Sunday 25th April 2004 Den Bosch. Day off for F1 racing on TV

A cooler 5.6° C overnight. A fine sunny day. Mike was up first and I got a cup of tea in bed! He put the Mac on and continued to do the circuits he’d promised for Peter. Lunch. Bill’s engine had chewed up the rubber they’d put underneath the wooden block to make a fifth engine support to reduce the vibration. Mike watched the Formula One Grand Prix from Imola in Italy. Schumacher won again, but Jensen Button came second. At 4.15 p.m. after the racing had finished Mike put the moped in the boot of the car and went to deposit the car at Arkel and came back on the bike. It was 6.30 p.m. when he returned. After dinner he put the computer on again and finished off the circuit diagrams.

Saturday 24th April 2004 Den Bosch. A day off to do some shopping.

7.6° C A mild night. Sunny spells. The Albert Hein was small, but had everything we needed. Bill wanted to look around the shops, so we loaded the shopping in the car and went back upstairs. The shopping centre lead on to the main town square and Bill was going to have a walk around town as he was having trouble with the new T-Mobile ‘phone chip he’d bought. We just went into Blokker where I got Mike a pack of shoe laces for one Euro (he’d paid 2,50 plus for a pack of two in France!) Back to the boat, packed the groceries away and had some lunch. Mike went for nap - he’d said we’d go for a walk around the town later! When he recovered consciousness it was too late to go for a walk, so he started work on drawing some electronic circuits on the computer as he’d promised to do them and send them to Peter. I made a cheesecake - we’d bought some digestive biscuits (can’t get them in France, or Belgium) We had “tree trunks” (a tasty Dutch speciality sausage coated in cheesy crumbs) with chips for dinner.

23rd April 2004 Aarle-Rixel to Den Bosch.

Preserved crane near Beek en Donk (photos from 2005)

A sunny morning. Put the pins in to run the Markon generator and do some washing and the ironing as we were moving. A large cruiser, moored towards the liftbridge, set off just before we did at 9.00 a.m. He turned right at the crossroads and went towards Maasbracht. We waited for a couple of loaded boats (one with sand, the other a container boat) to cross from the Wilhelmina, also heading for Maasbracht, before we went straight across the junction, continuing down the Zuid-Willemsvaart for s’Hertogenbosch (the Duke’s woods) - shortened to Den Bosch (the woods). 

Rosy and an empty on the Zuid Willemsvaart  (photos from 2005)

Mike called the central control at Helmond lock to operate the lift bridge at Beek en Donk, which worked right away. We arrived at lock 5 at 9.30 a.m. It was full and the gates were just opening, so we were in and down in minutes. The washing had been put on pause while we went through the lock, so as soon as we had cleared it I switched it back on and did the ironing. The first load of washing finished as we arrived at lock 4. We had a short wait while a loaded spitz called Adonia came up, then we went down. The keeper went off on his scooter to lift the liftbridge a few hundred metres below his lock. 

Lock 5's square chamber.  (photos from 2005)

We waited for Jolanda to clear the bridge, the keeper dropped it for the road traffic and then lifted it again for us. Traffic on the canal was busy as we approached Veghel. Bill was in front, so Mike suggested to him that he turned and reversed into the arm and we did likewise, mooring alongside Rosy while we both took on water from the hose under the steel plates. (Mike had been pleasantly surprised that there was no padlock on the plates, we think the water point was put there for the commercials, but as no signs said only for commercials we helped ourselves). 

Railway lift bridge at Veghel (photos from 2005)

We just had time to water up before a commercial which had just finished unloading started reversing down the arm towards us - we quickly got out of his way. While we were filling up the washing machine conveniently finished so Mike had taken the pins out and I had handed Bill his clean washing before we set off again. Well timed. We ate lunch on the way down to the next lock. We were overtaken by an empty called Disponibel, then another uphill went past and another empty, called San Fransico, overtook us - a lovely shaped hull - it went by with hardly a ripple. 

