Grey, overcast with showers, varying in strength. Mike killed another wasp (seems to be a lot of them here). We had a day off, waiting for the repairs to finish on the last lock on the Charleroi-Bruxelles canal at Marchiennes – supposed to be finished today, but had been continued until Monday, possibly.
Thursday 18 August 2011
Friday 12th August 2011 Ville sur Haine – La Louviére
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| Strepy-Thieu boat lift |
Drizzly start, then sunny with showers, clouding over later. A council lorry arrived and put a row of no parking signs down the middle of the wide concrete quay around 8.30 a.m. they said no parking from 6.00 a.m. today (they were late) until the 18th Aug. A tug and pan arrived to unload its cargo of soil and a road sweeper arrived minutes later. Mike and I went to ask which side of the quay was restricted and why. The road sweeper driver didn’t know for sure but through it was the whole of the quay and didn’t know why, maybe a market? We decided to move the car and then risk the forecast showers and move the boat. Mike moved the car on to the road leading to the old now disused Llangollen-style liftbridge, on the old canal right opposite the quay. A bin man arrived to collect the bag out of the litterbin at the far end of the quay, so I took the packaging from yesterday’s shopping expedition which he cheerily put on the back of his lorry. Two cruisers had just gone past, one Dutch and one Belgian, followed by the narrowboat Sika that our friend Helen (with peniche Floan) had mentioned in a text that she’d seen at Denain a few days earlier. We left at 11.10 a.m. winded and followed the three boats to the lift at Strépy-Thieu. They were waiting below the lift for the right hand caisson. We tied up behind them and Mike went for a chat. It was Mike, (a friend of Bill’s that we’d met before) on Sika, so they had a bit of chat, which they continued in the tank as we were on opposite sides at the rear end. He was on holiday with a French friend and had done the circuit we were doing, down the Sambre and up the Meuse and canal des Ardennes.
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| Inside the caisson at Strepy-Thieu |
It seemed to take the staff ages to get the lift ready to move, a mere ten minutes to get to within a metre of the top, then they had to dismantle some scaffolding before it could go all the way to the top. As the top end guillotine gate lifted the water level in the tank dropped about 40 cms. Mike had put the pins in to run the Markon generator so we left the top at 12.15 p.m. with the washing machine running. The other three boats were soon specs in the distance. Mike went in to vacuum the carpets (as we had 240V power) while I steered the boat. We arrived at the junction with the old canal and were soon at the quay above the top lift. Leeds and Liverpool shortboat K40 (last seen in Antoing after we came off the dry dock) was moored in the layby, but we didn’t stop there as it was opposite a cement factory entrance and lorries were going in and out creating big clouds of dust, plus there was nothing to tie to. Winded and tied a centre rope to a ring and put long lines to bollards fore and aft. Another cabin roof high quay, but this time with no ladders. After lunch Mike got the moped off the roof and went to collect the car from Ville-sur-Haine after debating whether to walk the 8kms or not. A small fast speedboat went down to the top boatlift and stayed about half an hour before setting off again back to where he’d come from. No traffic using the lifts, we thought, then the Dutch cruiser we’d come up Strépy with arrived at 5.10 p.m. and went to the top of the lifts and down. Mike returned and I helped put the bike back on board then he went to get some diesel for the boat from Cora.
Thursday 11th August 2011 Ville sur Haine
Nice sunny morning, showery late afternoon and into the evening. My back was much better so we did some shopping at Cora in La Louviére by car, taking Mum with us. The centre commercial was a large one and Cora seemed to stock everything you could wish of a hypermarket. Mum had never been in such large shop and was enthralled by the amount of stuff under one roof, especially the cookery dept (she bought herself a wire gismo (ecumoire) for getting fried food - other than chips which go in a basket - out of the chip pan). Back on the boat While I put stuff away Mum made sandwiches for her and Mike using some nice crusty buns. I caught up with four episodes of Corrie that I’d missed due to having a bad back. Mike spotted a red hulled tjalk going past which had just hooted. It was Wim from Lokeren, so he had a quick chat on Marine VHF as he wanted to know how Olly was (back in the UK due to a sudden illness). He said we were welcome anytime to moor again at Lokeren. Mike did engine room jobs (re-routing the diesel spill rail) and Mum had a well deserved snooze. We watched more about the riots in the UK and floods in Scotland on TV.
Wednesday 10th August 2011 Ville sur Haine
Sunny with clouds. Warm but a chilly breeze. Getting a bit better every day.
