We have been thinking
during the winter that our readers, if any still remain, must be
getting pretty fed-up with our cruising tales, and thought perhaps it
was time to stop writing this blog. But in the end, we decided to
continue, if only to allow us to look back on our experiences
ourselves in later years!! So here we go . . .
We have spent most of
this winter in the UK trying to get the new house in Hawkinge into
some sort of liveable shape, not the least of which involved
re-attaching an end wall, rebuilding the chimney on said wall, taking
out one set of ‘cupboard’ stairs and the associated fireplace and
chimney breast, in order to install a proper flight of stairs.
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| Re-attaching the end wall! |
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| The old stairs and fireplace |
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| The new stairs |
We then abandoned the
house, unpainted and in some rooms unplastered, to return to Bruges
and set off for more mayhem, this time in dry dock, on RICCALL.
As
we mentioned last year, the tunnel over the prop was going to have to
be removed and after much research, we booked in with de Schroef,
near Zelzate, just over the border into Holland. All went
surprisingly well; the tunnel has now been largely removed and
RICCALL is handling much better. Also on the plus side, the prop
walk is still much reduced.
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| Much reduced prop tunnel |
We returned to Bruges
for a week then set off for this year’s cruising season proper!
Three days at Diksmuid
(our venue for this coming winter’s mooring) then a night at Ypres
with attendance at the obligatory ‘Last Post’ service of
remembrance. A lovely cycle ride around the old fortifications, soup
and fries in the square then set sail for a night at one of our
favourite moorings at Fintele on the River IJzer on our way to the
Belgian/French border west of Veurne.
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| Ypres Museum |
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| The Last Post ceremony - every night at 8pm |
We spent two nights in
Dunkirk enjoying the peaceful mooring above the Jeu de Mail Lock and
having a good look round the town, including watching a basinée at
Tristram Lock of a very large ship.
At Aire-sur-la-Lys on
the Dunkirk-Escaut Waterway we turned left onto the old River Lys and
rang the lockkeeper. This was a Saturday and the lock keeper
informed us that the locks were closed at weekends until the 1st
of May. We decided to wait rather than take the shorter and much
busier commercial route on the main waterway but this would miss
Lille altogether. In the meantime we looked at the town of Aire for
two days, but scored on the first afternoon by joining an already
started tour of the ‘tour’ - the town’s ancient watchtower; all
in French so a bit hard to understand but the view from the top and
the bells, the bells were great.
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| The Ascenseur des Fontinettes |
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| The Bells! The Bells! |
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| The oldest building in Aire-sur-la-Lys |
We rang the éclusier
on Monday morning and at first were told it would now be Tuesday
before we could pass through the locks! However, with a little
persuasion 2 o’clock was offered. So at last we were off again.
The Lys was lovely and
peaceful with not another boat in sight till we reached Armentieres
Lock
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| Lovely mooring on the Lys |
where we were held up by a tiny bateau école coming up through
the lock! Never mind, we got through eventually and moored up for a
peaceful night just below the lock on the left bank before the
redundant railway bridge – a good spot which we had used once
before.
The next day it was
onto the Canal de La Basse Deule after a short delay to allow a fully
laden péniche to cross our bows. Thank goodness for AIS – makes
these junctions so much easier and safer to navigate. And at last
into the Bras de la Citadelle in Lille- another all-time favourite
where we can have a nice meal at the canal-side restaurant and free
wifi as well. On no you can’t!!! The restaurant is closed for
refurbishment! The maitre d’ apologises but says the restaurant
just along the way will be good. We think he probably owns that one
too, but we did give it a try and it was fine but sadly no wifi. So
the next day we cycled to SFR to try and find out why our latest
pay-as-you-go voucher didn’t work. Apparently we had been sold the
wrong one by the local tabac, and we should return there to exchange
it! Will they swap it? Yes, they did! Amazing!
Our first stop out of
Lille was in the Gare d’Eau at the junction with the
Dunkerque-Escaut Waterway. This is a huge, always empty boat park
400m long by 50m wide with bollards all down one side and an entrance
at each end. The first time we were here we found that the edge had
silted up a bit so Alex went along the whole 400m with the barge pole
testing the depth. About three quarters of the way along he found a
good 20m stretch with 1.4m depth right to the edge. So we moored
there and painted the relevant bollards white. Subsequently we just
head for that spot and we moor up in splendid isolation in this
lovely place.
There has never been
another boat in it but you get glimpses of the big boys as they pass
on the main canal behind the bushes and trees. There are no
facilities and the nearest shops are about 3 kms away but the path is
used occasionally by dogwalkers and cyclists.
We trundled on heading
for the Canal du Nord and eventually a fortnight’s mooring in Reims
while we returned to the UK for a pre-wedding ‘meet the other
parents’ lunch on the Wirral, doctors and dentists etc.
However, once we
arrived at Arleux, the first lock on the Canal du Nord, we discovered
that there was a closure for the WHOLE weekend ahead, including Bank
Holiday Monday! Three whole days! We could still make Reims but we
hate hurry so a different plan had to be conceived.
Eventually, after
contact with several friends and Ports de Plaisances, Bob Marsland
rang to say Cambrai would be able to take us. (Thanks so much for
that Bob). So we diverted to Cambrai to leave the boat there for our
UK trip. From Cambrai to Auxerre, our destination for the DBA rally
in mid June, we’d go via the shorter route via Pontoise and Paris,
instead of the more scenic route via Reims. Perfect.
We brought the car over
from Bruges; three trains - first one late by 10 minutes, with an 8
minute changeover, but they delayed the connecting outgoing train.
How sensible is that? - the advantage of a nationalised system. As
we know well, in the UK the outgoing train leaves regardless,
probably run by a competing company!
And here we are now
back at Cambrai in a lovely mooring with our UK visits very
successfully completed.
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| Safe haven in Cambrai |
