Part 4 Gota canal Berg – Vadstena

22 July 202322 July 2023 Peter Mantel

A journey through the Gota Canal – Part 3 was the Carl Johan lock step at Berg. It was another challenging lock step, taking a lot of strength to keep the boat in check. From there we steamed up …….

Berg upper

We are now moored at a lake at the top of the lock step of the Carl Johan lock. The beautiful weather seems to have come to an end, with one depression after another presenting itself, it looks like autumn. The wind no longer drops below 4 Bft and the temperature is 18 in the morning and rises to 20 degrees at most.
As usual, I explore the area a bit and also the next two locks. After 5 nights in Berg Upper, we continue our way to Borensberg. 11.4 Nm.

Motala

After Borensberg, the journey continues towards Motala, We pass a number of locks, bridges and even two aqueducts. On 8 July 14.45, we moor in Motala. Motala lies directly on Lake Vattern, which is 88.5 metres above sea level. The weather has still not improved, heavily cloudy with tubes and a temperature of 16 degrees.
Meanwhile, Gerrit’s wife (de Schoonheyt) dismounted and, via a check in hospital, boarded the plane home in Linkoping. With that same flight came his reinforcement for Gerrit. He decided to now sail on home as soon as possible. So this is where our paths separate, too bad. I always enjoyed hanging out with someone else making the same trip. But it’s no different.
According to Rene Vleut’s book, I decide to make another trip to Vadstena, which is further south on Lake Vattern, and so I leave at 11.30 on 12/7/23. A 2-hour trip, I hope to be in there before the upcoming showers.

Vadstena

So it is heavily cloudy wind South 2-4 Bft. There are spirited showers by the looks of it. But it’s only a short one-hour trip. Once I have sailed into the harbour entrance and moored, I see a very long line on the water behind the boat, which loops forward again far behind me until it passes the boat. When I grab my pecking hook, it turns out to be a fishing net and it runs from behind under the boat. So I fear the worst I haul in a lot of fishing net but at some point it gets stuck in the propeller. I alerted the harbour master because there is another long piece of net in front of the boat across the channel. He too hauls that section in. By the looks of it, I’ve dragged at least 50 metres of net in with me and that’s even though I stayed neatly on the approach line the entire approach and didn’t see any fishing poles, so it must be a loose net I picked up. I will have to dive for the propeller, well tomorrow.

The next day I first take some nice drone footage of Vadstena and the Castle, which I also visit. I also visit the centre of this beautiful historical place.
But in the afternoon, I have to go and find my diving mask and armed with my knife, I jump into the 18-degree water. After several dives, I manage to cut most of it loose and call it a day.