Tuesday 9th August 2011 Pommereoeul - Ville sur Haine.
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| Cements works shunter engine |
A slight improvement with my back pain, so we moved on to Ville-sur-Haine and moored in the layby. A large tug and pan arrived to be unloaded of its cargo of soil by a team of diggers into trailers pulled by tractors.
Sunday 7th August 2011 Pommereoeul.
Stayed put as Mike said he wasn’t moving until my back was better. No one else moored there while we were there.
Saturday 6th August 2011 Antoing - Pommeroeul.
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| One of Neptunia's bunker boats. Antoing. Belgium. |
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| Peronnes 2 lock. |
Showery with sunny spells. Again Mike took the boat through the locks on his own, just the two at Péronnes today, where he had to get a “quittance” to go through to France via the Sambre and the Meuse. Tied on the mole at Pommeroeul, just us again. The weather was a bit grim, grey and breezy.
Friday 5th August 2011 Oudenaarde - Antoing.
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| Church tower at Oudenaarde. Belgium |
Showery again. Mike had to manage completely on his own all day as my back was much worse, I could hardly stand up and even moving just two paces into the loo was very painful. He did all the locks himself and even cooked dinner with a little help from his Mum.
Thursday 4th August 2011 Wachtebeke – Oudenaarde.
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| Cranes and new quays in Gent. Belgium. |
Sunny start, then showery. We hadn’t got very far when Mike had to stop and fix the alternator bracket. I managed to help out at each of the locks although I had backache which was getting worse and I had to lie flat on the bed to ease it when I wasn’t making tea or sandwiches or holding ropes in locks. We went up Evergem on our own and then I made lunch. Just us in Asper lock. Shared Oudenaarde with a commercial called Interballast. It was late when we arrived on the quay wall at Oudenaarde. Made dinner and collapsed on to the bed.
Wednesday 3rd August 2011 Lokeren - Wachtebeke
It felt like the middle of the night when Mike got up at eight. Loads of jobs to get through. He did two runs in the car to the Avis petrol station and bought 4 containers of road diesel for the boat tank, plus a bit of shopping in Lidl to get basics - milk, eggs and spuds - just to last us for the first few days (we'd brought some stuff with us from the UK but not much). I carried on packing stuff away, pausing to hold the brolly while he put the first load of diesel into the boat tank as it was pouring down with rain. He left two bottles of wine on Wandering Snail for Wim and Hendrik as thanks for our stay. I collected my poor orchid off the bows of WS (and forgot my ivy plant) two of the miniature trees in the big pot on the roof were dead, but things (possibly the seeds I planted ages ago, but more likely spreading sedums) were sprouting in the little pots. Paused to make sandwiches for lunch. Mum was getting stuck into her puzzle books. Finished packing the rest of the stuff away and helped Mike move the boat so he could stand on WS’s stern and bend the trim tab on the rudder a bit(since the dock the boat had a tendancy to the right), then we moved down to Wim’s mooring (half of which had been occupied overnight by a large cruiser) and refilled our water tank with 200 litres of water, very slowly. Winded and set off down to the first swingbridge around 2.15 p.m. It was drizzling, but warm. Tied on the landing stage to wait for the team at 4.00 p.m. Mike ‘phoned just to make sure; the guy told him there was another boat coming through with us. The keeper arrived as the bow wave of a small wedge shaped cruiser banged the boat against the wooden staging at 3.40 p.m. We followed the cruiser through the first bridge, then he was gone as we went round all the tight bendy bits, which knocks our speed down considerably. The distance to the next bridge was quite a long one and when we arrived the crew of the cruiser were out on the bank having a picnic! They all piled back on board and followed us through the bridge and overtook us minutes later. I steered while Mike did some checks. All OK. We had cleg (horsefly) attacks and had a merry time swatting them, none managed to bite us fortunately. Mike went in to make a cuppa as the sun came out for the first time today. We arrived at Wachtebeke at 6.20 p.m, the cruiser sailed off to his moorings at the end of the canal and we moored on the staging (for waiting for the bridge keeper) after telling the last keeper what we were doing. He thanked us for visiting the Moervaart, which was nice of him. Moved the moped off the front deck and up on to the roof, then Mike sorted the rest of the stuff on the front deck seat – putting the BBQ and charcoal away under the seat and my wellies back in the front locker.
