Rain in the night, grey skies and damp until later afternoon. We need to get paint on as soon as the sides have been brushed so we gave up on the idea of starting the wire brushing. Olly soldiered on with the pressure washer. Our surveyor, M. Lemaire, arrived and did his hull thickness checks and chatted with Mike about the rest of the services. He came on board and I made coffee and we talked. He told us that there were lots of new regulations coming in and it seems that some people have only read the new rules – there is another document, which must be read in conjunction with the new rules, which gives a time schedule as most of them will be phased in gradually, plus a thing like having two doors to an engine room applies only to engine rooms over 35m2! He asked how long we would be on the dock so Mike told him about a week to ten days depending on the weather. He said he would be in touch. When Olly finished Mike packed the pressure washer up and Anne went with him to take it back to the hire shop, visit the Brico and do some shopping in Carrefour. Mike couldn’t get any wire cup brushes as the Brico didn’t sell them.
Friday 10 June 2011
Monday 30th May 2011 Péronnes. Hauling out!
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| Ready to be hauled out at Peronnes Photo by Anne and Olly |
Sunny until mid-afternoon, clouds came over and later it rained, but we had none of the thunderstorms which the forecast had threatened. We were up bright and early to get the chores done and the ropes sorted out ready for hauling out. The Snails came across and moored on the other side of the trolley - nearest the lake when we get on to dry land. Fiddled with the ropes until we were in the right place when we shoved on the uprights with boat shafts, one at each end; the Snails did likewise. Marjorie arrived and asked if we were ready, she said she wasn’t and would be back in a minute after she had started the engine up. Someone must have waylaid her as it was nearly half an hour before she came back. Then, when we were part way up the slope, the motor cut off. Janinne was on the motor and Marjorie was keeping an eye on the trolley and us. Anne said she was a bit concerned about the fore end of Snail fouling on the next trolley so Marjorie lined it up by eye and said it was OK, it would miss. Turned out that Janinne had stopped the motor as the shaft coupling was coming loose. Mike climbed down and started tidying up, moving the metal stands that were close to the sterns of the boats, etc. We trundled up on to the flat then she had to stop it again while they repaired the coupling again. Mike decided to go and get the pressure washer from Laxom, the hire shop in Tournai, as it was after eleven a.m. After the motor had restarted and we were in our final resting place, I got the ladder off and connected the electricity cable up – it didn’t work so Mike had to sort it out on his return. Anne found a thick wooden wedge when we went foraging for wedges. We needed a large one under the port bow but Snail was flat on the trolley. Both boats were listing towards one another. When Mike got back we set up the pressure washer. The boatyard’s water hose was leaky as a colander (people keep driving over it) but the washer worked OK. Mike started off down the starboard side of our boat. I cleared up around the boat shifting loads of discarded rubbish left by previous boaters, then I went round with the secateurs to clip back the brambles. Mike finished down the one side of our boat and handed over to Olly so he could do the first side on Snail while Mike’s arms had a rest and he did other jobs. Olly wasn’t happy with the pressure washer, as it didn’t seem to be fetching the green stuff off Snail as easily as it did ours. Mike tried scraping the dried green weed off the starboard side of Snail with assistance from Anne. Olly got almost to the end of their port side then Mike had the pressure washer to our port side. M. Lemaire phoned to say he would be round to do our survey the following day. I crawled back on board with aches and pains from clambering up and down the ladder. After stowing the pressure washer back in the boot, Mike gave Olly the car keys in case he wanted to start early next morning, as the jet washing machine has to be returned around lunchtime.
