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| Cement works at Engis. R Meuse. (Photo from return journey in Sept 2005) |
Sunny and warmer. We were up
bright and early at 7.00 a.m. to set off at 8.00 a.m. We went down Ampsin lock
on our own, just the two of us in the small lock chamber after Mike had called
a harassed sounding keeper on VHF. There must have been some sort of accident
in the big lock as he was talking about claim forms and sounded a bit peevish.
A German cruiser from Minden heading uphill as we left the lock was the fifth
pleasure boat of the year. Mike had put the pins in to run the generator to do
some washing as we ran down to Yvoz. We’d been doing an experiment to find out
how long the toilet tank took to fill. We’d noticed a pong in the bedroom the
day before when the toilet was being pumped, but couldn’t trace any leaks. The
tank was full.
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| Cockerill-Sambre coking plant at Seraing. R Meuse. (Photo from return journey in Sept 2005) |
Mike lifted the mattress and found there was a leak on the
breather pipe on top of the tank and a tiny, smelly puddle. Yuk. He went inside
to pump out the tank, while I steered, and noticed black water coming up the
drainpipes from the shower and the sink. He switched the washing machine off
and unblocked the pipe, which must have been stopped up with gunge from the water
where we moored the previous night. This sometimes happens in mucky conditions
when the wind is blowing in the right direction (as it was the previous night).
Good thing he was inside and spotted it, we could have had a much worse mess!
River traffic was getting busier. It always does when I steer through the
industrial grotty bits down through Liège.
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| Fountain at the junction with R. Ourthe. R Meuse. (Photo from return journey in Sept 2005) |
We’d got two big boats overtaking
us, Feron and Fatima, as we passed three uphill boats, one of which was
overtaking the other two, blue boarding on the wrong side of the river, so I
went down the middle! Bill followed. It was a bit bouncy for a few minutes. We
followed the two loaded boats which had just overtaken us into Yvoz-Ramet lock.
They went in on opposite sides of the chamber, so we went opposite Fatima
behind Feron and Rosy went behind us. I went up to the cabin to take the
quittances to be stamped, passing two armed policemen on the way. I later
learned that they’d told the crews of the two commercials to moor with fore and
aft lines and to stop turning their props, then they’d gone to chat to Mike and
Bill.
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| Palais de Congres. Liege. R Meuse. (Photo from return journey in Sept 2005) |
The commercials hadn’t stopped their props, so one of the cops went back
to tell them again. I heard him tell the Dutch crew on Feron who feigned
ignorance of French - but they had complied with the first part of his order
and attached a stern rope as well as a bow rope as the rules demand. I went
inside to sort out the washing and missed the rest of the events. First, the
bloke on the bows of Feron got his bow line jammed and the keeper had to come
and loose it off for him - but then the keeper dropped it and made no attempt
to get it back on the boat - so it fell in the water. Then the woman only just
about freed her line before it got jammed as she’d crossed it and got the wrong
line on top (it runs freely if you do it the other way round). Then they
powered off out of the lock and Fatima followed. Mike had dropped our rope on
to a lower bollard as he guessed they were going to go out with full throttle
as they’d been told off for not being considerate to others (meaning US!) Bill
had taken his rope off the higher bollard, but then couldn’t get it on the
lower recessed bollard as it was a cross with each end fixed into the concrete
(usually the top is left free so the rope just loops around) and he hadn’t got
time to feed his rope through before Fatima sucked Rosy’s stern end against
theirs.
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| Passerelle Saucy & Pont-des-Arches. Liege. R Meuse. (Photo from return journey in Sept 2005) |
Bill dashed back to the steering position and powered away from the
commercial, but hadn’t got anywhere to go - so he ran into our stern fenders.
What a performance! All the fault of the men with guns! Practically ALL
commercials sit in the locks on one rope with their props turning to keep them
against the walls - we’ve had to learn to live with it. The two Dutch boat
crews were not happy about being told they were law-breakers and inconsiderate
to other waterway users, as far as they’re concerned at best we’re invisible,
at worst we’re a nuisance if we get in their way! Bill’s nerves must have been
a-jangling after that experience.
