Valerie Poore's Blog, page 19
October 26, 2019
Getting that sinking feeling again
Autumn's been quite literally raining on our parade recently and I've battled to do any of the jobs I was hoping to complete before the cold weather really sets. The problem with the cold isn't just that I don't like it; it's that paint doesn't like it either, so with all the rain we've had, my windows of opportunity for doing the Vereeninging's much needed trimmings and details is reducing to practically hopeless.
Added to that, I discovered to my dismay that I had a lot of water in the bottom of my barge, and on the wrong side of it too. Water should be outside, not in, but yesterday I syphoned about 45 litres from under the floorboards.
This had me in an instant panic. I thought I might have a leak in the bottom, but on reflection, it could also be rainwater creeping in somewhere, or it could also be the dreaded condensation, although 45 litres seems a lot for that given that I haven't been using the heating all that much. Still, it remains a real possibility, but oh dear, it's always so stressful and such a waste of time that I could be using doing something else. I never have enough. Time, that is.
Anyway, this is my solution for soaking up the last of the water. Disposable nappies. They do a great job, but I'll have to get it completely dry before I scrape all the rust off and put new grease on the bottom.
Never have so many nappies been employed by so few for
such a great cause
In other boaty news, Koos has been doing an amazing job of making and welding the new mounts for the replacement engine for the Hennie H. It doesn't look much from these photos, but it's been a lot of work to measure, make and weld them in place. We had a 'fitting' and it all went very well, so progress is being made on that front.
And last but not least, we had a family birthday. My daughter, whose day it was, invited us for lunch and then we all went out for a lovely walk with the dogs. Simple it might have been but it was such a beautiful afternoon we felt very blessed to be able to walk through the countryside in the warm sunshine. Spaniel Charlie has been with us (I mean my daughter) for nearly ten years now, but lovely Luna is new to the family. She comes from a rescue shelter in Spain and now lives with my other daughter. At 15 months old, she (Luna) is just a baby really, but she's settled in beautifully and is a lovely calm girl. We're already more than a bit taken with her.
Well, that was it for the autumn sunshine. It's back to usual again tonight, meaning rain, rain and more rain. I'm checking my toes for signs of foot rot!
Have a great week allemaal and I hope I'll be able to report on a dry bottom next time (don't snigger!)
Added to that, I discovered to my dismay that I had a lot of water in the bottom of my barge, and on the wrong side of it too. Water should be outside, not in, but yesterday I syphoned about 45 litres from under the floorboards.
This had me in an instant panic. I thought I might have a leak in the bottom, but on reflection, it could also be rainwater creeping in somewhere, or it could also be the dreaded condensation, although 45 litres seems a lot for that given that I haven't been using the heating all that much. Still, it remains a real possibility, but oh dear, it's always so stressful and such a waste of time that I could be using doing something else. I never have enough. Time, that is.
Anyway, this is my solution for soaking up the last of the water. Disposable nappies. They do a great job, but I'll have to get it completely dry before I scrape all the rust off and put new grease on the bottom.
Never have so many nappies been employed by so few forsuch a great cause
In other boaty news, Koos has been doing an amazing job of making and welding the new mounts for the replacement engine for the Hennie H. It doesn't look much from these photos, but it's been a lot of work to measure, make and weld them in place. We had a 'fitting' and it all went very well, so progress is being made on that front.
And last but not least, we had a family birthday. My daughter, whose day it was, invited us for lunch and then we all went out for a lovely walk with the dogs. Simple it might have been but it was such a beautiful afternoon we felt very blessed to be able to walk through the countryside in the warm sunshine. Spaniel Charlie has been with us (I mean my daughter) for nearly ten years now, but lovely Luna is new to the family. She comes from a rescue shelter in Spain and now lives with my other daughter. At 15 months old, she (Luna) is just a baby really, but she's settled in beautifully and is a lovely calm girl. We're already more than a bit taken with her.
Well, that was it for the autumn sunshine. It's back to usual again tonight, meaning rain, rain and more rain. I'm checking my toes for signs of foot rot!
Have a great week allemaal and I hope I'll be able to report on a dry bottom next time (don't snigger!)
October 13, 2019
Back to busyness
In the past few weeks since we returned from Poland, things have been pretty busy here in our corner of the Flatlands. Quite apart from work, which I won't go into just now, we've been gearing up to installing the engine we bought as a replacement for our old Hanomag (which now lies at rest in our passage at the crumbly cottage). If you remember, I wrote about the great engine exchange here. Well, after that and because we were going away, we didn't do anything further until we came back from our trip. Since then, however, the activity has been quite intense.
Koos has won my gold award for ingenuity and sheer brilliance by designing and building a hoist that could be put on board the Hennie H so as to manoeuvre the engine from the back deck into its bay. The thing is, much measuring is needed before Koos can fit new mountings in place and to do that, he needs to see where the engine needs to sit. There is also the small matter of having it in exactly the right place to align it with the prop shaft. The latter has some flexibility because it has a thing called a Python on it (technicians will know what this is), which means it doesn't have to be exactly straight, but even so, there isn't a great margin for error.
Anyway, to cut the story short, the last month has been one of creative problem solving for Koos with me as the sounding board producing my usual list of (sometimes useful) 'what if' questions. The result of all his labours is this mighty construction:
The hoist in position on the back deckIt's been quite an evolutionary process involving much rethinking and redesigning, but it fits perfectly and makes it possible for Koos (with me as assistant) to lower the engine in and out of its place in the bay without asking anyone else for help. Genius, isn't it? Well, I think so. The upper spar is there to hold the tent over the deck, which also makes it possible for us (mostly Koos, though) to work in most weathers. From outside, it looks a bit like we've erected a tipi on board.
The wild West has come to SasFinally, then, we got to test it today. With the problem of shifting the block and tackle pulley along the bar overcome by using the kind of tensioning straps found on trailers (you know, the ones that can be made super tight with those ratchet things), Koos inched it along the bar until it was hanging over the opening.
Going downAnd then lowered it into position so he could measure where it would need to 'sit' on its mountings. My job was to keep things straight and stop the tensioning straps twisting and the pulley chain getting stuck on anything...heavy burdens indeed.
And into the 'ole she goesOnce Koos was satisfied the motor would fit and he'd marked its position, we hoisted it out again and inched it back to its position on the deck. The whole operation felt like a major triumph, especially for Koos. There's still plenty to do before the real installation, but at least we know the system works, which is immensely rewarding. Now for cleaning the bottom and preparing the mounts.
As for the other project, my Vereeniging, rain has stopped much of my play and I've been confined to working on the floor of the roef, or back cabin. You may (or may not) remember I had to remove the entire floor because of woodworm. I'm still battling to eliminate the last of the little blighters from inside the cupboards, but I'm getting there. Nevertheless, I've finally managed to put in a new floor base, this time made of thick ply wood (which woodworm don't like) that I've painted on both sides (which they like even less).
It's hard to see it well from the photo below as it's quite dark in there, and I haven't put the piece in the gap in the middle yet as I've got to reroute the bilge pump hosepipe. But it's ready for the next time I have a free hour and it's raining. I'm pretty pleased with the result as the shape made it very difficult. I'm planning to finish it with easy-to-roll-back lino. Before that, though, I'll revarnish the cupboards. It will be great to be able to use this little room again.
Well, that's it for this week's updates. A bit of coming down to earth after all the exoticness of Poland, but it's real life, it's hard work and it's also very rewarding. I just need the rain to stop so I can finish my painting...ho hum.
Just for some colour, here's a photo of my ultra fancy wellies. These are the ones I keep for best. I have a tartan pair that I do my real work in!
Have a good week, allemaal, and I'll be back with more on boats, boots and maybe even books soon.
Koos has won my gold award for ingenuity and sheer brilliance by designing and building a hoist that could be put on board the Hennie H so as to manoeuvre the engine from the back deck into its bay. The thing is, much measuring is needed before Koos can fit new mountings in place and to do that, he needs to see where the engine needs to sit. There is also the small matter of having it in exactly the right place to align it with the prop shaft. The latter has some flexibility because it has a thing called a Python on it (technicians will know what this is), which means it doesn't have to be exactly straight, but even so, there isn't a great margin for error.
Anyway, to cut the story short, the last month has been one of creative problem solving for Koos with me as the sounding board producing my usual list of (sometimes useful) 'what if' questions. The result of all his labours is this mighty construction:
The hoist in position on the back deckIt's been quite an evolutionary process involving much rethinking and redesigning, but it fits perfectly and makes it possible for Koos (with me as assistant) to lower the engine in and out of its place in the bay without asking anyone else for help. Genius, isn't it? Well, I think so. The upper spar is there to hold the tent over the deck, which also makes it possible for us (mostly Koos, though) to work in most weathers. From outside, it looks a bit like we've erected a tipi on board.
