Flevoland to Ketelsluis

 

Although the cruise across Flevoland was unremarkable in itself, what WAS remarkable was the thought that until the 50s and 60s this whole enormous area of 1000 square kilometres would have been 6 metres under water.

We set off again on our way out of Flevoland, through the locks and the 6M rise at this end of the island onto the Ketelmeer. Alex wondered if our much-reduced speed may be the result of growth on the hull. This had been bothering him for some days and so he decided that as we were relatively close to SRF in Harlingen we might try to see if they could fit us in for a quick lift-out to check. SRF couldn’t fit us in before September so he tried Multiship, also in Harlingen. They could do it the very next week – at a price!

After some heavy bargaining over the cost of it all, we made the decision to go ahead. This meant we would travel a similar route to Harlingen as we had 8 years previously, rather than taking our direct route from Mepple to Groningen on the Drentsche Hoofdvaart Canal via Essen. But never mind! There are always the meers to enjoy on our way to Harlingen

Now we could look forward to the historic village of Blokzijl where we had been lucky enough to moor in it’s harbour 8 years ago. When we got there we saw what looked like a space big enough for us between two cruisers. We headed for it but as we started to manoeuvre in we saw that the quay had a kink in it half way along. Abort! Abort! We’d have to reverse out and moor elsewhere - perhaps in a space that a passer-by told us was normally used by a trip boat. But as we backed out the wind caught us and Louise had to quickly insert a fender between us and the posh cruiser as we slid along its upper hull!

Alex went along afterwards to apologise. “Is there any damage?” asked the grim-faced owner. “No” said Alex. “Well that’s all right then”. No smiles or bonhomie – miserable git!

That night there was to be an alfresco play by a local touring ensemble. A stage had been floated into the lock after hours and tiers of seating erected looking over it. All the local residents appeared dressed in traditional garb and the “Lord Mayor” in a top hat and his lady came to talk to us before the show began but said, sadly, that there were no more tickets available.

However shortly after the show began we went for a wander and found ourselves ‘backstage’, as it were, sitting on a bench with one of the locals watching the whole thing from the ‘wrong’ side!

The most interesting part was that the hero of the piece was seated not 10 yards from our bench on an old tjalk, waiting to claim his beloved. His back was to the audience throughout and he joined in the singing but kept a low profile. Not until the very end did he leave the barge and join the rest of the cast in the finale. He did have a very good voice and Louise thought he looked smashing! But of course the whole thing was in deepest Dutch dialect so we hadn't a clue what was going on! But the hero got the girl. Universal!

As we journeyed on from Bloxzijl we noticed that the propeller seemed to be more noisy than it had been! What next? We found that if we slowed down to about 5.5 kph it became quiet again. As we had plenty of time we decided to do that speed all the way to the lift-out and investigate what might be amiss on dry land.  

Spotted this rather strange double-master in the throes of renovation in Franeker - note the hole in the hull, and the welder working INSIDE the boat through the hole!!

The lift out went without a hitch and it turned out that the growth on the hull was not as bad as we had thought. But we were committed now, so the job would have to go ahead. The propeller also looked absolutely fine. So the noise would probably still be there when we got back into the water!

On our way back into the water

Alex knew the seals on the outside end of the stern tube had ceased to be effective as water had started to seep through, so while we were on the hard he introduced some extra grease into the bearing. After refilling the greaser TWICE he at last managed to get some grease to exit the outer end of the prop shaft. Perhaps as the oil seals had failed the grease had been washed out?  

We spent a day or two over the weekend when the yard was closed, re-visiting lovely Harlingen and particularly the docks area, where we potted this (replica) galleon.

When we finally got back in the water and set off the strange noise from the prop had stopped. In fact, the whole barge seemed to be back to a time when all had been operating smoothly. And our speed seemed to be back to normal. Hurrah!

We moored at Stroobos so that Jeremy and Carol (latterly of barge ANTHONIA but now in a camper van) could meet up with us, but before they arrived we noticed that the discolouration on the port side of the barge couldn’t be removed however we tried. We had thought it was just general wind-blown shipyard dust and that it would come off with a good wash. The starboard side which also looked discoloured did come clean fairly easily with a stiff brush. Strange!