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| Pont-des-Arches. Liege. R Meuse. (Photo from return journey in Sept 2005) |
A Dutch cruiser (N° 6) was heading uphill for
the lock as we left it. Shortly after we almost had another disaster when we
ran over the rope that Feron had lost. Luckily Mike spotted it in time and took
the engine out of gear. He shouted to Bill on VHF, who was following, and he
moved over to miss it. The sun was very pleasant as we went through Liège,
spotting more and more new buildings, more houseboats on the wall and the lack
of a water tap where we used to refill our tanks. At the beginning of the
Albert Canal we tied up against one of the small bunker boats and waited while
a boat, which had just overtaken us, Aquarius loaded with steel coil, filled up
with fuel at the main Neptunia barge.
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| Waterside mansion Liege. R Meuse. (Photo from return journey in Sept 2005) |
When he left we went alongside just as
another of their small bunker boats returned to refill his tanks. The guy off
the bunker boat came and helped serve us with diesel and water. I thought it
was funny when the chap from the chandlery shop spoke to Mike in Flemish and he
answered him in French! I paid by card - but wires had got crossed, we’d said
beforehand that I’d pay for both by card and the Flemish guy had done
individual bills. The price had gone gone up a lot since Antoing. This time
we’d only had 140 litres and Bill had had 264 litres. They’d charged us 43c
(30p) a litre, while at Antoing (albeit we’d had a discount for having a joint
amount of over a tonne) it had cost us only 32.2c (22.5p) a litre.
We had
spotted that the price of road fuel had gone up considerably too, with Belgian
prices virtually the same now as what we’d been paying in France just before we
left. Mike and Bill went for a wander round the chandlery. Bill wanted some
chain, but they’d got none. Mike wanted some hand cleaner - they’d got a 3
litre tub with a dispenser on top for 19 Eu, but Mike said he hadn’t got room in
the engine room for that, it was too big. Just before we untied, I tried
calling Monsin lock and got no reply. Mike called and got a reply, but it was
unintelligible, the audio was very bad - as if the keeper was at the bottom of
a well. The lock was ready so we went in. Mike tried asking if he wanted to see
our quittance. Again the answer was undecipherable, he had to ask him “oui ou
non?” He said “s’il vous plaît!” I went up to the new cabin across the tail of
the lock. There were two of them, one sprawled in an arm chair - the other one
did the paperwork. I told him his radio audio was bad, he said ours was too. I
resisted telling him he needed a new radio. Then he asked if we knew that Visé
lock was shut. “No, is it permanent?” I asked. He said that we had to notify
the keeper before 12 o’clock on a Friday if we wanted to go through the lock on
a Saturday or Sunday. I thought that only applied to Sundays. I told him we
weren’t in a great hurry, we’d have a weekend’s peace and calm in Visé.
The
wind picked up as we went downstream on the old river Meuse. A mini-tornado
whipped up a circle of water as it spun across the surface of the river. On the
motorway alongside the river we heard the unmistakable sound of a passing car,
towing a caravan and a trailer, having a tyre blow out. Boom, flap, flap, flap.
A passing group of nine motorcyclists formed the first “en masse” biker outing
we’d seen this year. We turned into the Haccourt-Visé canal, passing more
swans, geese, ducks and coots than ever. It’s always been a popular spot for
water birds as people (who don’t live there!) come especially to feed them. The
only space available (there were more moored boats than ever too, most being
small sail or day boats) was in the corner. Someone had left their mooring lines
behind. We tied up with Rosy alongside us and Mike went to see if anyone was
due back. He spoke to a group of moorers who were sitting outside on the bank
enjoying the sunshine and having a drink. The mooring was free, the boat which
moored there had left they said - we could have the mooring for a bottle of
Scotch! - Mike said if they could find one on our boat he’d share it with them.
They were in a very jovial mood. It was 4.25 p.m. As we finished off securing
the boat and stowing the gear away, a cyclist came to have a chat. He politely
asked if we minded having a conversation with a local. He spoke good English
and we dived in with French when he got stuck. He told us he lived in Liège and
used to have a sailing boat, a 32 foot yacht, in France, which he sailed on the
Med in the eighties doing over 16,000 kms. He asked us all the usual questions
(we have a list now, it starts with No1 How did you get that here? No 2 Did you
sail it across the Channel? To which we usually reply, no, the North Sea – before
adding - on a lorry on a big ferry boat. Etc, etc) It was 5.45 p.m. when Mike
went off to get the car and I started to get dinner ready.
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| Vise. R Meuse. (Photo from return journey in Sept 2005) |
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| Haccourt-Vise canal. R Meuse. (Photo from return journey in Sept 2005) |
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