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| Boats at Zwartsluis on the Zwarte Water |
Grey skies, cold North wind,
sunny spells later. At 10.25 a.m. we winded and set off back down the
Aremberger Gracht with the generator running to power the washing machine. There
was a man with a white beard working the lock (Arembergersluis) today, he was a
bit concerned at first about the two boats going into his lock side-by-side and
the length of the Snail. The lock was 4.6m wide and 27.8m long. Masts off to
get under the 3.3m bridge over the top end of the lock beyond the top end
gates.
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| Liftbridge and floodgates Meppelerdeip |
Under Whaabrug and out on to Zwarte Water, checking for traffic as we
did so, only a few cruisers milling about, the commercials were all moored none
moving. Turned left on to the Meppelerdiep and had to wait a short while as the
flood gates below the liftbridge were closed due to work in progress. They
opened and we went through followed by a cruiser. The keeper leaned out of the
window of his cabin way above us to say good morning and wish us a pleasant
voyage. Anne said on the radio that they had something on the prop and would
have to stop. We motored on as the washing hadn’t finished.
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| Boat slip at Meppelerdeip |
As we were
approaching the lock on to the Beukers Gracht a large cruiser increased speed
to overtake us, making sure he arrived first at the lock. We smiled as we kept
going, past the lock, up the Meppelerdiep. About four kilometres later we
turned on to the “new” bypass canal around Meppel, it was 12.20 pm. Several
cruisers had overtaken us and we found them moored by the liftbridge,
Staphorster Grote Stouwe, it was lunchtime, we took the mast off and sailed
past them under the lifting span which was 2.7m
above the water. The washing finished and we paused next to a couple of old
posts to take the generator drive plate out
which gave the Snail chance to catch up.
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| Moored above Ossesluis |
A chunk of willow tree had been round
the prop making a loud noise so they had to stop and get the weed hatch up. I
made some sandwiches for lunch. We had a short wait at Rogatsluis as a cruiser
was catching us up. The lock and liftbridge were worked from afar, the keeper
watching us via cameras. The bridge lifted, we entered the chamber and he
cruiser came in behind us. There were bollards and vertical bars in the piled
walls of the lock to hang our ropes on. The lock filled gently and we rose
about 2m. Five kilometres of wide deep canal later we were at Ossesluis, again
operated remotely, and we had a short wait while the lock emptied as the
cruiser had gone up some time before us. A concrete-sided chamber this time,
with bits of vertical cord down the walls plus recessed bollards. Attached our
centre rope to one of the bollards and Mike hung on to the rope, lifting it up
from one bollard to the next as the lift was 3.5m. Above the lock on the left
hand bank there were some wooden dolphins for boats to tie to whilst waiting
for the lock and there were signs to say there was a mooring along the bank
behind them. We dodged between the dolphins and moored behind a sailing tjalk
with its masts down. Oll brought the Snail alongside us. It was 3.30 pm
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