The wild West has come to SasFinally, then, we got to test it today. With the problem of shifting the block and tackle pulley along the bar overcome by using the kind of tensioning straps found on trailers (you know, the ones that can be made super tight with those ratchet things), Koos inched it along the bar until it was hanging over the opening.
Going downAnd then lowered it into position so he could measure where it would need to 'sit' on its mountings. My job was to keep things straight and stop the tensioning straps twisting and the pulley chain getting stuck on anything...heavy burdens indeed.
And into the 'ole she goesOnce Koos was satisfied the motor would fit and he'd marked its position, we hoisted it out again and inched it back to its position on the deck. The whole operation felt like a major triumph, especially for Koos. There's still plenty to do before the real installation, but at least we know the system works, which is immensely rewarding. Now for cleaning the bottom and preparing the mounts. As for the other project, my Vereeniging, rain has stopped much of my play and I've been confined to working on the floor of the roef, or back cabin. You may (or may not) remember I had to remove the entire floor because of woodworm. I'm still battling to eliminate the last of the little blighters from inside the cupboards, but I'm getting there. Nevertheless, I've finally managed to put in a new floor base, this time made of thick ply wood (which woodworm don't like) that I've painted on both sides (which they like even less).
It's hard to see it well from the photo below as it's quite dark in there, and I haven't put the piece in the gap in the middle yet as I've got to reroute the bilge pump hosepipe. But it's ready for the next time I have a free hour and it's raining. I'm pretty pleased with the result as the shape made it very difficult. I'm planning to finish it with easy-to-roll-back lino. Before that, though, I'll revarnish the cupboards. It will be great to be able to use this little room again.
Well, that's it for this week's updates. A bit of coming down to earth after all the exoticness of Poland, but it's real life, it's hard work and it's also very rewarding. I just need the rain to stop so I can finish my painting...ho hum.
Just for some colour, here's a photo of my ultra fancy wellies. These are the ones I keep for best. I have a tartan pair that I do my real work in!
Have a good week, allemaal, and I'll be back with more on boats, boots and maybe even books soon.
October 5, 2019
Before I forget...Gdansk, Gdynia and a little place called Hel
It's now a month since we were in Poland and I'm in danger of forgetting what a lovely time we had there and how beautiful the weather was. It's been cold, wet and miserable here for the last ten days or more so Poland seems like a distant dream. Before it slips my mind completely then, I shall present you with the last stage of our trip, which consisted of two days and three nights in the Tri-City coastal urban area of Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia.
We arrived in Gdynia Orłowo, which was where we were staying on Monday evening and found our way to our accommodation in a quiet backstreet of the suburb. Actually, we arrived in Sopot and took a taxi to Gdynia Orłowo, which was a mistake as it was pretty expensive by Polish (or anyone's) standards for such a short trip, but the driver was so friendly we didn't have the heart to question the price. That aside, our room was in a house divided into guest rooms, officially a hostel, with a shared bathroom on each floor and a kitchen where we could cook our meals. We like this kind of accommodation as it gives us more freedom and to our delight, there was even a kettle and coffee in the room itself. It was all quite simple, but fine for us.
That evening, all we did was take the train into Gydinia proper and do some grocery shopping. I can't say I was all that taken with Gydinia as it didn't seem to have any discernible centre and seemed to consist mostly of modern apartment blocks with shops beneath them. Nevertheless, it gave us the chance to buy a three day ticket for the trains and we went home and cooked a meal. On that note, we were helped at Orłowo station by a lovely Polish lady who told us she lived in South Africa but was back for a visit. Small world, isn't it? To randomly meet someone in Poland with whom I'd have an instant connection was true serendipity! By this time too, I'd decided I really liked the area where we were staying. It seemed like a lovely peaceful place to live. The roads and paving were a bit unkempt but most of the homes were large, well maintained and looked very pleasant.
'Our' street
A local business. No prize for guessing what they do
On the way to 'our' street from the station
The following day we'd decided to do our next boat trip, which was the ferry to Hel. Gdansk and Gdynia are in a lagoon and Hel is at the furthest point on the peninsula. We woke to a lovely morning, so after a quick breakfast, we set off for the pier in Gdynia to catch the 10:30 ferry. This time we caught a bus, as it was quicker and more direct than the train. Once again, the transport proved to be great: fast, clean, modern and efficient.
Gydinia pier is the usual tourist trap with dozens of small shops all selling the same things, but it was lively and colourful. What made it different was all the large craft moored up to it and there was even a very fine many-masted sailing ship plus a kind of mock Spanish galleon.
Masted sailing ships on the pier
view across the harbour at Gdynia
The serious stuff (modern marina) in Gdynia
The trip to Hel was fun. We sat in the bows of the catamaran with several other passengers as we ploughed our way across the lagoon to the peninsula. It was beautiful although quite cold, but I realised as we were going that I am a river and canal girl. I had that feeling of 'seen one sea, seen 'em all' as there isn't very much to occupy the eyes other than the horizon with a few big container ships passing by. Give me the excitement of locks, passing barges and beautiful scenery close by any time.
Hel itself wasn't hell at all and was a pretty place, albeit heaving with tourists. No sooner had we arrived than we were lured into doing another boat trip by a friendly skipper who offered Koos a private view of his tugboat's engine. Well, we couldn't refuse and spent another hour or so cruising around the lagoon during which we slipped briefly out into the Baltic Sea. Woohoo!
Back in Hel, we wandered round, had coffee, an ice or two and then pottered down to the station for the return trip to Gdynia. Appealing though it is, Hel is for tourists, not sinners, and the town is dedicated to selling fridge magnets, hats and key rings telling us so – from one end of its main street to the other.
Sitting in the bows of the catamaran
Entrance to the harbour in Hel
An attractive sight
And then onto another boat out into the lagoon again
Speaks for itself really, doesn't it?
A colourful sight in Hel
Fiery Hel? Maybe not, but vivid all the same The train trip back to Gdynia was uneventful, but interesting in that the whole of the narrow strip that forms the peninsula is effectively one big camp site. It sprawls along endless dunes interspersed with villages where there are chalets and other holiday accommodation. This seems to be where the Poles go on holiday. I found it pleasantly informal and could imagine how nice it would be to relax there in good summer weather. It took us an hour to do the entire ride back to Gdynia, which was, coincidentally, the same as the boat trip.
Then we went a bit further on to Sopot, another of Poland's favourite holiday spots. Rather upmarket and boasting another fine pier that you have to pay to enter, Sopot is Poland's answer to the Belgian coast. Full of rather genteel hotels and guest houses, this is where the well-to-do come to enjoy the seaside in comfort. Still, I realise it can't have done anything much for me as I didn't take a single photo of it. Sorry Sopot! It probably didn't help that it was raining by this time, so we headed back to our hostel to cook supper and turn in for the night. We were getting quite fond of our cosy neighbourhood and it really felt like going home.
The following day was our last, so we decided to spend it in Gdansk, the northern Polish equivalent of Krakow. It's a lovely place, but like many beautiful cities, it was very touristy. Koos and I infinitely preferred the back streets with their less obvious but quietly captivating charms. I could describe it all, but I think I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Much of Gdansk is reconstructed 'fake' old buildings, but some of the centre is genuinely old and there are still some wartime ruins yet to be restored.
A shipyard on the outskirts of Gdansk
A renovated old warehouse
Tourist photo opportunity
Another restored old tower
One of the backstreets we so enjoyed
Looking the other way
My favourite view of all
The lesser known gems of Gdansk
in the reconstructed harbour area. All these buildings are new
One of the most famous views in the city and justifiably so 
This time with a few more boats on the move
A ruin still to be renovated
In the central square, classical beauty 
Almost Flemish
There nowt wrong with this. Magnificent, isn't it?
Just a channel on the way from the station
Red brick was definitely in here. The fine Jacek Tower
originally built for the city's defence, now used by
a photgraphic business
The market hall. An amazing building in daily use by a variety of shops
And for some, it's a hard life
And for others, an interesting one
While others play hard to make their crust
They were really really good. I enjoyed the free concert
We didn't actually spend too long in the centre and after meandering around the elegant back streets, we decided to go back to our hostel. That evening, though, we had the biggest surprise of the trip. Koos had mentioned to me that there was a beach and a pier close to Gdynia Orłowo, so we decided to take a walk down the hill to see what it was like. The evening was balmy and ideal for a stroll. Even so, we decided not to take cameras and just walk. I suppose it took us fifteen minutes to get there, so not much, but we were completely unprepared for how lovely it was.
