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| It's a lovely day, can't we go out to play? |
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| Below Ampsin-Neuville lock and weir |
Bolero (formerly Mureen – embossed on the bow, but painted over) an
empty Dutch boat from Terneuzen (95m x 10.5m 2,412 tonnes) was waiting below
the lock. As we left the lock and ran down to the end of the high walls that
form the lock entrance we looked back at the weir and were surprised to find
that today it there was no water flowing over it, just the occasional wind
blown splashes. Downriver the high concrete quay walls eventually gave way to
sloping concrete with derelict land beyond on the left and houses of the town of
Amay covered the low hills beyond, while on the right there was a busy road.
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| Cement works at Engis |
A
cruiser was moored behind the Ile des Ponthieres on the non-navigation side
next to a high quay wall. A small tug boat from Oostende came upriver to a work
boat where there was a crane and a stack of metal piles lying on the bank. A
boat with a series of round tanks in its hold came past, specially constructed
for carrying bulk powders like cement. The port at Hemalle was busy. Another
cement tanker boat called Aletta (67m 7.23m 892 tonnes) was being loaded by
tanker lorries; Romania-B (105m x 9.5m 1,910 tonnes) was unloading gravel,
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| 18th century Chateau de Chokier |
while Target (63m x 7.09m 700 tonnes) was waiting to unload his cargo of
gravel. Sandpipers flew along the river, oblivious of the heavy tonnage boats.
A loaded boat called Nomadis from Brussels (80m x 8.22m 1,143 tonnes) went past
heading uphill with a Dutch cruiser following it as we passed the end of the
port. Took photos of a little shunter engine pulling cement wagons at the
cement works in Hemalle and photos of the big cement works in Engis. Up on top
of a crag there was a derelict chateau at Chokier, on the opposite side of the river to a bustling port in an offline
basin at Ramet.
As we approached the lock at Yvoz-Ramet we were overtaken by
two loaded commercials as we waited for three Dutch cruisers to leave the lock.
Lots of work was going on above the lock where it looked like they were
building a bigger new lock, or maybe two side by side. Filos, a big Dutch boat
from Rotterdam went in first on the right, followed by Sesanda, a smaller
Belgian boat, who tied on the left as there wasn’t enough room left for him to
lie opposite the first boat. We went in and hung on a lock ladder with inset
bollards on the right while the Snail got swept alongside Sesanda by his prop
wash,
so they tied alongside the barge. Contrary to the regulations (and big
notices that state the regs – all boats must stop propellors and engines and
have ropes at bow and stern) the latter had only one rope out from his bows and
kept his prop turning to keep his stern against the wall all the time we were
in the lock. This had the effect of creating an anticlockwise whirlpool that
pushed our stern out off the right hand wall, which Mike had to attend to a
couple of times by starting up the engine and powering the stern back towards
the wall while I moved our centre rope down the bollards as the lock emptied.
We followed the big boat, Filos, and the Snail out of the lock to give Sesanda
room to power his stern off the lock wall and move out of the lock chamber. Two
empty péniches, Haydes and Follow Me, went into the lock we’d vacated, followed
by DB Andante and a small Dutch cruiser. A Belgian boat called Faraday (110m x
11.45m 2,804 tonnes) was unloading coal at the quay immediately below the lock,
while Dutch Hydra2 was waiting to unload next to piles of soil. Pan and tug
Laco9 (64.67m x 8.36m 1,995 tonnes) was waiting to unload his cargo of sand. A
string of empty boats went past heading uphill, A Dutchman with no name (new
paint) (86m x 9.5m 1,272 tonnes), Cupidon (105m x 9.5m 2,303 tonnes) Saron-K
(80m x 9m 2,213 tonnes).
It was very choppy between the walls from the wash of
the boats (staggering about making sandwiches for lunch was interesting as the
boat bounced through the waves). As we passed the coking plant and Cockerill’s
blast furnace at Seraing, a boat was loading coke and just downstream, in front
of the blast furnace, there was a sunken boat surrounded by red markers.
Railway wagons along the bank were loaded with steel coils. A Dutch cruiser
went up river. A boat loading with coke from tipper lorries kept disappearing
in clouds of thick black dust. Further down the quay they were loading something
that was kicking up great clouds of white dust. The wind was starting to pick
up, blowing directly in our faces, but at least it wasn’t cold.
