Diemen to Sillery

Till now we had avoided cruising the Amsterdam-Rhine canal. Long time ago we once did a stretch onboard a friends barge and we remembered the canal as busy, choppy and with nasty waves.

And in later years other skippers shared this opinion, so we avoided it, rather taking the slightly longer route via de river Amstel (just as nice).

We now had no choice as the Amstel was blocked and, as waiting for the quiet of a Sunday was no option, off we went.

As is so often the case it’s fear for the unknown and it turned out not half bad.

It is not a very nice route, choppy indeed, but still fair cruising. We keep forgetting that we are not a small barge plus you can cruise at a fair speed.

 

After a short stay in Meerkerk we carried on to the quay at Thieu. We had made arrangements with different guests to tour the Belgian artefacts twice.

The trip South is known territory to us, not exciting anymore but still nice cruising.

And the first Belgian beer, in Willebroek this time, didn’t taste half bad.

But, Michel using the time it takes to go up at Ronquières for checking his email, is a bit blasé.

going up on the Inclined Plane of Ronquières

We were in Thieu in good time and put our time to good use; we cleaned the ship inside and out, we put fresh soil and flowers in the flower tubs and made a new tabletop.

We had not been up to that yet, after wintering and our trip to Groningen. It had been too cold and wet but now, mid April, the weather was fine.

We also had time to spare for a few jobs, like stripping all the paint from the side of the corridor to our sleeping quarters.

Ever since the conversion it is been house to a creepy kind of worm that only likes plywood.

We tried to fight them over the past years (look it up in the blog) but without much success. Now we go all the way, stripping and applying a nasty fluid to kill them. It’s a bit frustrating to remove paint you applied yourself.

quiet a bit to do here, but now it's done

Once the work was done we could go cruising again, both the old and the new lifts have been visited before but are still very impressive.

What adds to the fun is that it is new for our visitors. Plus we found different moorings to stay overnight, we visited new places and had to reroute because some lifts were out of order.

We stayed one night just off this illuminated lift and there landed a small crustacean on our deck, falling from the lift door.

an unexpected guest

before the lift

We wanted to do the Spiere-canal en route to Lille. We wanted to do it once more not only because it is a nice waterway but also because it has been reopened for a five-year period. If there are not enough boats using it they will let it silt up again, as was the case till 2011 (see my blog of August 2011) and we would like to prevent that from happening.

Unfortunately we could not go through it as there was – on the Belgian side – a stoppage that would take too long to repair. We now intent to go through on the way back.

We spent a few days in Antoing, there is a bunker boat where we filled up our tanks; 3000 litres diesel, 2000 litres of water. All our tanks were empty and it increased our water draught by 10 centimetres. 
We had so little gasoil left that in Thieu we had to take 4 jerry cans to the local fuel station.

Our bike trailer was strained to the limit getting the cans back.

Antoing on a photo

Antoing, artist's impression on a house

From Antoing we took the train to Tournai, we passed right through it two years ago but didn’t stop there then. It is a beauty, oldest town in Belgium, lots of history and beautiful buildings, a 276 steps high Belfroi

on top of the Belfroi, not bad for someone with vertigo

and a museum where this happy hippo was suspended over a field of sunflowers, each of them powered by a small solar panel.

 

Although here, like elsewhere in Europe, temperatures are too low and there is an amazing downpour there are also signs of spring.

We get more and more info on problems with high water levels causing stoppages on rivers and canals further South and East. Partly on our intended route, so we’re glad that we are not in a hurry. We know from past experience that these problems can easily and quickly change into problems due to low water levels!

We’ll see what happens, it is beyond our control anyway and if it affects our plans we just have to adapt.

trees in bloom in Tournai

the family swan

endless fields of bright yellow rapeseed

little ducks without their mother, they got away in time

So, we cruised via Valenciennes where we didn’t stop, saving it for next time.

We did spend a few days however in Cambrai, spending frustrated time watching out for the two SIM-cards we had ordered. It appeared afterwards that one of them had been delivered to the wrong mailbox and the other one is still out of our hands. It’ll be alright in due course.

Cambrai was host to people we knew, so we had a few get-togethers, touching up our contacts.

The canal Saint Quentin is very nice with little traffic. Here commercial barging has declined over the past years.