Tuesday 2nd August 2011 UK – Lokeren by car
Set off as it was getting light around 6.30 a.m. no traffic hold ups and we were soon on the motorway heading south. Mike’s Mum (who came with us for a month's holiday on the boat) just about had enough room on the back seat. We asked at Dover check-in in if we could use the lift for Mum and they added a disabled sticker to the tag that hangs in the window and told us to put the car's hazard lights on then their staff would know we needed the lift. There were just two other vehicles parked by the lift. We shared it with east European lorry drivers who’d come up from the bilges! Sat at the front and watched ships in the channel. Soon we were in Dunkerque and back down in the lift with more lorry drivers. First stop was at the Auchan hypermarket for some diesel then on to the motorway heading north to Gent then Lokeren. When we arrived we found the road to the boat closed off due to a week-long music festival being held in the centre of town. We had to turn around and go back as there was no through access and had to ignore the road-closed signs. Hendrik was there to loan us his gangplank as they'd moved our boat next to another a bit further back down the canal. We got Mum on board with a little difficulty, as there was a steep slope down to the gangplank. Once she was settled on board we took the solar panel outside and all the other outside stuff that had been stored in the cabin, then started moving bags out of the car on to back deck of the boat we were tied to. Mike had to keep an eye on the time because of the parking restrictions, moving the hands of the clock on his blue parking permit card every two hours until we’d finished unloading the car and then he could move it into the next street. I started unpacking while making a cuppa. Glad to get to bed. We were all very tired.
Monday 20th June 2011 Lokeren – UK by road
Up at five. Light already, dry but grim and grey matching our mood. Finished off the last of the packing and set off around 6.30 a.m. Mike drove the length of Belgium, into France and straight to the Carrefour in Dunkerque. Filled the fuel tank and waited ten minutes for the supermarket to open its doors at 8.30 a.m. Bought some bubbly for my brother’s wedding party. On to the ferry at 9.30 a.m. and it left five minutes before ten. There were lots of campervans and cars pulling caravans plus more cars than we get during our usual winter trips. Found a space by the front window and settled down. Straight up the motorway via the usual route to Mike’s Mum’s. More bad news as Mike’s cousin, who was in hospital after collapsing at home, was not expected to recover (she died on the 26th.)
Wednesday 17 August 2011
Sunday 19th June 2011 Wachtebeke – Lokeren. 19.5 kms 0 locks
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| Wandering Snail by the old railway liftbridge. Moervaart |
Still very windy, cloudy with a few light showers of rain. Anne had booked a bridge keeper for the 10.00 a.m. for the run through to Lokeren. (Keepers are available at three different times during the day, but have to be booked in advance at this time of year) A new bloke on a bike turned up that Anne hadn’t seen before. Our keeper shut the barriers across the road then pressed buttons to lift the Llangollen style bridge then we went first, WS following, at 10.10 a.m. I defrosted the ‘fridge and started packing. The next bridge was ready for us ten minutes later and a third at 10.40 a.m. The fourth bridge was an old vertical lift railway bridge, long disused and left in the up position. I remembered photographing it in June 1993. Number five was ready for us as we flew through at eleven.
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| Storks, with young almost fully grown. |
Lots of bicyclists were waiting at number six at 11.15 a.m. We had another heavy shower of rain as we ran on to bridge 7 at 11.45, Smaaibrug St Nicklaus. The eighth bridge was a swingbridge, Daknambrug, it was 12.20 p.m. The bends became more frequent and tortuous as we neared Lokeren. Mike called me to see a stork’s nest atop a pole with two large youngsters being fed by their parents. We moored next to Ann and Hendrik’s boat Arquamarin at 1.00 p.m. They were there to greet us and help us moor. WS winded and moored next to the tjalk, Wim’s boat, at the beginning of the moorings. It was 1.00 p.m. Mike finished shutting the boat up. After lunch he went to sort out the noise that Anne had noticed on WS, a fan was catching on the alternator drive belt.
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| Moored temporarily at Lokeren |
Anne’s friend Timothy arrived to ferry Mike and Dick back to Oudenaarde, then Dick said he would take Mike via Antoing to collect our car on his way back to Namur. I carried on with the packing. Mike was back around 4.30 p.m. with the car. I carried on packing with the aim of loading as much as possible in the car before it was dark. We disconnected the solar panel and moved it into the cabin, then I moved some of the bags on to the boat next door’s back deck for Mike to load into the car then we collapsed into bed. No time for TV, nor Internet and an early start to catch a ferry back to the UK.
