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| Windmill by Meerkerksebrug liftbridge. |
Grey and drizzling when we set
off at 10.15 am following Snail up to the Meerkersebrug liftbridge. The DB that
had been moored alongside the Snail now had the mooring to itself. Lots of
cruisers were coming past in the opposite direction and a loaded 55m barge
called Spes-Nostra. Had a short wait at Zwannskuikenbrug and a cruiser, called
Avontuur, that was also on the moorings at Meerkerk caught us up. We went
through first, then a little cruiser that was waiting on the other side.
Another short delay at Bolgerijensebrug swingbridge (still remotely operated).
When the bridge opened we followed Avontuur through the right hand side and a
whole armada of little boats came through the right hand side, heading in the
opposite direction. As we went through Helsdingen, just before Vianen, we
passed two loaded commercials, Amice and Veere, who were heading towards
Gorichem.
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| Bolgerijensebrug swingbridge |
Paused in Vianen on the end of the moorings in the old arm to fill up
our water tanks. Snail had the landing staging, we went alongside and Oll got
his hosepipe out. Anne was still washing so we filled up first. A man came
along with four small containers and Oll let him fill up. A cruiser came and
tied alongside us waiting for the tap. I made sandwiches for lunch while we
waited for the Snail to fill up. Set off again at 12.50 pm and turned at the
end of the arm into the lock approach and followed one small cruiser into the
waiting area for the Grote sluis.
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| Useless bollard Grote sluis Vianen |
There were five large empty commercials
moored before the lock (on holiday?). A German cruiser was also in the waiting
area for the lock. We went under the Julianabrug (with mast down), tied on the
left bank and found that where they’d added safety fences at the bottom of the
concrete steps leading the canal edge they’d added the fence right next to a
bollard, so close that it made the bollard unusable. The lock emptied and we
went in with the two cruisers and the lock filled, rising 20cms to river level.
One of the cruisers turned left and went behind the waiting area steigers for
boats wanting to use the lock and moored next to Avontuur. The Lek crossing was
calm, two large boats had just gone past heading upriver, we turned left
heading downriver and almost immediately turned right into the approach for the
Koningennen sluis back on the Merwede kanaal. We waited in the lower chamber of
what used to be a staircase, hanging on a suspended rope along the wall while
five small cruisers came up the lock. The young lock keeper came down on the
lockside to chat as he’d never seen a narrowboat before.
As we went through
Nieuwegein Mum was enthralled with the line of houseboats on the right hand
side. On the left was a long line of big empty commercials. It started to pour
down with rain as we continued up the Merwede kanaal. Turned sharp right an
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| Koningennen sluis |
d
found two liftbridges with double red lights. Expecting that to be the end of
our day’s travels due to the working hours being shorter for the holiday, we
moored on a quay at Jutphaas between lots of moored cruisers. No sooner had we
tied our ropes to the bollards than the bridge lights changed to single reds
and several cruisers came through! Decided we’d had enough, it was 3 pm and
still pouring down.
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