Sunday 29th May 2011 Pommeroeul - Péronnes. 21kms 1 lock
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| Arriving at Peronnes Photo by Anne and Olly |
Grey start, very windy, sunny later. Set off at ten, untied from the mole and turned left on the Nimy-Blaton-Péronnes canal heading back to Péronnes. I made a cuppa and some toast then got the Kindle out and read some more of Pillars of the Earth. Very quiet, nothing else moving but us. Chilly, so I made us a cup of soup to warm us up when we were about 6 kms from Péronnes lock 1. Not long after we’d passed a group of moored cruisers by the Pont de Gaulle, they all set off and followed us, four of them overtaking before the lock. We followed them into the chamber and noted there was another behind us. The keeper waited for the fifth, a British cruiser, which tied on the lock wall opposite WS. The keeper let the lock down very, very slowly, just what we need when we’re rushing to get tied up and get the satellite on to watch the Monaco Grand Prix. It was 1.35 p.m. as we left the chamber; all the cruisers steamed off down to Péronnes lock 2. We turned right into the large and went on to the trolley and tied to its posts, with some difficulty as the wind was blowing hard. Olly brought WS round and on to the trolley converted to lift cruisers and moored under the crane so they could get off with Woody. I started getting the dish up and Mike finished it off. The race had already started. Mike settled down to watch it (as did Olly next door) with his PC on to get the stats via the Internet. The high wind was causing waves making boat was bang against the brackets holding the uprights in place on the trolley. After the race I gave Mike a hand to sink tyres to stop the boat bashing against the trolley.
Saturday 28th May 2011 Pommeroeul.
Sunny and warmer with a gusty wind. Went shopping in Bernissart by car. Found the former GB supermarket, now a Carrefour Market but still on GB layout. We were back before midday. After lunch Mike watched the first bit of the F1 GP qualis in Monaco then decided to record the rest and go and move the car to the boatyard at Peronne. Gave him a hand with the bike, easy as the roof is level with the concrete walkway along the mole.
Tuesday 7 June 2011
Thursday 26th May 2011 Pommeroeul.
Grey skies, much cooler and windy, heavy rain showers later. Mike and Olly went to Marjorie’s to measure the trolley. They spoke to Marjorie who said it would be Saturday when the tjalk goes back in the water. So that put paid to our plans of hiring a pressure washer on Friday (the hire shop is closed all weekend) as we don’t know if the trolley will definitely be ours on Monday 30th. Olly wanted some paraffin for their oil lamps so they went into Antoing to get some. He paid 5€ for a litre bottle, ouch! While Mike was out I got on with the chores then set up the laptop on the Internet. Bouygues would only get GPRS without the outdoor antenna; on the roof if was 5 bars on EDGE but wouldn’t load Yahoo e-mails until I moved the antenna to the edge of the roof. I checked my e-mails. Mike put the whip aerial on top of the chimney where it just got 3G. Not long after it started to rain so Mike fetched in the WiFi antenna and also the whip aerial, neither of which are waterproof.
Wednesday 25th May 2011 Antoing - Pommeroeul. 25.4kms 2 locks
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| Old lime kilns at Antoing |
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| Wandering Snail in Peronnes lock 2 |
Sunny and warm but the wind was chilly. After a 1500-tonner had gone past we backed out of the arm following WS and waved bye, bye to the crew of Johanna. It was just before ten as we set off upriver on the Escaut. Half an hour later we arrived at the junction with the Nimy-Blaton-Peronnes canal and turned left heading for lock 2 Peronnes. Mike had called on VHF but couldn’t hear the lock keeper’s reply, the audio was so low. An empty tanker barge called An.Ka was moored below the lock. We had a red light and waited for loaded barge Bivio (80m x 9m 3,160 tonnes) to exit the lock chamber then we went in, WS on the left and us on the right at the back of the enormous chamber. The bollards were recessed into the wall so we did fore and aft ropes, lifting the rope up on to the next bollard with a short boat hook. Piece of cake. When the lock was almost full the lock keeper came down from his cabin to ask us for papers. Mike went up the ladder taking our details with him and had a long walk round over the tail end bridge and round the new green mesh security fencing to join Olly in the lock cabin. Two large groups of school children were having guided tours of the lock. Above the lock I could see that a boat that had just come down Peronnes 1 lock was hovering in the middle waiting for the lock we were in. The men returned with new bits of paper and we set off again. There were lots of cruisers moored on the left hand side of the left arm of the wide area above the lock, (called a “Large”), and on the right an empty barge called
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| Concrete wall above guillotine gate. Peronnes lock 1 shaft lock |
Via Con Dios was moored as were several more across the large by Plaquet’s boatyard. Kids were having sailing lessons in the right hand side of the large and we could see more moored péniches and the tjalk that was still on the trolley at Marjorie’s. Loaded barge Ben-Dor came out of Peronnes 1 and we went in. Just us again and this time we had floaters to tie to. In the very deep chamber we could hear voices but see no one until the lock was almost full, then we could see the group of British cyclists by the barrier who then asked Mike the usual questions. Sao-Maï, an empty barge was waiting above to go down as was a tiny British flagged Sea Otter called Wilderness Wanderer.
