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| The basin at Warffum |
13º C overnight and still 13ºC when we set off at
8.05 a.m. delayed slightly because a man from Brentford came to chat with Mike.
Grey, overcast, chilly and windy again. We arrived at the junction with the
main canal as Bill was reversing Rosy out and winding. We followed Rosy back
down the Warffumermaar. Bill told us that the water level had gone down a
couple of inches overnight, enough to put Rosy on the bottom and he had to
shove the boat off the mud. We hadn’t noticed, the water must have been deeper in the
basin.
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| Under one of the low bridges in Baflo |
Turned right into the Rasquerdermaar. Bridges through the village of
Baflo were all fixed ones and quite low, some a little under 2m. The
navigation’s name changed to the Baflo-Mesingeweer kanaal. We had a short pause
as we drifted against the reeds while Mike and Bill looked at the chart and
discussed where to go at the next junction. We set off first leading the way
again. Turned right on to the Mensingeweerster loopdiep just after a cruiser
had gone across the junction from left to right. After a short distance we
turned
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| New flood lock at Schaphalsterzijl |
left on to the Kromme Raken, another river with no flow leading on to
the main river, the Rietdiep (pronounced Reetdeep). Toasted some raisin buns
(similar to hot cross buns, a Dutch speciality and addictively tasty) as we
wound round some extremely tight bends. Bill missed a particularly tight bend
and had to go into hard reverse but just managed to miss the reeds. Good job
the canal is deep all the way across edge to edge. Just before we reached the
village of Schouwerzijl a cruiser caught us up but stayed behind Rosy. The
moorings just before the Reitdiep were empty, a long wooden landing with rings
to tie to and a notice saying there
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| New flood lock at Schaphalsterzijl |
were no free moorings there (our
Wateralmanak Deel 2 of ’97 said the moorings were free for three days, must be
out of date on that one, same as it was regarding the moorings in Warffum -
they were supposed be the same - free for three days). We turned left between two
cruisers heading down the Reitdiep, heading upstream on the wider river. A
sailing boat went past under motor. A short distance up the river we turned
left into the Winsumerdiep and found a brand new flood lock at
Schaphalsterzijl. When we
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| New flood lock at Schaphalsterzijl |
moored there in ’97 there were single flood gates
under the road bridge, now there was a brand new, modern pumping station and a
lock. New moorings for lock waiting had been installed too. Bill paused on the
one before the lock while we had a look at the moorings upstream of the lock.
The old quay was now rebuilt (and inaccessible), but the mooring for lock
waiting looked OK, if a bit overpopulated with things to tie to. There were
bollards, low level looped bars and high level tiny bollards on top of wooden
boards, almost no room for your feet. The decking was the type that Fanny hates
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| New flood lock at Schaphalsterzijl |
to walk on – open metal mesh. Mike called Bill on the radio, it was quieter
away from the main river, so he brought Rosy through the open gates of the
flood lock to join us. We overlapped either end of the mooring. I made some
lunch then helped Mike unload the moped. Black clouds came over so he threw the
cover over the moped and retreated back on board until the heavy shower passed
over before he went off to get the car from Middelstum. I put the inverter on
and got up to date with the log. Mike returned and negotiated with the people
at the house to park our car on their land. It was OK. Bill couldn’t get TV as
the trees were in the way, so I gave him a hand to pull Rosy alongside us.
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