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| One I missed of Strepy - the top of the lift from the canal above it |
A chilly 1.3° C overnight. It was foggy when we got up,
but the sun burned through by mid-morning. At 10.30 am we set off after Mike
had been down to the lock with the rubbish and our quittances. A loaded péniche
called Chris-Li came up and then we went down, followed by a British replica
Dutch Barge called Jazz. The skipper had been calling the keeper on channel 10
VHF, got no answer, so Mike replied to him in English. He seemed very reluctant
to reply! Bill said he thought it was an “Ownership” but it turned out to be a
private boat from Harwich. Below Auvelais lock, an uphill tug called Zwerver
was shoving a large pan of scrap metal, heading for Charleroi, waiting for the
lock.
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| Such a beautiful boat - nice to see Kevin and Barbara again |
An empty 80m called Nova Scotia was moored right next to a fair in the
streets of Auvelais. It looked like it had been left for the holidays. Jazz
overtook us and the skipper took photos as they steamed off into the distance.
Voyager, a loaded 80m from Maasbracht, was the next uphill boat, followed a
little later by an empty péniche called Neptunia. Mike heard the correct
pronunciation of Auvelais as the skipper announced he was approaching “Oovlay”
bridge! Amateur was being unloaded at the sand quay, the crane was just
dropping a mini digger into the hold to scrape the remaining cargo into piles.
A large loaded tanker boat, called Ganda, arrived as we were passing and
dropped into the oil berth next to the sand quay.
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| Just exquisite! |
We were fast approaching
Mornimont lock, so Mike called the keeper on VHF so that Jazz didn’t get the
lock to himself and we would have been left to wait for the chamber to be
refilled. (How many times has that happened to us!) He got no reply from the
lock - what’s new? But found that Jazz was waiting above the lock as it filled.
The fourth pleasure boat (narrowboat Santana was the first, the Belgian cruiser
Quiétude had been the second, while Jazz was the third) we’d seen so far this
year, a Dutch cruiser called Laura, was coming up in the lock. The three of us
dropped down in Mornimont and then I made some lunch on the 8 kms run down to
the next lock, Florifoux. A young woman, up high in the cabin at the end of the
weir structure alongside the lock, waved us into the half lock, we went
alongside Rosy, then she closed the middle gate and we started dropping down
the chamber. Mike shouted to her that there was a paddle still open as there
was lots of water coming in behind us. She said it was just the sill leaking.
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| Rosy moored in Namur by the Casino |
A
few minutes after that the uniformed keeper arrived and a shouting match
followed. Unfortunately we couldn’t hear what was said, but the gesticulations
were self-evident - she’d done something wrong - she went back in the cabin and
the incoming water slowed down a bit. The crew on Jazz asked if we’d seen a fox
as we came along the last stretch - no - they said they’d seen it go into its
den and were enraptured to have seen it.
They told us they were going to Namur and heading upriver to Charleville. Below
the lock we passed a loaded Dutch tanker called Theion from Druten. We had a
problem with our 12v power, a bulb had expired and the voltage reading was
high. Mike took some measurements and then disconnected our Adverc battery
management system. He said he would check it over later. Then we saw a really
funny thing. A large (had to be in Wallonie) green woodpecker was sitting
halfway up a concrete pole pecking at a high tension cable, 72,000 volts! He’ll
get a nasty shock if he gets through the outer casing of that! As we went round
the sweeping bends at Malonne we met a Dutch empty Inspe II coming uphill.
Again Jazz was waiting above the next lock, Salzinnes, when we arrived. An
empty 80m called Semper Avanti and loaded Sanremo came out of the lock, a
loaded boat called Semi came down and it followed us into the lock. Rosy came
alongside and I went up to the cabin to take the quittance to be stamped. We
got out of the way to let Semi past, but Jazz sped off downriver into Namur.
Another loaded tanker, Tiffany, was waiting below the lock. We motored through
the town, noting lots of brand new buildings among the old ones, turned the
corner on to the Meuse and headed upriver to find a mooring. As I had
predicted, Jazz had gone across to the Port de Plaisance - Port de Jambes -
where we noted all the pontoons were missing. Two boats were moored opposite
the port, a small green Luxe called Marlene and Merchant - Kevin and Barbara
Hancock’s boat. We moored upstream of Merchant. As we were tying up the crew
returned from a shopping expedition. We had a chat on the quay while we
finished tying up. They remembered seeing Bill in Gent, and us from the
previous year on the d’Heuilley canal near St Dizier. I remarked that after
we’d seen them I’d spoken to my friend Yvonne and she’d sent us a copy of the article
they’d published in the boat club magazine. Not us, they said, they hadn’t had
any articles printed in any magazines - and they didn’t seem to be too happy
about that. Later I searched out the article, which turned out to be their 2003
Christmas newsletter that they send out to a few friends. They had a good idea
who’d done it and I think he/she might have a flea in his/her ear for doing it and not
asking their permission first. Mike went to get the car and pick up a loaf. I
prepared the ingredients for a stir-fry so that it was ready to cook when he
got back. We had let the coal fire go out during the day as it had been quite
warm with the sun on the cabin. We didn’t bother to relight it or the central
heating - so summer must be on its way.
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