This past week has been both bizarre and typical in terms of April weather. I well remember when I first arrived in the Oude Haven that on one particular day we had all four seasons within twelve hours. Well, this last week has been the same and particularly last Sunday. I took the photo below on Saturday as I was walking along the river in Rotterdam. Despite being quite cold, it was a lovely day with big, clumpy clouds and not hint of what was to come.
On Sunday morning, the world had changed. I awoke on Vereeniging to rain beating a fast tattoo on the hatches. When I looked outside, though, it had morphed into hail, which was then followed by quite heavy snow. I was due to head south again and as I'd left my car outside the city limits to save parking fees, I could see I was in for a frigid walk to the tram stop a kilometre from the boat. It was just my luck that due to work on the tracks, our usual tram wasn't running. The slightly skew photo below shows how it was beginning to settle on the cars and streets. However, by the time I'd driven over the Maas and onto the southern highways, the skies had cleared and the sun was shining with intent. But it didn't last.
For the remainder of my journey through Zeeland, I was dodging swarms of angry hail showers. Although I managed to do much of the drive in dry, sunny conditions, I saw clouds heavy with hail and snow all around me and the wind was both biting and strong.
I was standing at the closed-off end of the lock when I took this photo. These days it's only used as a free swimming pool for the local children and a place where dogs like to nip in for a dip, but I'm glad it's still there and has been preserved. The town's original 16th and later 17th century locks have long been filled in.
And of course, this photo is of the modern canal with one of the massive sea-going ships being towed from Terneuzen to Ghent. This one was accompanied by three muscular tugs. I stood and watched them until they'd passed ... a wonderful way to waste time.
Here's a map to put all the old arms in context. It's interesting to see how the canal has grown over the years and following the path around the old cuts makes a lovely walk. In fact the modern course is also wider and deeper than it was in the 19th century. It was expanded to its current size in the 1960s and of course there are no longer any locks at Sas. They are all in Terneuzen now.
I like the fact that the history of Sas is so tied up to Ghent's and one interesting titbit I've learnt is that originally, the canal from Ghent stopped at (approximately) what is now Sas because the Gentenaars weren't allowed to dig through a dike that crossed the waterway. It was only under Charles V (he of the Holy Roman Empire) that permission was granted to build a lock through the dike so that shipping didn't have to be carried over it and transferred to boats on the other side before completing their journey to Terneuzen. This transfer was known as 'Overslag' and today, there is still a village of that name that straddles the border.
Finding out the exact course of the earliest canal is not something I've managed to do yet, but suffice to say, the Hennie Ha's home port owes existence to my favourite of all Belgian cities.
That's it for this week allemaal. Next week's post is going to be an interesting one so watch this space!
