Friday 11th - Sunday 13th June 2004 Nieuwolda to Langebrug.

Friday 11th June 2004 Nieuwolda to Langebrug.

Zwaaagsterklap liftbridge - photo by Jaap Elevelt

15.7° C Windy, sunny spells, white scudding clouds plus a few grey ones. Heavy showers during the night. Set off back down the Termunterzijldiep at 9.15 a.m. following Rosy. After we’d gone through ‘t Waar I made a cuppa. Two cruisers saw us coming, untied and pulled out right in front of Bill at Nieuwe Scheemda. We followed them and caught up at the first of the two movable bridges. They were having trouble with the swingbridge, Tichelwaardsdraai, so we hovered under the busy A7 motorway bridge. One cruiser went through, then we followed, leaving the other cruiser’s crew to close the bridge. The woman off the other cruiser lifted the Zwaagsterklap liftbridge, which meant we were both in front of the cruisers. I said to Bill when we got to the lock that I felt a bit guilty at having the lock when they were in front. 

t'Waar - photo by Rens van Stralen

He said I shouldn’t as they had rushed to get out in front of him and swung out almost across his bows to be first, which had now backfired on them. One of the skippers came up on the lockside and asked how long our boats were. The lock was only 25m long by 6m wide, so they had no chance of locking with us. I walked on to lift the bridge on the bend. The lock filled and the gates opened, but Bill had trouble getting his key out, so he swopped keys with the bloke off the cruiser. They were heading for Groningen - the opposite direction to us. Bill went through the bridge, then Mike followed him and picked me up. We carried on to join the Winschoterdiep, turning left into Scheemda. It was 11.30 a.m. as we dropped ropes round bollards at Eexterbrug to wait for the keeper. 

t'Waar - photo by Yvonne Quispel

We expected him to be on his lunch break and I went in to make a sandwich. Ten minutes later he arrived with a boat coming from the opposite direction. He let us through before lowering the bridge when there was no sign of movement on Rosy. We couldn’t raise Bill, so Rosy remained on the far side of the bridge until 1.00 p.m. Bill had been listening to the cricket on Radio Four (probably with headphones on). After lunch the keeper returned and let Bill and a cruiser through Eexterbrug. He kept the cruiser waiting to go through the next two bridges, Graaf Adolfbrug and Kloosterbrug, but it was well ahead of us at Beertsterbrug (the busy road bridge into Winschoten) so he let them through the bridge and closed it after them, reopening it again for us when we arrived five minutes later. 

Be Burcht at Wedde - photo by Frits Knappen

The wind was blowing very hard as we caught up with the cruiser again, who was waiting for the railway swingbridge to reopen after lunch at 2.00 p.m. Mike put the bows into the wind and we waited. No trains this time and the bridge swung to let us through at 2.10 p.m. The cruiser turned off right down the Pekel Aa and we went on to drop down Bulsterverlaat diy lock and turned right under the low bridge on to the Westerwoldse Aa. We moored next to the old quay at Langebrug at 3.30 p.m. and Mike went off on the moped to collect the car. A small cruiser went past just after we’d tied up, ideal to test our mooring lines. The news was full of former US president Ronald Reagan’s funeral in Washington (he’d died at the age of 93 after succumbing to Alzeimer’s disease in his later years) and also Labour’s huge losses in the local elections in England. A couple of blokes had arrived by car earlier in the evening and set up to fish on opposite banks of the canal right by the boat - they didn’t pack up and leave (noisily) until midnight.

Saturday 12th June 2004 Langebrug.

11.3° C The weather was getting colder again. Heavy showers, with brief sunny spells later in the afternoon. Mike was undecided on whether to go to the library in Winschoten on the moped or go in the car. He spoke to Bill, who also wanted to go to the library, so they went in the car. He was glad that they did, as it started to pour with rain five minutes after they left. I got on with the chores. They were back at lunchtime having spent some time in Praxis (DIY) and had called in Wedde to look at the mooring at the end of the navigable Westerwoldse Aa. We’d had a confirmation e-mail from World Wide Telecom with the dial up numbers for their callback service. After lunch Mike took Bill to have a look at a junk shop Bill had spotted on the B.L.Tijdens Kanaal near Bellingwolde. Bill came back with a book and a postcard. Mike tried using the new callback system to ‘phone Mum and Dad and got their answering machine – just our luck when we wanted to test the new system. I made Indonesian fried rice with chicken for dinner.

Sunday 13th June 2004 Langebrug.

Aerial view of Bourtange - photo by Amauri Brandalise

12.1° C Grey and chilly with a cold wind blowing. Set off just after 10.00 a.m. in the car to visit Bourtange, a fortified border village, as Mike and Bill had been told that they fire a cannon at midday on Sundays. Parked the car (vehicles are not allowed in the village) and had a walk around the inside battlements of the star shaped fortress. Bill had brought Fanny and she had a good time chasing her tennis ball up and down the inside slopes of the earthworks. Bill tested (well, not literally, he sat on one of the seats) a reproduction gardrobe - a toilet shed with seats and holes over the moat. When we got back to the residential area, a stall was being set up in the middle of the village square which had a notice that said that the firing of the cannon would be at 15.00 - 3 p.m. Mike said we’d come back next Sunday! We went to have a look at the moorings. We called at the junkshop, Curioso, on the way back. Mike and I went in for a look round while Bill stayed outside with Fanny (the woman in the shop said he could have brought her inside as they had dogs too). 

Bourtange - photo by glamgrids

The junkshop was a in a large shed next to a house facing the canal. They had all sorts of old junk and some nice bits of collectible stuff. Bill had been tempted the day before by an old brass blow lamp, but they wanted 35 Euros (about £23) for it and it was not guaranteed to work. Mike gave up (he’s not a shopper and certainly not a fan of junk shops, unlike me) and went to chat to Bill. I bought a small plain white cream jug with Maastricht on the base for 3€ and a Bitburger stone beer mug for 1€ (thought it would make a nice present for Ray when we go back to GB next). Back home for lunch. Engine and Markon on and did some washing. First load for Bill, then two loads for us, pre-soaked jeans then whites. Mike went for nap and I did the ironing. He’d missed the qualy for the Canadian Grand Prix, by misreading the time on the programme guide, thought it was midday and it must have been midnight. He watched some American Nascar racing and then cricket. I mended a pair of my jeans. Cooked an apple pie with a Dutch pastry mix. The oven was on so I put sausages and some pork in the oven too and did veg to go with them for dinner. Custard with the hot apple pie for afters. The football competition Euro 2004 was being held in Portugal. Mike watched  England playing the cup holders France. We were winning 1 - 0 until the last two minutes of injury time when Zinedan scored two goals for France to win 2 - 1! 

Wednesday 9th & Thursday 10th June 2004 Nieuwolda - Termunterzijl - Nieuwolda.

Wednesday 9th June 2004 Nieuwolda - Termunterzijl - Nieuwolda.

