Because Plaue was an absolutely comfortable place to be we did have some problems leaving it. Perhaps this picture explains our motivation. Sitting in easy chairs underneath the shadowy trees, enjoying the permanently changing scene – what more is there to wish for? (Oh, we forgot to mention the good company, books, puzzles and drinks.)

He’s already a tiny part of the scene as brought to you all by the first picture – second from the right, his red shirt clearly visible. First picture taken on the 17th of July, 8:20PM; this one that same evening at 9:09PM. He was understandably really pleased with his catch. We were told it’s a gilt-head bream (goudbrasem). We would have guessed it’s a common carp (schubkarper) but than again: what do we know?? He replaced the fish ever so carefully back into its natural habitat, by the way.

Next to where we were moored the Schloss Plaue is to be found. See https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaue_(Brandenburg_an_der_Havel)#Schloss_Plaue – only in German. Although the castle is not in its best shape several activities still find a welcoming venue there, in- as well as outside (using the ‘innenhof’ – courtyard). We were told by our temporary neighbours, John & Bets Ansing, that every Wednesday music, in the jam-session form, is played inside. Free admission, everyone is welcome, with or without an instrument. Initially we planned to leave on Wednesday; we changed that immediately into Thursday. © www.schlossplaue.de

Plaue was, reluctantly, left on Thursday the 19th of July at 9:20AM. Once more we are on the Plauer See, followed by the already visible Seegartenbrücke and the Wendsee. After that it is cruising the less exciting canals again.

Genthin was our next stop, reached already at 12:07PM. We admittedly did an overnight stop at Genthin earlier, on the 19th of June, but not at the same spot. This is far better – several supermarkets and a very competitive gas station at hand. The friendly owner, seemingly a former sailing master himself, of the house in front of which we were moored, offered us his wheelbarrow (‘Shubkarre’) for easy transport of our jerrycans to and fro the gas station.

After arriving in Genthin our former temporary neighbour, Bets Ansing, informed us about buying some postcards in Plaue and, to her surprise, find an obviously brand new version because their ship as well as ours form a prominent, decorative, part of. As they were planning to leave the next day she promised to bring us a copy of this masterpiece. She duly did, so now we are the proud owners of an ‘official’ postcard featuring, among other things, our very own ship. (To avoid confusion: the ones in the front are canoes.) © Postcards.Jan-Sammer.com

After two nights Genthin was made history, for this year anyway, on Saturday the 21st of July 2018 at 8:50AM. We were on the move for almost another five hours, 57 minutes waiting time for the lock at Zerben included, before reaching Burg (bei Magdeburg). This time we moored at exactly the same spot we did on the 18th of June. So we made a walk of over 2 kilometres (there are bridges at either side at a distance of around 500 meters each) to have a possibility of making a picture of the opposite side of the Elbe-Havel Kanal. This is the result after a load of steps. Phew!

Numerous times we have seen signs informing us about ‘Kein Winterdienst’ (no winter-service). And more, as you can see. Only now we took the trouble to find out what exactly this means. Well, it’s simple: the marked (path)way will not be made snow-free during the winter. That’s OK with us. Related to this we noticed the houses here having a sort of low railing on the edge of their roofs. Question: why? Answer: to prevent an innocent passer-bye of suffering from an unexpected mini avalanche. Got it! (At present we cannot imagine snow falling. But that’s a different story altogether.)

Now that we are speaking about snow, or rain for that matter, it rained on the 12th of July for the last time – and a bit last night. Also before the 12th of July there has/have been (a) long period(s) of draught, illustrated by this picture of dead (asleep?) undergrowth. We were really pleased that it rained last night, as even we do suffer(!) from the heat(wave). And it’s not over yet! Bye for now.