At 7PM we were in the lock with two other sailing vessels. Much to my surprise, there were no grumpy old guy in uniform in the Lock Master's office, but a kind man in his early thirties who offered me a piece of cake (!) when I payed the �'�12 in fee.

Germany certainly seem to have changed since I hitch-hiked through it at seventeen!

The locking procedure is not THAT dramatic here, it's just a couple of decimeters we gained in altitude before continuation to the sheltered inland waterway. The canal is 53,3 miles long and connects the North sea with the Baltic Sea, thus making it unnecessary to round Denmark. (No offense, dear Danes, just distancewise!)

Pleasure Crafts are not allowed to be uner way in the canal at night, giving us an excuse to get a full night's proper sleep, so we anchored in Lake Borgstedt in one of the five 'sichers' along the stretch of the canal.