Sheveklap liftbridge - photo by Wout van Groenestijn

15.7° C a warm night. Cloudy, hazy sunshine and muggy. There were a few spots of rain as we watered up from the tap at the bar, moving the boats closer to the bridge to do so. I walked up to the liftbridge, Hamrikkerklap - an all electric liftbridge, and raised it. The men brought the boats through then Mike picked me up from the landing on the far side, which had been taken over by the restaurant who had covered it with tables and chairs. Bill worked the next bridge, Scheveklap - a lift bridge with manual road barriers. He took Rosy through and we followed and went on to do the next bridge, Wartumerklap, which was almost in Termunterzijl. 

Old lock at Termunterzijl - photo by Bill Davies

Two fishermen were fishing from the landing, but they moved off to let me pass to work the bridge. Again it had manual road barriers, well one and a half - they must have modified the bridge and removed one part of the barrier and not replaced it. A young man in a pickup opened the barriers after I’d lowered the bridge back down. He was pleasant but he must have been in a hurry. Most of the boats on the mooring in Termunterzijl were residents, so we found gaps between them at 12.15 p.m. I made some lunch while Mike chatted with a young couple who had come to admire the boat and ask the usual questions. 

Old lock at Termunterzijl - photo by Bill Davies

We had lunch and then I put the finishing touches to my doormat. Bill went to take the dog for a walk and photograph the lock on to the Dollard. When he came back he said there were some children swimming in the mud, they were black - beats your tame sand castles, he said! The havenmaster came with his money bag. Told him we weren’t staying overnight and he went away again. It was 2.00 p.m. and Bill said he’d seen everything there was to see, so we winded and set off back to Nieuwolda. It was 3.45 p.m. when we tied up again in exactly the same place under the trees except we’d turned round.

Thursday 10th June 2004 Nieuwolda.

Old lock at Termunterzijl - photo by Anthonie Verburgh

15.1° C Murky hazy sunshine, warmer. Heavy rain showers. We went shopping in Winschoten taking Bill with us to get groceries. Shopped at the Albert Heijn as before. Back at the boat at 12.30 p.m. Packed the groceries away and made some lunch. The Bank of England put the interest rates up another quarter percent! Hooray! Now it’s 4.5%. That’s two months in a row that they’ve raised the rates. We might get back to decent returns on our investments if they keep that up! (A big fat HAH! to that one from 2014!!) Mike and Bill went in the library in the village to use the Internet. We’d had nothing back from PangIT, so I agreed with Mike that we should give up on them and register with World Wide Telecomm’s callback service (same as Bill uses). He did and they said they would e-mail us back in 48 hours to confirm our acceptance. I sent a text to Peter (and woke him!) to ask how life as a top exec was suiting him. He was still working nights and said he might be able to have a sked on HF at the weekend as he’d got lots to tell us. Mike went with Bill to look at Mervyn’s Cadillacs. That was the Scotsman who lives in the village, a bus driver married to a Dutch doctor, who has two Caddys - one restored, the other undergoing restoration. There was a very heavy shower of rain just before 7.00 p.m.

Saturday 5th - Tuesday 8th June 2004 “De Dellen” to Nieuwolda.

Saturday 5th June 2004 “De Dellen” to Nieuwolda.

Termunterzijldiep windmill - photo by Dollard Route

11.2° C overnight. Grey and overcast when we set off at 9.15 a.m. but brightening up later. We went first, Rosy following. The bridges were all fixed ones but low, 2.5m, so the masts had to come off. The next mooring place marked on the chart (with what we had nicknamed a “Lollipop”) was at the village of Nieuwe Scheemda, a pleasant spot with a large lawn, several picnic tables, a bin and even a volleyball net! Made some tea  as we went round some interesting bends in the canal at ‘t Waar. At the beginning of the village of Nieuwolda, the first mooring staging had been occupied by a steel cruiser, which had tied up so that its stern deck access was level with a gangway to the bank, which meant he was virtually in the middle of the mooring. We motored on. A fisherman by the next bridge, Bostil, was a dummy. I liked that idea, a stuffed fisherman! 

Termunterzijldiep windmill - photo by Wout van Groenstijn

It was 10.30 a.m. when we tied up next to a sloping grassy bank, edged with wooden planking, backed by a small road (with parking) opposite a row of houses, just before the liftbridge, Hamrikkerklap. Bill took Fanny for a walk and went to explore the village. When he came back he and Mike had a chat with the chap who ran a café close by where we’d moored. He was also caretaker of the infant school and library, which were right next to where we were. They had internet too, but not available until Monday. Mike told him we’d be staying for a few days and the guy said we could have water from him if we’d got long enough hoses. We have. We shall do some washing tomorrow! Helped Mike unload the moped off the roof and he went to get the car. After dinner Mike went to find Bill and they went in the bar until 10.30 p.m. Harry, the barman, said he was closing early as had to get up at 4.30 a.m. because the locals were off on a fishing trip by coach and they always have coffee first before they go at 5.00 a.m.

 Sunday 6th June 2004 Nieuwolda.

Termunterzijldiep footbridge- photo by Jaap Elevelt

9° C Sunny spells. We went out in the car to look at the moorings at Termunterzijl. First we called in at the garage in Scheemda for some diesel. Prices seemed better at 81.5c/litre than others we’d seen recently which were nearer 90c (diesel was more expensive in Germany at upwards of 92c/litre, while petrol was cheaper). The mooring at Termunterzijl was practically full, probably as it was a warm sunny day and cruisers had come out for the day from marinas in Delfzijl. A notice stated that the haven master calls at 6.00 p.m. for mooring fees. We shan’t be staying! Mike asked someone who was passing how much they charged, they replied that they weren’t stopping until six to find out but most likely in the region of 65c/m, which would be 11,70 (£7.60) for us - that’s a lot just for tying up! Went to look at moorings marked on the chart in Delfzijl - there was nothing there. Continued into Appingedam. Found the moorings, they looked OK if a bit enclosed, surrounded by shops and houses. Back on the boat Mike ran the engine and I did some washing. Made a beef Stroganoff for dinner. The beef was a bit tough.

Monday 7th June 2004 Nieuwolda.

Nieuwolda - photo by  Sjaak Kempe

13.4° C Sunny spells. Mike went to the local Spa for some bread and I got on with the chores, more washing and ironing etc. Lunch. Finished the washing and Mike took Bill (who needed a cash machine and there wasn’t one in the village) with him into Winschoten to do some e-mails at the library. He’d had a reply to the one he’d sent to PangIT, which said a colleague would be dealing with his enquiries and would reply soon. Mike also found the Citroën dealers and got two nice new shiny brake discs for the ZX for 63 Euros (about £41). He was very surprised to have got them as he’d been expecting to have to place an order and wait for them. It was too late to start work on changing the brakes when he returned. Made chicken and pasta with a bottled sauce for dinner.

  

Tuesday 8th June 2004 Nieuwolda.

