7th Act ... Schwedt

September 2, 2018

Ortwig-Schwedt

Saying goodbye to Katrin and Victor is never easy, they don't live just around the corner. Soon we will be back on track, or rather on the dam.

If we follow the road, the ferry would take us to Poland - the only option to cross the Oder in the area...

... but we want to head north, towards the Baltic Sea. The general direction is correct - so I have time to explain the picture a bit more: On the right is the level of the Oder, which can rise up to the top of the dike - hopefully not above it!

On the left is the protected land - so the pumping station has to pump the seepage water back to the level of the Oder when needed.

From the perspective of a fisherman downstream...

... upstream...

... and on the cycle path.

Restaurant Zollbrücke - a popular meeting place for cyclists...

... also at Zollbrücke, the remains of a cable ferry, which works like this...

... instead of buoys, boats were used here.

Soon the unused bridge of Mühlenloos comes into view...

If you zoom in and count correctly, you can see that there used to be four bridges next to each other... a well-known fate of bridges on the Oder.

At the only survivor, a European cycle path to Poland was announced years ago. Nothing! Even the announcement is missing by now...

Lunch break in Hohenwutzen, across the street is the Polish market, attracting many Germans who shop cheaply in nearby countries - just like many Swiss people do in the Basel region...

A few kilometers downstream, we reach the lock facilities in Hohensaaten...

... from the Oder to the Oder-Havel Canal...

... the lock within the Oder-Havel Canal...

... the water levels can be compared here: on the left, the Oder-Havel Canal is low - on the right, the Oder is high.

... today the cycle path is well stocked with a mixed crowd...

... the house of the former pond keeper is slowly dying...

After Stolpe, we experience the full width and diversity in the Oder meadows once again...

... agriculture also has its place - sheep maintain and compact the dikes...

... hay is being brought in...

It took a long time, but today is the day...

... the first barge is snorting up the Oder...

The agony of choice - do we take this bridge to Schwedt...

... or that one...

... unusually difficult questions just 2 km apart. Alright then: The second one!

... that's why there's this view of the Oder-Havel Canal...

Schwedt also has surprising facade concepts to offer...

... interesting and imaginative, isn't it?