Hi readers! You may be interested to know that we have now finally made it to Belgium. Sorry that we couldn’t let you all know we had set off - but this internet access business is a trial and tribulation!) We set off on Sunday at 8.30 am - into the lock onto the Ouse at Goole - and were at last on our way (extra ½ hr though while they tried to get the gates working!.)
The trip took 46 hours non-stop. We had a brief hiccup with the steering after about 2 hours which was a bit disconcerting, but it sorted itself out. Then at about 11 pm during Louise’s and Mike’s shift (shortly after Alex had gone to bed for his sleep) the gearbox started to heat. Alex fixed the problem by bleeding some excess air out of the oil cooling circuit but within an hour or so the temperature had started to rise again. So for the rest of the journey Alex or Ray bled the cooling system every hour or so. This severely restricted the amount of rest time they could take and at the end of it all they reckoned to have slept for about three hours each. Mind you, on the second day Mike was on from 5 pm to 5 am without a break which is pretty good going by anyone‘s standards..
Needless to say we are all pretty tired!
On the other hand the weather could not have been much better. There was a bit of slop in the water coming down from the north which gave Riccall a distinct roll but the winds were light, the sun shone and it was warm and pleasant. For the few hours that Alex did sleep the rolling motion felt like being rocked to sleep. Not so, says Louise!! who didn’t much enjoy the experience.
All the hard work on preparing Riccall for the trip paid off and even when we were tossed about quite dramatically by the wake of gigantic ships in the Channel, everything in the boat stayed put.
We need a few days in Nieuwpoort to restore the boat to home and for us to recover and then we will be off again, we think to Bruges, but watch this space …!!!
PS It has taken us two days to find internet access to post this blog!!
3 comments:
Pleased to hear it went (almost) to plan. Everyone I've told thinks you're courageous and foolhardy in equal measures for even thinking of attempting the whole thing. At least it's over with and now you can continue your middle-aged trundling down the canals of Europe and into the inevitable gaping mouth of death... but not for many decades I hope. Janine is, obviously, keen to know when you will be near an airport and when we can come and visit! Love you. J
Was going to text but that'll cost you 409,000 euro every time I do that so... glad you arrived safely... yes, lime green reminds me of cornwall road 1985.
Well done - glad to hear you are now on le continent. Also glad you did not have the Corfu strait experience with screaming Albanians. Hope you like Bruges - the sites, the beer, the chocolate, the food! M&M
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