Nieuwolda Hamrikkerklap liftbridge - photo by Henk Binnendijk 

13° C Sunny spells, warmer. Mike set up his binoculars with a dark lens so we could see the transit of Venus as it made its six hour passage between the earth and the sun. He changed the ZX’s brake discs. Lunch. I finished knitting my string doormat, then edged it and made a wave pattern on it with lighter coloured string. It was noisy in the afternoon when school let out and the local kids started swimming in the canal by the liftbridge. I made chicken nuggets and chips for dinner. A small curly haired child knocked on the cabinside and went on down to Bill’s boat, messing with his bike (which was leaning against a tree but locked up) and laughing to his semi-idiot older friend. Ignored them and they went away. Mike had had trouble with a few mouthy ones on Sunday evening and he’d mentioned it to Harry, who had gone outside straight away and given them a lecture. He said that they don’t do that sort of thing in a small village where everyone knows them. Mike went in the bar with Bill, who didn’t stay long. A couple on a camping holiday on bikes arrived and they chatted with Mike. He was originally from Aston, Birmingham and she was Dutch, from Groningen, where they both now lived. 

Thursday 3rd & Friday 4th June 2004 Nieuwe Statenzijl to “De Dellen”.

Thursday 3rd June 2004 Nieuwe Statenzijl.

11° C sunny and warm with a gentle breeze. Mike took Bill back to Winschoten and retrieved his keys, then they went in Praxis (a DIY shop). They found that the library didn’t open until 1.30 p.m. so they went to find (eventually) the library in Nieuweschans, which opened at 2.30 p.m. they were back at midday. I’d finished all the chores and I’d almost finished mending my handbag, polishing the wax on the leather and stitching the lining back together, whilst sitting out on the front deck in the sunshine with the canvases as a windbreak. After lunch, Mike went for nap until 2.00 p.m. then took Bill with him to find the library in Nieuweschans to check on the internet. When Mike returned he’d got a printout of the info from Glyn’s e-mail and had sent one off to PangIT asking for more precise details of their costs. The library had only one terminal, so when they’d received Glyn’s message and printed it they went and sat in the car to digest it. When they went back into the library to send the reply they had to wait as someone else was using the Internet. As the weather was better we decided to have a BBQ. I turned some minced pork and beef into Thai sausages and ordinary burgers. Bill had bought a new folding chair - he told the young lady who sold it to him that he would think of her when he sits in it, but he said he doubts if she will be thinking of him! Violins out! I sat on the front deck and had one of Mike’s bottles of Grolsch with some lime. After we’d finished eating (Mike said it was the worst BBQ’d food he’d ever done, as the burgers dropped to bits and the sausages charcoaled too easily - I thought it tasted OK) we had visitors - the bloke who owned the tjalk moored round the corner in the layby below the lock, (a Dutchman from Amsterdam), and his friends from Frankfurt (on the Maine in west Germany) who were visiting him and they all came over to look at our funny boats. Bill showed them some photos of working boats and I dug out a book of black and white photos of old boats. At 9.00 p.m. we packed up the BBQ gear and went inside as it was getting decidedly chilly.

Friday 4th June 2004 Nieuwe Statenzijl to “De Dellen”.

Raining and misty from low flying rain clouds when we set off at 9 a.m. 11° C overnight, only

Liftbridge in Nieuweschans - photo by Gouwenaar

12° C when we set off. Mike had booked the bridges for ten, otherwise we wouldn’t have moved! He said he thought about ‘phoning and cancelling, but the forecast said it would brighten up later - which it did. I made a cuppa as we ran back into Nieuweschans. The keeper was there, he arrived as we did at 9.55 a.m. We had to wait for a train at 10.10 a.m. then he let us through the rail bridge and he cycled up to the road bridge in the drizzle. Mike asked him, as we passed through his bridge, what else he did when he wasn’t swinging bridges. The reply came back “It’s a very good job - nothing!” We supposed it could get a bit hectic at the height of the summer holiday season. The mooring staging was exactly as when we left it, with the two old boats plus the three little cruisers moored at the ends. We cleared the high liftbridge and the motorway bridge, leaving Nieuweschans behind at 10.30 a.m. The drizzle stopped, but there were still lots of low hanging clouds until lunchtime. It was chilly, so I made a cup of soup before we got to the first bridge. I got off and worked the key operated, fully automatic liftbridge, Ulsderbrug at Klein Ulsda. The mooring was very awkward for getting on and off to do the bridge, Bill would have had a lot of trouble with it. I only stopped five cars! Bill took Rosy through and went on to the lock at Bulsterverlaat. The lock was empty with red lights on and the bottom end gates open. Bill went in, missing the push button to set the lock. It was hidden among the stumps on the steigers. I pressed it as we went in, then pulled the cord to set the lock working - no key needed for the working of the lock. Now we were back on the Winschoterdiep. The railway bridge keeper had just started his two hour lunch break when we arrived there at 12.30 p.m. so we tied to the steigers and had some lunch ourselves. Two trains, blue and yellow two car diesel units, went past, one up one down, just after we’d tied up. 

Eexterbrug  Scheemda - photo by LeRoc

Two cruisers arrived on the opposite side of the bridge, and two more came from behind us, to wait for the bridge to open at 2.00 p.m. As soon as we were through the bridge Mike wound up the speed to keep up with the cruisers to get through the liftbridges with them, as the bridges were worked for us by a roving keeper. The first bridge was Beertsterbrug, then the busy road bridge into Winschoten, then Kloosterbrug - lifting the latter stopped lots of traffic including vehicles on the motorway exit ramp. The keeper went on in his white waterways’ car to work the next bridge, Graaf Adolfbrug. We all went through and one of the two cruisers turned left into a small arm where there was a landing stage for mooring by the old Eextahaven. We went through Eexterbrug, on the outskirts of the town of Scheemda, then turned right for the Termunsterzijldiep, following another cruiser which had just turned into the navigation from the opposite direction. A sharp right turn beyond the bridge took us into a small channel edged with timber piling on both banks. We passed a small off line marina and lots of moored boats along the banks. The cruiser in front of us had also tied up. The canal did an acute left turn, leading to a lock (Schutsluis Scheemda), but the way was blocked by a liftbridge, so I got off to lift it, hoping our key would work on this waterway, which was a new one to us. It did. The control buttons were different, these had to be pressed and held. The boats went through and Mike and Bill moored above the lock while I lowered the bridge. We all had a look at the lock working panel, which was set in a large control box. There was a great deal of written instructions, but only four buttons. Three green ones and a red one for emergency. 

