Tuesday 2 May to Thursday 5 May 2016
After a good bye visit from son Craig, son Andrew arrived
for a quick lunch and then it was off to
King Shaka airport, on to the scruffy Emirates flight to Dubai,
disembark and re-embark onto the much more comfortable flight to Paris,
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| Takeoff, Dubai. |
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| Somewhere over the desert |
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| Flying into Paris from the south |
a quick
train ride to the very security focused Brussels Midi station and finally an
all stops chug-a lug to Diksmuide where we were met at the station by host and
co-owner of the Best Western hotel, Stephen. At the hotel we were warmly
greeted by Mrs Host Pauline and the couple’s 3 month old addition to the family
and sister to Basil, Babette.
After a glass of wine it was off to bed for a very sound
sleep!
Wednesday morning I took the ten minute walk to
Buitenbeentjie where I met Thijs and was shown into the shed into which Elle had been moved (“We were expecting
bad weather and, as there was space in the shed, we moved her in there”) – it
was a delight to board the freshly anti-fouled, newly touched-up, dry and
clean, conveyor of dreams, and to remove the winter cover, unload a bike, stash
the other two on the foredeck and open the hatch into the saloon. Spotless and
dry as a bone! Then it was a quick ride back to the hotel for breakfast before
returning to the yard for a 09h00 lift-in.
Within minutes of our arrival Thijs had Elle off her supports, onto the trailer,
and out into the beautiful sunny and windless day.
The slick team attached the
slings and with baited breaths we watched Elle
being lifted off the trailer and lowered into the water
– and she floated!
Strainer valves opened and after warming the glow plugs it was one turn of the
keys and the twin Peugeots purred into life and in a flurry of bubbles (we had
put some dishwasher liquid into the intake cooling pipe to add a bit of
lubrication to the impellers) we set off to Portus Diksmuide where we filled up
with water and were shown to our two night mooring where Steven delivered our
suitcases at midday. The afternoon was spent emptying the two 30kg suitcases and
stowing their contents I know not where.
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| Happy chap! |
Much later, with stiff muscles from dragging too-heavy
suitcases around stations and on and off trains and crawling into small spaces,
and sporting an array of freshly forming bruises earned form making contact
with unaccustomed sharp objects, we fired up the Weber and, with a glass of
crisp rose, toasted a successful return to the waterways before enjoying
grilled chicken Maryland with salad and baby potatoes in garlic and parsley.
And then to bed for a well-deserved sleep.
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