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| Wilderness Wanderer following Sao-Mai into Peronnes lock 1 |
Someone walked down from the lock cabin to tell the crew of the little cruiser to follow the big boat into the lock. It looked like a mouse next to an elephant! Next boat past heading for the lock was Celeritas, followed shortly after by a loaded péniche with a big dent in his bows – Touareg, last seen near Berry-au-Bac. Another large loaded barge, Vaya Con Dios (70m x 7.24m), went past heading for Peronnes followed by an empty 70 or 80m barge called Discovery, then Vota (80m x 8.10m 1,115 tonnes) went by shortly afterwards. Dandia was unloading sand at the Moulin de Peruweltz. At KP25 we went past the moorings at Peruweltz, where cruisers were moored in the stub end of the old canal, then a small Luxe called Nord-Holland VIII was tied to the quay which used to be a lock wall with a small low mastless tjalk behind it and then trip boat Kempenland at the end of the quay, more cruisers were moored in the former weirstream behind the quay.
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| Canal above Peronnes lock 1 |
We were at the junction with the Nimy-Blaton-Ath canal (on the left of the crossroads) at 2.15 p.m. where a loaded barge Lucky (67m x 8.2m) went past us heading for Peronnes and another was fast catching us up. An old boat was sitting in the top chamber of the derelict old flight of locks on our right with a liftbridge spanning the lock mouth. Under the vertical flood gates, ready to descend and block the canal in case of floods or a breach. Loaded boat Agora (70m x 8.7m 902 tonnes) overtook us. Mike had to reverse hard to stop “surfing” on his stern wave (ie being dragged along) as he passed us, so did the Snail. I made a cuppa. We just had time to drink it before turning right in the large above the locks to nowhere at Pommeroeul. The changed water levels on the Escaut when they removed the lock at Antoing rendered the Pommeroeul canal useless without a dredging programme on the French side and as this has not been done the locks remain unused – luckily for us as the mole sticking out into the large makes a very useful mooring. We winded so our side doors were on the outside and tied to one high bollard and put ropes through our chains passed around the brackets holding the wooden fendering on the wall.
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| Moored on the mole at Pommeroeul |
WS moored a bit closer to the lock for Woody to run up and down to the grassy area by the lock. I set the TV up and terrestrial found all the French stations as France is very close here. The phone wouldn’t pick up SFR so I switched it off again. Mike got the moped off the roof and went to collect the car. He took Lucy GPS in his pocket with his earpieces taped in so they didn’t fall out. The neighbours had asked if we’d like to sit out for a beer so he when Mike returned we took chairs, beer and some crisps and went to sit out on the mole in the evening sunshine. We sat and chatted. There were fishermen scattered along the banks to the left of the lock and one solitary soul on the right before the slipway who stayed until the sun sank, the others left well before that. The sun sank low behind the trees to the far right of he lock and it felt like someone had not only wound the dimmer switch down but turned the heating off too. We packed up and all headed for home. Just us attached to the mole.
Tuesday 24th May 2011 Antoing.
Sunny and warm, but a strong wind made it feel chilly. Woken at six by a barking dog at the house alongside the boat. Then the slosh of passing boats kept waking us. Mike got up at nine. After lunch we went shopping at Carrefour in Tournai. We went just after two and were back before four having refilled the car’s tank at the Shell 24/7 fuel place at Carrefour with diesel at 1,28.8€/litre. The Dutch boats that moored overnight left and were replaced later by others. Olly told us that one of them that left early backed out into the path of a big commercial, which was hooting loudly, the cruiser stopped directly in its path then continued to reverse across the navigation!
Monday 23rd May 2011 Antoing.
