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| Geese at Vise |
Sunny first thing, clouding
over by lunchtime and rain again in the afternoon. Mike went by car to get some
bread and parked the car on the far side of the river in Devant-le-Pont. It was
10.20 a.m. when we set off back up the river a short way then crossed to the
opposite bank and into the lock channel, divided off from the river by stone
walls with trees along it. There were dozens and dozens of geese, white ones,
greylags, Canadas and Egyptians, besides all the seagulls, ducks and swans that
are also lured here by people who feed them. What a mess, bird pooh everywhere,
and the grass had been grazed down to next to nothing and there was a constant noise of honking and squawking.
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| The bell below Vise lock |
Past all the moored
boats and a 90 degree turn to the left, noting that there was a new dark glass
building that might be a pub, and on up to the lock which was open and ready
for us (Mike had called round by car and booked it for 10.30 a.m. with the
resident keeper) no need to ring the bell below the lock to summon the keeper
(took a photo of the old bell). 5.5m deep and a bit larger dimensions than
Freycinet sized locks (roughly about 45m long x 8m wide). The walls were
covered in live mussels that were spitting water out all the time. As the lock
filled we moved the centre rope up from one muddy recessed bollard to the next
until the lock was full. The keeper wanted our papers.
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| Controls from a bygone era at Vise lock. |
I took my camera and
took photos after I’d asked him if I could, as his lock cabin and the lock
controls are unique. Anne came in with her papers too and we had our one and
only stamp on the back of our papers. (In the days of “quittances” any boat
entering Belgium had to fill in forms and get a toll ticket called a
“quittance” and pay a toll equivalent to an empty commercial boat of a few
centimes, the “quittance” had a list of canals for the route the boat would
take. At many of the locks on this route the skipper of the vessel would have
to take the “quittance” to the lock cabin, where the lock keeper would enter
the details from the “quittance” in his ledger and then stamp the back of the
boater’s “quittance” to say that the boat had passed through his lock.
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| The boats in Vise lock |
The
system was time consuming and antiquated - even with computers - so they stopped
it several years ago) It was nice to have one lock still on the old system. The
keeper told me that the new locks they were building at Yvos-Ramet and Lanaye
were going to be 250m long by 20-odd metres wide, BIG! Back on the boat, leaving the
lock we were back on the Albert canal, turned right after checking nothing was
coming. A police 4x4 drove along the bank at the same speed as us (we reckon
they were taking photos!) as we headed for the last locks in Belgium at Lanaye.
Ten minutes later the first boat went past, a cruiser. As we were being
overtaken by a loaded tankership called Europe 03 (72.35m x 7.3m 1,087 tonnes)
a crow tried to land on our roof, took off and landed on the handrails on the
tanker boat.
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| In Lanaye lock getting a free shower |
Mike called Lanaye in French on VHF and had a reply in Flemish! He
translated it as follow the yacht, then follow San Remo (in French, sort of) so
we hung about while the commercials went in, San Remo from Maasbract and
Misonda from Wessem went into the right hand big chamber and Parola from Wervik
(53.24m x 6.23m 505 tonnes) went in behind Misonda on the right. We went in and
tied alongside Parola (after asking the skipper’s permission) and the Snail
came alongside us. The yacht (Swedish) had gone further forward, behind San
Remo on the left, and tied to a bollard on the lock edge. Someone on the bank
suggested that he tied to a floater as the lock was a deep one (14m deep) As
the couple on the Swedish yacht pulled their boat back down the lock chamber
Anne said they could tie alongside them. Slowly we dropped down 14m, getting a
free shower from the leaks around the top end gate.
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| On the wall in Maastricht |
Slowly the two big boats
left the chamber followed by the yacht then we followed on to give Parola room
to swing out from the wall and get out of the lock. It was 12.30 p.m. as we
headed towards Maastricht. There were lots of boats moored, mainly péniches and
empty pans, along the high concrete walls on either side of the lock approach
until we reached the lake on our right and the
Dutch border. A Dutch thousand tonner, called Jan Van Orst, passed us heading
for the locks as we were passing the long defunct customs offices. Mike and
Olly changed our courtesy flags while Anne and I steered. Into the Netherlands at
12.45 p.m. Our Belgian police 4x4 shadow was parked at the end of the wall,
maybe taking a last few photos! Just after we passed the lake a loaded sand
barge called Gregory went past heading for Lanaye. Two very smart new trippers
went past as we entered the city of Maastricht, there were more like it
opposite the moorings on the wall. The Snail went into the only gap left that
was long enough and we tied alongside at 1.20 p.m.
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