Schutsluis at Scheemda - photo by Krok69

The lock - a deep one, two metres drop! - was empty with the bottom gates open. We pressed the bottom end button, the hydraulic power pack started up, the bells sounded (which brought out all the locals to watch the performance - we were surrounded by houses) then nothing else happened, so Bill pressed the next button in line which moved the gates. He had to keep his finger in the button until the gates were fully closed. The next sequence was automatic, the paddles lifted and filled the lock, then the bells sounded again, the top end gates opened and the men went to move the boats into the chamber. Meanwhile two children who had been playing in a dinghy came to throw sticks for Fanny and chatter nonstop to us in Dutch. Their father was on the lockside and he told the little boy what to say in English - he wanted to know where we were from. As the water level dropped there were lots of small crabs sitting on the bollards inset in the lock walls. Mike called me to look at one, but he couldn’t catch them as they were falling off and dropping back into the water. I couldn’t understand a word the little girl said, but that made no difference, she continued to chatter and I spoke back to her in English! Fanny understood everything and collected the stick for her every time. When the lock was almost empty, Bill called Fanny to cross the lock gates and she jumped down on the roof of the boat. A man on the lockside spoke to me as I retrieved my key. When I climbed down the ladder and got back on the boat, Bill asked me if I’d recognised our bridge keeper from the Winschoterdiep. I hadn’t - he was just getting into the white waterways’ car and driving off, he must have come to have a closer look at the boats. The canal below the lock was very narrow and shallow. We followed Rosy out of the lock, immediately we were out of the town and the channel was about a metre and a half below the level of the wide open windswept fields. Bill stopped and operated the first bridge, a liftbridge called Zaagsterklap, carrying a busy road. I could see through binoculars that the control panel had got a double row of six buttons and lights. That looked complicated! Bill got the bridge up, then moved Rosy through, we followed and went on to the next bridge while he lowered it again. A queue of traffic soon formed and a gaggle of bikers arrived, one of whom gave Bill a hand with interpreting the labels. 

"De Dellen" windmill - photo by LeRoc

He later said that the main problem he had with working the bridge was that there was a loose electrical connection and that the biker who helped him had wiggled the key, which made contact and the bridge lowered! The bridge I got was a swing bridge, Tichelwaarksdraai, which lead into a small factory (which looked to be on holiday) and was easy to work. Bill stemmed up, the wind was blowing hard from our left, then went past after Mike had called him on. I had a bit of difficulty getting my key back. Mike came and used a bit of force on it, saying it was my weak wrists at fault again. Under the A7 motorway and on through fields almost on eye-level. Bill had tied up on the wooden steigers with gangways to the bank, next to an old windmill called “De Dellen” by a farmhouse. There was enough room for the two boats - Bill had his bows overhanging a bit - but the gangways to the bank weren’t in the right places making it difficult for the dog to get on and off. It was OK for overnight. It was 5.15 p.m. when we tied up. Mike said earlier that he was going to leave the car at Nieuwe Statenzijl until the next day. While we were tidying up I dropped my best coffee mug, which bounced on the horizontal wooden baulk of the steiger and went in the water. Mike found it after ten minutes digging around with a boat hook, but it had suffered a bashing and was too badly cracked for use. I’d had that mug since we were in Germany. We recycled it to use for drainage in plantpots - I’d got some chives and parsley which were sprouting well and would soon need repotting. Shortly after we’d tied up a cruiser went past - and we’d just been saying that there wouldn’t be much passing traffic here! I cooked chicken in saté sauce to go with the left over cold rice salad from yesterday’s BBQ. I did some knitting - a doormat I started making some time ago from hemp string (couldn’t get one the right size for our front door step which is a storage box for electric cables). 

Tuesday 1st & Wednesday 2nd June 2004 Nieuweschans to Nieuwe Statenzijl.

Tuesday 1st June 2004 Nieuweschans to Nieuwe Statenzijl.

Fog! It cleared by 8.30 a.m. Sunny spells and grey clouds. Bill fetched a loaf for Mike from the Co-op before we set off at 9.30 a.m. (as arranged with the bridge keeper the day before). The keeper swung the road bridge on the dot of 9.30 a.m. and went off in his car to swing the railway bridge, a distance of some 200m further downstream. A very large cruiser, called

Clouds over the Dollard

Laesø, was moored by a brick built silo between the bridges. Beyond the railway bridge there was a small boatyard and a line of moored boats and houseboats, at the end of which there was a small old Luxemotor quietly rusting away. It was only 6 kms to the end of the navigation and the lock on to the Dollard at Nieuwe Statenzijl. The waterway was a typical of a former estuary, flat lands, rocks along the edges, cleaner water and wheeling gulls. We tied up at a piled quay wall below the sea lock at 10.30 a.m. The liftbridge across the top end of the lock lifted and the lock started emptying shortly afterwards. (Boats drop down off the sea, this is Holland!)

Horses and sea birds on the sea dijk

A woman came to ask us to move up, as we were occupying the mooring belonging to the boat which had just come down the lock, an ex-police launch. He normally moors in the middle of the quay! She spoke no English, so Mike couldn’t get an answer to the question “Why the middle?” We moved towards the lock and the smiling, cheery, crew tied nearer the end than they normally did, but were quite happy about it. After lunch we went out in the car to collect our post from Middelstum, leaving Bill to continue his woodwork. Once we’d collected the post Mike decided to find a library to check and see if he had actually managed to register for e-mail with Yahoo. We located the library in Appingedam and found that he had successfully registered with Yahoo and he sent a test e-mail to Glyn. Back to the boat.

Wednesday 2nd June 2004 Nieuwe Statenzijl.

A ship far out on the sea

11.8° C overnight, sunny and warm, the wind picked up around 5 p.m. blowing down the river off the sea. My birthday. Opened my cards and read letters from Hans, George and Helen (both letters dated 21st April) and one from Yvonne from almost a month ago. Helen said Jim McD had unloaded his boat in Gent and was off to Berlin  - we hadn’t seen him! (Found out later that he had crossed the Dollard to get on to the river Ems and had done all the small semi-tidal waterways of north Germany) Yvonne also said that members of S&WCS, on a visit to Belgium, had seen his boat in Gent but no one was home at the time. 

A nosey sheep.

Lunch, then we all went out to get some shopping done in Winschoten, groceries from AH, then a session in the library (dear at 1,00 Euro for 15 min, twice the price of other libraries). Mike and I checked the e-mails on Yahoo, Glyn had sent back “Good gracious!” so I sent him one to say we’d got the post, but we’d not had the info he’d got for us from PangIT. We hadn’t got the info with us to do the registration with World Wide Telecom, so I had a look at the website Bill had been looking at - Joseph Banks the botanist with Captain Cook, material held at the library of New South Wales. Isn’t this Internet wonderful, ask any question, look up anything – better than the best encyclopaedias or reference books, it’s all of those rolled into one. Back to the boat. Bill couldn’t find his keys and reckoned the last time he’d seen them was when he handed them over, with his bonus card attached to the keyring, to the checkout assistant in AH! Mike offered to take him back to Winschoten to get them, but he said next day would be fine. It was too windy for a BBQ. Mike went for a nap while I cooked Kashmiri chicken with mushrooms for dinner. 

Note: If you take a look at the Google map on satellite view it looks like the photos were taken when the tide was out and just a short way north of the lock at Statenzijl the Dollard is one big sandbank. 