The road to the beach was lined with glorious trees that ended right at the sea front where the pier stretched out ahead. To each side there were small beaches backed by steep tree covered cliffs. It was intimate, picturesque and very attractive. Busy with couples (notably several brides and grooms on photo shoots) as well as people with dogs simply strolling or sitting chatting, I was really charmed. And we both regretted leaving our cameras behind. Still, the internet is a wonderful source and I've found a couple of photos to show what it was like.
Thanks to Karen64 for this photo
I couldn't find the photographer of this one, but it's lovely
and shows the fishing boats that are always 'parked' there
Again, no photographer, but this is the pier. I'll remove
these photos later as they aren't mine. They are all
visible on Google search, though
By the time we'd walked back to the hostel, it was getting dark and it seemed the right moment to call it a day, and a week. This was the end of our journey as the following morning we were up early to go to the airport. All told, it was a fantastic trip and I enjoyed every minute of it. Travelling is not always relaxing, but it's full of wonderful experiences, isn't it?
I'll leave you with these thoughts and images now and wish you a great week, allemaal.
It'll be back to normal posts and stories next time.
We arrived in Gdynia Orłowo, which was where we were staying on Monday evening and found our way to our accommodation in a quiet backstreet of the suburb. Actually, we arrived in Sopot and took a taxi to Gdynia Orłowo, which was a mistake as it was pretty expensive by Polish (or anyone's) standards for such a short trip, but the driver was so friendly we didn't have the heart to question the price. That aside, our room was in a house divided into guest rooms, officially a hostel, with a shared bathroom on each floor and a kitchen where we could cook our meals. We like this kind of accommodation as it gives us more freedom and to our delight, there was even a kettle and coffee in the room itself. It was all quite simple, but fine for us.
That evening, all we did was take the train into Gydinia proper and do some grocery shopping. I can't say I was all that taken with Gydinia as it didn't seem to have any discernible centre and seemed to consist mostly of modern apartment blocks with shops beneath them. Nevertheless, it gave us the chance to buy a three day ticket for the trains and we went home and cooked a meal. On that note, we were helped at Orłowo station by a lovely Polish lady who told us she lived in South Africa but was back for a visit. Small world, isn't it? To randomly meet someone in Poland with whom I'd have an instant connection was true serendipity! By this time too, I'd decided I really liked the area where we were staying. It seemed like a lovely peaceful place to live. The roads and paving were a bit unkempt but most of the homes were large, well maintained and looked very pleasant.
'Our' street
A local business. No prize for guessing what they do
On the way to 'our' street from the stationThe following day we'd decided to do our next boat trip, which was the ferry to Hel. Gdansk and Gdynia are in a lagoon and Hel is at the furthest point on the peninsula. We woke to a lovely morning, so after a quick breakfast, we set off for the pier in Gdynia to catch the 10:30 ferry. This time we caught a bus, as it was quicker and more direct than the train. Once again, the transport proved to be great: fast, clean, modern and efficient.
Gydinia pier is the usual tourist trap with dozens of small shops all selling the same things, but it was lively and colourful. What made it different was all the large craft moored up to it and there was even a very fine many-masted sailing ship plus a kind of mock Spanish galleon.
Masted sailing ships on the pier
view across the harbour at Gdynia
The serious stuff (modern marina) in GdyniaThe trip to Hel was fun. We sat in the bows of the catamaran with several other passengers as we ploughed our way across the lagoon to the peninsula. It was beautiful although quite cold, but I realised as we were going that I am a river and canal girl. I had that feeling of 'seen one sea, seen 'em all' as there isn't very much to occupy the eyes other than the horizon with a few big container ships passing by. Give me the excitement of locks, passing barges and beautiful scenery close by any time.
Hel itself wasn't hell at all and was a pretty place, albeit heaving with tourists. No sooner had we arrived than we were lured into doing another boat trip by a friendly skipper who offered Koos a private view of his tugboat's engine. Well, we couldn't refuse and spent another hour or so cruising around the lagoon during which we slipped briefly out into the Baltic Sea. Woohoo!
Back in Hel, we wandered round, had coffee, an ice or two and then pottered down to the station for the return trip to Gdynia. Appealing though it is, Hel is for tourists, not sinners, and the town is dedicated to selling fridge magnets, hats and key rings telling us so – from one end of its main street to the other.
Sitting in the bows of the catamaran
Entrance to the harbour in Hel
An attractive sight
And then onto another boat out into the lagoon again
Speaks for itself really, doesn't it?
A colourful sight in Hel
Fiery Hel? Maybe not, but vivid all the same The train trip back to Gdynia was uneventful, but interesting in that the whole of the narrow strip that forms the peninsula is effectively one big camp site. It sprawls along endless dunes interspersed with villages where there are chalets and other holiday accommodation. This seems to be where the Poles go on holiday. I found it pleasantly informal and could imagine how nice it would be to relax there in good summer weather. It took us an hour to do the entire ride back to Gdynia, which was, coincidentally, the same as the boat trip.Then we went a bit further on to Sopot, another of Poland's favourite holiday spots. Rather upmarket and boasting another fine pier that you have to pay to enter, Sopot is Poland's answer to the Belgian coast. Full of rather genteel hotels and guest houses, this is where the well-to-do come to enjoy the seaside in comfort. Still, I realise it can't have done anything much for me as I didn't take a single photo of it. Sorry Sopot! It probably didn't help that it was raining by this time, so we headed back to our hostel to cook supper and turn in for the night. We were getting quite fond of our cosy neighbourhood and it really felt like going home.
The following day was our last, so we decided to spend it in Gdansk, the northern Polish equivalent of Krakow. It's a lovely place, but like many beautiful cities, it was very touristy. Koos and I infinitely preferred the back streets with their less obvious but quietly captivating charms. I could describe it all, but I think I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Much of Gdansk is reconstructed 'fake' old buildings, but some of the centre is genuinely old and there are still some wartime ruins yet to be restored.
A shipyard on the outskirts of Gdansk
A renovated old warehouse
Tourist photo opportunity
Another restored old tower
One of the backstreets we so enjoyed
Looking the other way
My favourite view of all
The lesser known gems of Gdansk
in the reconstructed harbour area. All these buildings are new
One of the most famous views in the city and justifiably so This time with a few more boats on the move
A ruin still to be renovated
In the central square, classical beauty Almost Flemish
There nowt wrong with this. Magnificent, isn't it?
Just a channel on the way from the station
Red brick was definitely in here. The fine Jacek Toweroriginally built for the city's defence, now used by
a photgraphic business
The market hall. An amazing building in daily use by a variety of shops
And for some, it's a hard life
And for others, an interesting one
While others play hard to make their crust
They were really really good. I enjoyed the free concertWe didn't actually spend too long in the centre and after meandering around the elegant back streets, we decided to go back to our hostel. That evening, though, we had the biggest surprise of the trip. Koos had mentioned to me that there was a beach and a pier close to Gdynia Orłowo, so we decided to take a walk down the hill to see what it was like. The evening was balmy and ideal for a stroll. Even so, we decided not to take cameras and just walk. I suppose it took us fifteen minutes to get there, so not much, but we were completely unprepared for how lovely it was.
The road to the beach was lined with glorious trees that ended right at the sea front where the pier stretched out ahead. To each side there were small beaches backed by steep tree covered cliffs. It was intimate, picturesque and very attractive. Busy with couples (notably several brides and grooms on photo shoots) as well as people with dogs simply strolling or sitting chatting, I was really charmed. And we both regretted leaving our cameras behind. Still, the internet is a wonderful source and I've found a couple of photos to show what it was like.
Thanks to Karen64 for this photo
I couldn't find the photographer of this one, but it's lovelyand shows the fishing boats that are always 'parked' there
Again, no photographer, but this is the pier. I'll removethese photos later as they aren't mine. They are all
visible on Google search, though
By the time we'd walked back to the hostel, it was getting dark and it seemed the right moment to call it a day, and a week. This was the end of our journey as the following morning we were up early to go to the airport. All told, it was a fantastic trip and I enjoyed every minute of it. Travelling is not always relaxing, but it's full of wonderful experiences, isn't it?
I'll leave you with these thoughts and images now and wish you a great week, allemaal.
It'll be back to normal posts and stories next time.
September 25, 2019
A walk along the river Brda at Bydgoszcz
Work has started again with a vengeance and when I'm not teaching, I'm preparing materials for my courses. As a result I don't have much time this week and I've missed my usual weekly posting. I've been wanting to finish off my Polish travel story, but even that will need to be curtailed a little (I can hear you all breathe again), so I thought that for this week, I'd just take you on a walk along the River Brda at Bydgoszcz with me.