Bye bye boat, see you soon we hope.
Saturday 18th June 2011 Oudenaarde - Wachtebeke. 55.9kms 3 locks
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| Horse drawn carriage on towpath near Evergem |
Grey, overcast start with heavy rain showers, sunny spells in the afternoon. We set off at 9.10 a.m. after Mike had been down the road for a loaf (2,00€). A 67m empty barge called Espoir went past and tied on the wall above the lock, followed by a pusher-pair of 50m barges called Mac and Ouille from Paris, steering by a smiling, bearded man. We went past the latter and followed Enja-D, a well-loaded 80m barge, into Oudenaarde lock; we went on the left hand wall and WS came alongside us. Dropped down about 1.5m and followed everyone out. Loaded barge Nordica (110m x 10.5m 2,500 tonnes) was heading for the empty chamber. Behind him was an empty 60m boat called Sunshine. It poured with rain as we went for miles down a windswept bendy river following WS.
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| Start of the ringvaart (ring canal) around Gent |
A sudden freak gust caught our brolly and turned it inside out then blew it backwards to finish in almost total destruction, cover ripped off and most of the stays bent. Luckily we had a spare as the rain bucketed down. Paused on the wall above Aspin lock as Espoir and the pusher caught us up. A 60m empty called Columbus came up the lock followed by Susanna a 58m empty (both Dutch) then we followed Espoir and Mac into the chamber and a medium sized Dutch cruiser followed us in. The cruiser tried to get us to move over behind the pusher as we’d gone on the right behind the shorter boat and WS had come alongside us. They could have gone round us there was plenty of room behind Espoir – they were moaning because they had set up their fenders and ropes on the right. Shame. We all have to be adaptable in these big locks with the big commercials and fit into the gaps, no matter which side.
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| One of the ships in Gent docks |
The pusher was 100m long in a lock that is 120m long in total, while the barge was 70m long. QED. An 80m loaded barge called Marlesri (80m x 8.6m 1,246 tonnes) was heading for the chamber we’d just vacated, we passed him where the channel had been narrowed by a row of buoys on our right. It was a long way to the next lock. I made a cuppa then went inside to catch up with the log. Mike called me to see a horsedrawn carriage going by. I made sandwiches for lunch. A large loaded German barge called Rothensee from Berlin went past. The sun came out for a while. Saw only a couple of boats on the Ringvaart, the high tonnage canal that surrounds Gent. Into Evergem lock (a new one for us, we’d never been through it before) alongside WS behind Hapi, a 70m empty, on the right hand wall, after 80m container boat Athena had got settled on the left hand wall.
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| Shipbreakers at Gent - down to the waterline almost! |
Mike insisted Anne put her rope round her bollard on her forepeak - it was too short she said - so he attached the end of another rope to it for her. The lock emptied gently and was only a drop of 1.20m then the commercial in front went out sedately with no prop wash trying to flush us off the wall, the one on our left also motored out slowly then dropped into a slot between moored boats that was exactly the right length for him- how did he do that? There were dozens of commercials moored in the port of Gent. A colony of Egyptian geese had made their home on the spit of land before a large, wide arm off to the left. On our right were the main docks in Gent with a breakers yard on the corner cutting up old ships; only the red hull of one called Mercator was left. Large ships occupied one corner of one dock. All along the canal work had been going on to remove the sloping concrete walls and replace them with vertical quays equipped with mooring bollards and ladders; all was quiet today being Saturday. A loaded tanker went past heading uphill.
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| X marks the spot! Gent |
More rain as we set off down the impressive Terneuzen ship canal that leads to the Westerschelde and the sea. A car ferry flitted across the canal just after the Royal Belgian Yacht Club, where we spent a few days moored in 1993. Another loaded 80m tanker boat (Melanie) went past as we were almost at the junction with the Moervaart. The wind was blowing very hard making waves on the surface of the canal and wafting the sort of strange smells that are only found in large ports. Loaded péniche Univers overtook us then we turned right into the Moervaart where a big barge called Milagro NL was repositioning itself after the boat in front of it had untied and set off down the canal.
