Saturday 4th May 2013 Sclayn to Ampsin. 22.4 kms 1 lock

Spoetnik's barge and bunkership - for sale

6.8° C Clear blue sky, warm when the wind wasn’t blowing. Untied at 9.15 am, winded and set off downriver. Happiness from Brugge (105m x 9.5m 2,51 tonnes) loaded with coils of steel wire went past us and we followed him into Andenne lock, he tied on the left hand side, we went on the right with the Snail behind us. The big barge just fitted into the top half chamber of the lock and the lock keeper asked him to move a metre further down the lock to clear the top end gate. 

Tope end gate rising. Andenne lock

The gate is hinged on the floor of the chamber and is swung into position with cables, the railings along its top edge emerge from the water like a surfacing submarine. Two small children were playing around the cabin and in a big playpen that was secured to the sliding hold cover nearest the cabin. The lock emptied slowly but we were soon under way again. The skipper called us to go out first. He soon overtook us. The next uphill boat was hovering below the lock and was followed by an empty called Corteo-G from Antwerp. We followed Happiness past the Ile Dosais through Andenne. High quay walls lined both banks. The chantier naval at Andenne was deserted, not a boat in sight and nothing on the slipway. 

Leaving Andennes lock

A Dutch cruiser went past heading upriver closely followed by a German-flagged mini-tjalk (they build new ones now in the Netherlands as there aren’t enough old ones to meet demand) very smart. As we passed the big silo quay by the Ile des Beguines, another Dutch barge went past heading upstream. As we went past the island two commercials went past, Keistadt, a 750 tonne Dutchman carrying sand and a 47m empty French barge called Galway. Just after the island the high quay walls came to an end and the banks were sloping earth and rocks on the left and sloping stone with steps on the right. 

These are mobile banks! Andenne

An empty French thousand tonner called Humadivi went uphill, then a Belgian cruiser. A Dutch empty called Falaise (cliff in French) 1022 tonnes went past making lots of wash at Bas-Oha where there was an unusually big group of ten swans. Past Ile Bosquel and Ile de Sucrerie and the sugar works at Wanze. A big tanker boat with an inverted blue cone at either end, called Riad from Woudrichem (110m x 1.45m, 2,791 tonnes) was moored at the sugar works quay just upstream of the big suspension bridge. The next boat past was the heaviest Anne and Olly had seen to date, Graafstroom from Ridderkerk (108m x 11.4m 3,594 tonnes). 

Deserted chantier naval at Andenne

Wanze basin was now filled with boats and called Statte Yacht Club. Round the next bend and we were cruising through the historic city of Huy. Its cable car to the citadel was not in use, the gondolas were missing. Shops and houses lined the right bank and a line of five converted péniches lived on the left bank and 1000 tonner called Aladin was moored with them. Nowhere for visiting boats to tie up, there were “No Mooring” signs all the way through the town. A sand quay stretched along the right bank as far as the nuclear power station at Ampsin. 

The sucrerie quay at Wanze.

A sign at the end of the sand quay stated that the depth was 2.5m for 469m (the length of the quay) in the middle of the river it was six to seven metres deep. We noted that the power station now had enormous double layer security fencing with razor wire, cameras and lights. We motored on down the weir stream to the left of the lock at Ampsin and found a convenient place to stop right next to the car. In front of us was a péniche called Neptunia, which was for sale. It was 12.40 p.m. 

Ampsin power station

We had sandwiches for lunch then Anne came with us to do some shopping at Carrefour in Flémalle, 20 kms down the road towards Liége. Prices seemed more expensive than France. Called at a Brico on the same site. I bought some flowers for the pot on the roof, Anne didn’t see any she liked – they didn’t have much choice. Mike wanted a lump hammer (not at 26€) and a spanner (got none) but he found some gloves to use in the car for keeping the seats clean when he has to move them to get the moped in the back.

Moored in the weir stream at Ampsin.