Thursday 17 November 2015
Woken in the wee hours of the morning by the ghastly thought
“What if the engines don’t start – how will we make our RV with Gerd and Les in
Munich? Why didn’t I do the engine checks yesterday?” so way before sunrise it
was into the engine room to check propshafts, strainers, oil levels, belt
tensions, coolant levels and fuel filters – the only issue is that I cannot
drain the fuel filters for fear of breaking the (aged) butterfly nuts.
Eventually, once all in the marina were up and about, it was with great
trepidation that I turned the keys to start the engines – with nary a splutter
they roared into life and settled into a contented purr. Relief!
The cruise to the VVW Westerhoek marina (not the commercial
‘Westerhoek Marina’) in Nieuwpoort was done under mainly leaden skies,
occasional squalls and a moderate to stiff breeze. The only other vessel we
encountered was the tourist boat IJzerster
travelling flat out in the opposite direction – so much for speed limits on the
waterways. Closer to the jachthaven there was quite a bloom of duckweed but
this hardly affects the strainers at all; we moored up at the almost empty
visitors steiger (pontoon) almost without incident – apart, that is, from a
sudden change in wind direction pushing us onto the finger opposite the one we
were aiming for.
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| Nieuwpoort mooring |
and to fill our water tanks from the municipal water supply rather than the
osmosis treated arrangement available at the marina. Unfortunately we had not
let the water run long enough to clear the old water from the pipes to the tap
(nobody else seems to use this water option) and as a result our water tasted
as if someone had cooked crayfish in it so the first thing we did in Nieuwpoort
was to dump 600 litres and refill with untainted stuff.
After a fantastic homemade curry for lunch, a quick general
tidy and clean-up leaving “Elle” sparkling, a beer and a couple of glasses of
wine at the Ark restaurant in the marina, it was home and early to bed.
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| Flags in front of the Ark restaurant |
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