On vacation by houseboat
Relaxing on the Havel: a houseboat trip in the beautiful Uckermark Lakes Nature Park. Do you already have plans for the summer? For ADAC Motorwelt, our author Jessica Braun and her friend Wiebke Bauer were out and about on a houseboat on the Havel in Brandendburg. Photographer Christian Kerber captured a small part of the adventure.
The floor sways and I have foam in my mouth. The foam is easy to explain: I'm brushing my teeth. But why the jerky movements? "The lock is opening! We have to cast off," I hear excitedly from the deck. 9:30 in the morning, that is what the lock keeper had called out to us yesterday. It is shortly before eight. While I'm washing down the foam along with the anticipation of a leisurely breakfast, the engine which my friend Wiebke has already started is already sounding. "Are you going to start the back?" she asks, standing at the bow, as I step out into the open. I release the tether, get behind the wheel. A minute later, we're chugging through the prematurely opened Marienthal lock. And are proud of the sovereign maneuver on an empty stomach. Admittedly, we also had time to practice ...
A week ago we took over the Havanna, our houseboat, in the Brickworks Park Mildenberg. To sail with it on the Havel northward through the Uckermark Lakes Nature Park to the village of Himmelpfort – which is exactly the right expression.
Laymen like Wiebke and me are Peter Schmidt's business. He owns five boats of his own design, which he rents out under the name "Die Bootschaft". Our Havana, a kind of mini-bungalow on 24 square meters, is equipped with gas stove, refrigerator, hot water, TV and toilet. The sitting area can be converted into a double bed, and the travel bags disappear under two bunk beds. For three hours, Schmidt practices casting off, stopping, turning, mooring, and anchoring with us. Then we set off to explore the expanse of Brandenburg.
"It's just wonderful here."
230 lakes, streams and canals on 900 square kilometers. That's the Uckermark Nature Park.
You can read the entire story in the ADAC Motorwelt issue 01/2021. More information about the new Motorwelt can be found on the ADAC website.
Four times a year the ADAC Motorwelt offers information and service, reports, columns, tests and celebrity-interviews on the topics of cars, travel and mobility. The magazine is available in around 9,100 German Edeka and Netto subsidiaries. Club members can take it free of charge at the checkout.
