock (165m x 20m) and remembered how poor (read ‘non-existent’) our command of the German language was/is. Nicki radioed through in a semblance of German, and we received a response but had no idea what they’d said. So we decided just to hang around and see what happened.
Luckily, not long after this a cruiser came along with the same aim, and they were Germans who spoke English. Phew! That truly was a streak of luck, especially as not only had they spoken to the lock keeper for passage into the lock, but he had asked them to tell us that several locks further along our planned route were out of action for 4 weeks due to maintenance works. Not that that was good news, obviously, but it did mean we could revise our plans. For now that mainly meant staying in Meppen on a public mooring in the town, still on the Ems. Replenishing our water supply was likely to be the only issue we might face, but we could manage for now.
This turned out to be quite a pleasant stay, with a few reasonable places to walk the dogs, and we ended up spending four nights before being instructed to move on. (The permitted stay was just three nights.)
With that in mind, we headed a little further along turning into the Hase river, and tying up at another public mooring next to a tree lined grassy area outside of some private houses. Oh, and even better nearby walks for the dogs. Perfect, except for the 24hr mooring limit … which again we choose to ignore for a few nights.
During the past few weeks climate change was really kicking in and the weather was cycling between thunder and lightening, hail storms and intense heat, and by the time we’d arrived in Meppen the temperatures were reaching the high 30s at minimum every day. Unfortunately this heat coincided with Casper becoming unwell again, so we were in a constant battle of cleaning up after him, getting food into him that stayed in him, keeping him hydrated and keeping him cool. (The problem had started back in Veendam, and despite a vetinary visit and various medications, a couple of months on he was still unwell – his senior years (15) were against him, but so far despite all the above, he seemed content and happy to head out on the grass for wee breaks.
Yet again, three nights on, we needed to change our location (although still in Meppen) on 27th, and decided to try our luck at the first staging we’d stayed at. Initially we were just going to stop long enough to get some supplies from the local market and supermarket, but once settled in we decided to stay another three nights outside of the hotel.
The final day of June saw us move (yet again) this time just a few metres across the river and onto another three-day mooring stage. We had to tuck in fairly close to the Ems Brücke, but otherwise not too bad and still convenient for town with a newly mowed grass section running a fair distance along the river.