Alex wrote to the shipyard, sending photos, to ask for advice. It was thought by them to be overspray from the undercoat being caught in the wind. We were asked if we could return to the yard and they would sort it out. Alex explained that we were by then 3 days cruising time away and couldn’t return. Finally, it was agreed that if they could give us a couple of 5 litre tins of hull blacking, we would do the painting ourselves. After much discussion it was arranged that one of the staff members who was driving to Germany that very evening could drop it off at Stroobos.

So on Friday night at about 7.30 pm and while we enjoyed supper with Carol and Jeremy, we received 20 litres of Hempex High Build Black. Fantastic! More than we had asked for, but hey, we still had to do the work!

Onwards to Groningen and we found the same mooring we had used 8 years ago, and it was available. Lunch at IKEA, a climb of the Martinitoren for fantastic views of the city, and more food shopping as usual. We were just setting off after the 2nd night when the Havenmeester appeared – that will be €57 please. We explained that as there was no signage regarding payment, we had assumed the mooring was free. “Oh no! Nowhere in Groningen is free – it says so on the internet” he said. But €57?!!

And when we set off we discovered a definitely free mooring just round the corner!

As we travelled east out of Groningen we spotted ahead of us what looked like an extremely large barge, but as we got nearer we saw that it was in fact an ocean-going ‘tramp steamer’, huge, brand new and still being completed in a massive shipyard. Then a kilometre or so further on another and then more and more, all brand new and in various stages of production: a sort of production line of huge sea-going barges, each 150m long and at least 12m wide and so tall – 7m minimum freeboard and the wheelhouses 14m up in the air! Extraordinary! Who knew this was all happening in north east Holland.

When we arrived at Veendam, we moored up on what we hoped after Groningen, was a free mooring, and adjacent to our mooring was a ‘coffee shop’ of the Dutch variety. There was an endless procession of cars stopping for just two minutes – time enough to buy the next joint but no coffee. Next morning we discovered it wasn't, as hoped, a free mooring - But €8 is fine thank you very much.

The lock keeper had told us to be ready at 9 o’clock to traverse all the bridges together with three other cruisers (all German on their way home via the Ems).

At 8.30 he came to tell us that one of the Germans wanted to leave as soon as possible and could we be ready sooner. We said give us 10 minutes to warm the engine and then we can.

This was the start of a day in which we were last in a convoy of impatient Germans who wanted to get home before the weekend at which their holidays ended. They had to wait for us at each bridge and lock as we could only mange 5 kph in the shallow canal. We made many references to the hare and the tortoise during the arduous day!

Alex managed to remove two bits of detritus from the prop (which Alex had expected had been there for some time) but the last bit of string just couldn’t be shifted.

We had asked for 10am start the next day but it wasn’t till 10.30 when two other cruisers appeared that we got going again, for another day of bridges and locks.

One of the cruisers stopped at the passantenhaven so that left just one to contend with and he was also heading for Germany so we lost him at the junction as we headed south on to the Compasscuum Canal. At last, we thought, we have the canal to ourselves, but No! A cruiser came round the corner from Germany and joined us in the first lock to head south!

The locks are not so big here and seemed to be getting smaller as we progressed. When we reached the Compasscuum Jansen lock the lockkeeper would only let us in by ourselves and also mentioned that there was a low bridge ahead in a couple of kilometres. We decided to moor up for the day and hope for drier weather in the morning when we would have to remove the roof.

The morning dawned sunny and wind free! We removed the roof and set off. As it turned out we might have just squeezed under the bridge (which was a lift bridge but seemed to be restricted as to how high it could lift).

The rest of the day was great as we were the only boat travelling. We had to negotiate the circuitous route around the Veenpark (an industrial heritage site). No boats can moor here to visit the site, which seemed a shame. This canal had been closed for some time and the original route had been built over so when they reopened it in 2013 the Veenpark jiggle was the only available route.

This included several right angled turns and also the pinch point of the whole journey – a very old lock – kept open but still only 4.8m wide.

RICCALL is exactly 4.8m wide so we were looking forward to this. In the event it was tight, but the lower hull of our barge is narrower than the deck and we got through with centimetres to spare.

Finally we moored up near the start of the StieltjesKanaal at the first lock – just in time as it turned out as the wind became a near-hurricane together with heavy squalls of rain. The day ahead, Sunday – appeared to give us just an hour and a half of cruising time before a rail bridge which is totally closed on Sundays – the only one of our entire route. Louise made a decision and declared a day of rest – then went on to the paint the starboard hull of the boat making good use of a fine morning.