Lock 0 at Den Bosch  (photos from 2005)

The two which had overtaken us were waiting above lock 3, as they’d caught up with others that were now dropping down in the big lock. We hung on the wall above the lock in the area designated for “Sport” boats. When the lock refilled we went down with the two big boats, sitting opposite San Fransico with Rosy behind us. The wind picked up and it went chilly as we ran down into Den Bosch. We passed Aruba, a 60m empty, heading uphill as the canal narrowed. Another boat was fast catching us up as we waited for the next liftbridge to raise, then we passed three loaded boats in a row coming towards us. As we were approaching the city, a Campina milk tanker boat overtook us and then blocked our path as he winded to reverse to the other dairy mooring (the other big Campina dairy is in the arm at Veghel). It was 3 p.m. when we slotted in between a tug and an empty pan and an empty called Animo. After dinner we went out in the car to locate a supermarket to get groceries next day. After several unsuccessful circuits of the city, Mike parked and asked someone. The nearest to the basin was located left at the third set of traffic lights in a new shopping complex called Arena, where there was also an underground car park. Very useful.

Photos from 2005 again. Please don't forget you can look at where the boat was moored by clicking on "location" and clicking "satellite" view.

Thursday 22nd April 2004 Nederweert to Aarle-Rixel.

Lock 13, rebuilt as a standard lock chamber,
remotely operated from Helmond lock
(picture from 2005)

Heavy rain at dawn. Mike went to find the Post Office at 8.10 a.m. It didn’t open until 9.00 a.m. and they were late! It cost 2,44€ to post our survey, etc, off to Mike Stimpson for our boat insurance. Mike stood on the bridge to watch for traffic while Bill backed Rosy out of the passantenhaven, then Bill went to the bend to keep watch for traffic while we untied and backed out. Bill followed us through the summit cutting to lock 13 on the Zuid Willemsvaart. Mike called the lock control at Helmond on VHF channel 18. Locks 13 and 11 had been rebuilt and were remotely operated by the keepers at Helmond lock on the new ringvaart. 

Above lock 12 (picture from 2005)

The keeper answered in Dutch, Mike repeated that we were above lock 13, he understood and he set the lock for us, we went in and the lock gently emptied. The new lock was parallel-sided, standard style of modern lock chamber (the old brick-built/metal pile chambers were double width for 65m boats with offset gates, ie first boat in moves over to face the exit gates preserving the order of “first in, first out”) with concrete walls and an excessive (in our opinion) fourteen bollards each side and it had cameras on tall poles at each end of the chamber. 

The square chamber and offset gates of lock 12 (picture from 2005)

The lock keepers’ cottages had been demolished. Lock 12 was as it had always been, except they’d added a row of large dolphins down the left hand side for the 65m boats to tie to. We changed plan and went on the right hand wall at the downhill end and Bill brought Rosy in behind us, nudging the fenders and getting more of our creosote on his name panel. The keeper wasn’t amused at Bill letting Fanny off on his lockside for a peepee and told him we must take our masts down and go under the liftbridge. An uphill empty called Labor went past, its skipper waving like a loony (I think we’d seen him somewhere before!). 

Mike and Bill chatting to the keeper (picture from 2005)

Lock 11 was full with red lights on. The gates started to close, so Mike called on VHF and the gates reopened and we went in and down. At that lock they’d made a new chamber but kept the two keepers’ houses on the lockside. It was 12.05 as we left the lock. Corma was at the sand quay below the lock. I went indoors to make lunch, it was ready just as we arrived at lock 10 (still as it it was, not rebuilt yet). An empty had just come up, so we reversed places this time in the square chamber, tucking into the uphill corner and letting Rosy have the downhill end of the wall. The keeper never left his cabin and raised the liftbridge even though we’d taken our masts down. (Perhaps he doesn’t like road traffic?) 

Lock 12 bottom end gates and dolphins (picture from 2005)

We ate our lunch as the canal widened out before the start of the ringvaart (ring canal) around Helmond. An uphill Dutch cruiser went past, videoing us as it went by. Mike could see notices on the moorings at Helmond above lock 9 at the southern end of the old canal, but they were too far away to read - he said he’d take a look when he goes back to get the car. (It was just the number to ‘phone to get lock 9 worked to access the town wharves or the canal to Eindhoven). A large container-carrying boat was unloading at the container port mooring. Two boats were coming uphill in Helmond lock, an empty called Marian and a loaded boat. They left and we went down. A loaded sand boat, Niman, was moored at the end of the lock waiting quay. 
The wind picked up as we went along the wide canal. 
It was chilly and caused us to put our jackets on. The skipper of a small Dutch yacht, called Blue One, coming towards us was wearing a tee-shirt, no coat - I think we must have been getting acclimatised to warmer southern climes! Round a left hand bend, then we turned left at the crossroads with the Wilhelminakanal and moored next to a new section of wooden bank fendering with posts, which was so new that there was still wood shavings and sawdust everywhere, in the northern end of the old canal through Helmond. It was 3 p.m. 

