Ladeuze (returning for our second stay) to Pommerroeul – 09-19 August
Recovered and settled back at one of Nicki’s favourite spots, a couple of mornings later we woke to find the water level had dropped fairly significantly, although not worryingly so. However, on getting up the next morning it was obvious that the boat was listing quite a bit! It turned out the water was being drained from this section of the canal for repairs further along, to the point that we were actually just shy of sitting on the canal bed, so close that the depth gauge reading was zero.
Nicki and I got to work adjusting the ropes to give us some leeway and, combined with a lot of pushing from the bank and much use of the (now functioning) thrusters, we managed to get SHENSI off the stones and floating again, just enough that we could strategically place fenders and force a timber between us and the bank, to stop us again getting too close to the bank and bottoming out once more.
The next few days were fairly anxious for us and we were constantly checking our movement and placement in the water, but luckily that seemed to be as bad as it got, until on the Friday morning the water started flowing back into the canal and everything gradually settled down – phew, back to normal thank goodness, especially as we were hoping to complete our journey along the canal on Sunday. Talk about ‘by the skin of our teeth’.
All that aside, most of the week had been up in the high 30s, and we were never before more grateful for our air conditioning! The nights were almost as bad, which made sleeping less than easy, but we made it to the end of the week by which time the weather had begun to cool a little and it became much more bearable.
One of the up-sides of this mooring is that water is included, so happily for Casper we were able to hose him down whenever he seemed to be struggling with the heat. (I’m not convinced he appreciated it, but at least it did cool him down for a while each time.). We kept his walks short too for all our sakes and also just in case the ground was too hot for his paws, but most of the time he was too hot to do anything other than sleep (or remind us it was dinnertime).
15th August – Our penultimate day arrived and assuming we would leave there next morning I spent some time cleaning the boat and re-filling the water tanks, whilst Nicki walked Casper and then cleaned up the interior – SHENSI was all ready for the next stage of her journey, once again all ‘ship shaped and Bristol fashioned’ and as soon as our ‘tag team’ of bridge/lock operators arrived in the morning we were off.
16th August – This next stage of our journey took us through 14 locks and several bridges, and after four hours of traveling we arrived at Pommerroeul ecluse where we would spend the next couple of nights. We knew from a previous visit there that it’s a great location, on a long concrete quay in a basin away from passing traffic. The only problem this times round was that there were already three large ships moored down one side of the quay, which meant that we had to moor on the reverse side where there was less available access to mooring points. Still, with a little re-jigging, we tied up to the railings and the one remaining bollard and were quite comfortable.
Having settled in it was time for Casper to stretch his legs, and Nicki and he had a nice walk in the nature reserve that ran alongside the river – there are some fabulous walks all around the lock, perfect if you have a dog with you.
The lock gates here are huge, and Nicki was excited to see them in operation. However, the lock station was totally deserted and we eventually spotted a notice informing us that the lock was only operational after giving 48 hours notice, so it seemed highly unlikely that we’d catch sight of that.
17th August – The next day I took a cycle ride along the Pommerroeul-Conde canal beyond the lock to find that you can only travel as far as Hensies lock because from that point the canal peters out! However, it was an interesting ride along a lovely wide, quiet cycle path with just a few fishermen dotted about; the waterway itself was very spacious since it was originally set up for commercial traffic, but as I said, it does not go any further than the Hensies lock, after which there are just small rivers and reed beds – definitely not navigable. That said, the area is now largely given over to watersports and small pleasure craft, and I’m sure it would be easy enough to pass through the first lock and spend a few days there, but maybe another time.
19th August – Off we go again.