May 7th Farewell to Veurne and bound for Nieuwpoort |
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Veurne’s wonderful
old Town Hall – Belgian Army headquarters in WWI |
Tea Rooms along the
Market Place sell more beer and coffee than tea |
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After farewells to
the friends we had made - the couple at the De Dreve, with its WiFi spot and
known amongst some DBA members we have since learnt as the “Pink Pub”, the
folk who run the plant and pet shop who helped with our little travelling
herb planter box and to Johan the lock-keeper/yacht-haven meister and fount
of knowledge on so many things, we were off up the canal bound for
Nieuwpoort.
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The De Dreve –
great food, drinks, hospitality and WiFi |
Plants and pets for
sale and lots of helpful free advice |
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The Nieuwpoort
Sluice in Veurne |
Veurne’s recalcitrant
railway bridge |
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First though, a
lock and then the low railway bridge, which had to be raised to let us
through. We had no phone number to ring or VHF channel to radio to alert
them, but had been assured by Johan that all would be fine. We waited patiently
for 15 minutes. Nothing was
happening. Then Johan radioed to say
he had again been in contact with the railways people and the bridge would
soon be opening – “It’s a bit early in the morning for them, and don’t worry
if the lights stay on red – just go on through”. Sure enough the bridge finally started to
go up and as Johan predicted, the warning lights did stay red!
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Apart from a couple
more interesting bridges, the canal back to Nieuwpoort, where we planned
to have a couple of stainless steel cleats fitted on the cabin roof to make
it easier for Lesley to handle her ropes in locks single handed, is quiet and
straight. This was lucky as we had a
further failing of our electro-hydraulic steering – for the sixth day on our
journeys. It’s been sporadically turning
itself off without warning save a little buzzer in the electric cupboard
coming on, at the most inconvenient times and locations – approaching weirs,
tight bridges and narrow sections with other boats passing. After turning it on again, it has generally
run uneventfully again for weeks before having another “event”. All kinds of theories have been proffered as
to the cause of this potentially dangerous fault; loose plugs, poor wiring,
the freezer coming on and even VHF interference. We have spent hundreds of
pounds on various “cures” but the problem has worryingly kept cropping
up. This time the steering system
again started up when we hit the button.
With our confidence again shaken, we continued on towards Nieuwpoort.
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Back in |
The little tug
which came to our rescue |
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Jonnie the tug’s captain
and our savior
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The Sea Star tied
up after - avoiding us. |
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We passed through
the lock and headed down into the tidal river and harbour.
Suddenly the alarm came on. We
had lost steering again, but this time we weren’t able to get it running
again by turning it on and off. We could use reverse and a bit
of bow-thruster to keep off the harbour walls, but that was all. A big ferry the Sea Star was fast approaching. We urgently radioed the Nieuwpoort Harbour
Master to tell him we were in trouble.
“Our steering has failed and we need assistance!” Once he had worked out our location – just
across from his office, he radioed back to say a tug was on its way to
help. The ferry went around us and a
few long, anxious minutes later a little tug came alongside. Ropes were attached and it skillfully manoeuvred
us out of the channel and onto a pontoon in the yacht marina, which was where
we had originally been heading.
The tug boat
captain turned out to be a lovely chap called Jonnie who refused any money in
return for saving us and wasn’t too interested in joining us for a beer as he
didn’t drink. Another wonderful
example of Belgian hospitality and helpfulness.
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Some of our
neighbours, including Wolfi’s Toy |
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So
now we are once again tied up incongruously amongst some of
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