Sunny and hot. Woken early by passing traffic causing ropes to squeak. Sepp off Johanna said the same, so Olly tied directly on to Johanna and took the loop off our back dolly so he was tied direct to the bank. I rang the French scrap dealer by the border for Olly to see if they bought scrap batteries, yes they did, so Mike took Olly and his batteries to the scrap dealer’s just over the border in France, Sepp off Johanna went too as he wanted some steel. Olly got paid for his scrap batteries, but Sepp couldn’t buy the steel he wanted. They called in a large Belgian “off licnce” where Olly and Sepp bought some beer. A police car followed them back into Antoing and pulled up behind the car. The policeman got out to tell Mike that he shouldn’t have turned directly left into the car park, he should have gone round the island first and come back to it as he had passed the sign for the island – he could have given him a 100€ on the spot fine, luckily for him he had a telling off instead! (It was almost a normal left turn with the offset island well displaced on the far side of a six way junction, an enormous area. Ed)
Sunday 22nd May 2011 Antoing-Tournai-Antoing. 11kms 0 locks
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| Wandering Snail setting off to Tournai |
Warm and sunny but a strong wind picked up in the afternoon which made it feel chilly. We left at 8.55 a.m. reversing out of the arm quietly as there was no sign of life on the rest of the boats. After seeing nothing else moving, fifty minutes later we arrived at Tournai. No boats were moored on the pontoon so we moored next to the working electricity post and plugged in. A thousand-tonner running empty upriver went past to check our ropes were OK. Set the washer running and Mike found a strong WiFi station. I put the laptop on and had the WiFi to do emails and sent a reply to Helen as she’d sent one to say they were in for a rough night at Merelbeke as the tides were wrong so they couldn’t get under the bridges at Boom and therefore wouldn’t get through the lock before it closed. The day before they’d had to take to the Albert canal when the Bocholt-Herentals closed at 3.00 p.m. Saturdays, but we were pleased to hear that they had a pleasant trip as it was very quiet. Mike ran the hose out and chatted with a guy called Barry off a cruiser called Fiona that had just tied up behind us. He wanted to know what it was like moored on the pontoon, Mike told him it would get rough around 6.00 a.m. but Sundays were usually quiet-ish for the Escaut.
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| Wandering Snail passing the chandlery & fuel barge Neptunia at Antoing |
We set off back upriver to Antoing at 12.55 p.m. Minutes after we set off we were overtaken by a fast speedboat cruiser with four men on board; admittedly they slowed right down to go past us but went back on the plane immediately afterwards. Most of the moored boats, péniches and thousand-tonners plus, along the quay from Vaulx to Antoing were uninhabited as the crews had either gone home or visiting as none had their cars on board. Tied alongside the Snail at 12.55 p.m. and Anne came out to put our bow rope round their side dolly. Mike asked me to help to get the TV set up smartish as the Spanish F1 GP was about to start. Then the stupid thing said it was connected but the planner wouldn’t come on and a message said the satellite wasn’t available. Unplugged and fiddled three times before it tuned in properly, which meant he missed the start and the first two laps. The fast speedboat turned up and went in the corner of the arm behind the two Dutch cruisers (noticed there was still one of them left behind Johanna) Cruiser Fiona arrived and went towards the end of the arm until Mike told them to watch out as it was shallow. They backed out and went in the gap behind Johanna. After the race Wandering Snail went to Tournai to water up. Mike started our engine and backed out, then Olly backed the Snail out, winded and headed downriver to Tournai. We went back in against the wall. When they returned they moored on the outside of us.
Saturday 21st May 2011 Antoing. Concert in Anzin
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| Paul and Anne |
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| Paul and Anne with singers |
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| The dance commences |
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| The rapt audience |
Friday 20th May 2011 Antoing.
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| Moored at Antoing |
9.5°C Sunny and warm after a grey start. Mike took a walk to the boulangerie and tried a square loaf this time, still 2,10€. Later our surveyor, M. Lemaire, arrived and came on board for a chat. We organised a visit for the 30th at the boatyard, he said he would be free then but was visiting London soon after. Two Dutch cruisers arrived and moored in front of us, then a Humber Keel moored behind Johanna where Alberdina had been moored. After finding a large patch of soot in the canal below the exhaust after running the engine earlier in the day, Mike checked the air cleaner on our Perkins engine - it was OK – he said he would check the injectors next day.
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