We crossed the beginnings of the Scheldt river and the Somme, both rivers we cruised; here they are but lovely, puny streams.

the Scheldt

the Somme

And then in this canal we reached the Tunnel of Macquincourt, the longest in France at 5,67 kilometres. We were a bit hesitant about going through it because of its length and because you cannot go under power but are being towed by an electrical tug.

Quite a few horror stories do the rounds and it is hard not to be influenced by them.

We had to be at the ready at 9:30 a.m. at the entrance so we moored just short of it the night before. Thus we had a perfect view of the overhead tram-like wires running from 1 kilometre before to 1 kilometre after the tunnel.

As said before, there being little traffic, we were the first and only tow which was nice as we had no one behind us and the tug runs a steady course.

They roll out a 30 metre tow line and at a snails pace we went through the tunnel. It takes time, almost two hours and it is cold in the tunnel.

Although it was easier going than expected we were relieved to reach the exit; it is extenuating.

waiting for he tug

de overhead wires

we won't fit in there

oh, not to bad

glad to see light at the end of the tunnel

This was one bump we managed successfully but there was another one on its way, the tunnel of Braye-en-Laonnois where we damaged our canopy quite a bit two years ago. Last year we had it repaired and we completely lost the canopy in a whirlwind in September; now we have a supersonic electrically operated new canopy. And again, as already a few times earlier this trip, we discovered the ease and effectiveness of this construction. And we gained experience and learned to trust ourselves and our ship.

So. We managed this 2.3 kilometre tunnel without a hitch, although it was exciting.

Panache is not fond of tunnels and takes shelter to Michel’s leg as he steers the ship, standing in the gangway.

As Michel says: “It is frightfully cold in these tunnels, but my leg stays warm.”

Panache looks after Michel

To our pleasure we found more commercial traffic after Saint Quentin, the French peniches, and certainly more than two years ago when we travelled the same stretch.

We think it a positive sign, indicating a rise in cargo hauling on the waterways, it is “greener” and increases maintenance.

passerende peniche

Now we are moored in Sillery, just South of Reims. We will leave the ship here in the pouring rain whilst going to Amsterdam for a week.

Hopefully the weather will be fine when we return so we can continue our journey with a bit of sunshine and no high water levels.

To be continued!

What's new?

Lots of work has been done in Groningen.
Michel was busy on the roof of the wheelhouse, in the freezing cold, to install solar panels and Willem de Vries made a new frame for the canopy.

 trying the canopy

This canopy can be lowered and raised electrically, one push on the button and it goes, simple, fast and very easy.

On the film below you can see how it works.

Sorry the comments are in Dutch but actually it's rather self explaining, maybe I should have kept my mouth.

The cover on the frame of course is new as well, we could adjust it now with all the things we found should have been better during the time we used the old canopy.

What's also new is four solar panels on the roof of the wheelhouse. They make our air draught a bit higher, about 15cm, but we hope this disadvantage will be compensated by the advantage of the power, and so less use of the generator, they produce.
We hope they produce a lot, practice will tell. More on this subject by the end of the season.
 

installation of the solar panels

To complete it all we have a new satellite dish and sufficient heads to listen to the radio and watch TV where ever we are, all mounted on a foot that can easily be lowered.


Broke but very satisfied we are ready for take off. Tomorrow we leave Diemen and go south in search of the sun!

We’re on the road again, first to Groningen

A bit earlier than planned we left Amersfoort last wednesday.

Before we can go down south, to la douce France, we first have to do a quickie to Groningen and back (almost a yearly ritual).

Last year I didn’t write a blog about our last leg, I’ll make up for that now and explain Groningen as well.

Last year we went up the Sambre river as far as Landrecies where we had to make a U-turn because the road to Paris is blocked by a broken-down bridge.

The nice thing about waterways is that going one way offers a completely different sight from going the other way, so a return-trip is no problem at all.

 

Plenty to see and do on this trip to Charleroi and back, taking us about 190 kilometres.

On the way we ran into bicyclists, who came onboard and stayed in our guest cabin. They were a German father and his 13 year old daughter, making the trip from Magdenburg to Paris. It was her birthday present, at her request!