Lovely day, but not exactly warm!

It was a nice spot upstream of the Stieltjesluis so we stayed a couple of nights.

In the morning we tried to alert the lock-keeper, assuming that he/she was at the lock as there were two cars parked outside. There appeared to be people inside the lock building but Alex was unable to contact them when he walked down to the lock. In the end, having tried the VHF to no avail we had to ring the phone number given in our P C Navigo computer program. After trying each of three numbers, finally a lady said “I will prepare the lock for you”! Gosh! The myriad systems of alerting lock-keepers here in Holland really makes alerting someone difficult. By press button, by VHF, by phone, by video surveillance camera. You never know which it’s going to be!

When we got to one of the many lift bridges we seemed to have lost our travelling bridge operator. We hung around for 10 minutes or so then gave up, moored and started our lunch as it was 11.50 and the bridges close between 12 and 12.30pm, so we assumed we would have to wait.

We had just started our lunch when the bridge operator arrived together with two cruisers. We asked to stay to finish our lunch but he explained that if we didn’t go through now we would have to wait till late afternoon to get going again so we went through the bridge, stopped immediately for a quick finish of lunch then set off again to catch up with the other boats in time for 12.30 at the next bridge.

​What a palava! The other two boats sped off and we trailed along behind. After the next bridge we gave up and moored up for the day. This gave us time to cycle back to Lidl, our favourite shop (who knew?) for supplies.

We had assumed that this 'little' canal in the far east of Holland would be calm, rural and very peaceful.  In the event it turned out to be the industrial powerhouse of the country, with huge gravel workings, cement works, chemical factories and so on.  Quite a surprise!

As we were nearing the end of the Stieltje Kanaal we, on a whim, contacted the Almelo Passantenhaven and asked if we could moor our 70 ton, 19m barge in his marina. This seemed to be fine and he opened the two bridges necessary to travel to the end of the dead cut. He welcomed us to the mooring just before the Java bridge. This was a really good mooring for us and especially for historic boats as they can moor for free. He kindly gave us free electricity too so we just had the tourist charge of €1 per person to pay.

                                                                           Almelo town from the wheelhouse

                                                                  Almelo small boat harbour from the wheelhouse

Almelo fire brigade chaps do their practice stuff

We stayed for two nights, had a very mediocre lunch in town and had a look round the old textile district. The whole area has been demolished and re-built with social and private housing in typical modern Dutch style. Very impressive.

Moving on we decided, in the teeth of yet another rain storm, to grab an ideal mooring somewhat earlier than normal. It was intended for commercial craft but it was supposedly necessary to contact the Eefde Lock to ask for permission to moor from 6pm-6am, which we dutifully did. We rang the number but as expected the message was in totally unintelligible Dutch. We used our translator device to record the message and wow, it worked – press 1 for the control centre, press 2 . . . etc We did so and the guy who answered spoke perfect English. “Could we moor here for the night please?” “I will ring back and let you know.” OK right.

10 Minutes later he rang back and told us we could moor at the ‘Sport’ mooring (pleasure boats are called Sport in Holland and Germany) at the next lock Eefde. Alex explained that we were miles from Eefde at this mooring east of Goor. “Oh, I see. Well that’s OK, you have my permission!” Good job.

This most impressive mural covered the whole side of an enormous industrial edifice 

Arriving at said Eefde Lock the next day some time after 3pm we asked to moor on the Sport mooring for the night. “No.” Well how about the commercial mooring “No.” We asked what had happened to the Sport mooring which our Waterway Guide from the DBA had mentioned. “There is no Sport mooring here. Go back 12 kms to Lochem or out onto the Ijssel and up stream to Zutphen.” The Ijssel, we knew, was running at around 6kph so trying to go upstream would be, if not impossible, at least very difficult.

Well, what could we do? Faced with this impossible choice we turned tail and retraced our steps, expecting to have to do the 12 kms to Lochen where we knew there was mooring. However, approaching the little harbour of Nieuwe Aanlag we saw that there was a ‘box’ available wide enough for us to nose into – carefully! (A box in this context in Holland, is a space designed with upright poles to corral a suitably sized boat bow or stern on to a quay.) Very slowly and with great care we went in. 

