Nijmegen & Tiel (16th to 21st September)
16th September – Lindenberghaven is just near the Waal bridge in Nijmegen and is home to several historic ships, with ‘hippy type’ bars and eateries at one end of the harbour, which all looks lovely in the evening when it is lit up.
Shensi, however, was moored a little further along from the bars, and we could simply step off the jetty and be walking alongside the river through sandy beaches and a nature reserve – a lovely place to be on a warm, sunny evening and perfect for dog walking.
Our first night in the harbour was not too bad, although the ropes were extremely creaky so we made some adjustments the next day in the hope of better nights to come.
17th September – On her dog walk this morning Nicki spotted some interesting designs in the sand nearby; a local man told her that they were part of several short term dynamic works of art being set up around the town.
A little later we walked up to the top of Nijmegen (well – I cycled, Nicki walked) to get some much needed groceries, and that seemed to take up quite a chunk of the day! (Probably due to the long trip uphill to get there, the shopping, the stopover at a nice little bar for snacks and coffee, and the quicker trip back downhill to the boat.) Plus, when we started out Nicki noticed a metal sculpture being delivered and craned onto a green area fronting the river, and by the time we got back it was actually in situ. I had cycled on ahead, so Nicki stopped to take photos and chatted to a guy who was also taking photos – he turned out to be one of its two sculptors, he and was very happy to talk about it with her.
Apparently the water wolf is fabled to be a giant creature who takes bites out of the land (signifying the water reclaiming the land) and the Aquanaut is befriending the wolf so that they can live together in harmony,
18th September – A busy day today for us both, with Nicki clearing up and cleaning and preparing for Bob and Jane’s arrival tomorrow, plus final bits of shopping, whilst I spent most of my time checking out the stern gland and trying to sort out issues with the computer, among several other things. In the evening we popped up to the bar at the top of the jetty for a quick drink after dinner.
19th September – Walked up to the train station to meet Bob and Jane who arrived today, then took a slow walk back through the town to the boat. At the harbour entrance there has been a lot of activity going on, which we were told was that the there was to be an official open of the area to the public at 1pm, but sadly we missed that. However, later on we realised that a huge outdoor cinema screen had been erected just across the harbour from us, and lots of people were milling around over there to watch a showing that evening. It was facing the wrong direction for us to see it, but as Bob and Jane were tired after an exceptionally early start (2.30am!), and Nicki and I weren’t bothered, we all had dinner then sat down and relaxed for the rest of the evening.
20th September – Hoping to avoid too much traffic on the waterways, Nicki’s thought for today was “Up and off by 9.30”, and everything went quite smoothly helped by the fact that it was a Sunday and Sundays are usually much, much quieter for commercials ….. not even close! This is an extremely busy stretch of river with a fast flowing current and even though it was Sunday, it was still very busy with quadruple-sized commercials coming from all directions, some blue boarding and others not, and with us desperately trying to keep our of their way. On the plus side we did make good progress going downstream.
Even so, we reached Tiel after about three hours of travel with Bob helping out with the steering, and quickly moored up, walked into town.
Bob and Jane had a romantic little dance to music coming from a local bar, and then we slowly wandered back to the boat for dinner, and settled down for the rest of the evening in front of the TV.
Bob took an evening stroll along the side of the harbour, delighting in being by the water again.
21st September – We woke up to yet another lovely day, and while Nicki walked Casper nearby I topped up the water tank and made ready to leave. Bob and Jane seem to be enjoying themselves on the trip so far, and hopefully are finding it relaxing. All sorted and ready to leave at 10am, we set off to the bridge on the Zuid-Willemsvaart just before Den Bosch aiming for the 4pm opening slot – plenty of time to get that far, or so we thought. (More in next chapter.)