We stopped at Bydgoszcz on our way to Gdansk as Koos wanted to show me the canalised river with its rather special former lock, and I must say I was very glad we did because it was really lovely. Bydgoszcz is a fine city, not quite as charming as Torun, but maybe that was the weather. As you can see from these photos, it was cloudy and quite cool, so that always changes the atmosphere. It even rained a bit but not enough to affect our walk.
I love waterways and locks and to my delight, there was a boat going through the one we came to as soon as we reached the waterside. Follow the path with me and enjoy scenery.
Looking upstream from the lock
A small park near the lock. The glass topped box behind the
bin is full of books that you can exchange. A mini library
See the boat in the lock? What a nice surprise!
Rising to the upper reach
It was a trip boat and we were sorry we didn't have time to do an excursion
I would have loved that
And off she goes with a throng of happy passengers
This is the interesting bit. I hope you can read the text below as it explain
it all.
Essentially the in and out of this lock were on the same side as the river
and canal were split into two levels at the time
The old lock is no longer in use but has been kept as a monument. The new
lock we saw has replaced it and has rerouted the river to make the transition
easier
The new and the old lock from the other side
Then we crossed a few streets to find the real river
and how charming it was
By this time, it was quite gloomy, hence the dark scene, but it was lovely to walk
the path and see the students on the bench enjoying being outside
Looking back along the river from a café terrace where we stopped for coffee
Zooming out a bit.
This was from a bridge over the river showing where the canal and Brda
merge again. You can see the weir to the left
The cleanup crew on the water. Nice job!
Looking downstream where there are trip boats and restaurant boats moored
Lovely to see the water being used by canoeists too
Some of the grander buildings that line the riverAfter our walk, we strolled back up the hill to the station and continued on our way to Gdansk, but this was a lovely interlude. I think I could bear another visit to Bydgoszcz, so maybe one day I'll persuade Koos to go back and we can do a boat trip and explore more of the city.
Enjoy the rest of your week allemaal! The final stage will be coming soon.
We stopped at Bydgoszcz on our way to Gdansk as Koos wanted to show me the canalised river with its rather special former lock, and I must say I was very glad we did because it was really lovely. Bydgoszcz is a fine city, not quite as charming as Torun, but maybe that was the weather. As you can see from these photos, it was cloudy and quite cool, so that always changes the atmosphere. It even rained a bit but not enough to affect our walk.
I love waterways and locks and to my delight, there was a boat going through the one we came to as soon as we reached the waterside. Follow the path with me and enjoy scenery.
Looking upstream from the lock
A small park near the lock. The glass topped box behind thebin is full of books that you can exchange. A mini library
See the boat in the lock? What a nice surprise!
Rising to the upper reach
It was a trip boat and we were sorry we didn't have time to do an excursionI would have loved that
And off she goes with a throng of happy passengers
This is the interesting bit. I hope you can read the text below as it explainit all.
Essentially the in and out of this lock were on the same side as the riverand canal were split into two levels at the time
The old lock is no longer in use but has been kept as a monument. The newlock we saw has replaced it and has rerouted the river to make the transition
easier
The new and the old lock from the other side
Then we crossed a few streets to find the real riverand how charming it was
By this time, it was quite gloomy, hence the dark scene, but it was lovely to walkthe path and see the students on the bench enjoying being outside
Looking back along the river from a café terrace where we stopped for coffee
Zooming out a bit.
This was from a bridge over the river showing where the canal and Brdamerge again. You can see the weir to the left
The cleanup crew on the water. Nice job!
Looking downstream where there are trip boats and restaurant boats moored
Lovely to see the water being used by canoeists too
Some of the grander buildings that line the riverAfter our walk, we strolled back up the hill to the station and continued on our way to Gdansk, but this was a lovely interlude. I think I could bear another visit to Bydgoszcz, so maybe one day I'll persuade Koos to go back and we can do a boat trip and explore more of the city.Enjoy the rest of your week allemaal! The final stage will be coming soon.
September 13, 2019
Taking time in Torun
To continue from my last post, we left the Polish town of Elbląg on Saturday morning. The station was a good couple of kilometres from the centre of town, but in an unusual fit of courage, we decided to walk, so of course by the time we arrived, my rucksack had gained another 5 kilos.
The train journey from Elbląg to Torun was a long one. We first had to go south east to Olsztyn on a regional train and then transfer to an intercity train to Torun. Let me just say here the trains are really good, and if anything, the regional train was smarter, cleaner and more comfortable than the Intercity. I was impressed.
Altogether, the journey took three and a half hours, but we had more than an hour's break in Olsztyn which added to the overall time. We'd thought to have a look around this intermediate (and apparently fine) town, but after we'd stood in line to buy our train tickets to Torun, half an hour of our exploring time had disappeared, so we just popped over the road to the local McDonald's for a cup of coffee, as you do. Once back on the train which sped at Intercity speed through the countryside, the scenery became flatter and less picturesque than the area around Elbląg, but it was still fine in the golden light of an increasingly hot day. I noticed that there were few fences or hedges between the fields in this part of Poland, although there were some ditches for drainage. It made me wonder how farmers distinguish whose land is whose.
Torun station was outside the city centre and across the Vistula river. I was glad Koos had been there before as we had quite a trek across town to find our lodgings for the next two nights. Torun is a large city with spreading suburbs, and although our room was in an old riverside district, it took a bus and two trams for us to reach it.
The older suburb in Torun, where we stayedWhen we finally arrived, it was around 5:30 p.m. and we were briefly perplexed by being unable to find the self catering apartment we'd booked into. The numbering system was a bit odd and so we found ourselves knocking on a door which opened to reveal an elderly man in his string vest. As you might imagine, this perplexed all three of us.
Fortunately, the concierge of our apartment must have seen us wandering around looking lost and the next thing we knew we were being beckoned into the inner courtyard of the next door building. Well, when we followed her through, I thought we'd entered some kind of paradise. Unlike the rather forbidding street frontage, this inner sanctum was picture perfect as you can see from the photos below. I would never have believed such a charming garden and cottage could have been hidden within. I was instantly charmed, as was Koos.
We followed our hostess up the stairs and she showed us our room in the apartment. This we would have to ourselves, but we would have to share the two bathrooms with the occupants of the other four rooms (mostly young couples who regarded us oldies a bit curiously). There was also a kitchen where we could make our own meals. Everything was spotlessly clean albeit on the small side. Koos and I had to pull our tummies in to pass each other in the corridor and even in the bedroom (don't think about that too much...haha).
I loved the neighbourhood around our accommodation. It was home to an eclectic mix of people and made distinctive by its older apartment blocks, trams and tree-lined streets. At the bottom of the road was a beautiful park with magnificent towering trees, and on the other side of the park was the Vistula river with a harbour and shipyard that we explored on our first evening before even venturing into the city. We also found a handily placed Biedronka supermarket (the Polish equivalent to the ubiquitous Spar) around the corner where we bought provisions for cooking our meals.
Long view of the harbour and slipway
Harbour slipway
Entrance to the harbour from the Vistula
Harbour work boats
A fantasy barge behind the small work boatThe next morning, we walked to the city. It was quite a distance, but the day was fresh and it hadn't got too hot – not yet anyway. What we wanted to do was see the medieval town and then take a boat trip on the river. After that, well, we'd see. We had the whole of Sunday for Torun as we were only going to be leaving on Monday morning.
Walking towards the main square
I must admit I wasn't expecting it to be quite so beautiful. Perhaps the weather helped, but to me Torun was one of Poland's gems, if not its diamond. Elbląg was delightful, but effectively new; Torun was the real deal. I've been to Krakow, Katowice and Wroclaw. I've also been to Gliwice. Of all these, I think Torun was the most impressive (and even Gdansk didn't eclipse this feeling). It is believed to be one of the oldest cities in the country dating back to the 8th century and you can read its history here.
To give it context, I felt the city had a similar setting to Krakow, sitting as it did on the banks of a wide river, but its city walls and gates looked somehow more impressive. On the other hand its charming tree-lined streets, and colourful buildings had an intimacy that Krakow lacked. Added to all this, it had the ruined remains of its old castle, which drew me like a magnet, not to mention its own version of the leaning tower of Pisa.
Renovated city wall
An old and renovated gateway
Leaning tower of Torun
City gate from the riverside
Remains of the castle. Guided tours into the dungeons are given!
Original city gate with adaptations
Remains of the former castle
Remains of the old castle
Section of old city wall
One of the several city gatesWhile we were there in all that glorious sunsine, the city streets were lovely too: colourful, bustling and elegant with cobbled roads and pavement cafés galore. There was even a planetarium dedicated to Copernicus (too lofty for the likes of us - sorry), a rather fine looking prison (fit for noble sinners) and Rolls Royces for carrying star struck tourists (especially those who'd been to the planetarium) around the city.