‘t Majeur being used as a diving board for the local youth in Thuin, a city built up against the mountain

't Majeur is the barge on the left

providing a splendid view of the river and, just then, ‘t Majeur as well.

't Majeur, the Goede Verwachting and the Emmanuel in Berlaimont

In Berlaimont we met, pre-arranged, friends that also cruised the Sambre and spent a lovely evening together.

In Berlaimont we met the people that live in the former vicarage, a beautiful house that almost gave us doubts about living on-board; it even had its own island in the Sambre at the back of the garden.

A great spot for a BBQ, conviviality and French conversation.

Leaving the Sambre, going North, we twice made the Belgian artefacts-tour, each time with different guests.

It is so nice and special that it no problem at all to do it more than once. This year we are offering it again as a special trip on-board, look at this page on our website.

For those amongst our readers who are from Amsterdam: the Canal du Centre, in between the old elevators, is swept regularly by a boat with a logo: “Keep the IJ free of litter” (the IJ is a big water in Amsterdam)

And then we took the Dendre river going North, this really was a year for up-and-downs. And here also the view was different from going South, not in the least because we cruised together with our English friends on their barge, Esme.

't Majeur and Esme on the Dender

In Ath there is a yearly parade of giants. Huge rattan built giants, propelled by people on the inside. A tourist trap, attracting thousands.

To our luck now, in the aft season, there was another parade to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of one of the societies. Yes, a parade with all of those beautiful giants and no, no tourists except us; and the giants were put together on the quay right in front of us, great!

Again a few days in Antwerp, having visitors, and it’s really a nice town to be. Lovely berth in the marina next to the MAS (the new museum).

By then it was the end of September and we were on our way to Amersfoort; summer was drawing to an end and the pleasures of wintering for a few months at a fixed mooring were luring us.

We left Antwerp in calm conditions planning to spend the night in Dinteloord, which we did.

Alas, the wind picked up on the way, not such to prevent us from moving on, but not very calm sailing.

As we cruised the Volkerak we were treated to a cracking sound, we were inside and the noise came from outside.

When we looked back it appeared that the canopy had disappeared completely, torn from its hinges by a whirlwind. 24 Square metres heavy steel frame-work, covered by also heavy tarpaulin, flower pots, bronze bell and the lights. The second it hits the water it sinks, we’ve heard it happen but never spotted it again.

't Majeur without its sunroof

We could deduct from the fact that everything that was on the aft deck - chairs, BBQ, candelabras - hadn’t moved an inch, that it was a whirlwind and not a heavy gust. And on the VHF we heard a commercial skipper, cruising in the opposite direction, announcing that he had lost 2 covers of his hold in a similar manner.

So now we are on our way to Groningen where Willem de Vries is going to build us a new canopy.

We have really enjoyed Amersfoort and we plan to return this winter, but first we will spend a hopefully warm summer in France and an equally enjoyable spring and autumn on the way up and back.

 

 

 After a season cruising my gloves look like this, but I’m all geared up: new season, new gloves.

The website update is ready and published.
There are many new photos and route maps to look at.

Soon I'll start writing the blog again and I'll even write about the final episode last year, something I forgot to do.
More is the pity as it was a rather exciting story. In September our sunroof was sucked away by a whirlwind, while we were on the move in the Volkerak.

I'll tell it all in great detail, watch this blog!

Astene-Abbaye d’Aulne

We can offer a round trip for the beginning of September, going through the beautiful and impressive ships elevators and the Inclined Plane of Ronquières.

We can offer a special deal and if you care to find out more just follow this link

Although summer has formally been there since my previous blog we, like most of us, haven’t noticed it until recently.

This blog’s entry is characterised by the huge amounts of water that have come down.

It has resulted in extremely high water levels and fast currents, faster than usual.

Upon leaving Astene we did not go down the Leie River to Ghent. More’s the pity as I had been looking forward to that but I had to take a rain check, we went down the Afleidingskanaal instead.

The Leie is a narrow, twisting river, hard to manoeuvre and even more so when going downstream where you cannot control your speed completely.

And besides, the water levels in the Leie can rise very quickly, a few meters within 24 hours which makes it a broader river, but hard to know where there are shallow parts.

Not the right choice for us this time.