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| Moored on the waiting point for the Moervart bridges. Wachtebeke. |
Past the refinery and more moored tankers, then a sharp bend and there were lots of moored cruisers and the navigation became much narrower and full of sharp bends, just like UK canals only with a gale blowing and a rudder in serious need of whacking (a delicate adjustment of trim according to the skipper) as the boat constantly wanted to turn right. At least it became more sheltered from the wind as trees appeared on both banks and the sun came out again. Past more and more moored boats, some of which looked extremely new and expensive. At 6.00 p.m. we moored next to the wooden steiger by the first liftbridge at Wachtebeke. There were signs to say mooring only for waiting for the bridge, limited to three hours. Tough, we have to wait until ten tomorrow so that’s sixteen hours! It was a difficult mooring with a gale trying to blow us off it and the stern ends were on the bottom.
Friday 17th June 2011 Antoing - Oudenaarde. 44kms 4 locks
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| Pont des Trous Tournai |
Grey and overcast with a strong wind, heavy rain later. We were ready to go at 8.30 a.m. but Anne said Dick had volunteered to come and help steer WS. He would be here at nine. When he arrived they went to do a car shuffle and left Dick’s car at Oudenaarde and came back in ours. As soon as they returned we set off as we had a long way to go. It was 11.25 a.m. as Dick backed WS out of the weirstream – just as a loaded péniche came round the bend heading downriver! He waited for another big boat to come past before winding to follow the péniche downriver. We followed, wishing the crew of A40 a bonne voyage and also the skipper off a new replica DB called Fowey Hill who had moored overnight next to them. Followed WS through Antoing. Our engine seemed to be working perfectly.
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| Cheeky girls (and a boy) Tournai |
A large commercial Deschieter 16 turned at the winding hole halfway along the long loading/unloading quay that stretches all the way to Vaulx. He used reverse and bow thrusters to do it all in one beautiful fluid motion, a result no doubt of much practice and experience. After a short wait for the traffic lights opposite the pontoon in Tournai, we followed WS through the narrows and liftbridges in the town and through the soon to be altered and widened mediaeval Pont Des Trous. Teenagers were waiting to go back into High School on the left bank and all started shouting and posing as I was taking photos of the bridges from the bows. I took one of a bunch of girls and said look for it on my blog, but bet they weren’t listening as they were too busy showing off in front of the lads. Two loaded péniches, Cari II and Tosca were moored on the quay above Kain lock.
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| Gongoozlers watch as we pass under a lift bridge in Tournai |
A loaded péniche called Coxswain came up the lock, then a big loaded barge called Allegro went down and another large one called Chomy went towards the lock ready for the next locking, we followed him to wait out turn. It was 12.45 p.m. Nothing came uphill so we followed smoky Chomy into the lock. He went on the right, WS on the left and we went on the right behind the loaded barge. Hmm. There was a severe lack of mooring bollards. The circular recesses in the walls had nothing to tie to in them, so the only thing left was to put the centre rope on a ladder, which I did. When the lock emptied the barge flushed us off the wall, Mike said let go the rope, and we went all the way across the chamber to join WS! 85m loaded barge Por-Dios was waiting below to go uphill. It started to pour with rain.
I made some BLTs for lunch and we ate them sitting on the stern under the umbrella in the pouring rain. WS was getting away from us even though we were doing almost 9 kph. We passed many more boats, loading and unloading, then one that had just finished unloading, called Boekanier (Buccaneer in Dutch), set off in reverse behind us and was catching us up at a fair old rate - in reverse! He winded and overtook us heading for the next lock, Hérrines, located just after the Espierres canal. Three empty péniches came past heading upriver, Ch’ti, Euro and VD, and another big barge was fast catching us up. Laurmick overtook us as we approached the lock. Big barge Rian (60m x 6m) came out of the lock heading upriver, followed by péniche Roleta and four cruisers.
