Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th
October 2015
Tuesday was another wonderful weather day but still cool
in the morning at around 6C with a maximum of around 16C predicted but, most
importantly, not a cloud in sight and virtually no wind. Having made
arrangements to meet our friendly lockie at 09h00 in the morning we were away
without further ado, down the tranquil Canal Espierres headed for the lovely of
Kortrijk.
As we entered the Haut-Escaut canal
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| Dryland on the Haut-Escaut - strange name for a ship. |
we were almost
immediately at the first lock, a large one which was occupied and with two boats
waiting to go in, one a standard commercial barge of about 65m and a 40m hotel-type
barge. Once the lock had discharged its contents everyone began moving in; we
waited a while for them to settle down and as we were entering I saw a pusher
barge coming up behind us so back we went to allow his 80-odd meters in which
left us about 20 meters at the back of the lock to squeeze in which we did, tying up with only one line as we could not reach another bollard. All the
while the pusher in front and the hotel boat (and probably the other boat too)
had their engines running to hold position which made our life quite uncomfortable.
And then the lock doors opened and all hell broke loose!
The three commercials simultaneously engaged gear and it was like an instant
tsunami had been thrown into the lock as we were thrown all over the place and
by pure fluke and with much revving of engines and slapping of gears, we somehow
managed to stay pointing in a vaguely forward direction. To compound matters,
the pusher’s line jammed and, as he accelerated to get away, even more the water was
churned up until realising his problem, he changed into reverse to go back to
the bollard to free himself, creating a new whirlpool dimension, before roaring out of the
lock at top speed. Eventually the waters subsided and we crawled on our
way to the next lock, another biggie…which, after waiting for the
lockkeeper’s lunch break to end, we entered in glorious solitude! And the same
with the next one – what a pleasure.
This part of the canal is lined by factories and is not particularly attractive.
After a smattering of rain, we finally arrived at the
first of three small locks which would take us through almost straight to our leafy
mooring in Kortrijk.
With crystal clear water revealing the kelp-like fronds of
lily stems
and the evening approaching, we reached the last one which, despite
the lady lockkeeper’s best efforts, would not open.
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| "Last lock and then I can go home" |
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| "Come on!" |
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| Lock 1 - lockkeeper 0. |
“Wait!” we are instructed
(as if there was anything else we could do being stuck between locks). A
cyclist rode up and it turned up to be Mike (I think his name is) from the
beautiful barge Gem and whom, with
his partner (Janna?) we had briefly met on our last visit to Kortrijk and who
had hailed us while strolling past our mooring in Aalst. Anyway, he kindly
offered to inform the havenmeester that we would be late and make sure that
there would still be a spot for us. Finally, after about a forty minute delay,
another keeper arrived and with one person on the wheel of each door, they
managed to open up and we gratefully bid them farewell as we lowered the bimini
to enter under the low bridge guarding the jachthaven where Mike was there to
guide us into a slot and to assist with our lines.
A long day but most interesting and which is why we did
nothing the next day apart from trying, unsuccessfully, to return the massively
overcharged-for glowplugs to the dodgy chandlery next to the yacht club in
Kuurne.
