9.9° C Grey, overcast and showery
with a chilly strong breeze. We set off at 9.10 a.m. following Rosy back
downstream on the Westerwoldse Aa. Once upon a time this was a river, but now
it flows whichever way the pumps dictate. Just past the windmill and yacht
haven in Weddeveer there was a series of islands.
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| Liftbridge - photo by Grenze |
Bill asked Mike on VHF if he
was going round the back of the islands, he said he wasn’t going to go. Mike
thought about it and decided to try it as it looked OK. We swung left alongside
the basin of the yacht haven and followed a winding route between flowering
yellow water lilies. With nothing registering on the echo sounder, the prop
threw up great black clouds of mud stirred up from the bottom, but we had no
problems. The channels rejoined by the road bridge to the big campsite. The
next island was immediately beyond the wooden road bridge, too sharp a turn for
our length, so Mike went to the other end of the island and we turned left and
went back towards the road bridge. The course was narrower and shallower with
more water lilies, but the mud was soft and again we had no problems. Shortly
afterwards we turned right on to the Veendiep, following Rosy at 10.10 a.m.
Still no boats moored in the round yacht basin by Bellingwolde. Yvonne ‘phoned.
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| Groenesluis - photo by Staverse |
She said that a picture of our boat was in a waterway magazine that Horace had,
and asked if we wanted a copy of the magazine. Mike tried to fathom out where
it was (there was no caption indicating its location) and thought it was
probably in the North of France, possibly on the Grand gabarit to Dunkerque. Looking
forward to seeing that. A shower of rain caused us to get the brolly out. No
sooner had the brolly gone up than it was down again, the rain didn’t fully wet
the roof, which was still covered with sticky patches from being moored under
lime trees. Bill turned the key and went into Groenesluis. We went in alongside
and I pushed the button to “fill” the lock - less than 2.5 cms - and we went
out first, turning right on to the straight and deep B.L.Tijdens kanaal. I
turned the key in the box below the next lock, Vriescheloostersluis. When the
lock was empty Mike called Bill past to go in the lock first as the wind was
blowing right to left, Rosy favours the right hand wall and the wind would keep
the boat that side. Bill didn’t realise this and went for the left hand wall
and was surprised when the wind blew him over to the right. Later I told him we
hadn’t realised he didn’t know about the “wind effect” in empty lock chambers.
It’s something useful to remember and use to advantage in such a windy place as
Holland.
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| Vriescheloostersluis - photo by Roepers |
Bill went out of the lock first and stopped to lift the fully
automatic push button Veendijksbrug, while we hovered about in the middle. The
moorings were just beyond the bridge in Veelerveen. There was a Dutch cruiser
called Pax on the mooring (but right at the very end, which was unusual) so we
winded and took the other end leaving the gap in the middle for Bill. Had
lunch, then Mike decided as it was only 4 kms back to Wedde (we’d come round
almost a full circle by boat) he would walk it. He picked up the car and went
to the library in Blijham to check our e-mails, collecting printouts of one
from Glyn (he’s been having bumps on the head - a mirror fell him while he was
asleep and he tripped over the hall carpet, hit his head on the wall and gave
himself a black eye!) and one from insurer who was waiting for a British Safety
Survey certificate from us (what??!??).
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| Noabersbadde bridge at Veelerveen - photo by Roepers |
Mike took Bill and Fanny to find a vet, as the lump
under the dog’s chin was starting to get very large and needed something to
reduce the size. Bill had bought a herbal remedy when we were in France, which
had worked well but hadn’t been able to find a pharmacy which sold the same
pills since then. The vet said Fanny’s lump couldn’t be left until October as
Bill had originally planned and Bill agreed for her to have the necessary
surgery done the following Tuesday morning. When the young lady vet said it
would be 200 Euros Bill jokingly said that he wouldn’t be able to eat for the
next fortnight! I made a chicken and mushroom curry for dinner. I read. He
watched the football, Russia v Portugal, the home team won (all the matches are
being played in Portugal, some English fans had been stirring up fights in bars
in the Algarve and had been arrested and deported. UEFA had threatened that if
violence occurs with the fans at the England matches then the team would be
chucked out of the competition!) Mike tried using the callback service to ring
Glyn and, like Bill earlier, he couldn’t get the service in the USA to call him
back.
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