And then we had our boat trip on the wide, flowing waters of the Vistula River. It looked a bit shallow to me, so I was relieved the skipper had clearly done the trip once or twice. I had a feeling he had every sandbank and hazard embedded in his brain and could probably have done the trip in his sleep; probably just as well, as he looked more than suspiciously relaxed at times.
<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman \(Body CS\)"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman \(Body CS\)"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.5pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.5pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman \(Body CS\)"; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page WordSection1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style></div></div><br />We arrived back at the jetty around midday, so we still had the entire afternoon ahead of us. What to do when it was so hot? The temperature had risen to the mid thirties and with a high humidity level too, we weren't feeling inclined to walk much more. The solution? Tram rides. We each bought a 24 hour ticket, which meant we could go anywhere we liked and still be able to take public transport to the station the next day on the same ticket.<br /><br />There were only three tram lines and that afternoon, we travelled the length and breadth of two of them. It was interesting to see how extensive the suburbs were, and also how new. There were rows and rows of low rise apartment blocks in streets with no trees. They must have been very hot as there seemed to be no shade at all.<br /><br />At the end of one line, we found the university, quietly slumbering in the afternoon heat with no students about except a young man trying to teach his girlfriend how to ride a scooter. At the other end of the line, we got off at a <i>pętla (</i>loop), effectively the terminus, which was in the middle of a field. Remembering similar tram lines in the Katowice area, this seemed to me a quintessentially Polish spot.<br /><br />By this time, we were all travelled out, so we took another tram back to our neighbourhood, where we sat on a cool terrace with an even cooler beer before going home for a meal. That evening, we took another walk through the local park in the dark. It was calm and exuded a benign kind of welcome until the first spots of rain drove us back to our lodgings.<br /><br />To our surprise, we found the outer door of the apartment building closed, but never mind (we thought), we had the entry code. Well alarm set in when it didn't work. Perhaps we'd got it wrong? Several different permutations of the numbers plus several repeats of the one we thought it was still didn't produce any results. Panic. Well, I panicked; Koos didn't, mainly because he remembered he had the concierge's phone number on his phone. He called; she answered. Phew!<br /><br />The next problem arose when she couldn't understand any English and had no idea what we were asking, but then someone had the bright idea of speaking German, which is definitely the go-to language in this area. What a relief that was. Koos is fluent in German, so in no time, the light had dawned and the issue was resolved. We'd missed a vital symbol at the front of the code and so the door had remained firmly shut. Putting my visions of a night under a cardboard box back in their place, we retired gratefully to our room. The next day, we would be off again for the last stage of our trip: to Gdynia and Gdansk via Bydgoszcz.<br /><br />So, that was it. Congratulations for getting to the end of this interminable travel blog, <i>allemaal</i>!<br />Sorry it's so very long, but as you can see, there was a lot to get in. In a nutshell, Torun is gorgeous and so well worth a visit...there, I could have left it at that, couldn't I?
The train journey from Elbląg to Torun was a long one. We first had to go south east to Olsztyn on a regional train and then transfer to an intercity train to Torun. Let me just say here the trains are really good, and if anything, the regional train was smarter, cleaner and more comfortable than the Intercity. I was impressed.
Altogether, the journey took three and a half hours, but we had more than an hour's break in Olsztyn which added to the overall time. We'd thought to have a look around this intermediate (and apparently fine) town, but after we'd stood in line to buy our train tickets to Torun, half an hour of our exploring time had disappeared, so we just popped over the road to the local McDonald's for a cup of coffee, as you do. Once back on the train which sped at Intercity speed through the countryside, the scenery became flatter and less picturesque than the area around Elbląg, but it was still fine in the golden light of an increasingly hot day. I noticed that there were few fences or hedges between the fields in this part of Poland, although there were some ditches for drainage. It made me wonder how farmers distinguish whose land is whose.
Torun station was outside the city centre and across the Vistula river. I was glad Koos had been there before as we had quite a trek across town to find our lodgings for the next two nights. Torun is a large city with spreading suburbs, and although our room was in an old riverside district, it took a bus and two trams for us to reach it.
The older suburb in Torun, where we stayedWhen we finally arrived, it was around 5:30 p.m. and we were briefly perplexed by being unable to find the self catering apartment we'd booked into. The numbering system was a bit odd and so we found ourselves knocking on a door which opened to reveal an elderly man in his string vest. As you might imagine, this perplexed all three of us. Fortunately, the concierge of our apartment must have seen us wandering around looking lost and the next thing we knew we were being beckoned into the inner courtyard of the next door building. Well, when we followed her through, I thought we'd entered some kind of paradise. Unlike the rather forbidding street frontage, this inner sanctum was picture perfect as you can see from the photos below. I would never have believed such a charming garden and cottage could have been hidden within. I was instantly charmed, as was Koos.
We followed our hostess up the stairs and she showed us our room in the apartment. This we would have to ourselves, but we would have to share the two bathrooms with the occupants of the other four rooms (mostly young couples who regarded us oldies a bit curiously). There was also a kitchen where we could make our own meals. Everything was spotlessly clean albeit on the small side. Koos and I had to pull our tummies in to pass each other in the corridor and even in the bedroom (don't think about that too much...haha).
I loved the neighbourhood around our accommodation. It was home to an eclectic mix of people and made distinctive by its older apartment blocks, trams and tree-lined streets. At the bottom of the road was a beautiful park with magnificent towering trees, and on the other side of the park was the Vistula river with a harbour and shipyard that we explored on our first evening before even venturing into the city. We also found a handily placed Biedronka supermarket (the Polish equivalent to the ubiquitous Spar) around the corner where we bought provisions for cooking our meals.
Long view of the harbour and slipway
Harbour slipway
Entrance to the harbour from the Vistula
Harbour work boats
A fantasy barge behind the small work boatThe next morning, we walked to the city. It was quite a distance, but the day was fresh and it hadn't got too hot – not yet anyway. What we wanted to do was see the medieval town and then take a boat trip on the river. After that, well, we'd see. We had the whole of Sunday for Torun as we were only going to be leaving on Monday morning.
Walking towards the main squareI must admit I wasn't expecting it to be quite so beautiful. Perhaps the weather helped, but to me Torun was one of Poland's gems, if not its diamond. Elbląg was delightful, but effectively new; Torun was the real deal. I've been to Krakow, Katowice and Wroclaw. I've also been to Gliwice. Of all these, I think Torun was the most impressive (and even Gdansk didn't eclipse this feeling). It is believed to be one of the oldest cities in the country dating back to the 8th century and you can read its history here.
To give it context, I felt the city had a similar setting to Krakow, sitting as it did on the banks of a wide river, but its city walls and gates looked somehow more impressive. On the other hand its charming tree-lined streets, and colourful buildings had an intimacy that Krakow lacked. Added to all this, it had the ruined remains of its old castle, which drew me like a magnet, not to mention its own version of the leaning tower of Pisa.
Renovated city wall
An old and renovated gateway
Leaning tower of Torun
City gate from the riverside
Remains of the castle. Guided tours into the dungeons are given!
Original city gate with adaptations
Remains of the former castle
Remains of the old castle
Section of old city wall
One of the several city gatesWhile we were there in all that glorious sunsine, the city streets were lovely too: colourful, bustling and elegant with cobbled roads and pavement cafés galore. There was even a planetarium dedicated to Copernicus (too lofty for the likes of us - sorry), a rather fine looking prison (fit for noble sinners) and Rolls Royces for carrying star struck tourists (especially those who'd been to the planetarium) around the city.
And then we had our boat trip on the wide, flowing waters of the Vistula River. It looked a bit shallow to me, so I was relieved the skipper had clearly done the trip once or twice. I had a feeling he had every sandbank and hazard embedded in his brain and could probably have done the trip in his sleep; probably just as well, as he looked more than suspiciously relaxed at times.