Sunday 30th - Monday 31st May 2004 Veelerveen to Nieuweschans.

Sunday 30th May 2004 Veelerveen.

10.5° C overnight - getting warmer! Sunny again. After lunch Mike watched the F1 Grand Prix racing from Nurburgring in Germany. Schumacher won, Button third. Bill had been having problems with his Sterling inverter overheating, so Mike went next door to have a look at it. They took it apart, all seemed to be OK. They checked the fans, it had been getting hot and cut out. I did some more crochet and started reading a book (loaned by Bill) called “the Pursuit of Oblivion” a social history of drugs. First time for years that I’ve needed a dictionary to read a book written in English. Adumbrage? Solipsist? Uh?

Monday 31st May 2004 Veelerveen to Nieuweschans.

12.9° C and raining when we got up. Refilled the water tank and set off in the drizzle at 9.30 a.m. I walked down to Veendijksbrug and lifted it. Bill went on to get the lock ready at Vreischeloostersluis. He tied up on the left and couldn’t find the key slot. It was almost at the end of the wooden fendering between the lock and the weir, almost inaccessible from the bank! We pulled alongside and I stood on our bow and turned the key in the slot to set the lock. Down the lock, a modern concrete one, round a bend and past a windmill on to a long straight. The rain stopped. We went under a fixed bridge, past the turning on to the

Veendiep. picture by Gouwenar

Veendiep (the route we came down) and continued along the reopened section of the B.L. Tijdenskanaal. Bill stopped to operate Leidijksburg lift bridge and was having trouble with it. Mike brought our boat alongside Rosy and I went to assist. A bunch of local fishermen were offering assistance and managed to get the bridge to lift, I didn’t see how as there were people everywhere, laughing and joking and offering a clog to Bill as he took Rosy through. I said I’d lower the bridge. In the meantime a cruiser had caught us up and went through the bridge too. Mike picked me up (then I’d got both keys! ours and Bill’s) and we went through to the next bridge. The people off the cruiser had lifted Lethebrug and we all went through. Bill went on and tied up by Wymeersterbrug, a busy road bridge, but he had no key to work it. Mike dropped me off at a wooden staging and I went up to the bridge with both keys. We’d got loads of helpers again. Two guys in a car (at least they spoke English - the fishermen at the other bridge didn’t) had come to see the boats. I quickly read the instructions (in Dutch only) on the board, then I tried the button marked “doorvart”, which did nothing (the previous ones had just switched the lights on for the boats) and then “sluitend” which also did nothing. Then the bloke from the car said he’d seen someone come through earlier and he pressed the two buttons together and the barriers went down and the bridge lifted! I gave Bill his key back as he went through the bridge. The cruiser went past and off into the distance (what 6 kph speed limit?). We could see behind us there was another cruiser coming through the previous liftbridge. I lowered the bridge and got back on the boat. The navigation went through a section with no roads on the banks, not even tracks, just grazing sheep. A car had arrived at the next bridge, Booneschanskerbrug, and the driver had got out and lifted the bridge for Bill, who was some distance in front of us, then shut it again after he’d gone through. The young man lifted the bridge again for us. We thanked him, but he spoke no English, and he asked if we had a key. He stayed there and operated the bridge for the two cruisers who were following us. We turned right at the junction with the Westerwoldse Aa and the two cruisers, which had now caught us up, also followed us towards Nieuweschans. The cruiser, which had opened a

Railway at Nieuweschans - photo by Geohack

bridge for us earlier, was coming towards us - they must have been into Nieuwschans and turned round. They went off along Westerwoldsee Aa in the direction of Winschoten. Under the busy A7 motorway (which takes traffic into Germany). The motorway lifting span had an air draught of over 4m, so the cruisers followed us through, but the next bridge was a wooden, Llangollen-style lifting bridge, carrying a foot- and cycle-path, with 2.5m headroom – so they turned round and also went off towards Winschoten. We moored next to a roof-high wooden staging with two old rusty steel boats moored at one end. We had lunch, then Mike started revamping the switching device that he had made ages ago. It turned off the inverter that powered the video and satellite receiver, so that after recording things at night or when we were away from the boat it conserved the 12v power. He had decided to leave the car where it was at Veelerveen. According to our new Deel 2 almanak, the railway bridge in Nieuweschans was supposed to be closed, as it was a Bank Holiday, but during the afternoon several cruisers appeared from that direction (while it was pouring down with rain and we were both in the middle of jobs) stooged around for a while and then the crews tied on the ends of the wooden staging and left their boats there. We must have been tied up in their preferred mooring places! I made chop suey with rice noodles for dinner.

Thursday 27th - Saturday 29th May 2004 Sellingen to Veelerveen.

Thursday 27th May 2004 Sellingen to Veelerveen.

6.5 ° C overnight. Sunny spells and grey clouds, chilly north wind. We set off first at 9.10 a.m, Rosy following. Arrived at Jipsinghuizersluis at 9.45 a.m. turned the key and the bottom gates closed, the paddle lifted and the lock filled. Mike and I worked the liftbridge (a wind up and down one) Bill brought Rosy into the lock and Mike followed him. I shut the bridge and the lock worked like clockwork - except I left the key in the switch on the side of the bridge. Luckily, the man at the house opposite the bridge spotted that the red traffic light was still on and came to tell us. He asked if we’d been to Poland already! Mike told him the situation and that Poland was on hold until next year. Only one of the bottom end gates opened, but we could get out of the lock so we didn’t have to call the staff out. Down the short pound to Wollinghuizensluis. The lock worked the same as the previous one, except the liftbridge was automatic  - press the button and it did it all by itself. Left the bottom at 11 a.m. and headed down to Bourtange. Made a cup of soup as it was decidedly chilly. Bill was first at the lock. Our two bridge painters were busy painting the liftbridge’s counterbalance from a scaffolding. They were very cheerful and moved it for us to go into the lock. Bourtange’s liftbridge was automatic too but linked in with the lock working, and, as it was only a shallow lock, the bridge stayed up until we’d left the chamber. That was quick! 11.35 a.m and we were away again. The next pound was a longer one and we ran down to the modern concrete lock at Vlagtweddersluis. Turned the key and set the lock, went in and Bill brought “Rosy” in alongside. Masts off to get under the fixed road bridge (3m high) below the lock. I made a sandwich as we dropped down in the lock and we ate lunch as we ran down to Veelerveen. Bill was in front so he worked the automatic bridge, Veelerveensebrug, and we went on to moor at the wooden landing at 1.00 p.m. Immediately after tying up we refilled our water tank, set the Markon running and did two loads of washing. Mike went off to collect the car. I did the chores, vacuumed the carpet and did the ironing while I’d got the Markon running and 240v electricity available, I turned the engine off after the washing finished. Bill carried on fitting his new engine room floor. Another Friesland hireboat went past. Mike took Bill to get his gas bottle refilled. Cooked some red roast pork for dinner with Thai broccoli in oyster sauce and noodles.

