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| Lock 13, rebuilt as a standard lock chamber, remotely operated from Helmond lock (picture from 2005) |
Heavy rain at dawn. Mike went to find the Post Office at
8.10 a.m. It didn’t open until 9.00 a.m. and they were late! It cost 2,44€ to
post our survey, etc, off to Mike Stimpson for our boat insurance. Mike stood
on the bridge to watch for traffic while Bill backed Rosy out of the
passantenhaven, then Bill went to the bend to keep watch for traffic while we
untied and backed out. Bill followed us through the summit cutting to lock 13
on the Zuid Willemsvaart. Mike called the lock control at Helmond on VHF
channel 18. Locks 13 and 11 had been rebuilt and were remotely operated by the
keepers at Helmond lock on the new ringvaart.
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| Above lock 12 (picture from 2005) |
The keeper answered in Dutch,
Mike repeated that we were above lock 13, he understood and he set the lock for
us, we went in and the lock gently emptied. The new lock was parallel-sided, standard
style of modern lock chamber (the old brick-built/metal pile chambers were double width
for 65m boats with offset gates, ie first boat in moves over to face the exit
gates preserving the order of “first in, first out”) with concrete walls and an
excessive (in our opinion) fourteen bollards each side and it had cameras on
tall poles at each end of the chamber.
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| The square chamber and offset gates of lock 12 (picture from 2005) |
The lock keepers’ cottages had been
demolished. Lock 12 was as it had always been, except they’d added a row of
large dolphins down the left hand side for the 65m boats to tie to. We changed
plan and went on the right hand wall at the downhill end and Bill brought Rosy
in behind us, nudging the fenders and getting more of our creosote on his name
panel. The keeper wasn’t amused at Bill letting Fanny off on his lockside for a
peepee and told him we must take our masts down and go under the liftbridge. An
uphill empty called Labor went past, its skipper waving like a loony (I think
we’d seen him somewhere before!).
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| Mike and Bill chatting to the keeper (picture from 2005) |
Lock 11 was full with red lights on. The
gates started to close, so Mike called on VHF and the gates reopened and we
went in and down. At that lock they’d made a new chamber but kept the two
keepers’ houses on the lockside. It was 12.05 as we left the lock. Corma was at
the sand quay below the lock. I went indoors to make lunch, it was ready just
as we arrived at lock 10 (still as it it was, not rebuilt yet). An empty had
just come up, so we reversed places this time in the square chamber, tucking
into the uphill corner and letting Rosy have the downhill end of the wall. The
keeper never left his cabin and raised the liftbridge even though we’d taken
our masts down. (Perhaps he doesn’t like road traffic?)
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| Lock 12 bottom end gates and dolphins (picture from 2005) |
We ate our lunch as the
canal widened out before the start of the ringvaart (ring canal) around
Helmond. An uphill Dutch cruiser went past, videoing us as it went by. Mike
could see notices on the moorings at Helmond above lock 9 at the southern end
of the old canal, but they were too far away to read - he said he’d take a look
when he goes back to get the car. (It was just the number to ‘phone to get lock
9 worked to access the town wharves or the canal to Eindhoven). A large
container-carrying boat was unloading at the container port mooring. Two boats
were coming uphill in Helmond lock, an empty called Marian and a loaded boat.
They left and we went down. A loaded sand boat, Niman, was moored at the end of
the lock waiting quay.
The wind picked up as we went along the wide canal.
It was chilly and caused us to put our jackets on. The skipper of a small Dutch yacht, called Blue One, coming towards us was wearing a tee-shirt, no coat - I think we must have been getting acclimatised to warmer southern climes! Round a left hand bend, then we turned left at the crossroads with the Wilhelminakanal and moored next to a new section of wooden bank fendering with posts, which was so new that there was still wood shavings and sawdust everywhere, in the northern end of the old canal through Helmond. It was 3 p.m.
There were two
large cruisers and a couple of yachts moored nearer the disused liftbridge.
Mike got the moped off the roof with Bill lending a hand. He went off to
collect the car and transfer it to Den Bosch. I made some dinner while he was
away. There had been heavy showers and Mike was wet when he returned on the moped.
I put my waterproofs on and went to help him get the bike back on the roof
using a plank. Peter sent a text to ask us to try out his new L shaped antenna
which he’d made up from a diagram in Practical Wireless. He didn’t hold out
much hope - he said the bands sounded dead. Mike loaded up on 40m and they had
a two hour contact - the longest yet! And the signals didn’t fade away, Peter
had to sign off as he was it was getting late and he was being nagged!
The wind picked up as we went along the wide canal.
It was chilly and caused us to put our jackets on. The skipper of a small Dutch yacht, called Blue One, coming towards us was wearing a tee-shirt, no coat - I think we must have been getting acclimatised to warmer southern climes! Round a left hand bend, then we turned left at the crossroads with the Wilhelminakanal and moored next to a new section of wooden bank fendering with posts, which was so new that there was still wood shavings and sawdust everywhere, in the northern end of the old canal through Helmond. It was 3 p.m.
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| Lift bridge at lock 12 (picture from 2005) |
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