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| Choppy water on the "large" (wide section) at Mons photo taken in 1993 |
5.3°C overnight. Grey and windy. We set off at 9.00 a.m. I
had a cold so I stayed inside as much as possible, dosing on honey and hot
lemon with painkillers, head over a bowl of steaming hot water. A shower hit
and Mike lost his cap in the cut as he put the brolly up, which had flapped in
the wind and caught his hat. Luckily it floated, so I hooked it out with a
short shaft, wrung it out and then gave it a good wash. At 11.30 a.m.
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| Entering Havre lock. (photo taken in 1993) |
I steered
while Mike ‘phoned our bank again. They told him that their head office had
told them that there had been lots of problems with cards in Belgium, probably
due to the “chip and pin” system, so it was best to use major high street banks
- our cards should work at any bank showing the Visa symbol. A hail storm hit.
I started making a sandwich just before Obourg lock, then I had to clear the
gunwale and canvases on the port side of the piles of ice from the hail storm.
The five metre deep lock at Obourg had no floaters, so we went up the wall
using ropes on the recessed bollards. A small white Belgian, cruiser, called
Quiétude, had been kept waiting in the chamber - he’d overtaken us earlier. I
took all our papers up to the cabin. We ate our lunch en route for the next
lock, Havre, a deep chamber at 10m, but this one had floaters.
The keeper
called us forward into the front end of the lock and we came up in half the
chamber. The cruiser had the floater (lots of which were missing in this lock)
next to the lock cabin, so we went on the opposite wall and went alongside Rosy
with Bill hanging on a floater at the front while I controlled the other rope from
his centre roof stud. Another call for the quittances. As we were on the
opposite side to the cabin the ladders didn’t get much use and were filthy with
green gunge. My hands were disgusting. Fortunately the papers were in a zipper
bag to keep them dry, so I unzipped the bag and one of the keepers took them
out. They took pity on me and let me wash my hands, which was kind of them.
Peter ‘phoned as we went along the new canal towards the towering structure of
the new Strépy-Thieu lift. Later I checked our credit balance and found it had
cost us £8 to receive his 15 minute call! Probably more than it cost him to
make it! We moored next to a long cabin-high quay at Ville-sur-Haine, opposite
the lift bridges on the old canal. It was 2.15 p.m. Mike tried ‘phoning the D2
operator and had trouble getting them to speak English. He tried a second time
and the girl said her colleague would call us back. Mike was getting very
annoyed. He gave up and went to find a post office to get a stamp to post a
cheque for the car insurance and get a couple of ‘phonecards. Meanwhile the
operator ‘phoned back - we couldn’t use our card to top up as it hadn’t been
“registrated” - I said we’d done it before, she insisted there was nothing, no
card “registrated” against our ‘phone number.
Did we know anyone in Germany who
could send us a scratch card? Yes but it would take too long. Couldn’t we get a
scratch card in Belgium? She checked. No, none in Belgium. In the Netherlands
we could use Keritel. Well thank goodness for small mercies! Mike returned. He
hadn’t found a post office, but a small shop had sold him stamps and
‘phonecards and he’d posted his letter in a dubious looking post box. We had a
cracking thunderstorm and more hail. We could recharge our UK Vodaphone using a
debit card, so why not use that instead. He ‘phoned the GB operator - we’d got
a card “registrated” (that word will stick!) with them and topped up the £15
balance with another £15. We would still have to pay through the nose to
receive calls. Sent Peter an SMS to tell him the change of number. Rain poured
down. Although we’d kept the coal fire going all day the boat was getting
chilly after dark, so Mike lit the central heating for overnight.
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| Centre gates closing behind us to use half the lock (photo taken in 1993) |
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| Quay below new lock on to the old canal and boat lifts (photo taken in 1993) |
Still a dearth of photos from 2004 - these were taken way back in 1993
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