<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman \(Body CS\)"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-alt:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman \(Body CS\)"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.5pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.5pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman \(Body CS\)"; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page WordSection1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style></div></div><br />We arrived back at the jetty around midday, so we still had the entire afternoon ahead of us. What to do when it was so hot? The temperature had risen to the mid thirties and with a high humidity level too, we weren't feeling inclined to walk much more. The solution? Tram rides. We each bought a 24 hour ticket, which meant we could go anywhere we liked and still be able to take public transport to the station the next day on the same ticket.<br /><br />There were only three tram lines and that afternoon, we travelled the length and breadth of two of them. It was interesting to see how extensive the suburbs were, and also how new. There were rows and rows of low rise apartment blocks in streets with no trees. They must have been very hot as there seemed to be no shade at all.<br /><br />At the end of one line, we found the university, quietly slumbering in the afternoon heat with no students about except a young man trying to teach his girlfriend how to ride a scooter. At the other end of the line, we got off at a <i>pętla (</i>loop), effectively the terminus, which was in the middle of a field. Remembering similar tram lines in the Katowice area, this seemed to me a quintessentially Polish spot.<br /><br />By this time, we were all travelled out, so we took another tram back to our neighbourhood, where we sat on a cool terrace with an even cooler beer before going home for a meal. That evening, we took another walk through the local park in the dark. It was calm and exuded a benign kind of welcome until the first spots of rain drove us back to our lodgings.<br /><br />To our surprise, we found the outer door of the apartment building closed, but never mind (we thought), we had the entry code. Well alarm set in when it didn't work. Perhaps we'd got it wrong? Several different permutations of the numbers plus several repeats of the one we thought it was still didn't produce any results. Panic. Well, I panicked; Koos didn't, mainly because he remembered he had the concierge's phone number on his phone. He called; she answered. Phew!<br /><br />The next problem arose when she couldn't understand any English and had no idea what we were asking, but then someone had the bright idea of speaking German, which is definitely the go-to language in this area. What a relief that was. Koos is fluent in German, so in no time, the light had dawned and the issue was resolved. We'd missed a vital symbol at the front of the code and so the door had remained firmly shut. Putting my visions of a night under a cardboard box back in their place, we retired gratefully to our room. The next day, we would be off again for the last stage of our trip: to Gdynia and Gdansk via Bydgoszcz.<br /><br />So, that was it. Congratulations for getting to the end of this interminable travel blog, <i>allemaal</i>!<br />Sorry it's so very long, but as you can see, there was a lot to get in. In a nutshell, Torun is gorgeous and so well worth a visit...there, I could have left it at that, couldn't I?
September 7, 2019
Planes, trains, boats and things: a trip through northern Poland – part 1
I'm later than ever this week, but that's because we've been away and travelling light, so I only had my tablet with me.
I don't know about you, but I am incapable of typing anything more than a few comments on a touch screen keyboard. Even then I make so many mistakes I spend more time correcting what I've written than writing it. But I digress as usual. What it's meant is that I haven't managed to write my usual blog (a.k.a waffle).
Still, I hope it's worth waiting for because we've had the most wonderful time. I wouldn't really call it a relaxing week. When you're tramping from train to bus to tram, and much of that time with a rucksack that seems to start out light but gets heavier with every step, the whole exercise can be quite tiring. But it's been oh so worth it in the richness of the experience. I'll divide the trip into three posts (or maybe four) as there's so much to tell and show, I couldn't possibly fit it into one. As it is, this will probably be too long (as usual, I hear you think).
Anyway, I've long wanted to go to the Elblag Canal. I saw a video of it a few years ago and decided that one day I would have to get there. The canal's five inclined planes are almost unique navigational devices and they are a monument to 19th century engineering. It was definitely at the top of my bucket list. Koos beat me to it earlier this year, but since he said he didn't mind doing it again, we made it our first stop on this trip.
After flying to Gdansk courtesy of Wizzair, we took the train to Elblag, a surprisingly long journey of around two hours from the airport (taking transfers and waiting times into account). I tend to forget Poland is such a large country and distances that look just a hop and a skip on the map can be much further in reality. Add to it that the train doesn't take a direct route, it seems even further. We arrived to what appeared to be the beginnings of a celebration and watched with interest as market stalls of the arts and crafts type were being set up in the attractive main streets. Elblag was severely damaged during the war and aftermath, but its old town has been beautifully recreated in the traditional style. We were lucky to be staying right in its centre.
It transpired we had arrived at the beginning of the Breads Festival, an event held to mark the end of the summer holidays. It was certainly a feast for the eyes with the locally produced honeys, cheeses and (of course) breads on display. Here are a few photos of the street market.
Most of those beautiful town houses are new, but here are a couple that are genuinely old: the original market place clock tower and the church, which is undergoing restoration.
The following day, Friday, dawned clear, sunny and hot. We'd booked a trip on the canal and were up early to walk the few hundred metres to the quay where the boats awaited us. It seems there are always two boats moored in Elblag and another two at the end of the stretch of canal with the five inclined planes we were due to ascend. It takes the whole morning to do the thirty-six odd kilometres, so as two boats leave Elblag, the other two do the return journey ready to turn round and do the reverse run in the afternoon. The video shows what it's like to descend one of the inclined planes; we would be ascending and I couldn't wait.
I was so excited I pestered Koos to make sure we were there early. In fact the two boats were scheduled to leave at 09:15 and 09:35. We were booked on the second one, so we watched as others boarded the first and took their leave. They wouldn't let us on the earlier boat even though I asked. "No," the skipper said firmly. "We have full." I smiled. It was nice of him to try and speak English. I couldn't have said that in Polish for sure.
Our boat was Marabut (like the video)
Passengers boarding
A prospective passenger checks the details
Maybe next time? Dogs aren't allowed, sadlyThe trip itself was just magical. We wound our way along the very pretty canal until we reached lake Druzno. This is a magnificent nature reserve dedicated to the conservation of bird life and nature. The channel through the lake is carefully marked, a necessary guide as I'm sure it's too shallow in many places.
As we crossed it, there were carpets of lilies, walls of reeds and a profusion of bird life. With the sunlight sparkling on the water, it was a haven of peace and tranquillity. Once we were off the lake, though, the excitement began. We still had to follow a few kilometres of canal before we reached the first of the inclined planes, so the waiting added to the thrill when we saw the first one up ahead.
I've been down the huge 1700m slope of Ronquières in Belgium, but that is designed for commercial use and you trundle down (or up) hill in a huge bath on wheels, so you stay in the water. Here in Elblag, the boat manoeuvres into a cradle that sits under water. This is then pulled out and up onto the rails, so it's like travelling up hill above the ground. A huge slipway, in fact. Amazing. The size is quite restrictive (a maximum of 2m 80cm at the boat's base) and sadly neither of our barges would fit in the cradle, so joining a passenger boat is the only way for us to experience them.
I must say the first of the slopes on our trip was definitely the most nerve wracking as it felt quite unsteady, but it wasn't the steepest. Luckily by the time we reached that one (number 4), I was convinced it was all quite safe.
The scenery was gorgeous and we were so lucky with the weather, which was wall to wall sunshine the whole day. We watched out for the buildings housing the big water wheels that drove the pulleys by means of cables. Then the water used for the pulley mechanism flowed into ducts. It then flowed down hill to be fed into the level below, thereby conserving the canal depths. It was fascinating to see how it all worked.
I love mechanical constructions and this one really appealed to me. At first sight, it looked really simple, but it must have taken a great engineering mind to conceive of it in the first place (said to be Georg Steenke, apparently of Dutch extraction).
The whole trip from beginning to end took just under four and a half hours. We were then taken in buses back to Elblag, a ride of less than half an hour, which just tells you something about the pace of boat travel.
Apologies for those who have seen these on Facebook, but here are some of the photos I took:
View leaving Elblag
Entering lake Druzno
A wildlife paradise in Lake Druzno
One of the other trip boats on the return journey
coming down the plane
And on it goes
Pulley at the lower level
Quite a view from the top of the slope
Pulleys and cables driven by the water wheel (housing just visible on the left
At the end of the journey, our boat returning with a new load of passengers
The obelisk memorial to Georg Steenke
Apparently buried during the war, but resurrected and placed here in his honourOn arrival back in Elblag, it felt as if we'd been in a different world, and so we had. Being on the canals again was like being in a kind of parallel universe.
Elblag was in the throes of its festival and the focus was on food and sampling the different goodies on offer. We were surprised how late into the evening it continued and then how difficult it was to find somewhere to eat. The evening before, we'd eaten at the hotel, a luxury we couldn't really afford to repeat. On Friday evening, we battled to find even a snack, but we managed it eventually, in a side street café that was also very busy. Unlike our hotel meal, which was delicious, this wasn't anything to write home about, but we counted ourselves lucky under the circumstances.
We went to sleep that night with the sounds of the market packing up below us, but content in the knowledge we'd had a wonderful day and experienced something that was more than special in our boaty lives. The Elblag Canal isn't widely known outside Poland (unless you're into boats, that is), but it should be. It's a marvellous day out for everyone and the Poles take full advantage of it.
The next morning, we packed our bags and headed for the station. We were on our way again, this time to Torun, which I'll post about next time.
Have a great weekend allemaal!
