News for April 2008
The first priority for the month of April was to cruise to Watten for maintenance work to be carried out on the hull of the boat. We were heading in that direction on a Sunday and with the help of a pleasant lock keeper on the Lys we moved onto busier waters but Sunday does seem to be a day of rest with less peniches (commercial barges) on the move. Taking advantage of this we carried on to Watten and went into the small port where we had moored three years ago, soon after the boat had been put into the water at Calais. We moored behind another narrow boat 'Oxford Blue', it was their third day in France! The port was pleasant but in the process of being sold and as a consequence we did not have access to water or electricity. Thankfully we managed for the five days before going into dry dock. The appointment with Serge to go into dry dock was the 2nd April but due to some additional work needed on a boat already in the dry dock we finally went in on the 4th April. An interesting experience.
We boated in and Eric who works with Serge was there to take ropes to secure us. Planks were lifted into place to close off the area and a heavy duty plastic sheet pulled over the planks to prevent leakage. Buckets of water were used to prime a pump and then three hours later the area was filled with water ready for us to be floated across. In between times there were lots of questions from Serge confirming length and width of the boat, the swim of the hull, the draught, and position of the propeller. Some spot welding was carried out on the area where we would be 'landing'. All whilst the water poured in from the canal. Having used ropes to pull us across so the plastic sheet and planks were removed and the water drained away which took half of the time that it had taken to fill. We were in the dry dock and well positioned on supports. Diane commented to Serge that she had been a bit apprehensive and he replied that he had been too as he is used to dealing with bigger vessels! Thankfully he had looked and sounded very confident throughout the whole process. Once in position the first job was to fill the water tank and hook up to electricity. There we stayed for the weekend and then Monday morning Serge and Eric were ready to painstakingly jack up the boat so that the underneath of the boat could be painted as well as the sides of the hull. The anodes were still in good condition so that was one job less to do. On the Thursday morning, work having been completed the previous day, we began the reverse process. Dry dock filled with water and we were afloat again. The boat was pulled across with ropes, plastic sheet and planks removed and we were back into the port.
|
Filling up the dry dock area
Paul using his bike with a trolley that becomes a trailer attached to the back of the bike, made sure that we started our next leg of the journey with a full tank of diesel and some in a jerry can as a reserve. Fridge and cupboards also full of food we set off from Watten. As we were leaving the port so a peniche, fortunately, came by and so we could slip onto the waterway behind him, better than feeling under pressure of being overtaken. We went through the two locks of the day with the peniche including les Fontinettes which is over 13 metres deep. The passage was not as smooth as previous occasions but no harm done. Our next port of call was Beuvry, again a port that we had used three years ago and we were pleasantly surprised to see how the access to mooring had improved. From Beuvry we travelled to Courcelles with ramblers giving us the 'thumbs up' sign and taking their hats off in appreciation of the boat. On arrival at Courcelles the harbourmaster was at the ready to help with ropes and gave us a warm handshake of welcome.
Leaving Courcelles we had what could be called an adventurous day. There were plenty of peniches on the move and they can travel quite fast, indeed, some of them do. At one point we were a bit staggered at how quickly one peniche was catching up with us on the approach to a lock. It transpired that the peniche was being pushed by a tug. We adopted the correct process, i.e. peniches have priority in entering locks. On that occasion we shared the lock with a peniche and the peniche with the tug giving some indication of the size of the locks. The next lock, Courchelettes, there was a further peniche in the lock and we were alongside it. Roping up in the lock proved to be difficult and we were relying on only the centre rope. At one point we 'lost it'. Paul was valiantly trying to use the engine to move the boat into the side and Diane was using a pole pushing against the peniche in an effort to keep Idling By away from it. Phew, it was a relief to reach the top of the lock and to sail away into La Scarpe Superieure in the direction of Arras. That turned out to be less straight forward than we had anticipated. As we turned into La Scarpe, facing us, coming in the opposite direction were two peniches coupled alongside each other. They were certainly moving water and despite Paul's best efforts, the boat was pushed into the side of a wall. Thank goodness the boat is steel and not fibre glass!
|
Entering the 13 metre deep les Fontinettes.
Once we had solved the problem of obtaining a telecommande to activate the locks we were on our way again and indeed there was no traffic, peaceful countryside and we could relax. Late afternoon we moored up having chatted with a pleasant and helpful lock keeper arranging a 10.00 o' clock start the next day. There were just two locks that were not automatic. Finally we were at our intended destination, St Laurent Blagny, just outside Arras, mooring up alongside a water sport area. There was plenty of activity with children learning how to canoe, some more successfully than others. The look of horror on their faces if they happened to bump into the boat and then they saw us looking out of the window, together with the relief when they saw us laughing was entertaining in itself but even more interesting was the activities of members of the fire brigade who put the rapids to good use to train for life saving. They were there every day Monday to Friday and on the second day three trainers came to talk to us about the boat. We had a long chat and then said our farewells, "see you tomorrow". We then closed up the boat for the evening. Totally unexpected we heard a knock on the side of the boat and there were the three trainers presenting us with a bottle of sparkling white wine. What a lovely gesture.
|
A swans nest on the banks of the Scarpe
Whilst moored at St Laurent we took advantage of having some things delivered from a chandlery in England and we also walked / cycled along the tow path into the beautiful, architectural town of Arras. On one of the days there was a huge market spreading over the two main squares. It was so huge we really could not do justice to it. It happened to be a Saturday and there were many British voices in the town presumably on a day trip. Soon it was time to move on and retrace our steps along the Scarpe. A phone call to the lock keeper, happened to be the same one as before, meant that the locks were set up and we could enter without a problem. We were delighted to see lots of ducklings, a swans nest and calves on our journey, definitely Spring. With some difficulty we moored up for an overnight stay above a lock. The water was a bit shallow and the bow thruster battery low. Still, we managed in the end and had the company of some youngsters for a while who practised a bit of English. After a hiccup the next morning we were on the move again. Accidentally, we pushed the wrong button on the telecommande which meant that we activated the lock for a non existent boat coming in the opposite direction. Our friendly lock keeper appeared to sort everything out. We had a pleasant day boating to Bassin Rond for an overnight stay and once more was surprised to see a lot more boats than our previous stay.
The next day we headed for Cambrai, organising a different telecommande at our first lock through an automatic distributor after a conversation with VNF personnel over an intercom. The first lock was problematic probably because the sensor had not seen the boat but after that it really was plain sailing through the next four locks and we were moored up by lunch time. We are having a few days at Cambrai, a town which is bigger than we remembered but very pleasant with friendly people. We have been looking at the guide books and thinking about our onward journey, more of that next month.