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Before |
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After |
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Before |
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After |
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Zoe and her best pal, Lucy, looking at my daughter in the hopes of a treat |
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View from the crumbly cottage as a bout of rain was approaching |
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Reflections on our nearby creek on one remarkably still day. It's almost unheard of to have no wind in Zeeland |
Unread emails are the bane of my life. Does anyone else have this problem? I've just cleaned up nearly 500 of them from one of my email inboxes and the other one still has 498 (down from 800).
I don't think I'm alone in having several email addresses, although I admit I might have more than many. At the last count it was five that I use regularly, plus the ones that you get automatically when you have a phone contract but only use to find the company's invoices. I used to have more but now I work for fewer organisations I don't need to have a specific email for all of them. But I still have two for my teaching work, one for private and family use, one for internet use and another for my writing. And you know what? I get spammed in all of them; even the university email is full of junk. It's unbelievable. In fact, while I was clearing down my main gmail account, more spam was coming through.
The problem, I find, is that I do most of my shopping and business online, so the moment you provide businesses with your email address, they find reasons to flood you with special offers, newsletters and advertising in general. No matter that I haven't ticked any boxes saying they could do this... or maybe I have, inadvertently. Anyway, what happens is that even if I have accepted their terms, I rarely have time to read or look at the mails, so they just sit there.
I think Amazon is the worst. I'm both a customer and an author, so they send me around a dozen emails every day offering me books I don't want to read, or sending me order confirmations for those I do. Add to that all the author advice and notices, I can't see the wood for the Amazon trees (sorry 😄).
The other culprit is Wordpress, the blogging platform. They seem to be convinced I need to upgrade my account to a paid platform, and I daily receive notifications of discounts, pleas for me to upgrade and newsletters listing reasons for me to do so. I only use Wordpress to post reviews for the memoirs I read (the link is here if anyone's interested), so I keep it very simple, but in truth I find WP very complicated and not user-friendly at all, and I have zero desire to use it for anything else. They're also quite restrictive as to who can comment. You have to have a WP account to interact with other people on their blogs, which is a real downside. At least with Blogger, we have the Anonymous option and if commenters use that and give their name in the comment box, all is well.
Anyway, that's what has been occupying my time this evening while I've been relaxing in the wonderful but unaccustomed heat of the last few days. Summer has arrived at last and has swept in with a flourish leaving us gasping from the contrast with last week's 13C to yesterday's 30C. Sadly, it was a bit too hot to work outside, so I wouldn't mind it being tempered just a tad so I can paint my barge. It's not much to ask, is it? Still, I'm not really complaining and I genuinely hope the coming weeks will give us more of the same. We have these plans to go faring, you see (ref last post).
Here are a few photos to make up (I hope) for such a mundane blog:
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Zoe enjoying yesterday's balmy evening |
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Before the weather change |
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The wind that blew away the rain |
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My garden is in bloom at last |
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A local park; always beautiful but especially in sunshine |
The summer? Well, yes, assuming we get some summer this year, we have plans to head south again on the Hennie H and finish up in one of our favourite places, Erquelinnes, on the French/Belgian border. The thought is perhaps to leave her there for a longer stay which would give us a weekend getaway in one of our favourite areas during the autumn and winter.
Anyway, of course the route we take depends on a number of factors: the amount of water in the canals (shouldn't be a problem this year, but you never know), the speed at which we want to arrive, the number of times we get side-tracked and, somewhat obviously, the weather.
The aim is to leave early in July, although we can't make a precise date as yet. There's a lot of preparation to be done in terms of making sure we have all our paperwork in order, as well as permits, certificates and supplies.
The paperwork includes the vignette for both Flanders and France. We won't need one for Wallonia, which is another reason for loving the French Belgian area. In addition, we need to have our fire extinguishers checked, as well as our life jackets. Another necessity is to update our certificate of ownership and make sure our VHF is in order, so lots to do in the admin department.
Technically, we have to change the oil and all the filters on the HH. Koos has been having trouble draining the old oil. Even after running the engine for some time, it doesn't pump out as it should, so we're trying to figure out why that should be so. Fingers crossed it works next time we try.