I don't know about you, but I am incapable of typing anything more than a few comments on a touch screen keyboard. Even then I make so many mistakes I spend more time correcting what I've written than writing it. But I digress as usual. What it's meant is that I haven't managed to write my usual blog (a.k.a waffle).
Still, I hope it's worth waiting for because we've had the most wonderful time. I wouldn't really call it a relaxing week. When you're tramping from train to bus to tram, and much of that time with a rucksack that seems to start out light but gets heavier with every step, the whole exercise can be quite tiring. But it's been oh so worth it in the richness of the experience. I'll divide the trip into three posts (or maybe four) as there's so much to tell and show, I couldn't possibly fit it into one. As it is, this will probably be too long (as usual, I hear you think).
Anyway, I've long wanted to go to the Elblag Canal. I saw a video of it a few years ago and decided that one day I would have to get there. The canal's five inclined planes are almost unique navigational devices and they are a monument to 19th century engineering. It was definitely at the top of my bucket list. Koos beat me to it earlier this year, but since he said he didn't mind doing it again, we made it our first stop on this trip.
After flying to Gdansk courtesy of Wizzair, we took the train to Elblag, a surprisingly long journey of around two hours from the airport (taking transfers and waiting times into account). I tend to forget Poland is such a large country and distances that look just a hop and a skip on the map can be much further in reality. Add to it that the train doesn't take a direct route, it seems even further. We arrived to what appeared to be the beginnings of a celebration and watched with interest as market stalls of the arts and crafts type were being set up in the attractive main streets. Elblag was severely damaged during the war and aftermath, but its old town has been beautifully recreated in the traditional style. We were lucky to be staying right in its centre.
It transpired we had arrived at the beginning of the Breads Festival, an event held to mark the end of the summer holidays. It was certainly a feast for the eyes with the locally produced honeys, cheeses and (of course) breads on display. Here are a few photos of the street market.
Most of those beautiful town houses are new, but here are a couple that are genuinely old: the original market place clock tower and the church, which is undergoing restoration.
The following day, Friday, dawned clear, sunny and hot. We'd booked a trip on the canal and were up early to walk the few hundred metres to the quay where the boats awaited us. It seems there are always two boats moored in Elblag and another two at the end of the stretch of canal with the five inclined planes we were due to ascend. It takes the whole morning to do the thirty-six odd kilometres, so as two boats leave Elblag, the other two do the return journey ready to turn round and do the reverse run in the afternoon. The video shows what it's like to descend one of the inclined planes; we would be ascending and I couldn't wait.
I was so excited I pestered Koos to make sure we were there early. In fact the two boats were scheduled to leave at 09:15 and 09:35. We were booked on the second one, so we watched as others boarded the first and took their leave. They wouldn't let us on the earlier boat even though I asked. "No," the skipper said firmly. "We have full." I smiled. It was nice of him to try and speak English. I couldn't have said that in Polish for sure.
Our boat was Marabut (like the video)
Passengers boarding
A prospective passenger checks the details
Maybe next time? Dogs aren't allowed, sadlyThe trip itself was just magical. We wound our way along the very pretty canal until we reached lake Druzno. This is a magnificent nature reserve dedicated to the conservation of bird life and nature. The channel through the lake is carefully marked, a necessary guide as I'm sure it's too shallow in many places.As we crossed it, there were carpets of lilies, walls of reeds and a profusion of bird life. With the sunlight sparkling on the water, it was a haven of peace and tranquillity. Once we were off the lake, though, the excitement began. We still had to follow a few kilometres of canal before we reached the first of the inclined planes, so the waiting added to the thrill when we saw the first one up ahead.
I've been down the huge 1700m slope of Ronquières in Belgium, but that is designed for commercial use and you trundle down (or up) hill in a huge bath on wheels, so you stay in the water. Here in Elblag, the boat manoeuvres into a cradle that sits under water. This is then pulled out and up onto the rails, so it's like travelling up hill above the ground. A huge slipway, in fact. Amazing. The size is quite restrictive (a maximum of 2m 80cm at the boat's base) and sadly neither of our barges would fit in the cradle, so joining a passenger boat is the only way for us to experience them.
I must say the first of the slopes on our trip was definitely the most nerve wracking as it felt quite unsteady, but it wasn't the steepest. Luckily by the time we reached that one (number 4), I was convinced it was all quite safe.
The scenery was gorgeous and we were so lucky with the weather, which was wall to wall sunshine the whole day. We watched out for the buildings housing the big water wheels that drove the pulleys by means of cables. Then the water used for the pulley mechanism flowed into ducts. It then flowed down hill to be fed into the level below, thereby conserving the canal depths. It was fascinating to see how it all worked.
I love mechanical constructions and this one really appealed to me. At first sight, it looked really simple, but it must have taken a great engineering mind to conceive of it in the first place (said to be Georg Steenke, apparently of Dutch extraction).
The whole trip from beginning to end took just under four and a half hours. We were then taken in buses back to Elblag, a ride of less than half an hour, which just tells you something about the pace of boat travel.
Apologies for those who have seen these on Facebook, but here are some of the photos I took:
View leaving Elblag
Entering lake Druzno
A wildlife paradise in Lake Druzno
One of the other trip boats on the return journeycoming down the plane
And on it goes
Pulley at the lower level
Quite a view from the top of the slope
Pulleys and cables driven by the water wheel (housing just visible on the leftAt the end of the journey, our boat returning with a new load of passengers
The obelisk memorial to Georg SteenkeApparently buried during the war, but resurrected and placed here in his honourOn arrival back in Elblag, it felt as if we'd been in a different world, and so we had. Being on the canals again was like being in a kind of parallel universe.
Elblag was in the throes of its festival and the focus was on food and sampling the different goodies on offer. We were surprised how late into the evening it continued and then how difficult it was to find somewhere to eat. The evening before, we'd eaten at the hotel, a luxury we couldn't really afford to repeat. On Friday evening, we battled to find even a snack, but we managed it eventually, in a side street café that was also very busy. Unlike our hotel meal, which was delicious, this wasn't anything to write home about, but we counted ourselves lucky under the circumstances.
We went to sleep that night with the sounds of the market packing up below us, but content in the knowledge we'd had a wonderful day and experienced something that was more than special in our boaty lives. The Elblag Canal isn't widely known outside Poland (unless you're into boats, that is), but it should be. It's a marvellous day out for everyone and the Poles take full advantage of it.
The next morning, we packed our bags and headed for the station. We were on our way again, this time to Torun, which I'll post about next time.
Have a great weekend allemaal!
August 24, 2019
The great engine exchange day
Thursday was the big engine exchange day for our Hennie H. I can honestly say it all went well, until the tow boat whose crane we were using lifted our old, (and, to our horror, much heavier than we thought) old engine off their deck at a steep angle and oil started pouring out of head....
Well, after leaving a nice pool of it on the loading quay where we were doing the transfer, we got it on the trailer where it was also at an angle. Still, I was comforted to know we had several layers of tarpaulin beneath it, so we didn't worry unduly as we didn't have far to take it. Anyway, we believed there wasn't much oil left in it given the reason it had conked out was because all the oil (we presumed) had run out of the oil cooler. We should have known better...much better.
To cut a long story short, when we lifted the engine off the trailer to store it, the trailer tipped and the oil that had been steadily leaking during our short drive poured onto the road...yes...heart failure time...and there was a lot of it, so a quick brush over with cat litter and sand wasn't going to hack it.
Not only that, we discovered the engine (being as I said so much heavier than we'd thought) had damaged the floor of the trailer too. Since it was being lent to us as a favour, the whole situation was assuming nightmare proportions.
Anyway, I spent hours on Thursday evening cleaning up oil (cat litter, sand, detergent, the whole lot) and the whole day again on Friday (high pressure cleaner), all the time praying no one from the council would come and catch me at it (think massive fine). The upside is that the pavement and road have never been so clean (thank you, high pressure cleaner) but we were both exhausted from all the anxiety and extra work.
Koos went to eat humble pie with the trailer owner who fortunately acknowledged its floor was already rotten, so they came to a mutually acceptable financial agreement. Koos is very good at charm offensives. I think I would have been so overcome with remorse I'd have ended up paying double.
I think I'm getting too old for all this excitement.
Here are a few pics of the exchange process.
Tugboat with hefty crane arrives to help us
Crane in position
Out comes the old engine (we had to cut open the deck)
old engine landed
Then to the loading quay nearby where we had the new engine
on a trailer
new engine hoisted
And lifted onto the tugboat
Which then went back to the HH
Old engine on trailer (note the angle)
New engine on back deck. Lots of preparation and cleaning
to do first.
