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Sunday 5 May 2013

Friday 3rd May 2013 Anhée to Sclayn. 35.3 kms 5 locks



Weir at Hun lock
10.7°C Grey and raining first thing. Rain had stopped by the time I’d finished the blog and we moved off at 10.15 a.m. We passed the first cruiser heading upriver ten minutes later. The lock at Hun was ready with gates open and a green light, so we were in, down and out in no time. Took photos of the weir from below, surprising how much water was being let through. There were more climbers on the rocks below the weir. We went past Allonso (857 tonnes 67m x 8.2m) who had been unloading in the port of Givet and who was now being loaded at a quay from a succession of tipper lorries. Below Hun the reach to Riviere was bordered by some very fine properties, elegant detached houses in beautifully manicured gardens.
Sharing Riviere lock
At Riviere we had to wait for an empty commercial to come up, waited until an empty commercial called Inattendu arrived and went into the lock, then we followed him in. I made bacon sandwiches for lunch with bubble and squeak, which we had plenty of time to eat on the 5.4 kms run down to Tailfer. About a kilometre before the lock Mike stood on the roof of the boat to take a photo of a swimming pool fashioned to look like a ship. We had to wait at Tailfer while Inattendu cleared the lock, the keeper refilled the it and we went down on our own. Lock houses for the keepers on this river come in pairs as the locks are open long hours so there are two keepers to a lock, but the one at Tailfer was a large single white building that had had many extensions added to it over the years. 
This is a swimming pool
The keeper on duty was keeping watch over his bottom end gates while we locked down. As we left we saw the reason why, a huge log - bigger than a canoe, was sat right outside the gates and looked as if it would drift into the chamber as we left. There were many more expensive properties along the river and several beautiful Châteaux around the Ile de Dave. We passed an empty commercial called Pegase heading upriver. Had a text from the Snails to say that they were moored in Namur on the Sambre close to the junction with the Meuse and asked if we’d check the mooring by the Casino, which is just below La Plante lock. Not long after, we locked down La Plante and asked the keeper where the best place for us to moor was and he said by the Casino. 
Chateau by Ile Dave
What he didn’t mention, of course, was that the charge for tying up to the bollards on the old stone quay opposite the port-de-plaisance would be 8€ per night with no facilities. No thanks. We went to have a look at the moorings where the Snail had tied up. No other boats were moored along the Sambre in Namur, ominous. We winded to moor in front of the Snail and said hello to Anne and Olly. There were no “No Mooring” signs but it didn’t look very good, so we decided to move on downriver to see what Dick’s mooring looked like. Anne said Dick was still on holiday in Portugal and anyway  his boat was not in its usual mooring due to work being done there, so no chance of mooring alongside him.  It was 3.40 pm as we untied again and a big boat loaded with scrap called Play Boy (1,416 tonnes and 85m long) came up the Sambre as we were heading down it to the junction. 
Dick's boat is the white tjalk with mast
We continued down to Grands Malades, passing Amateur (another 85m boat) tied up and looking abandoned among the houseboats. Natacha had just come down the Sambre and was now moored above Grands Malades and unloading their car off the deck with their crane. The lock lights were red. We waited while an empty locked up then followed another empty, called Benita from Brugges, into the chamber and tied on the opposite wall. The keeper called Mike on VHF and asked us to move right down into the half lock – we hadn’t noticed that Benita was in the lower end of the lock. 
Waiting above Grands Malades
On down the river. Another empty, called Lady Night, went past heading upriver making a lot of wash, we bounced about for half an hour afterwards. A loaded Dutch boat painted yellow and purple called Tesco3 went past heading upriver. We moored on the wall where Spoetnik used to be at 6.15 pm. Spoetnik was a fuel depot and had a chandlery shop in a moored boat. Tragically, some years ago, it set on fire and all was destroyed, not to be replaced. Olly gave Mike a hand to unload the moped up the wall onto the quay and Mike went to move the car on to Ampsin, so we could all go shopping from there the following day.

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