Tiny little Nieuwe Aanlag Harbour

 Thankfully snuggled into this tiny little harbour 

The havenmeester, after welcoming us warmly, expressed amazement that we had been refused mooring at the lock and took pity on us, despite our being oversized, and said we could stay providing we were well roped. In the end we had 7 ropes to various points around the barge and fenders in everywhere. Even so we moved around a great deal as the big commercials whizzed past.

We decided despite some consternation about the speed of the Ijssel, to leave the next morning and managed to extricate ourselves without side-swiping anybody (by a miracle) and headed back down stream to Eefde Lock.

As we went through we saw that there was a perfectly good Sport mooring both above and below the lock and plenty of space on the commercial mooring. Was it just coincidence that 2 days before England had beaten Holland in the Euros? We feel a letter of complaint is in order, because that is just not on.

There really WAS a Sport mooring at Eefde Lock - we knew it!

The Ijssel was flowing at 5 to 5,5 kph so on top of our 7.5 to 8 kph we made good progress.

 This is probably the fastest we have ever cruised!
    

The moorings at Deventer were under water and there was no obvious place to moor so we decided to just get the Ijssel under our belt in one shot as it were, and reached Zwolle Lock just after 3pm and with some trepidation asked if we could moor on the Sport mooring downstream of the lock for the night. Again the lock-keeper said he’d check and get back to us on VHF. “Yes, you can, but please moor at the very end of the mooring and what time will you be leaving?” We said 9-10am, our usual departure time.

We were just starting breakfast at 8.45 the following morning when the RWS (water ‘police’) launch crossed the waterway from its mooring and moored up behind us. They came to say that we should have left at 8am, despite their having heard our conversation with the lock-keeper the night before as to our intention of leaving at 9-10am. “Can we finish our breakfast?” “You have 5 minutes.” That’s a no then!

Honestly, if they had heard our intention last night, why didn’t they come over and make the 8am departure clear. We would have got up earlier. What is it with these guys. The England-Holland match again?

They hovered around us in their launch until we actually set off then they whizzed off into the lock while we set off down the Ijssel again while finishing our breakfasts and the morning’s ablutions in shifts.

With relief we got to one of our favourite moorings on the Keteldiep by 11 am. Off the main line, quiet and peaceful and 3 days allowed (max length 15m). But gosh where did we lose those 3.75 metres?!

As in our last blog, we add some photos of things we've seen on this cruise.

Virtually derelict but with pristine awning!

Another rather splendid house

Completely empty on passing one way - totally full 2 weeks later!

Seneffe to Flevoland

 

This year we'd decided to visit Holland again. We didn't get to the very east side of the country last time we visited.

Our mooring at Seneffe had to be vacated by 9 am Monday morning as there was to be an event of some sort.  We left on Sunday night!

We needed to fill up with red diesel before we got to Holland as it is no longer available there (and who knows, we may need the genny or equally importantly, the central heating!). So we decided to go via Antoing, a two day cruise to fill up there and return via Seneffe for our route north, via Charleroi and Liege.

Our first, Sunday night mooring, was to be the entrance to the historic lifts at Strepy Thieu. We ignored the no entry sign on the right about 0.5 km from the mooring and spent a peaceful night despite being clearly in the Zone Portuaire which we saw next morning!

On our way out the following morning we spotted an Australian barge which had been moored at Seneffe. Alex called them up on the radio and said we would see them at the top of the Strepy Thieu lift. However, a few minutes later we received a text from our friend Paul of BEATRICE reminding us of the bunker barge in Liege! Ah yes – on our route. Change of plan! We can fill up there and avoid a 4 day round trip to Antoing. Quick call to the Australians to cancel meet-up (they did have the grace to seem disappointed!) and off on our route to Liege via Charleroi and Namur.

Soon into a lock with one of the big boys again!

We moored on the Sambre just before the junction with the Meuse in Namur and took the relatively new cable car to the Citadel, which gave a fabulous view of the fortifications and the town itself.

At Liege we almost missed the fuel barge, as we were fascinated by the sight of a boatyard capable of taking 110m barges on the other bank!! We filled up with red and white diesel and water.