A packed mooring at Veelerveen (on the way back in 2005)

Friday 28th May 2004 Veelerveen. More waiting

6° C overnight, grey morning, brighte-ning up later. We all went shopping (by car) to the Albert Heijn in Stadskanaal, got our groceries then we went in a VVV office and asked where the local cybercafé was - in the library. Found the library next to the theatre, it was closed, only open afternoons. Called in the library at Vlagtwedde on the way back to the boat. They had four computer terminals, so Mike said he’d go back after lunch and have a session on the ‘net. I packed the groceries away and made lunch. Mike got some Comastic hull blacking paint out and touched up the damaged patches where we’d got scratches down the port side from backing out of the mooring at Almere and where the starboard gunwale had caught under one of the wooden landings for bridge working. A large cruiser went past heading uphill. Mike took Bill with him and they went back to the library in Vlagtwedde. Mike tried to register for e-mail on Yahoo (the Aussie guy we met at Condé, Leigh, suggested he did that ages ago - winter before last). Everything seemed very slow, maybe because there’s a holiday looming, and he wasn’t sure if he succeeded. Bill tried sending him an e-mail but he didn’t get it. When they returned Mike lit the BBQ and we had steak and slavinken (Dutch sausages wrapped with bacon), plus I made potato salad (got the right type of spuds - Hooray!) and egg salad with spicy saté sauce. Fanny fetched sticks to make more charcoal. It started getting chilly, so I went in at 9.30 p.m. to do the washing up, leaving the men sitting out drinking beer. They packed up at 11 p.m.

Saturday 29th May 2004 Veelerveen.  Waiting....

4.9° C Clear blue skies, sunny and warm - weatherwise the best day for ages. Beginning of Whit week! I stripped the covers off the cushions, while Mike and Bill went off to the library to have another try at e-mailing on the Internet. They were back shortly after. The library was closed on Saturdays! Put the pins in and ran the Markon and I did two more loads of washing - thick winter door curtains to be put away and the cushion covers. Mike had a sort out in the engine room to try and lighten the contents and lift the stern end up in the water a bit. He transferred some lengths of steel (for repairs, etc) to the storage under the seat on the front deck and put the spare chimney pipe on the staging (to be disposed of later). In the afternoon Bill was carrying on with his woodwork and so we went out in the car to look at mooring places along the B.L.Tijdenskanaal and Westerwoldse Aa. We went as far as the Dollard at Nieuwe Statenzijl, where there were lots of people out on their bikes for a ride on the dijk path. Back at 5.30 p.m.

Monday 24th to Wednesday 26th May 2004 Roelagebrug to Sellingen.

Monday 24th May 2004 Roelagebrug to Sellingen.

5.8° C overnight. Sunny spells, cloudy. Two men were painting the swingbridge. Mike took Bill into Ter Apel by car to see if his post had turned up. The Post Office was closed, as were most of the rest of the shops. Then they went to get some wood from the DIY shop in Musselkanaal for Bill to repair his engine room floor. I planted some seeds, chives and parsley in a plastic tray and some more basil in pots. Mike and Bill were back at 11.30 a.m. They’d also called in the yacht haven to find out how much it would cost to stay for a month. 94 € plus 1,50€ per day for electricity = 139€ Euros or £93 (almost £26 per week). Forget it, it only cost us 46€ per month in France with water and electricity thrown in! Lunch. Then we winded the boat again so we were pointing downhill as we’d decided to take our time moving down the Ruiten-Aa, stooging around until the Ruitenbrock reopens (little did we realise at this point that it would take us over a month to get there) and getting on with odd jobs. Mike and Bill went again to see if Bill’s post had arrived. Nothing. We set off on their return at 2.30 p.m. I walked up to the bridge and asked the workmen, who were still painting the bridge, if we could go through and the younger one kindly worked the bridge for us. When Mike pulled the mooring pins he managed to pinch his finger and bring up a huge blood blister. We followed Rosy through the bridge. Bill worked Terwalslagerbrug, an all-electric push button bridge - no need to heave on the bridge deck - and we went straight through to the next. I worked bridge 4 (with no name). This time I had no assistance and it worked perfectly. Bill took Rosy straight through and on to Zuidveld. Only one red van was kept waiting at bridge 4 and the driver gave me a cheery “Yo!” (Typical Dutch greeting) and let me cross back to the boat before he drove across the bridge. Mike picked me up from the other side of the bridge and we followed on after Bill down to Zuidveld. Bill had filled the lock, but he waited until we were close before lifting the bridge above the top end of the lock and we went into the chamber. Mike helped Bill close the bridge, then Bill pressed the button to empty the lock. The bell sounded, but the top end gate refused to shut. Mike tried turning the key in the box below the lock (for boats going uphill) but that didn’t frighten the lock into action. He gave up and rang the repair call out. A younger bloke in a van arrived twenty minutes later. We hadn’t noticed before but there were great piles of black rotting leaves which had been scooped up out of the canal and left on the bank by both ends of the chamber. (Now we know why they carried kebs on the roof of the van) The gate had tried to open, but the motor had cut out. It took several tries of the push buttons in the control box before it would move. Mike went to chat to the keeper as this one spoke English. I made a cup of tea while the gate closed. It took ages to close the gate and, going downhill, the paddle took an age to empty the lock – so very different to filling! Bill was out of the lock first and off down to Sellingen where he tied Rosy to the wooden posts and went to fill the lock. We arrived and moored alongside Rosy and the keeper arrived to check that the lock worked OK. It did, slowly, but everything worked perfectly with him there to watch it! We moored below the lock on the quay. The wind picked up as we tied up. At least there was no sand and no house at back of the quay, just an uninterrupted view across the fields. It was 5.35 p.m. Mike went off on the moped to collect the car from Roelagebrug. 

   

Tuesday 25th May 2004 Sellingen. More waiting

5.6° C overnight. Chilly. We should have lit the heating, brrr! Sunny morning, breezy. Grey clouds and showers in the afternoon. Mike made the engine room slide fit - it kept jamming - and then painted the filler. Bill started working on making his new floor for the engine room. Lunch. Mike went by car to get some bread from Sellingen, then went to give Bill a hand with his woodwork. After dinner Mike changed the time-expired valves in the hand pump in the loo. 

Wednesday 26th May 2004 Sellingen. Waiting

5.7° C overnight sunny spells, grey clouds, moderate northwest wind, showers. Had a lazy morning. Mike dipped the water tank - only 4” - not enough to do some washing and last for another couple of days before filling up again. I defrosted the ‘fridge. There was a knock on the cabin, it was Bill, a couple had asked him to move his boat as they wanted to launch their boat, which was sat on a trailer on the quay, bit it turned out they wanted the end where we were moored. I stopped preparing lunch, Mike moved the car, then Bill gave us a hand to bowhaul our boat alongside Rosy.  A little later a crane arrived and launched the little cruiser (after lifting it in slings and the skipper painting the bits of the hull that hadn’t been painted while it had been on the trailer). The couple moored it at the end of the quay nearest the lock and went home. As it had Sellingen on its stern, we presumed that we’d been moored in its usual mooring place. 

