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.
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