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| Glückstad |
In Bermuda a year ago, we shared the St. George’s anchorage with Bert and Marlene
Frisch aboard their boat Heimkehr. They were returning from the Caribbean toward
their home in Germany
where a dock awaited Heimkehr right
in front of their house - a dock that Traversay
III might like to share.
In planning a spring visit to Hamburg,
we realized that Bert and Marlene's town was on the Oste river, a tributary of
the Elbe which leads to that city; thus a
visit began to seem quite practical.
Because of a complex winding entry over a shallow bar where
the Oste meets the Elbe, it is necessary to
enter at least 2 hours after low tide and while the tide is rising. This in turn dictates when you must leave
your previous stop, in our case the picturesque town of Gluckstadt [German: Lucky Town}.
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| Dike and farmhouse from river |
A look at the chart was almost enough to discourage the
enterprise altogether but with Mary Anne on chart and binoculars and me
steering, we managed to get past the tricky, current washed entrance. Mary Anne's competence in German then got the
three bridges opened in succession as we made our way along the narrow winding
river. She modestly suggests that whatever she had said, the bridge would have
opened as that is how bridge tenders habitually react to approaching boats. It
was so tranquil that it seemed our only observers were the many sheep walking
along the high dikes. The sheep are employed thus to compress and strengthen
the dirt making up these essential dikes which over the years have protected,
and occasionally failed to protect, the countryside from a series of
devastating floods. The houses and farms
we glimpsed along the way had their lower halves hidden by the intervening
dikes , an appearance typical of the region which reinforces the impression of
how low the land is.
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| Traversay at Oberndorf |
After an hour and a half motoring up the Oste, we reached
the town of Oberndorf
- the heart of the Oste as Das Oberndorf Lied
puts it. Marlene was waiting on the dock
to take our lines and help us secure our boat.
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| The Frisch house with Canadian flag |
It is difficult with words and pictures to adequately
describe the warmth of the welcome given us by this little town! There were
dinners to be shared, invariably involving the seasonal regional delicacy of
fresh white asparagus. We toured the local area meeting various town characters
and seeing sights like a high hanging ferry built by the same Monsieur Eiffel
who built the tower. We dined at "53
North". Interestingly, the town is on the same latitude as Edmonton, Canada
where Mary Anne and I grew up. Drinks
with the yacht club led to the singing of various songs and to our receiving a gift
book of local history from the mayor.
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| The Eiffel Ferry |
The regional newspaper Niederelbe-Zeitung even sent a reporter
to interview the crew of the first Canadian boat [we believe, anyway] to visit
the Oste river.
In a few days, we will leave German waters behind bound for Norway. We take with us more memories than either of
us imagined possible when we arrived a few short weeks ago.
Larry
Cuxhaven,
Germany
