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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Notre Dame church at Dinant |
Turret in Dinant |
Rocher Bayard at Dinant |
Anseremme lock. |
Hastiere-par-dela lock |
Monsieur Leonard's mini-market and site of fuel depot |
First lock in France! Quattre Cheminees |
Moored on the quay at Givet |
No comments:
Post a Comment