Tuesday 18th to Sunday 23rd May 2004 Roelagebrug, Waiting

Tuesday 18th May 2004 Roelagebrug. Waiting.

Warm and sunny all day. Two cruisers went downhill during the morning. Bill had a chat with them as they passed. Made some lunch  then later Mike loaded Bill’s bike in the boot of the car and the two of them went off to the library in Ter Apel to look on the internet for callback phone services - like Bill’s - but in the UK. They went to the Post Office and three out of five packets had arrived for Bill. The other two will arrive later, the Post Office clerk said. Mike bought two twenty Euro top ups for Vodafone. He tried calling the D2Callya service operator and, again like before, had trouble finding one who could speak English. Eventually one said they would ‘phone back. It cost us 6 Euros to make the call and no one ‘phoned back. Peter sent an SMS to say that he was driving a 1960’s London double-decker bus in London and it had broken down. I sent one back to ask if he was playing the role of Riff Pilchard in a new version of “Summer Holiday”! Later he sent another SMS to say that he’d signed on at a new agency and they’d sent him to collect the bus to deliver it to be painted in Birmingham to start its new life as a mobile disco. He said that the new owners weren’t very pleased that he’d abandoned it, but what else could he do, he was employed to drive it - not fix it! I got on with the chores. After dinner Mike dug the sewing machine out to make his new map case. Had lots of problems with the cotton bunching up underneath due to the extra thick and slippy material. He adjusted the tension and changed the needle for a nice new sharp one and all went well. I took over and finished it off except for the Velcro fasteners for hanging it on the moped’s handlebars. He needed to buy some sew-on Velcro as we’d only got self-adhesive stuff.

Wednesday 19th May 2004 Roelagebrug. Waiting.

Sunny, wind cooler, cloudy by midday. 5.7° C overnight. Mike used the spare 20 Euro Vodafone top up on our British Vodafone. Then he took Bill to the Post Office in Ter Apel. No post had arrived so they went to find the bridge controller at Roswinkelerbrug in Ter Apel to ask for news of the stoppage on the Haren-Rütenbrock kanal. They came back with a couple of telephone numbers. The wind had picked up a lot and while we were talking to Bill a sandstorm threw loads of fine white sand from the horse paddock alongside the quay all over the boats. Chores, Lunch. We cut and pasted a new sunscreen on the inside of the ZX’s windscreen, it wasn’t easy because it curves in three directions at the same time! I decided it was about time we both had haircuts, so I did Mike’s first and trimmed his beard (I accidentally slipped with the clippers and gave him a bald spot on his chin which he swears I did on purpose to try and get him to shave it all off!) then he cut my hair. (I accidentally slipped with the clippers on the back of June’s head, but I haven’t told her about it. Ed.) After dinner Mike took the camcorder to pieces, cleaned it and put it back together (it was a gift from a friend who’d bought a new one who’d said you can have it if you can fix it – Mike fixed it). We went out in the car at 9.30 p.m. to have a look at the liftbridge on the Haren-Rütenbrock kanal and came back over Sustrumer Moor to Sellingen and back to the boat in the darkening twilight via narrow roads with beuatiful avenues of tall trees.

Thursday 20th May 2004 Roelagebrug. Waiting. Ascension Day - Hol.

Milder night 11.3° C. Sunny morning until grey clouds rolled over at 9.30 a.m. Showers but no wind, sun out again at teatime. Mike phoned Glyn to ask him to send the post to Middelstum and asked him to look on the ‘net for details of a callback service called PangIT based in Nottingham. Later he took Bill by car to Ter Apel to find not only was the Post Office shut but everything else was too as it was Ascension Day and a National Holiday. Light rain was falling when they returned. Lunch. Mike copied info from our old map A-Groningen/North Friesland, to the new one and plotted a GPS course for a trip up the Stadtskanaal. Ran the gennie and I put the Mac on to catch up with the log entries - nearly a week behind again. Glyn phoned to say that SangIT wasn’t on the net as a Callback service. Mike had misspelled it, it was PangIT! Six horse drawn carriages went past us, driving along the track into Ter Apel. At 7 p.m. a narrowboat-look-a-like called Var came through the swingbridge heading uphill into Ter Apel. (A hireboat from Friesland Cruising). Half an hour later a cruiser went past also heading for Ter Apel. This DIY canal is open until 9 p.m. We went out in the car to have a look at a strange looking railway line shown on our German road map. It was on the far side of the river Ems near the town of Dörpen and turned out to be a Maglev test track with trains reaching speeds of 400kms/hour. On Tuesdays through to Fridays during the summer they offered rides to the public on the 31.5 kms long track at a cost of 18 Eu per ticket.

Friday 21st May 2004 Roelagebrug. Waiting.

Colder 5.9° C. Grey clouds, sunny spells, showery, but very little wind. We took Bill with us by car into Ter Apel. First stop the Post Office. No post, so, at Mike’s suggestion, Bill had their ‘phone number. Next we went into a camera shop and Bill got a lens hood for his 35mm camera. Then we went in the library and Bill spent half an hour on the internet looking for info from PangIT (there wasn’t much available and Mike had asked Glyn if he would have a go at getting info from them) then printed out the application forms for the USA callback telephone firm that he uses for us to look at (10c for photocopies from the library). Then we called in Edah for some fresh veg, etc. We were back at the boat for lunchtime. Mike cleaned the car as it was plastered in glued-on sand. Glyn ‘phoned to say he was having trouble with his service provider, Clara, and had ‘phoned PangIT who said they would e-mail him the info. I said if they sent it to him by Saturday to send us a copy with the post, but send our post off whether the e-mail arrived or not. Mike and I went out for a ride in the car to look at moorings on the A.G. Wildervanckkanaal in Veendam. The moorings were not very good, large commercial boats come up to the quays to load and unload in the town. We called at a DIY shop as Mike wanted some distilled water and I went in the pet shop and garden centre next door to get some parsley seeds and a bag of compost - potgrond. The junction of the Oosterdiep at Bareveld was better for moorings, with more open surroundings, the rest of the Stadskanaal was backed by roads and hemmed in by houses or shops on both banks. We drove back along the canal through Stadskanaal town and Musselkanaal town. There was a diversion through back streets in the latter as a street fair along the canal bank had blocked the road. This was where Mike had spotted, (a few days previously, when he was out on the moped), a long line of moored boats on both sides of the canal. They were still there, now with the bunting out and so was the hire boat from Friesland Cruising we’d seen the day before. We called at various garages on the way back to the boat, as Mike wanted some upper cylinder lubricant (used to be called RedX in Britain) as he’d opened the last bottle he’d bought in France and needed to replace his stocks. He didn’t find any (but he did get a brass fitting to replace the broken plastic one on the loo tank under the bed). We even tried a DIY shop. Bill was running Rosy’s engine when we returned at 4.30 p.m. A cruiser went through the swingbridge ten minutes later. Later, as the temperature dropped, Mike lit the central heating. Bill uses the “flowerpot” method of cabin heating - an upturned ceramic flowerpot over a gas jet and light the gas - sounded dangerous to me!