As far as safety is concerned, I've got a life jacket for Zoe and we have spare floating devices on board. We also have a good lifebelt available and an anchor, so we can tick those of our list.
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The Belgian Waterways |
But back to the route. The one I'd like best would be to go west to Brugge (Bruges) and then south towards Dunkirk but heading to the small town of Bergues first. Bergues was where that wonderful films Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis was made and I've wanted to go there for many years (see/read recent book of our 2017 trip). After that, we could head east until we reach the Canal de Saint Quentin and go south until it meets the Canal de la Sambre à l'Oise at La Fere. At this point we could turn north and complete the southern section of the canal as far as Vadencourt, which we didn't do in 2022. A few days travel north after that would find us in Erquellines. If we take it slowly, we could have some lovely leisurely faring.
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Possible routes from Bergues: all black includes the Canal de St Quentin. Red is the Canal de la Sambre à l'Oise |
Other options would be to take a last trip south down the Canal du Nord (see southward black line in the map), which we would get to before the Canal de Saint Quentin (northward black line). Alternatively, we could go downstream on the Schelde (Scheldt) river from Gent and take either the Dender or the canal to Brussels and then to Charleroi before reaching the Sambre at its confluence with the Brussels-Charleroi canal (not marked on either map).
If we were to do this route, we wouldn't make it to the Canal de la Sambre à l'Oise, which would be a pity. For one reason, I would very much like to go to Ors, which is where Wilfred Owen (the war poet) is buried and that's near the canal south of Landrecies. Another reason is that we've never done this section before, which makes it all the more appealing. I'm sorry the maps aren't very clear, but they hopefully give you an idea of the possibilities.
In the meantime, we are taking our opportunities for boat maintenance as they arise. I'm aware that Vereeniging will be left unvisited and unloved all the while we're away, so she needs some TLC too. Fingers crossed the skies will clear enough for some time to work on her before then. I really hate leaving her (that's an understatement) but we can only manage one boat away and our Shoe is so much more practical for faring.
Now I’ve put it all into words, it's helped to give me some focus on what needs to be done, so with that said, I'll sign off now with a few boaty photos. Until next time, allemaal!
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The beauty among the beasts (as in size) |
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My favourite view of Vereeniging |
Behind us the propellor water looked good and there was no smoke from the exhaust, always a good sign, and we passed under the first big road bridge before proceeding on to the next one at Zelzate. Zoe was as good as gold sitting quietly on deck and watching us go past her normal world.
For myself, I tried to focus on relishing the view and being on the water rather than seeing all the work that needs doing. The winter has been hard on the Hennie H, but hopefully the weather will allow us to deal with some of the worst deterioration before we go away.
Up ahead a perfect distraction appeared. A large sea ship was approaching us being towed by some of the big beefy tugs I'm so fond of. It was a fantastic sight as it slowly passed us on its way to Terneuzen and the Channel.
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Isn't it magnificent? |
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The only ripples are from passing barges |
It's been lovely to be back on board again. Last weekend, which also happened to be the Ascension Day holiday weekend here, was glorious, meaning Koos and I were able to spend a couple of days on board Vereeniging without risking life and limb getting on and off the boat. The weather was perfect so I was very happy to be able to work outside, cleaning, sanding and varnishing.
We also managed to start preparing the Hennie H for her first trip out, hopefully this weekend. Koos got the engine running and I started the never ending process of sweeping and cleaning. There's loads still to do, but now it's raining again, we'll have to wait until it's dry before continuing.
Here are just a few photos of the harbour. It really was quite magical.
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Pearly skies reflected in the water |
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Evening light on the deck |
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Evening light over the camper park next to Vereeniging's mooring |
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The Hennie H basks in sunshine |
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The contrast between leisure pursuits and industry |
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Our summer view (at last) from the cottage |
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Willow trees coming into leaf |
And lastly, Zoe has had a summer trim, thanks to my daughter who is an expert spaniel groomer. She even has the little 'skirt' that show dogs have – not that she's impressed. She's actually not very happy at losing the protective fluff under her tail, and keeps running away from herself, poor baby. I'm hoping the sensitivity will wear off soon and she'll be back to her normal self. The shorter coat will definitely keep her cooler, though.
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Zoe, exhausted after her haircut |