Lift bridge at lock 12 (picture from 2005)

There were two large cruisers and a couple of yachts moored nearer the disused liftbridge. Mike got the moped off the roof with Bill lending a hand. He went off to collect the car and transfer it to Den Bosch. I made some dinner while he was away. There had been heavy showers and Mike was wet when he returned on the moped. I put my waterproofs on and went to help him get the bike back on the roof using a plank. Peter sent a text to ask us to try out his new L shaped antenna which he’d made up from a diagram in Practical Wireless. He didn’t hold out much hope - he said the bands sounded dead. Mike loaded up on 40m and they had a two hour contact - the longest yet! And the signals didn’t fade away, Peter had to sign off as he was it was getting late and he was being nagged!

Photos are from the return journey in 2005 - hence boats facing the wrong way - going uphill instead of downhill!

Wednesday 21st April 2004 Panheel to Nederweert.

7.7° C overnight. Sunny spells with great grey clouds. Mike took Bill with him to collect our post from Heel. Bill’s post had arrived, so had Bill’s books from Peter, but ours from Glyn hadn’t arrived. Mike picked up some bread from the C1000 in Heel and came back to the boat to collect the moped, put it in the back of the car and went to check out the mooring in the passantenhaven in Nederweert. Meanwhile I got on with my chores and polished the parquet. He left the car at Nederweert, came back on the moped and we stowed it back on the roof. 

Passantenhaven Nederweert in 2013

Mike had tried ringing Glyn from a call box, but his ‘phone was engaged - on the ‘net? (he used dial-up way back then) Tried ringing him using our new ‘phone, this time he answered, so we gave him our new ‘phone number and asked when he’d posted our parcel - yesterday! Waah! He said he’d got Mike’s message so he had waited for the insurance to arrive (last Friday) and then, as there had been no call from us, he waited. He didn’t get Mike’s call when he cursed Glyn’s answerphone for taking all the money off his ‘phonecard. It would take a week to get here if Peter’s post was anything to go by. 

Passantenhaven Nederweert in 2013

Mike ‘phoned the lady at the post office in Heel and asked her to divert the parcel to Viannen for us. She was OK, understood what we wanted and wrote down where we wanted it to be sent to. She had told Bill earlier that she keeps poste restante mail for one month, as per the European norm (Mike said except for France! They send it back if it’s not collected within after seven days!) It was midday when we set off. I made a cuppa and tried sending a text to Peter to say thanks for sending the books for Bill. It failed and I lost the message four times, but succeeded on the fifth try! Had lunch on the move. Clouds of tiny black mossies were an irritating nuisance, but didn’t bite. Muck spreading on the adjacent fields was giving off some really bad smells in places, welcome to Holland! One empty commercial overtook us and we passed several boats going in the opposite direction on the summit pound. Where the canal widened just before the junction with the Zuid-Willemsvaart there were several tufted ducks. We turned into the passantenhaven at Nederweert, 

Duck and ducklings 2013

Bill followed us in and we’d got most of our ropes in place before the first empty went past like a train, with a small speed boat cruiser bouncing like a cork in its wash. It was 2.30 p.m. Mike went to get some petrol for the moped and paid 1,21€ (85p) a litre - that’s the most expensive yet. Not long ago (in France) it was less than a Euro. When he came back we went for a walk into Nederweert to use the ‘phonebox. Called Yvonne to give her the new number and then I called Mike Stimpson to see if the insurance quote he did for us in January was still good. Yes, and he said he would call us back later once he’d found our file. We spotted a camera shop which was selling birthday cards - five for 2 Euros, so we got ten. We’d been paying 2,50€ each! Checked the price of photocopying - the supermarkets charged 5c, so when we got back to the boat I gave Mike the sheet to copy for our proof of no claims bonus to send to Mike Stimpson. He came back with some tomatoes, a packet of oxtail soup and a tin of green pea and ham soup. Mike Stimpson ‘phoned back to say that all was OK; we could send him the paperwork, he’d ring us back next week with the price and we could pay by card over the ‘phone. Great! Told him our surveyor was a friend of David Blagrove’s.