Height of the river flood in Huy port in July 2021

On to Maastricht and a mooring we had been able to access in 2016 – St Pieters. Then we had moored up alongside our friends Jeroen and Anja on their 39m barge DE CAPO II. This time we moored up to two of the ‘duc d’Albes’ which were the right distance apart for us. So nice was the mooring that we stayed an additional night and took an ‘American School Bus’ trip round Maastricht to get an overview of the city.

At Maasbracht, we heard with some surprise that our friends on BEATRICE were moored in a polder a few kilometres away, so we motored on and across the lake and joined them on a sturdy fixed pontoon (with no access to land) for several aperos and suppers on each barge. The weather was truly dreadful but despite that, it was such a peaceful spot we stayed for 4 nights! (Louise painted the hand rails between showers.)

The following several nights we managed to find moorings in polders off the mainline of the Maas until we eventually managed to find the historic harbour at Kraaijenbergse not very far from Nijmegen. What a super place for us – full of historic Dutch barges, mostly ex-tugs – and such friendly people (and very reasonable mooring charges!)

However, having spoken to the locals there, we realised that even the short 20kms trip UP the Waal, which we had hoped to do, would not be possible for us with the power of our engine, so a change of plan: we would continue down the Maas and get to Arnhem in the reverse direction via the Mepple to Groningen canal and then south down the east side of Holland through Ter Apel etc.

At our mooring north of Gorinchem, at Meerkerk, we heard a little voice outside the boat saying “Hello, RICCALL, hello”. And there to our amazement was Louise Ritchie of her new boat ‘ASCENSION’ (soon to be re-named). Louise had left Keith aboard at Vianen and come to collect their car which was parked 10 yards from our boat! Keith had been visiting hospital in Gorinchem so had stayed aboard to rest. Louise came aboard for tea and bics and we agreed to meet up again the following day when we got to Vianen ourselves. Second coincidence of our trip so far and very welcome!

A new system for mooring, electricity and water, has been installed in this area of Holland since our last visit. It is now necessary to download an app on your smart phone to give you access to the facilities. (Havenmeesters now redundant presumably!) Whenever you moor in a place controlled by this scheme, you advise of your arrival on the phone, and can gain access to water and electricity. The bill arrives at the end of the month which you pay – using your phone.

No! I won’t do it! I won’t pay any bills using my phone. I just don’t trust the technology. So I will do without water and electricity in those moorings and if they want to charge me for the night’s mooring I will pay cash, otherwise they can go to hell!

(However, I have to admit we were quite happy to take water using Keith and Louise’s app!)

We went through the lock onto the Lek but were very taken by the mooring designated for pleasure craft before entering the fast-flowing Lek river. We stopped for lunch, but as a 2-day stay is allowed, we stayed on for overnight.

We got onto the Vecht and found the mooring we had used 8 years ago had enough space for us and two available bollards. It was also one of the ones that now had a small notice on the bollards telling us to pay through the app! (or perhaps through the nose).

Well, the grass was 3 feet high, clearly hadn’t been cut this year. The second bollard was falling out of the earth and the whole mooring had an air of neglect. The two other boats on it looked to be abandoned. Who wants to pay for that? In the end we had to abandon the forward bollard and do a cat’s cradle with the other bollard and the nearby lamp-post.

The following day as we travelled north we were pleased to note that the ‘app’ notices had run out and the un-serviced moorings were back to being ‘free for 3 days’.

We were heading for the Zuidersluis into Flevoland from Muiden but we noticed a little island – Pampus – not far off our route in the Markermeer. We decided to call in there for lunch. There is a fortification there which is part of a line of defences similar we imagine, to the French Maginot Line.

We were joined by a couple on a yacht who had some trouble mooring up in the strong wind. They were members of the Dutch equivalent of the RNLI which was formed a year after our version and operates on the same independent principles.

After an appalling lunch of ‘bitterballen’ (the ubiquitous Dutch deep-fried balls of meaty or cheesy mush) most of which we quietly slid into our doggy bag, we had to say goodbye to the Dutch couple as they were going on the tour of the fort. We felt we couldn’t spare the time for that, as the wind was getting stronger and we still had 20kms at sea to run.

