Friday 7th May 2004 Ketelhaven.
8.3° C and very wet, so we didn’t move. I translated the
front page of the newspaper that had been given to Mike and Bill by a chap in
the wine shop where Bill got his Dutch gin from. It was called “De Binnevaart
Krant” or Inland Waterways Newspaper. Mike had put the heating off during the
night as the temperature wasn’t too cold, but had had to relight it mid-morning
as it seemed very chilly with all the damp.
Saturday 8th May 2004 Ketelhaven to Arembergersgracht.
9.0° C The rain had stopped, but
we still had the grey clouds and cold wind. At 8.45 a.m. the
cruiser which had
moored behind us overnight, set off for the lock. I went up to the lock to sort
out the hose to refill our water tanks, calling via the car to drop off my
shopping bags. I noticed the sign on the hose reel which said Brandbluss - fire
extinguisher! And so I went to ask the keeper if it was OK to have drinking
water. He said yes and when I went back I saw it also said drinkwater on it.
The cruiser went first into the five metre deep chamber and the keeper called
it forward to leave room for us behind it. Mike brought the boat in on the right
hand wall and Bill brought Rosy alongside us when Mike pointed out that the
airspace under the fixed road bridge wasn’t very great when the lock was full.
I began to unreel the hosepipe to drop it down the wall, but the keeper came
and said to leave it until the lock was full. We had plenty of time to fill the
tanks from the fast water hose and the keeper (who reminded us a lot of our
great friend Arend) came to talk to us.
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| Ketelmeer |
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| Ketelmeer. Flood protection barriers. |
We asked about the wind, it was OK
today only force 4 to 5, and the new yellow cans. I got the map from the stern
of the boat to show him and Mike sorted out the route across the lake to miss
the new pipeline markers. The depth of water was 1.5m over the pipeline, which was deep enough for
us, but we’d keep away from it anyway. The lock filled and the keeper reeled
the hose back in and wished us a good safe trip to Zwartesluis. Another boat
had arrived below the lock while we were coming up, so he began to empty the
lock as soon as we’d cleared the chamber. Out on to the Ketelmeer, which was
only a little choppy, straight across to the channel called the Ramsgeul, which
ran alongside the canal built for the commercials and masted craft called the
Ramsdiep. A cruiser from out of the Randmeer followed us for a while, then
overtook us. I got the camera out to photograph the new flood protection system,
with piers which looked like the Thames barrier crossed with the Sydney Opera
House, supporting the deflated ends of huge rubber air bags. New one! Under the
low fixed bridge (2.6m air draught - there is a liftbridge across the canal)
and into Zwartemeer. The wind was directly in our faces and very cold.
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| Tjalk sailing down Zwartemeer |
Four
shelducks flew over and landed heavily on the far side near some reedy islands.
Traffic started picking up as we headed towards the Vogel Eiland (Bird Island).
First were two sailing barges with their sails spread sideways, the first one
had a big sail to the side down the hull that I had to take a photo of. I
waited to get another shot of it passing behind Rosy but a tall channel marker
with a light on it got in the way just at the wrong second! Two large passenger
boats and a crowd of smaller cruisers and sail boats came down the Zwarte Water
and turned at Vogel Eiland to come down the Zwarte Meer towards us. A light
buoy had been transformed with a nest of mobile phone aerials, marking the edge
of the Zwanendiep to the left as we approached the island and turned right into
the Zwarte Water channel. A large Rijkswater (Waterways) boat from Zwolle was
making a huge wash, but slowed down to pass us. There was a queue of downstream
traffic passing Gememuiden, most of them decorated with bunting as today was a
holiday in the Netherlands “Netherlands Liberation Day”.
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| Tjalk, Rosy and a light buoy |
We dodged around the
cable ferry. Lunchtime closing at the lock was midday until 1.00 p.m. so we
slowed down. We ate our lunch before we got to the lock. A small boat had
overtaken us and went into the harbour above Arembergersluis. It was occupying
the middle of the lock waiting area, so we stooged in the middle until an
uphill boat left the lock, then we followed the small boat into the little
lock. The lady keeper wasn’t too happy about us going in, we were too long she
shouted. I asked the length of the lock
- 27m - there was a man on the lockside who spoke English and he translated
for her. The small boat was only 6m long so there was plenty of room really,
Rosy came alongside. We filled the rest of the chamber and amused the young
couple with the small boat once they realised we weren’t going to knock their
immaculate paint off. Down a mere 60 cms and off out on to the
Arembergersgracht. There were reed cutters busy at work stacking bundled reeds
in the barn below the lock and a dinghy towing a small open boat loaded with
more bundles of reeds, off to collect more (there are loads of thatched houses
here). It was 1.45 p.m. when we tied up in a kilometre long length of mooring
which was completely empty, just south of the village of Beltschutsloot. Mike
set up the TV and watched the last hour of the qualifying session for the
Spanish Grand Prix, (Schumacher got pole position again) before he went off to
collect the car, he returned at 5.00 p.m. just as I was finishing the log. He
washed the car down and then I helped get the moped back on the roof. After a
Korma curry for dinner Mike went to see Bill to discuss plans for the next day as
there are a multitude of routes from now on and stayed for a few beers and a
chat. We watched the last Parky on BBC TV, he wasn’t at all pleased that his
slot had been taken over by football. Put the central heating on overnight
again.
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