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| A female golden oriole - photo by wildxplorer |
Overcast, chilly wind. 8.4° C
overnight. We set off at 9.00 a.m. Surprised when a man in an open speed boat
went past just as we turned left on to the winding course of the Veendiep. The
sign at the entrance said it was 1m deep. We needed water, so we called in at
the yacht haven at Bellingwolde. A round, off line basin (2m deep) was edged
with wooden landing staging and posts for mooring bows/stern towards the bank.
It was completely empty, devoid of boats. Mike went to search for a tap. The
toilet block was locked and the press button tap would have taken all day to
fill our tank. We dropped rubbish in their bins and set off again. A poster on
the wall said the tariff was 6,20€ per night for boats longer than 15m. The
navigation beyond the basin became very narrow and bordered by tree covered
banks. In the distance, in the woods, we could hear a golden oriole’s
distinctive song. I turned the key in the slot on the wooden fendering approach
to Groensluis. The lock emptied and we went into the sloping turf sided lock
with wooden posts and pressed the green button. The lock filled (by about 25mm)
and the top end clapper gate opened and we turned right on the B.L.Tijdens
kanaal. Another oriole was singing in the woods.
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| Aerial view of Bourtange - photo by Amaurai Brandalize |
There were several small
cruisers moored (which looked permanent) along the banks of the long straight
to the first lock, which was deserted except for a few cyclists and fishermen.
Vriescheloostersluis was the first lock on the Ruiten-Aa. I inserted the key in
the slot in a box on the bank below the lock and turned it. The lock lights
changed to red/green, the chamber emptied, the gate opened and we went into the
6m wide chamber, which was only 20m long. We put fore and aft ropes on bollards
as we knew (we’d been here before) that there was a strong surge that pulled
the boats forward when the single gate paddle opened. It hadn’t changed, the
ropes creaked and strained as the lock filled, just 1.5m rise, blowing the boat
sideways off the wall too. Just beyond the lock was an electrically powered DIY
liftbridge. I got off to work it. Simple.
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| Jipsinghuizersluis - photo by FaceMePLS |
All it took to operate it was a turn
of the key and two presses on the button marked brug open. The first press
lowered the barriers across the road and the second lifted the deck. Once the
boats were through, I lowered the bridge, the barriers were automatically
lifted which released my key. The men had tied up at the staging in Veelerveen
and were sorting out the drinking water. As I walked along the road to the
mooring a lady was walking towards me with a dog and cat following her. The dog
took no notice of me at all, but the cat wanted to say hello except it was a
little shy and just stood in the middle of the road looking at me. A car came
and the cat wouldn’t move until I crossed the road, then it followed me until
it finally heard its boss calling it and went home. The mooring place at
Veelerveen was a very useful stop as it had bins, as well as a tap and hosepipe
inside a box (opened by the key) which were free - as was the mooring for two
days. We filled our tanks. I made some sandwiches and then we moved on. The
next bridge was a fixed one at 2.5m high, then I operated Veelerveensterbrug
and Bill went on to get the next lock ready, while Mike waited to pick me up
after I’d closed the bridge.
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| Star of Bethlehem - photo by Leslie J Mehrhoff |
When we arrived, Rosy was below Vlagtweddersluis
and Bill was chatting to a man off a cruiser (called Papillon) which was moored
above the lock. There was a vicious pull forward in the lock as it filled. The
next lock, Bourtangersluis, was shallower and had a completely automatic bridge
which lifted before the paddle opened and lowered itself once we’d cleared the
lock (the gates stay open). Above the lock was the short arm down to the walled
fortress town of Bourtange. We didn’t stop (we'd been before to visit this unique village/musuem). A short distance brought us to
Wollinghuizersluis. The lock emptied, but only one gate opened. Bill tried
giving it a gentle shove with Rosy’s bow fender, but nothing happened, so we
both went into the chamber and Mike called the lock breakdown service’s phone
number. A van arrived, complete with an array of kebs (for anyone who doesn’t
know what a keb is – it’s long handled rake for getting rubbish off lock cills,
etc) on the roof rack, and the keeper operated the lock from a control box and
also lifted the bridge for us. The next lock, Jipsinghuizersluis, also refused
to work and we had to call him out again. This time the lock was stubborn and
it took ages for him to sort it out and get it working. People came to chat as
we rose in the lock. The lock filled and the gate started opening, so our
keeper left us to it. Mike got off to open the lift bridge (key operated
electric, but the road barriers had to be lowered and locked manually). Then
Bill helped Mike with the barriers before he went off first with Rosy. I
followed him out of the lock, cleared the bridge and waited for Mike to lower
the bridge and reopen the barriers before picking him up. Once he was back on
board and we followed Rosy up the long straight to the next lock. We moored on
the quay below Sellingersluis at 5.30 p.m. There was a small clump of unusual
white flowers, called star of Bethlehem, by our bows. Mike went off on the moped to get the car
from Hoogerzand. I sewed a large patch on the moped’s cover, as the fabric had
worn through, in an attempt to keep the bike dry until we can find a new cover
for it. Then I prepared the ingredients for a stir-fry for dinner ready to cook
when Mike returned.
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