RICCALL maintained a fairly even keel despite the wind which was largely on the stern, only rolling about 5 to 10 degrees. That was until we had to turn at right angles to enter the calmer waters of the Almere-Buiten harbour. Then all hell broke loose as we rolled quite dramatically from side to side! The drawers in the wheelhouse started to crash open and closed and Louise was frightened out of her wits. Alex shouted that whatever else she did, she just HAD to stop the drawers crashing in and out – which she did.

After about 5 minutes or so we were into the shelter of the harbour and everything settled down. A quick check below revealed only one breakage – a little oil lamp which had fallen off the mantelpiece. Of course the accommodation is below the water line so the roll is not as dramatic as in the wheelhouse. Alex has absolute faith in the sea-worthiness of RICCALL and apart from worrying about the drawers, actually enjoyed the drama!

Although the water was calm in the harbour, the wind was still pretty strong so we nestled against a pair of duc d’Albes in front of the red light, and tried to contact the lock-keeper. We tried the radio – no reply. We tried one phone number but the response was of course all in Dutch. We tried a different number and received a message asking it seemed, for our location and destination – but not by name, but allocated numbers. Of course all in Dutch. On our second attempt we guessed at two numbers! Nothing happened. So after 15 minutes we decided to go to the sport boat mooring where we could see an intercom or at least a press-button. As we reversed off the duc d’Albes the wind caught the bow and slammed it onto one of them. Oh shit!

We made our way over to the sport mooring and suddenly the lights went to red and green – they had seen us at last! But as we waited the wind caught us again and we had to reverse off and do a 360 degree turn. As we finished the turn the light turned to red again! What were they playing at?

So we moored up again on the sport mooring and were just about to ring yet again when the green light came on again. This time we waited, safely tied up, until the lock gates were open before setting off.

To our surprise the drop in the lock was over 5 metres, lowering us that far below sea level. This is unusual for Dutch locks, which are often just a few centimetres.

At the next lock a kilometre further on Alex tried the radio again. No reply! Eventually he said, “This is RICCALL, is there anybody OUT there?” (in the tone of voice used by Pink Floyd!). After a short pause, we received a reply! Wow! There IS somebody there after all!

So down another metre onto the Lage Vaart canal in Flevoland, now over 6 metres below sea level. 

We stopped on a good mooring close to shops and spent a day shopping. We realised, with something of a surprise, that all the buildings had only existed since the 1960s and later so everything was pretty modern.  No fascinating little towns here.

After a couple of days we stopped at the Mechanisch Erfgoed Centrum – Steam Museum - which had been recommended by Paul and Diane. We had thought that this was Steam Weekend but soon learned that it would be next weekend, but we stopped anyway. The museum was amazing, with huge old engines and steam rollers, ancient cars and bicycles, and everything under the sun – sewing machines, radiograms, valve radios, prams, clocks, light switches, meters etc etc. all stored in sections in a vast building. We spent the whole day there and that night on their mooring.

The next day we had another, our third, surprise. 

Having got to the lift bridge just before Dronten and had no luck contacting anyone to get it opened for us, we turned round and returned to a good mooring we had passed just one kilometre back. We moored up and set off again on our bikes. On our return, there on the quay was Suzanna Markusse, a good friend we had first met with her husband George 15 years before, in 2009. We last saw them in Harlingen in 2016. What a lovely surprise, so we invited them both for drinks the following day as their own barge was moored close by in Dronten.

As it turned out it was bleaching with rain the next day so we went forward through the bridge (we eventually found and pressed the button this time) and joined George and Suzanna in the passantenhaven, and bought two nights to include electricity - second night half price!

We had drinks together one day and coffee the next and did all the catching up you do after 8 years.

We've included some additional photos of interest during this voyage:

RICCALL looking pretty in pink

Final Blog 2023

 

We got back to Conde sur Marne with the car heavily laden with batteries: in fact so much so, that every time we went over a speed hump the tow bar went aground!

The following incredibly hot day, Ray and Rachel of BANDRA (we met them in the old lock at H₂O last winter) arrived in their camper van to help move the batteries into position in the bottom of the boat.

                                                                               RICCALL sweats it out at Conde

During our month or so at home in the UK Alex had managed to add a cracked bone in his left hand to his disintegrating right hip, so help was going to be essential. As it happened, BANDRA’s dry docking had been delayed by a week so Ray and Rachel took the opportunity to spend some days away in their camper van and also to help us. What stars!

                                                                     All set up for the transfer form car to back deck

                   Ray puts his back into it!

