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A Cruise Through Belgium 9th--16th May
Saturday, 9th May
We had less than twenty-four hours after we got back to the boat to get laundry done and repack for our next holiday--a cruise with our friends Sheridan and Ron on their dutch barge. The boat has been moored in Brugges over the winter, but now they have set out again for the summer. We caught a train to Euston and then walked along Euston Road to St. Pancras Station to catch the Eurostar to Brussels. This was a first for us--we'd never been on Eurostar before and it was a pleasant experience, smooth and quiet.
In Brussels we changed for Namur where Sheridan and Ron were waiting for us at the station. Well, of course, the first thing we had to do was to have a drink at a pavement cafe. After all, we hadn't seen each other since Christmas, and it was pouring with rain................so we couldn't walk back to the boat. It stopped after a couple of rounds and so we made our way back to the Good Ship 'Merlot', and ate on board.
Sunday, 10th May
Before we set off today, we went to have coffee with Jan and Ian, whose boat Aleida was moored nearby. Jan is a patchworker and quilter and their boat is an old saling boat converted for living aboard. It was big----eighty-five feet long and fourteen feet wide and Jan has a sewing room, the lucky person!
Then we set off for Dinant, twenty-seven km south from Namur, and almost on the border with France. This was only an "out and back" cruise, but Ron was keen to do it as he had heard it was a pretty route, and indeed it was. As it was a Sunday, there were plenty of people about, walking, cycling, boating even rock climbing.
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Tuesday, 12th May
Today we did the return trip to Namur, passing 'Aleida' on its way to France for the summer. We stayed in Namur overnight.
Wednesday, 13th May
It was a wet day today; I was glad of the excuse to stay inside--that's one advantage of a dutch barge, you can stay inside when it rains, except for the locks. Even these are operated by lock keepers, but you have to go out and hang onto the ropes as the boat goes up or down in the lock, and some of those locks are pretty deep. There's also a lot of commercial traffic, and they take no prisoners. You just have to get out of their way. Some of the boats are huge, 3,000 tons and as big as a couple of football pitches--honest! We moored up in the yacht haven in Huy--pronunced 'wee', if ever you happen to go there...............It's really not a good idea to mooor up on the river, the passing traffic goes by at such a lick, it would throw you all over the place.
Things aren't cheap here. It cost GBP16 to moor up at Huy, including electric. We ate at the clubhouse in the evening, and it cost GBP100 for the four of us for one course each, and a jug of wine out of a wine box. As you can see from the picture below, connecting to the electric supply was a bit of fun. The socket was on the top of a ten foot high wall. It was possible to climb some steps and walk along the wall, but the top was only about two feet wide and if you fell in, it was straight into the river Meuse--deep and wide, with no way out. So the lads got the ladder out and Trev went up and fixed it.
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Wednesday, 13th May
We continued on to Liege today. The river banks are lined with factories and warehouses--there seems to be lots of industry, unlike the English canals, where all of the factories are derelict and empty.There's a lot of shipping and it's busy all the way. Many of the boats carry a car or even two on the stern, some also have a motorbike and a small boat on board too. The living quarters are at the back and look very spacious--maybe I'll get a cargo boat and ply the continental waterways system and have lots of living space!
We moored up in Liege yacht haven, along the wall. In the evening we walked into the town after dinner and had a coffee; we've decided it's cheaper to eat on board!
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Summer Cruise 2009
Thursday, 14th May
The last bit of cruising for us--Liege to Maastricht, just inside The Netherlands. There were two routes to Maastricht, one stayed on the Albert Canal, the other took the more peaceful route along a smaller canal. I'm sorry not to be more clued up on the names of the canals, I don't have a map and I didn't do the planning, so don't have all the details. But this canal offered a much more rural and smaller canal, and we enjoyed it.
We had an amusing experience at one of the locks. We had to phone ahead to request that the lock was opened for us. So Ron dialled the number and gave the 'phone to me, as, theoretically, I was the "French" speaker. The conversation went like this:
"Bonjour Monsieur"
"Bonjour Madame"
"Nous voulons entrer, s'il vous plait" (We would like to come in, please)
"Vous voulez entrer ou?" (You want to come in where?)
"Through the gate, please"
"Where are you?"
"Outside"
"And you want to come in?"
"Yes please, we would like to come in to the lock"
"But this is not a lock, it is a house!"
"Oh please excuse me, I must have the wrong number!"
"Yes you must! Au revoir!"
"Au revoir, m'sieur!"
Oh dear! We laughed about it for ages, wondering what on earth the poor man must have thought!
We were tied up waiting to go into Lanaye lock when a huge boat, a couple of hundred metres long, bore down upon us. It didn't seem to have seen us and kept on coming. It towered above us, and it was a terrifying experience. We really thought it was going to go over the top of us. I leapt off the boat with a rope and waved and shouted and eventually it came to a halt about six feet away from us. I don't know if it was deliberate or not, but it certainly gave us a fright.
Lanaye lock was the biggest one of all the ones we had done. It was two hundred and twenty-five metres long and twenty-five metres wide. The lock went down thirteen and a half metres. We shared it with one other boat--this boat nearly filled the lock, we just managed to tuck in behind it!
Then we came into Maastricht, through a little lock--well by continental standards--and into the safety of the Yacht Haven. We moored up and sighed with relief! We stayed in the Haven until Saturday morning, when we caught a train back to Brussels, then Eurostar to St. Pancras and a connection from Euston back north to the boat. Sheridan and Ron are continuing through The Netherlands--enjoy, my friends, and thank you for a wonderful holiday.
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