The already
high quay walls had been extended upwards by new flood defences downriver to
the new suspension bridge. A square tug called Remover went past flying a skull
and crossbones flag. Into Liége, under the ornate Pont de Fragnée and past the
lock leading up on to the River Ourthe, we turned right by a fountain to
investigate a mooring suggested by Anne and Olly's friend Dick. By the rowing club and a park the
concrete edge had bollards for mooring. Unfortunately the vertical concrete was
on top of an old sloping stone wall, so we couldn’t get near enough to the wall
to moor. We moved to the lower quay by the canoes and Mike and Anne went to
check the access. There was a fence with a gate into the park and a sign that
stated opening times. Hmm, might go out and not be able to get back in if the
gate was locked. Decided against mooring there as we were still bouncing about
in the wash from passing traffic even though we were not in the main channel,
it was 2.45 pm when we set off again and carried on downriver through the city.
A police boat (an RIB with a big outboard engine) went past as we pulled out of
the arm.
Took photos of the amazing metal structure next to the Palais de
Congres. Seven Dutch barges and converted péniches were now moored on the
outside wall of the Port-de-Plaisance, plus a big trip boat. Tall blocks of
offices and flats with shops on ground floor level lined both banks. An
ex-Amsterdam trip boat set off, with a roar from its big diesel engine, from
the low quay at the bottom of a flight of steps leading up to the science
museum. Just beyond that was a green (copper) sculpture of children playing
leapfrog (we’d seen one exactly like that in East Germany) as Synthese2, an
empty Dutch tanker boat went past heading upstream. There was a long line of
houseboats along the right hand bank, mostly converted péniches.
An empty boat
called Keale went past (about 750 tonnes) as the police boat dashed past us
again heading downriver and came back again not long after. A big pan (90m x 1.45m
3,400 tonnes) being pushed by a big tug called Nada from Antwerp, went past us
heading uphill as we cruised past the memorial to King Albert at the start of
the Albert canal – the river flows over a weir off to the right. We paused at Neptunia's fuel barge to top up our central heating tank with 100 litres
of red diesel. While Mike was filling up, Oll and I went on board into the
chandlery. They had no cord suitable for fender string that I wanted, but Oll
wanted a small European flag so I bought one too and I paid for the diesel and
the flags by card. (Later I looked at the bill and found the flags were 15€
each and the diesel with two lots of extra tax on top, besides VAT at 21%, was
0.9754c per litre for such a small quanity) We chatted with the two guys on the
barge about where we were going, as they seemed very interested, until a loaded
Dutch boat called Sijtje arrived and wanted to come alongside for fuel, so we
set off again down the Albert canal, past the docks to the lock that leads back on to the
river at Monsin.
Mike called Monsin lock and got a green light, but as we
approached the light turned to red. We tied to the wall while loaded Dutch
petrol tanker Velocity (125m x 11.45m 3,400 tonnes) reversed down the lock
approach and into the lock chamber. The lock keeper came down from his cabin
high above the tail end of the lock to tell us that he had to give priority to
the commercial. That was OK, we understood and appreciated that and it was nice
of him to come and tell us. He also informed us that the VHF channel had
changed to 20 and was no longer 14. The
big boat went down the lock backwards as there isn’t enough room for him to
wind on the river below the lock. He left the lock and then went forward a short
way upriver to unload at the oil terminal in Monsin. The keeper refilled the
lock for us and we dropped down 5.7m in the huge lock chamber. It was 5.25 pm
as we left the lock heading downriver on the Meuse. Wind in our faces again and
getting colder, fleeces back on. 9.5 kms of river to Visé. Past the remains of
the old lock at Hemalle – just one lock wall and an old lockhouse among the
trees - and a long sand quay above the bridge at Hemalle-Argenteau; we didn’t
think they brought sand there by boat any more. The motorway runs along the
right bank close to the river all the way into Visé and as we approached the
town Mike spotted a great cloud of dust as a gawping lorry driver watching us
almost drove off the motorway! We’re a road hazard!! It was 7 p.m. when we
moored on the quay wall on the right bank, opposite the access channel to the
lock at Visé, where we have always moored in the past, and decided not to stay
there this time because they charge for moorings now and because the banks were
full of geese, standing room only, which meant the path would be full of goose
dung and would stink. Our quay was almost roof height, but beyond it was a big
area of grass and trees, ideal for Woody, and the motorway had swung away from
the river so it was less noisy. A bit further upstream from where we’d moored
was a slipway and a small speedboat went up and down until it got dark, so we
were still bouncing around – but it stopped and we had a peaceful night.
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| German boat loading coke. Seraing |
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| Sunken boat by Cotterill's blast furnace. Seraing |
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| Clouds of dust. Seraing |
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| Sculpture by the Science Musuem in Liege |
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| King Albert memorial at the start of the Albert Canal |
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| Petrol barge going down Monsin lock |
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| Lock filling valve at Monsin lock |
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| Moored on the river Meuse at Vise. |
