Monday 9 May 2016
We cannot believe the weather we are having here while
the 30C plus weather in Durban seems to have disappeared and has been replaced
by cold and torrential rains, flooding parts of our home suburb – hopefully
some water has made its way to the catchment areas.
In warm sunshine and under a breathless blue sky we
cruise once again down the Canal de Bergues and are greeted at the Ecluse Jeu
de Mail by a smiling young lockkeeper who speaks some English. According to him
the locks on this stretch are only open 7 days a week from today despite what
PC-Navigo, the Almanacs, and the VNF official website say. Hmmmm....so maybe he was right after all?
It is not long before we are through and on to the Canal
Bourbourg, part of the Liason Dunkerque-Escaut, the 143 kilometre long system
of canals linking Dunkerque in the west with the Escaut canal in the north-center
near Valenciennes.
Next are the shallow locks at Watten and Arque followed by
the 13.5 meter rise in the Fontinettes lock just after Arques.
Exiting the lock
who do we see but Iron Lady and after
a quick hello to Alison we are on our way onto the Ancien Canal de Neufosse
portion of the Liason. Not being able to find the Halte Nautique at
Aire-sur-la-Lys as shown in our normally excellent guide (Nautische Atlas &
Gids voor de pleziervaart van Riems tot Rotterdam – Volume 1 – Noord-Frankryk,
Wallonie en Brussels Regio) at 16h30 we tie up at the Ecluse Fort Gassion,
somewhat uncomfortably as the displacement from the biggies passing on the
nearby Liason create quite a surge and despite a host of fenders protecting our
side from the plank-and-pole supported river bank, and four firmly hammered-in
stakes (three were not sufficient for the task…), we are still being constantly
moved around. A short while later who should moor up ahead of us but Iron Lady.
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| Iron Lady ahead. |
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| The city of Aire-sur-la-Lys about 2 kilometres away. |
Another late evening downpour had us firmly ensconced
with our books.
63 kilometres – a long day.
Ah, 'Iron Lady' as featured in this month's DBA calendar.
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