Friday 14th May & Saturday 15th May 2004 Hoogezand to Langerbrug.

Friday 14th May 2004  Day off at Hoogezand.

The arm at Hoogezand  (picture from 2005)

7.5 ° C overnight. Grey clouds, sunny spells, milder. We took the day off to get groceries etc. First Mike and Bill went to try to get a new capacitor for the Markon. On our way down the Winschoterdiep Mike had spied a ship generator makers, which backed on to the canal nearer to Groningen. They drove there and were pleasantly surprised when the guy had got two capacitors that he could sell Mike, one with a 50 mF capacitance the other 45mF, ideal. 20 Euros each, ouch! Markon had said that 49mF caps were no longer made and that they had changed the configuration of their generators they now produce to use a 40mF cap, which wouldn’t work in our old generator. 

Hoogezand  (picture from 2005)

Mike had thought that as a last resort he would try two caps at 100mF connected in series, or one at 20mF and one at 30mF connected in parallel. Apparently, so we found out later, 20mF and 30mF are used in washing machines and are relatively easy to acquire. When they returned we went grocery shopping at a very new and extensive shopping centre in Hoogezand. Mike even managed to get some clear plastic to make a new map wallet (for use on the moped) from a very useful craft shop, which was selling fabrics, wool, zips, etc, etc. Back at the boat, I packed all the stuff away and we had lunch. Mike went to get a gas bottle refilled, then he went back to the craft shop again to get a zip and some binding tape with which to make his new map bag. Mike installed the new capacitor in the Markon, which worked – Hooray, I can catch up with the washing! I made a pork and smoked sausage stew for dinner.   

Saturday 15th May 2004 Hoogezand to Langerbrug.

Hobbies - photo by Bruce Stokes

Milder 8.6° C overnight. Sunny spells with a chilly wind. Mike went to move the car on to the town car park at the end of the arm and spotted that our route out of the arm was blocked by double parked ships! An 80m boat was being loaded with ship’s hatch covers by crane from lorries on the roadside. The low loaders were bringing them past our boat two at a time. Mike spoke to the crane driver who said they should be finished by midday. That’s us stuck until lunchtime. Mike put the pins in and I did some washing and ironing while he and Bill went by car to the yacht haven in Winschoten to pick up two keys for the DIY little canals we shall be travelling on. 

Sandpiper - photo by ecologyweb

They also went across the border into Germany for Bill to get a German ‘phone chip so that he could change his phone number with his callback service before he leaves the Netherlands. They were back at midday. The boat hadn’t finished loading up. We had lunch. When the loaded boat set off we winded and followed Rosy down the arm and turned right on the Winschoterdiep. The boat, Di-Jo from Werkendam, had turned left and was waiting for the keeper to come back on duty at 1 p.m. and lift Rengersbrug. We waited by the next bridge towards Winschoten, the Zwedenbrug. Mike gave the keeper a call on VHF and he lifted the rest of the bridges as we approached them, which was very useful as we’d still got the Markon drive linked up doing more washing. We came to the end of the remotely worked bridges and had to wait (and pause the washing) at Zuidbroeksterbrug for the keeper to lift the bridge. We got under the next bridge as there was sufficient headroom and motored on past a long line of wind generators, which were turning fast in the strong northwesterly wind. We could see two small cruisers in the distance, which looked as if they were going in the same direction as us - we saw no more of them, so they must have gone into one of the offline yacht havens. 

A lovely photo of an oystercatcher by Deans family

A bird of prey was sat on a fence post alongside the canal and stayed long enough to be identified as a hobby. Into Scheemda. I pressed the button on the end of the old Eexeter stop lock, which summoned a bridge keeper to work the lift bridge. The lights wouldn’t change to green and we hovered until the man in the cabin waved us on. (There was a bend just beyond the bridge which meant we couldn’t see if anything was coming in the opposite direction - and they do get some very big boats along the canal sometimes - so we decided discretion was the best action and waited!) He got into his car and drove off to lift the next three bridges, Graaf Adolfbrug, Kloosterbrug and Beertsterbrug, for us before waving ‘bye ’bye and driving back to Scheemda. 

Scheemda - photo by Michielverbeek

It was very windy at the junction with the canal which lead to the yacht haven at Winschoten, as a consequence the boat was blown all over the place while we waited for the railway swingbridge. Mike decided it would be best to get close to the wooden fendering by the swingbridge and throw a rope around a bollard. Bill remained in the wide with Rosy’s bows into the wind. I made us a cup of soup (new Dutch variety of curry soup - not as rich as the French version, but still very tasty) while we waited. Eventually a train went by and then the blokes in the cabin came out and swung the bridge for us. We passed the junction with the Pekel Aa navigation and followed the motorway northeastwards past windswept fields, then dropped down the DIY Bulsterverlaat automatic lock. Below the lock we did a sharp right turn under a low (2.5m) fixed bridge on to the Westerwoldse Aa navigation. Low flood dykes on each bank were covered with grazing ewes and lambs. Startled sandpipers flew off in front at our approach and oystercatchers flew over complaining loudly, as always. At 6.15 p.m. we moored at Langebrug, a deserted ancient quay, near another low road bridge, surrounded by meadows full of grazing sheep. Mike left the car stay where it was. For our dinner I heated up the remains of the previous day’s stew.