Wednesday 7th April 2004 Ville-sur-Haine to Seneffe.

Waiting below the Strepy-Thieu boat lift

3.1° C overnight. Mike took the camera and tripod to take a photo of the humorous sign warning fishermen of the dangers of overhead power cables. Unfortunately the one he walked back to photograph had been vandalised. It was grey and pouring with rain when we set off at 9.30 a.m. We arrived below the lift at 10.10 a.m. and moored in front of a hotel Luxemotor called Peterborough to wait for the lift. The left hand caisson had green arrow lights showing, indicating that was the side to use, but beyond that red lights were illuminated as the caisson was at the top. Mike tried calling the keeper on VHF and got no reply. We waited. He took a walk to the lift. There was no access to any office and no one was around. The skipper off Peterborough came to chat. He called the lift, they answered him straight away to say that they were waiting for a downhill boat to arrive and then we could go up. I went inside and made tea and toast. Mike took still photos of the tank descending. I found the video camera out. The loaded péniche Arcadia left the tank and we got a green light. Threw ropes round bollards half way along the tank and the guillotine gate dropped down behind us. A 

Rosy in the tank

few minutes later a voice on a tannoy, sounding not unlike a railway station announcer, said that we must move forward as a 38m boat would be joining us. We moved forward, although there was more than enough room for them behind us. The gate reopened and Con Zelo, a loaded péniche concrete carrier, arrived and moored behind Rosy. Still we waited. The trip boat Scaldis, which had been moored below when we arrived, had loaded with passengers and was now ready to depart, so he came in behind us. The trip up the 73m lift took just seven minutes, after a two hour wait! We left the top at 12.30 p.m. The wind was howling across the high level canal. The two commercials soon overtook us. The new canal was lined with asphalt and had sloping concrete sides. 

The rest of the boats in the tank

Mike paused to have a look down on the road below from the long aqueduct. More heavy showers. I cooked our last packet of British bacon (from the freezer) to make a hot sandwich for our lunch. It was excellent with tomatoes. Mike had fried eggs too. We followed Bill into the arm of the old canal at Seneffe, now used as moorings by SNEF yachting. We followed him past the kids in sailing dinghies at the ADEPS outdoor centre and down the arm past his friend Mike Clarke’s 19m long, riveted, red oxide painted narrowboat. A chap came out on the deck of the first boat on the moorings to tell us we couldn’t moor in the arm as the moorings were private. The space Bill had dropped into was someone’s mooring, which they paid for, he said, and would be upset if they found someone else moored there. Bill rang Mike C, he had a few words with the Capitain then we moved back down the arm to moor just before the bridge on their visitor moorings. 9 Eu per night, including water and electricity. 

Going up

I made a chicken curry for dinner. Mike replied to an SMS from Peter and put the HF wire antenna up to try various frequencies. Meanwhile after a knock on the cabinside, I went to pay up at the club house taking “Ships papers” with me. I filled in the form, had a beer from Bill’s friend Mike, who also paid for our overnight mooring charges, which was very kind of him. I chatted to Pierre who was keen to know more about how we got to Europe and about travelling to Poland. Bill chatted away to Mike in English, while I answered Pierre’s questions in French. Then we went to have a look at Mike’s boat, which he had been fitting out for four years. Back cabin with range. Engine room with a vintage Ruston engine. Shower and toilet (over a holding tank) still under construction. Kitchen with diesel cooker. Then a dinette under construction, a space for more seating and a low cabin at the bows for the kids, which they had to enter by ducking under the front deck. It will be very nice once it’s finished. Pierre’s ‘phone rang - his missus from the house opposite, dinner ready. We wished him “au’voir” and went on Bill’s boat for a drink. Chatted about red diesel and boats, Europe and cruising until 11.30 p.m.

View from the top looking back to where we set off from