A timeless tradition: Brunsbüttel’s watery ways

A flâneur should break his daily routine from time to time. First leisure calls, then the muse inspires him. Such an escape from his virtuous Prussian discipline leads him to a place where tradition is modern, if it is not considered timeless anyway: To Brunsbüttel at the end of the Kiel Canal. To ensure that this journey to the end of the world (at least from the perspective of a Hamburg resident whose horizon ends at the end of the Elbe) can be completed in a reasonable amount of time, far-sighted people have interlinked a railway connection in Itzehoe with an express bus.

This way, people can experience every kind of transport by water and land, and for a brief moment also from a lofty height, a whopping 42 metres above the water level. Shoemaker’s ponies are also in demand, but to a manageable extent. And the journey is mostly sheltered from the weather, even the Blanke Hans remains outside in the Elbe estuary beyond the dyke. This satisfies every form of mimosa of a person allergic to bad weather.

First, the flaneur boards an almost long-distance train or one of the real InterCitys from Hamburg and travels to Itzehoe. There, a long-distance train loses its electric locomotive and its flâneur. The railway line used is the traditional Marschbahn. However, the flâneur leaves it behind today and changes to an express bus to Brunsbüttel. This departs directly in front of the railway station and crosses the Wilstermarsch almost without stopping, past sheep, windmills and real windmills, almost Dutch-style canals.

The undisputed highlight is the crossing of the Kiel Canal on a road bridge with steep ramps. The view stretches from distant Cuxhaven on the other bank of the Elbe to Wacken, whose striking black tower advertising the world’s loudest drinking festival towers over the deepest parts of the North German Plain. On the approach to Brunsbüttel, you pass through the suburb of your actual destination, past the odd thatched-roof house or even a few Wilhelminian-style buildings that were built at the same time as the world’s busiest artificial waterway.

Once you reach your destination, near the canal locks, you can visit them or catch a glimpse of the ship locks from the vantage point. However, the keen stroller wants to stretch his legs and sets off from the bus stop on the north side of the canal to the ferry. This means of transport is free of charge. Incidentally, this has been the case since imperial times. At the monarch’s behest, the eternally undivided Schleswig-Holstein was not to be divided again by a modern waterway.

Viewed from the water, both the new and the old locks on the canal look quite impressive. Incidentally, the ferry route is one of the longest along the Kiel Canal, making it well worth the trip. The construction progress of the new 5th lock chamber can also be observed. This should enable even larger ships to pass through the locks and thus prepare the canal for the future. Once you have arrived on the south side of the canal, you have the option of travelling back by bus towards Itzehoe via beautiful little marshland villages, which have their very own charm.

What should not go unmentioned is the omnipresent presence of two now decommissioned nuclear power stations, which used to spread fear and terror, but could experience an astonishing renaissance in the near future. At the very least, wind turbines, which tower over the lowlands en masse these days, are not at all aesthetically pleasing. And often with astonishing consequences. Much more appetising, however, is the awareness that Prussian virtue created a modern achievement for world trade on time and (almost) without overspending.

 

Sometimes a flâneur has to come to such a place of power in front of his contemporaries and remember his roots and ancestors in order to weather the storms of the present.

In the best seafaring tradition, for example, there is a small kiosk on the lock island between the large, „new“, still imperial lock chambers with their massive rolling gates, where sailors can make international telephone calls or buy everyday necessities.This small kiosk is often the only shop for its international customers between Helsinki and Haiti.

In Brunsbüttel, too, a flaneur will spot politically correct slogans and signs.Nevertheless, a tradition is firmly anchored here like a German oak tree: Christian seafaring, as an occidental tradition, has an awareness of internationality and international understanding.This does not need a zeitgeist or a particular attitude.It is timeless and unpretentiously normal here at the canal lock.And that, along with the good North Sea air, makes for a deep sigh of relief as you stroll along.