Wednesday 1st July 2015 Anhée to Givet France. 29.3kms 6 locks

Citadel and Notre Dame church at Dinant 

12° C Very hot and sunny all day.  We set off at ten, later than intended as an empty had gone past followed by a small cruiser heading uphill. The skipper off Dutch cruiser Sofie came to wish us bonne voyage as we left. Up Houx lock, just 2m rise and on upriver to Dinant. The caravan and camping site before the town looked packed out. More big flocks of Canada geese plus a couple of Egyptians. Mike called on VHF and the lady keeper at Dinant said we’d have to have patience as there were

Notre Dame church at Dinant

divers down, doing work on the gates. It was just before 11am when we tied to the high quay wall below the lock and waited. The church bells were donging loudly as Mike went up the ladder to have a look around and spoke to the Chef and the lock keeper (she couldn’t tell him how long the wait would be) then one of the divers came up and he said he would see what he could do to let us through the lock. They must have gone off to lunch, turns out they were measuring up for new gates, so we went into the chamber at 12.15pm - and then had to wait for a cruiser to arrive. The Dutchman kept his engine running and his prop turning and when Mike remarked to him that he’d got his prop turning, he replied yes, he knew, the last lock had a very strong current so that was why he was keeping his prop turning. Must be some logic in there somewhere? And what strong current, Houx is a gentle 2m rise? Up just 1.8m in Dinant lock. The cruiser went into the port de plaisance in Dinant – the skipper had told Mike they were going back downriver the next day. Just us in Anseremme. Mike connected up the Markon to do more washing. We ate lunch on the 7kms long reach to

Turret in Dinant

Waulsort. More and more geese, mostly Canadas, looks like they’re becoming a real nuisance here too. A cruiser overtook us so Mike didn’t call the lock to tell him we were coming, expecting the cruiser to have done so. As we got close to the lock the cruiser winded and went back downriver! The lock at Waulsort was full with the top gates open. Mike called on VHF, the keeper said there was a boat to come down, imminent. OK. Nowhere to moor so we hovered, bows

Rocher Bayard at Dinant

round into the breeze. Twenty minutes later a very small boat (about 3m long) came down the lock and turned up the weirstream, it looked like a survey vessel doing radar sweeps of the bottom, maybe. Up another 2.2m, just us. Mike disconnected the drive and we left the lock at 3.15pm. Heat overwhelming. At least there was a good breeze blowing. 5kms to the last Belgian lock at Hastiéres-par-delà. The lock was ready for us. No signs of any life behind shuttered blinds way up in the lock cabin. The

Anseremme lock.

lock was deeper at 2.8m so Mike stood on the roof to thread the rope behind the bar in the wall. As we left the lock we noted that the gates remained open and the lights changed to green. Must be expecting downhill traffic. 4kms to the border with France. Very shortly afterwards a pram-fronted empty called Allonso went past. An empty 80m called Rival and a DB called Merwede were moored on M. Lèonard’s fuel quay (the mini-market is still there, but no longer does fuel) at the

Hastiere-par-dela lock

former douane (custom’s post). Mike changed courtesy flags and hoisted the French flag in place of the Belgian one. He called Quattres Cheminées lock and the keeper replied to say the lock was ready for us. A small yacht went past heading downstream and we went into the lock. The keeper hooked our rope, remarked that we already had a vignette (licence for France) and said come up to the office to get a telecommand when the lock is full. We rose 2.7m and I went in the posh new lock cabin to get a zapper

Monsieur Leonard's mini-market and site of fuel depot

for the automatic little locks in France. I asked if he had a small VNF flag and he told me that at the start of the year the VNF dished out one small flag and two big ones, that was all he had. Ah! Cutbacks everywhere in France! OK. On up the long canal bypassing the river which leads to the port of Givet. On our left were two brand new catamarans without masts by a big new workshop that was advertising hivernage, winter storage for boats. Lots of Canadas on the bank. At the start of the port an empty 80m

First lock in France! Quattre Cheminees

called Macte-Animo was moored. Squale, loaded with coal (he told the lock keeper) was just setting off from the port. New rail tracks had been added since we last passed the port. Two empties, El Barco (65mx7.5m 965T) and Rehoboth (80mx9.5m 1689T) were moored by the scrap berth and Floreat was loading sand in the first arm. The coal berth in the second arm was now empty as Squale had just set off from there. The base of the coal pile was smoking, auto combusting in the heat? A police car was by the bridge over the stop gates leading on to the river. A crowd of young men stood up (they

Moored on the quay at Givet

must have been sitting down or crouched, maybe hiding) as we went past the bridge, we wondered if the police were after them - were they were swimmers or illegal immigrants? On upriver into Dinant, passing the port de plaisance on the left, three sets of pontoons with finger moorings, just a couple of spaces were empty, likewise on the quay wall on the right where there was a long row of cruisers moored under the road bridge and beyond. We carried on past the trip boat and winded to moor at the very end of the quay next to a ladder, adding ropes to the baulks of timber fendering using chains. Mike checked our moving time - 4.45 hrs - and time not moving - 3.36 hrs – made it feel like a long day. It was very hot, so we left side doors open very late with a mossie net in it to get as much breeze as possible.