Kiel Kanal contrasts

First pic is the ship Shuya that we saw aground in the Elbe entrance - he had no business being anywhere that green/white stick which marks the sandbank he has hit.

Having worked out that the tide in the Elbe river runs 1-2 hours later than the normal tides, we realised an evening passage upriver to the Kiel canal lock would actually be night. So it had to be early morning and kiss goodbye to half a day looking around Cuxhaven. Sigh. On the bright side this is the last time we'll be tide-bound for perhaps 2 years. There's a thought.

We were first out of the SVC marina harbour (and very nice it was too), but we're overtaken by a squadron of German, Dutch and Swedish yachts because they all seem to motor flat out whereas we go at a pace where the engine sounds happiest, the fuel consumption  is moderate, and the all-pervasive rattles are at a minimum.

A grey, flat-calm morning and a boost from the tide saw us upriver the 16 miles in under 3 hours (pic). We jilled but not for long, and the rain arrived in torrents as we pushed and wormed our way into the lock which already contained the hugest of barges. In half an hour we were released into Kaiser Wilhelm's watery motorway that links the North Sea to the Baltic - built for naval reasons and now mostly commercial and 'sport' as they call us. Bridges (pic) are all over 40m high, enough for all shipping (we only need 15m) so we have 55 miles with just big ships (pic) and little ferries to avoid.

The sun comes out to dry us off and suddenly it's warm. Y'day L was wearing full thermals and sailing gear - what a difference as we venture inland. Still no wind, very peaceful. Butterflies, birdsong.

Then around a bend we find a small ship that had passed us earlier has inexplicably rammed the bank (pic) - I would like to entitle that pic "you probably didn't want to do that" or to the strains of the Navy Lark (50s radio 4) "when I said 'left hand down a bit' I didn't mean that much". Later he passed us again so he managed to get his bow off the grass.

Now we are moored in Rendsburg, a delightful backwater off the canal about 2/3 the way along. Had a lovely meal at the restaurant 50m from the boat. We asked the harbour mistress about the famous transporter bridge (one of only 8 in the world, check it out) and why it was not working. Apparently a ship hit it, injuring the two people on board, so now it is being repaired.

So that's 3 shipping accidents in 2 days (2 witnessed, 1 recounted) which makes us even more wary of the shipping around here. Oh and today's problem is that our fresh water is leaking into the bilge - that's one for the morning zzz