Once we reached the Scheldt River we found the current to be very fast there as well, going downstream with low-tide. There was more water than usual, but the river is very wide so there was no real problem. Just watch out and stay alert.

bank on the Scheldt at low tide

When we went upstream on our way up we went with high-tide, now the water was going down. This alters the picture completely, wide mud banks with lots of birds searching for worms instead of a wide river where the banks are shallow.

When I think about the effects of high or low tides I can figure it out, and yet it’s different when it is clearly visible.

At Dendermonde we left the Scheldt and entered the Dender river.

 statue of the horse Bayard carrying the four children, on the tower in Dendermonde

Here also there were higher water levels and faster currents than usual but – going upstream – it bothered us less, though sometimes navigating was not that easy. We passed a tjalk about our size – going downstream – who really was scraping the banks.

Michel likes this, he is doing it well and he likes a bit of a challenge.

We intent to go down the Dender on our way back, provided it doesn’t rain as heavily.

At Geraardsbergen we were even advised to wait for a few hours before leaving because of the heavy current.

When water levels at the canals and rivers that join the Dender are getting too high they open the sluices and let the water into the Dender which then suddenly rises heavily.

No real problem, there was plenty to look at in Geraardsbergen.

Like in every town and village in Belgium there was a track laid out for cycling in the weekend.

We had already noticed that the Belgians cycle in herds, very fast, not really taking heed of their fellow road-users and quite fanatically.

Lots of, not cycling, Belgians complain about it, too.

a (small) herd

But in Geraardsbergen it was special, because there is the Wall, even ignoramuses like us are familiar with the Wall, that was taken out of the yearly Flanders Cycle Tour as of this year!

We have seen the cyclists coming down, slithering and sliding through the mud and then going up on the cobblestones.

Next day we came back for another look and we could walk there and now we understand why these stones are called “kuitenbijters” (calve-snappers).

slithering down and than a sharp turn left to mount over the cobblestones

After Geraardsbergen cruising became easier because there the Dender is canalised and after Ath it is a proper canal.

In Lessines we visited the Hôpital Notre Dame à la Rose. This museum provides an overview of eight centuries of health care. Beautiful building, a nice and informative exhibition and an astonishing herbal garden, over 120 kinds of medical plants and a special cellar for storing ice.

the former hospital and herbal garden

Well worth a visit when in the area.

What would have been out of the question in Holland was Panache being allowed inside and doing the tour (not showing any interest, but even so). He only wasn’t allowed to walk in rooms where there were 17^th century wooden floors (parquet). So our guide carried a little stool for Michel to sit on with Panache on his lap, now that’s service to you!

The whole of the track from Dendermonde to Blaton was very green, rural, nice little towns and villages, especially the part from Ath.

stair of some locks in the canal Blaton-Ath, in the back the bridge in the E42 (a different universe from the one we’re moving in)

We moored for the night at the huge, completely unused, lock of Pommeroeul where we had spent a whole week last year.

 After that we took the Grand Ascenseur (a really grand elevator) at Strépy, going up, just as impressive as going down last year see here for the blog on Pommeroeul and the elevators from last year

and here for our SPECIAL OFFER  for cruising the elevators in September).

view from the Grand Ascenseur Strépy, between the rows of trees the de Ancienne Branche

 The Brussels Charleroi Canal turned out to be a beautiful stretch, a pleasant surprise for both of us as – we don’t know why – we both were under the impression that is was gray and industrial, on the contrary!

 the friendly  Brussels Charleroi Canal

Just before Charleroi it was a bit more industrial, but the real surprise was just after turning on the Sambre river.

It is bordered by a big collection of old, partially tumbling down partly still functioning, industrial glory from the past.

It is absolutely clear that once they were prospering factories, but there is not a lot of activity any more.

It is a very special stretch to cruise, so ugly that it’s beautiful in its own right and surprising to find it still there (unheard of in Holland).

the almost deserted and very run down industrial part on the Sambre banks

We now have moved a bit up the Sambre, lovely and green and in a few days we’ll cross the border to France a fortnight sniffing at “la Douce France” before heading North again and going to Holland, taking many detours.

PS: we postponed the decision on solar panels till we’re back in the Netherlands, so more about that in the first blog next year