We followed Laurmick, who had just loaded his car back on board, into the lock and dropped down. As we left the lock, 110m loaded barge Primair was heading for the chamber to go up. A work tug had been left on the wall below the lock, very inconveniently placed for the boats entering the lock. Cathy, another big barge, overtook us between Potts and Bossuit. WS was way off in front and ended up locking down Kerkhove with another barge. Laurmick was on the wall above waiting, so we tied behind it and I went to the lock office to buy our six months licence for 50€. Anne was just climbing the ladder below the lock to come back and buy hers. There were two male lock keepers and a lady doing the paperwork. They had a newly installed (a sign said on the 16th June) computer system so the old card we had with our last licence in 2005 was no good, good thing I’d taken a Port Form with me with all the details on it (in many languages) which she used to fill in all the info. She couldn’t find “England” in the list but managed Royaume Unis and didn’t recognise the British postcode. All filled in, I paid by card (Anne said that was new) and got my license, a new card and an invoice. I trotted back to the boat just as the uphill big barge in the lock was leaving. Laurmick was already casting off and I had to shout to Mike so he could tell me where the ladder was, as I couldn’t see it for the tall dripping wet herbage. Once I was back on the boat we followed Laurmick in. We went forward of his prop this time, alongside him on the left hand wall. It was 1.45 p.m. when we left the lock. The rain pelted down and the traffic was heavy as we ran down to our chosen overnight mooring above the lock at Oudenaarde. WS was already there tied to the roof high wall with ropes around the railings by the road above and next to "no mooring" signs. Apparently everybody ignores the signs as there is nowhere else to moor other than pay in the yachthaven (which probably has no spaces long enough for us anyway). It was ten to eight and we were exhausted, again.
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| Smoky barge Chomy at Kain lock |
We followed Laurmick, who had just loaded his car back on board, into the lock and dropped down. As we left the lock, 110m loaded barge Primair was heading for the chamber to go up. A work tug had been left on the wall below the lock, very inconveniently placed for the boats entering the lock. Cathy, another big barge, overtook us between Potts and Bossuit. WS was way off in front and ended up locking down Kerkhove with another barge. Laurmick was on the wall above waiting, so we tied behind it and I went to the lock office to buy our six months licence for 50€. Anne was just climbing the ladder below the lock to come back and buy hers. There were two male lock keepers and a lady doing the paperwork. They had a newly installed (a sign said on the 16th June) computer system so the old card we had with our last licence in 2005 was no good, good thing I’d taken a Port Form with me with all the details on it (in many languages) which she used to fill in all the info. She couldn’t find “England” in the list but managed Royaume Unis and didn’t recognise the British postcode. All filled in, I paid by card (Anne said that was new) and got my license, a new card and an invoice. I trotted back to the boat just as the uphill big barge in the lock was leaving. Laurmick was already casting off and I had to shout to Mike so he could tell me where the ladder was, as I couldn’t see it for the tall dripping wet herbage. Once I was back on the boat we followed Laurmick in. We went forward of his prop this time, alongside him on the left hand wall. It was 1.45 p.m. when we left the lock. The rain pelted down and the traffic was heavy as we ran down to our chosen overnight mooring above the lock at Oudenaarde. WS was already there tied to the roof high wall with ropes around the railings by the road above and next to "no mooring" signs. Apparently everybody ignores the signs as there is nowhere else to moor other than pay in the yachthaven (which probably has no spaces long enough for us anyway). It was ten to eight and we were exhausted, again.
Thursday 16th June 2011 Antoing.
Sunny with heavy showers. A bad night. Mike didn’t sleep well as he had been mosquito bitten and got up several times for anti-itch cream to put on the bites and to find an aerosol spray of mosquito killer, consequently I had a bad night too. We weren’t best pleased to be woken again at 5.45 a.m. by the first passing commercial trying to flush us out of the weirstream. Mike had just got up when Francis arrived at 8.15 a.m. He went next door to have coffee with Olly who had likewise only just got up. First problem, no water supply, so Mike had to change water pumps – we didn’t have that problem yesterday. They tried all sorts again and couldn’t resolve the problem. Mike said he’d have to give it some serious thought. I suggested phoning Peter to bounce ideas off one another and Anne lent him her UK phone as she said she had loads of free minutes on it. They came to the conclusion that it was a blockage in the exhaust system. Nothing else for it than to remove the water-cooled silencer and re-instate the dry one - luckily Mike had kept it. All the symptoms fell into place when his thinking became clearer and less panic-motivated. After dinner Mike finished swapping the exhaust systems over and put the big silencer that he constructed on the front deck seat to be cut open and examined when he gets time later; then possibly cleaned, holes made bigger and reinstated. Hopefully. He tried it, a pipe hanging out of the pigeon box to get rid of the cooling water and it seemed to work OK. Tomorrow will tell. Fingers crossed.