We spent a few days sorting everything out in RICCALL before setting off. On the evening before we left, MATILDA arrived with Bruce and a guest Julie. They came for drinks that evening and Julie agreed that sailing in the Med was very nice, but barging was almost better! A little later CASA NAUTICA arrived with whom MATILDA was cruising à deux.

We let them both go ahead of us the following morning as we knew we were going to stop for the day at the top of the flight. Near the top lock there was a malfunction of one of the locks so MATILDA and Co were held up as we arrived behind them. They said they would go through the lock and then stop for lunch before doing the final lock on the flight. We decided to have lunch where we were, but then Alex noticed a barge approaching the locks from upstream and realised we would have to go through the lock ahead of us as it was on a green light for us, and hanging fire would cause delay for the barge. So we stopped halfway through lunch and set off again, passing MATILDA et al who were happily eating their own lunch just above the lock.

Now here is the thing - Alex at this point had a senior moment and having not passed anything in the opposite direction for some months (yes, honestly, it had been months) got to the left of the canal instead of the right! (We all have these worries when driving between the UK and Europe and keep reminding ourselves which side we should be on.) By the time he realised his mistake, it was too late to steer across to the correct side so continued VERY VERY slowly hugging the left hand edge. The captain of APOLLO, the commercial coming the other way was incensed, shouting and yelling obscenities as he went past. There was never any danger but if Alex had thought of it sooner he could have deployed his blue board, but hey ho!

We stopped for lunch on the long quay before Sillery and lo and behold! who should come past but APOLLO. We stepped out onto the back deck to apologise for our recent mistake, but he entirely ignored us, refusing even to look in our direction.

A couple of nights later, we had decided to moor up at one of our favourite places, St Leonard’s, just south of Reims. We pulled into the set-back mooring but only one bollard was visible. We put the forward rope onto that and Alex held the boat in tickover while Louise changed into jeans and shoes to see if she could locate one of the other five bollards we knew were there somewhere, now hidden by a mass of undergrowth which had appeared over the years since our last visit.

It was just too impenetrable so we cast off and motored on. There are lots of bollards on this stretch into Reims all along the eastern edge of the canal but there were also many fishermen or large bushes meaning two suitably spaced bollards were hard to find. At last we saw two perfectly placed bollards and moored up. Unfortunately, what we hadn’t realised was that we were right beside what turned out to be a 24-hour glass recycling plant. So we spent that night listening to broken glass being tipped from on high onto the conveyor belt. Lovely!

We headed off into the chain of 3 locks into Reims. As we approached the middle lock, we could see the stern of the hotel barge NENUPHAR not quite entered into the lock. We watched and waited well back and after about 15 or 20 minutes, the gates finally shut on her and she started her descent. As we slowly approached the look, we suddenly saw one of the crew running back from the hotel barge towards us. He said the captain apologised for the delay but they had had a medical emergency of some sort in the lock and here was a bottle of premier cru wine to make up for our delay. Well! That’s a first, and how kind1

NENUPHAR moored up after the third lock and we carried on to the industrial quay to the north of Reims where we know of an excellent mooring with a Lidl just half a kilometre from the canal. An hour later NENUPHAR appeared and as they went past, offered us a bag of cheese and ham! Alex, who was on the back deck, accepted gratefully and the matelot threw it over. Alex just managed to catch it as it headed for the side of the boat and ultimately into the canal. Obviously they had dropped off their guests and these were some of the left-overs from lunch now excess to requirements. And thanks again! Some lovely mixed hams, Brie, and yeah, a large piece of goat’s cheese (which we froze and kept for our next visitors who might like it, not being fans ourselves).

We arrived at Berry au Bac on a Sunday. Looking at the AIS we could see that the place was packed with commercials but nevertheless we’d have to stop here as the next 3 and a half hour stretch has no moorings at all. As it turned out, there was space big enough for RICCALL between two of the big boys at the silo quay upstream of the last lock on the canal. We moored up with some trepidation as there are signs everywhere saying ‘ no mooring except commercial craft’. But the Dutch barge in front of us thought there would be no problem so we stayed put. Louise went for a recce below the lock on the Aisne Lateral and spotted APOLLO moored up for the weekend. Oh No!