Saturday 22nd May 2004 Roelagebrug. Waiting.

4.2° C overnight. Grey clouds, sunny spells with showers later. One storm threw down hailstones as big as peas in the late afternoon. Mike went to see Bill. He’d tried the ‘phone number given to him by the Post Office, which had been a Dutch answering machine. He asked Mike if he would try our Honda generator on his system to see if it would cope with his Victron, it didn’t – it couldn’t supply enough current to turn it on, but would run it once it was started. Then they went to see if Bill’s post had arrived in Ter Apel. Nothing. Around midday the hireboat Var from Friesland Cruising went past heading downhill. Lunch. Later, around 12.45, the small cruiser which had come up last week went back downhill. It was from Bellingwolde, on the Veendiep - where we had tried in the circular off line basin to get some water. Mike watched the F1 qualifying session from Monaco. I did some crochet. Put the central heating on again as the temperature dropped. 

Sunday 23rd May 2004 Roelagebrug. Still waiting...

Breezy with sunny spells 4.3° C We turned the boat around, winding with the cold north wind which was blowing straight up the canal. Yvonne called to wish me a happy birthday early because they would be going on the Commodore’s cruise (Wolverhampton Boat Club) next week, up on to the BCN to Walsall then Merry Hill and down Stourbridge to cruise the newly reopened Fens branch before they fill it with residential boats. She said she’d read Bill’s article in the Residential Boat Owners Club magazine all about shipping boats over to the Continent and how much it costs. Mike put the pins in to run the Markon and do some washing. After lunch he watched the F1 Grand Prix from Monaco. Trulli got pole position and won. Schumacher crashed in the tunnel. Another Friesland Cruising narrowboat hireboat went uphill, this one was called Ee. Mike lit the central heating again.

Monday 17th May 2004 Sellingersluis to Roelagebrug.

Grey, overcast start to the morning, but the sun came out by 10 a.m. and it started getting warmer. Bill turned the key in the switch to empty the lock while we winded. Mike wished we hadn’t bothered turning round as the edges were very muddy. 

Monastery at Ter Apel - photo by FaceMePLS

Up Sellingersluis. I lifted the bridge, an easy one - turn the key, press one button for up and one for down. The boats left the lock and I dropped the bridge back down. We started off from the lock at 9.30 a.m. with the pins in and did some more washing, the last load to catch up with the backlog. Bill was at Zuidveldsluis first and turned the key to empty the lock. The top end gate closed, then nothing else happened! And we’d only got two more locks to do!! Mike ‘phoned the breakdown service again. We hovered below the lock. I did the ironing and the washing finished too before the lock was working again. Bill volunteered to do the bridge - a wind up and down one with locking manual road barriers. I got off the boat to work the electrically operated swing bridge. The barriers had to be dropped and locked manually, I turned the key and the bridge was unjacked by hydraulics, then I had to swing it manually. Once the boats were through, I swung the bridge closed, a plate on the end of the road deck matched up with a sensor and the deck was jacked back up. A car had arrived by the house and was waiting for the bridge to open. I opened the barriers at the far side of the bridge, as the woman from the house by the bridge was explaining to the old chap from the car that you can’t lift the barriers until the bridge has finished lifting back level with the road. He was heaving on the pole but it wouldn’t budge anyway until I’d lifted the locking catch, which was there to stop impatient people trying to open it before the bridge was ready. Meanwhile the woman fiddled with my key in the box and somehow the locking bar for the catch sprang shut, which meant I couldn't fully lower the catch and lock the barrier in its uphill position and, because the cycle hadn’t been completed, I couldn’t get my key out of the control box. Damn! The woman called the bridge fixing crew and I went to tell Mike we’d got a problem. Twenty minutes later two men in a car arrived and released my key. It was midday. Bill was waiting at the next bridge, Terwalslagerbrug. A swing bridge, but it wasn’t the same as the one I’d just done, he had push buttons to swing the bridge deck - no pushing required. We went through, Bill moved Rosy through, tied up and went back to shut the bridge. The lock fixing team went past with their van with the kebs on the roof. We waved. Bill called to say that he couldn’t get the bridge to shut. Mike phoned the breakdown service - there was a different number for bridges, but the chap who did the locks said he would call the bridge repairers for us. Wonderful! What a day! And we thought it would only be a couple of hours and we’d be tied up at Roelagebrug’s old wharf! We waited by Roelagebrug until Bill arrived. The bridge fixers came to Bill’s rescue and then came to work Roelagebrug for us too - we felt they didn’t trust us to work anything else! While Bill had been waiting for the bridge fixers, he’d had a visit from some people on bikes who were reconnoitring the canal. They’d been behind us in Groningen they told him and had taken the other route to Ter Apel via the Stadtskanaal, only to find that the route into Germany via the Haren-Rüitenbrock kanal was blocked until around 20th June. We spoke to the bridge fixing team, who said yes, the Germans were building a new lift bridge. That’s a blow! 

Windmill near Ter Apel - photo by Berend Bosch

We tied up next to the old quay, which was still covered with rusting farm machinery, backed by a new stable block and a horse paddock covered with fine sand next to the house at the bridge. Mike went off to collect the car and was soon back as it wasn’t far, then we all went into Ter Apel in the car. First we went to locate the post office (it was inside a stationers shop) for Bill’s post, it hadn’t arrived. Then we went into the VVV shop and asked if there was a cybercafé in the town. Yes, in the new library just around the corner. We went to have a look. They’d got eight computer stations where Internet access cost 50c for 15 minutes. Next we did some shopping in a new Edah supermarket. Finally we went to see if we could locate the boaters Bill had spoken to the day before who were in the yacht haven. There were quite a few boats in the yacht haven and we didn’t recognise any of them as being the cruisers we had seen at Groningen. On our way back to the boats we could see the big cruiser, Papillon, which was stuck on the bottom in the middle of the canal below Ter Apelersluis. When we got back to Roeslagebrug both our boats were on the bottom and listing well. First thing we had to do was shove them off so that they were floating again. Rosy took some shoving out - the bow ended up over two metres from the bank before it was floating! Mike sank tyres down the sides of our boat, which slid under the bottom edge so we wouldn’t ledge on the mud again. Mike set up the BBQ and sat outside cooking sausages and Dutch speciality sausages wrapped with thin steak. Bill had bought a big pack of burgers which Mike grilled and we shared. Bill had also got some very dry sherry, which he asked if we’d like to try. Mike declined, preferring beer, so I helped him empty a bottle while we ate our dinner. It was very dry sherry, nice. After a lovely sunny warm day we had a beautiful sunset. This is more like it, pity we’re going to be stuck here for a few days while they finish fixing the route into Germany.