Wednesday 15th June 2011 Péronnes to Antoing. Back in the water. 1 lock kms
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| Using the forklift truck to start the trolley moving back down the slope. |
Sunny with lots of white clouds. Mike went to post some forms in Antoing that he’d had to sign for the moped insurance and park the car there. He took Anne and Woody with him so they could walk back with him. More tidying up. I did more washing, bath mat, kitchen mat and the seat covers, then I did the ironing. Lunch. Vacuumed the carpet and had a good tidy up. Marjorie came round to oil the tracks and sprayed WD40 around the pulleys. Mike sawed off the trunks of the small willow tree that was growing in line of the back spreader of the trolley. Marjorie’s forklift driver turned up around 5.30 p.m. and it was all systems go. He used the forklift as a battering ram to get the trolley moving; he had to give it half a dozen hefty bumps before it moved - then it was a high speed whizz down the rails back into the water.
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| Back in the water at Peronnes-les-Antoing |
Mike bled the fuel system as he’d had the injectors out, which only took a few minutes. Olly untied WS and they moved off; we had to transfer the big thick ropes back to the uprights; they were wrapped round the edge of the trolley which we’d used to attach the port side to and stop the boat slamming into the uprights on the trolley when we launched. Mike did the one at the bows then I walked the stern one down our port side as we backed out. Had to attach a couple of our ropes to it as the wind was blowing and we needed room to manoeuvre back to the post on the trolley to attach it to. Once we’d done that we backed off into the lake to follow WS. Suddenly, we had no power and the engine sounded like a bag of old nails. Mike tried bleeding the system again, we’d got loads of black soot on the water below the exhaust pipe indicating partly burned diesel. Had to call Olly on VHF to come back and collect us, which he did.
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| Back in the water again after the slide down the slope. |
Tuesday 14th June 2011 Péronnes. The last painting done - we BBQ’d to celebrate.
Sunny and warm, with a few white clouds. Mike went for bread then we set to work. I painted the red antifouling over the red paint around the stern. Later Mike did the last coats of paint on the stern colours. I helped do the first section of rollering the blacking on the bottom, then Olly volunteered to help Mike so I started on the black bands around the stern. Anne made us a cuppa so we had a short break while we drank it. Finished off the black bands and did black antifouling around the lower rubbing band, we’d got a small jam jar of antifouling left. Mike ran out of paint on the bottom leaving a 3m section unpainted. Paused for a late lunch. Went round cleaning up and tidying, Mike flattened the paint cans etc. Decided to have a BBQ to celebrate the finish of painting. Anne supplied pork on sticks, chicken legs and veg kebabs while we did sausages and bacon wrapped sausages plus baked spuds. I opened the bottle of champagne we’d had in the 'fridge since we first met up with the Snails and Anne and I had kir royals while Mike and Olly had a glass of champagne before their usual beer. At least it didn’t rain on us this time! It was midnight as we packed up.
Monday 13th June 2011 Péronnes. Bad news, so the race is on to get home.
Raining, then sunny spells, more rain in the afternoon, back to sunny spells later. I did a second coat on the coloured bands around the stern. Mike chalked up the waterline with assistance from Olly, then he whizzed round with the antifouling paint, which this time was a nice shade of dark grey (not purple!). He went to tell Marjorie the sad news that his Dad had died the previous evening and that so we had to get the boat back in the water as soon as possible and we’d decided to go with the Snail back to Lokeren in the North of Belgium. Anne helped Mike do the port side (he said Olly was right, she does slop paint on, lots of it went over him!) brushing the weld line and the strakes. I baked some part-cooked buns for lunch and Mike had soup. Mike phoned our son Peter to tell him about his Granddad, and Mike's sister Sue phoned while he was talking to Peter. The phone hadn’t been configured for voicemail so she got a recorded message in Flemish and thought it was German. Mike phoned her back. The doctor who last saw his Dad wasn’t on duty until tonight so they couldn’t get the death certificate until the next day. They’d made arrangements with an undertaker and when Mike explained that we wouldn’t be able to get there until the weekend at least she said that the funeral (and cremation) wouldn’t be until the following week at the earliest, so not that much of a panic. Back to work. Mike said I needed a third coat of colours, but it started to rain, so I went back indoors to cook a stew for dinner. He started painting the bottom, using a sheet of fibreglass (off somebody’s old boat) to lie on. He had to stop too as the rain started to bucket down. He replaced the weed hatch covers in the engine room. Anne had asked us over to have a meal with them, but I had to ask Mike to tell her that I’d already defrosted some meat the previous day and it must be eaten today. Later Olly knocked with a bread and butter pudding Anne had made for us. Gave him Mike’s recording of the last 45 minutes of the Canadian F1. Mike fixed the fridge, again.
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