The next morning, after a night of bleaching rain, wind and thunderstorms our few flowers were looking rather worse for wear, and the barge in front of us was being loaded with grain from the silo. The empty barges behind us would, no doubt, in due course also want to be filled from the silo, so we felt it was time for us to move on, so a 9.15 start was the order of the day, early for us.

We passed through the two locks onto the Lateral à l’Aisne and headed off for Bourg et Comin. APOLLO had already left its mooring heading west, but half-way along the canal who is coming back towards us? APOLLO! We slowed right down in order to keep to the best place to pass but again the captain refused to look in our direction. Well, in our book, that makes him into an idiot too. What a surly bastard!

     APPOLLO roars off into the wild blue yonder!

The pontoon mooring at Bourg et Comin was empty and the leccy was still switched on so that was a plus. Later that evening, we were joined by the only other plaisance we had seen in days and then, at about 10pm that night, a fully laden peniche crept by in the pitch dark heading up the Oise a l'Aisne. That was a surprise.

The next day we were again surprised to meet another barge coming towards us down the Oise à l’Aisne canal and we asked him if this was his normal route, and it was. Great! At least this commercial traffic keeps the weeds down and the canal open.

Finally we got to Tergnier and caught a train back to Chalons and a taxi back to our car at Condé.

                                                                           What a lovely church in Tergnier

We needed the car because we had Alex’s cousin Mary and husband Martin coming to stay and cruise for a few days. The end point of our cruise for them was to be Landrecies on the Sambre on a Sunday and we’d discovered there would be no trains running from Landrecies to get them to Beauvais for their flight home. So we had to get the car to Landrecies mid-week to ensure we could get them to St Quentin on the day to catch their train.

We spent a night in Origny finding a largely smell-free mooring upstream of the factory complex and opposite the silo quay, which was in constant use.

Our journey up the Sambre from Tergnier was uneventful and it was interesting to see the repairs which had finally been made to the derelict aqueducts near Vadencourt.  This work has enabled this valuable through route to be reopened and we all enjoyed a very pleasant cruise.

All our 'car retrieval planning' worked out like clockwork and we had an excellent few days with M & M and a lot to drink!  Especially when it was discovered to be their 29th wedding anniversary!

However, we learned on our way to Landrecies that the first lock after the town was to be closed on the Monday morning for a month! This put the pressure on, so after dropping M & M off at St Quentin for their train, we had to high-tail it back to the barge and move on through that lock on the Sunday.

Driving out of St Quentin, though, we were held up at a roundabout by a seemingly endless cavalcade of motor cycles. After waiting about 10 minutes, with no end in sight, we did a three point turn and heard off in a different direction. 20 kms out of town we were held up again by the same cavalcade as they crossed our road and disappeared into the countryside. This time there was no way out so we just had to sit there for another 10 minutes while they all roared past.

Finally we got back to RICCALL and immediately informed VNF that we were on our way. Once through that lock we moored up for the night at Hachett Lock. We were both bushed and went to bed at 8.30pm for 12 hours sleep!

We carried on down the Sambre with little incident, but the best place to pick up the car was from Maubeuge where we understood from our DBA mooring guide there were NO moorings. We agreed between ourselves that there MUST be something and sure enough, there was a 40m visitor pontoon. 

The water and electricity had been turned off for the winter, but more annoyingly, the ramps to the shore had also been removed, so later that afternoon, we moved across to a long wall with bollards at 30m intervals on the opposite side. Perfect! and it was less than one kilometre from the station. So, the car was once again retrieved and left at the station in Maubeuge to await collection later.

We spent the next few days negotiating the locks on the French side until we had to hand in our tele-command at the last lock before the border into Belgium. That night we stayed at the old border post just into Belgium and a short distance before the port of Erquellines.

We were surprised to find the locks in Belgium were all manually operated and accessed by telephone down to the Marchienne lock just before Charlerois. At this lock, which was accessed by VHF radio, we met an 80m x 10m commercial approaching us in reverse. What a way to be back in among the big boys! We quickly contacted him on the radio and agreed how we would pass each other.

                                                                  Back among the big boys and heavy industry

We then proceeded through the next three huge locks behind, or in one case, to our surprise (but we had been waiting for nigh on an hour) in front of the commercials. Finally we arrived at Seneffe, after a very long day for us, at about 6.00pm.  Another early night was called for!