Well, after leaving a nice pool of it on the loading quay where we were doing the transfer, we got it on the trailer where it was also at an angle. Still, I was comforted to know we had several layers of tarpaulin beneath it, so we didn't worry unduly as we didn't have far to take it. Anyway, we believed there wasn't much oil left in it given the reason it had conked out was because all the oil (we presumed) had run out of the oil cooler. We should have known better...much better.
To cut a long story short, when we lifted the engine off the trailer to store it, the trailer tipped and the oil that had been steadily leaking during our short drive poured onto the road...yes...heart failure time...and there was a lot of it, so a quick brush over with cat litter and sand wasn't going to hack it.
Not only that, we discovered the engine (being as I said so much heavier than we'd thought) had damaged the floor of the trailer too. Since it was being lent to us as a favour, the whole situation was assuming nightmare proportions.
Anyway, I spent hours on Thursday evening cleaning up oil (cat litter, sand, detergent, the whole lot) and the whole day again on Friday (high pressure cleaner), all the time praying no one from the council would come and catch me at it (think massive fine). The upside is that the pavement and road have never been so clean (thank you, high pressure cleaner) but we were both exhausted from all the anxiety and extra work.
Koos went to eat humble pie with the trailer owner who fortunately acknowledged its floor was already rotten, so they came to a mutually acceptable financial agreement. Koos is very good at charm offensives. I think I would have been so overcome with remorse I'd have ended up paying double.
I think I'm getting too old for all this excitement.
Here are a few pics of the exchange process.
Tugboat with hefty crane arrives to help us
Crane in position
Out comes the old engine (we had to cut open the deck)
old engine landedThen to the loading quay nearby where we had the new engineon a trailer
new engine hoisted
And lifted onto the tugboat
Which then went back to the HH
Old engine on trailer (note the angle)
New engine on back deck. Lots of preparation and cleaningto do first.
August 12, 2019
Between the showers
Well it seems summer is taking a break after quite a long period of hot dry weather. August has brought the rain, which is pretty inconvenient as this is the time we are trying to do some much needed boat maintenance.
Gluttons for punishment we are, I know, but we're trying to keep the Hennie H in good order while making arrangements to replace the engine. At the same time, I'm doing my best to smarten up the Vereeniging while Koos instals an alternator to make sure that when we do eventually go faring, we can charge our batteries without using the generator or shore power. Complicated? Yes, it is rather.
You may remember that back at the end of May we bought a second hand replacement engine for the Hennie H. I wrote about the crane we also bought for hoisting it here. I have to say we are more than pleased with this incredible piece of equipment. Considering what it means to us, it was cheap at €150. It has enabled us to lift and turn the engine round in our passage and also to shift it for removing parts. There is no way on earth we could move this beast of a block without it.
The might crane and the new heartUnfortunately, we won't be able to use it for lifting the motor onto and into the engine compartment as there's no room for it on the back deck. So, that's the next hurdle. Meanwhile, Koos has disconnected everything from the old Hanomag, and that's now ready to haul out. I've been the one fetching scalpels spanners, forceps pliers and other necessary surgical instruments with which to prepare it for the transplant. I've also been scraping, sanding and painting those parts of the boat I've been able to attack between the showers.
Then there've been the mad dashes back to the Vereeniging to work on the paintwork there. The weekend before last, I managed to scrape and paint half the foredeck before it rained.
The halfway situationThen during the week, I kept my beady eye on the weather forecast and saw that on Thursday, it would be dry all day, so I booked a leave of absence from the Hennie H and hightailed it up to Rotterdam. After three hours of chipping old tar of the edges (a horrible job that always makes my face burn), and then a couple of hours sanding, I was ready to paint some more. I still haven't finished it, but this is what it looks like so far. The red blotches are where I've applied anti-rust treatment, which I couldn't paint over.
A bit like my skin: shiny with red blotches
Now it looks set to rain for several days, but I'm hoping I can still get a bit more paint on...it's ironic that water is a boat's greatest enemy, isn't it?
One big bright spot in the last week's activities was a trip to Gent that we made last Tuesday to see boating friends we met in France in 2017. Jude and Roger have a cruiser with the brilliant name of 'Beats Working' and they're currently pottering around Belgium at a suitably leisurely pace. We met up with them at their mooring in the centre of my favourite city and shared lots of laughter and fun as well as my first baking attempt in months, a plum and apple tart. It all went down very well (the fun and the fruit).
I said to Koos 'pick your nose or something,' so he did...clot :)
So that's the state of play this week allemaal.
Wishing you all a good week wherever you happen to be and I'll fill you in with our news and views again next week.
Gluttons for punishment we are, I know, but we're trying to keep the Hennie H in good order while making arrangements to replace the engine. At the same time, I'm doing my best to smarten up the Vereeniging while Koos instals an alternator to make sure that when we do eventually go faring, we can charge our batteries without using the generator or shore power. Complicated? Yes, it is rather.
You may remember that back at the end of May we bought a second hand replacement engine for the Hennie H. I wrote about the crane we also bought for hoisting it here. I have to say we are more than pleased with this incredible piece of equipment. Considering what it means to us, it was cheap at €150. It has enabled us to lift and turn the engine round in our passage and also to shift it for removing parts. There is no way on earth we could move this beast of a block without it.
The might crane and the new heartUnfortunately, we won't be able to use it for lifting the motor onto and into the engine compartment as there's no room for it on the back deck. So, that's the next hurdle. Meanwhile, Koos has disconnected everything from the old Hanomag, and that's now ready to haul out. I've been the one fetching scalpels spanners, forceps pliers and other necessary surgical instruments with which to prepare it for the transplant. I've also been scraping, sanding and painting those parts of the boat I've been able to attack between the showers.Then there've been the mad dashes back to the Vereeniging to work on the paintwork there. The weekend before last, I managed to scrape and paint half the foredeck before it rained.
The halfway situationThen during the week, I kept my beady eye on the weather forecast and saw that on Thursday, it would be dry all day, so I booked a leave of absence from the Hennie H and hightailed it up to Rotterdam. After three hours of chipping old tar of the edges (a horrible job that always makes my face burn), and then a couple of hours sanding, I was ready to paint some more. I still haven't finished it, but this is what it looks like so far. The red blotches are where I've applied anti-rust treatment, which I couldn't paint over.
A bit like my skin: shiny with red blotchesNow it looks set to rain for several days, but I'm hoping I can still get a bit more paint on...it's ironic that water is a boat's greatest enemy, isn't it?
One big bright spot in the last week's activities was a trip to Gent that we made last Tuesday to see boating friends we met in France in 2017. Jude and Roger have a cruiser with the brilliant name of 'Beats Working' and they're currently pottering around Belgium at a suitably leisurely pace. We met up with them at their mooring in the centre of my favourite city and shared lots of laughter and fun as well as my first baking attempt in months, a plum and apple tart. It all went down very well (the fun and the fruit).
I said to Koos 'pick your nose or something,' so he did...clot :)So that's the state of play this week allemaal.
Wishing you all a good week wherever you happen to be and I'll fill you in with our news and views again next week.
August 5, 2019
Great encounters of the friendship kind
One of the best things about this internet world in which we live is when we get to meet people we've been communicating with online for real. The last weeks of July gave Koos and me the chance to meet some very special people that we've 'known' for ages, but only via internet connections.
The first were Jill and Gary, fellow boaters that we know from various online barging groups. We've exchanged knowledge, jokes, comments and experiences in these groups for several years and almost met once when visiting other friends, Ann and Olly up in Groningen...well, we passed their barge on a spuddle in Wandering Snail, Ann and Olly's narrowboat. See here.
We kept missing each other while they were on their way across country (they were in Rotterdam when we weren't and vice versa). So, when Gary and Jill arrived in Sas van Gent about three weeks ago, we spent three lovely days meeting them, imbibing large quantities of coffee, walking their gorgeous dogs and generally catching up with our real lives rather than just what we'd shared online. They are wonderful, inspiring people and nothing seems to daunt them.
Their barge is a beautiful craft that was formerly used to deliver to and refill the gas in the big shipping buoys, so it was built with breadth and volume and seems positively palatial in terms of space compared to the Hennie H. It was a very special meeting and we enjoyed it tremendously. As they're on their way back to the UK (and yes, crossing the channel), we don't know if or when we will meet again, so I'm so glad we could do this. Thank you both, Jill and Gary!
The other meeting followed shortly after when I met fellow writer, Stephanie P McKean and former author with Sunpenny Publishing, the company that produced our earlier books. Again, I've missed previous opportunities to meet Steph so knowing she and her husband were coming to Amsterdam was a chance I couldn't let go. Sadly, Koos couldn't come too as it was when he was having his dizziness problems, so I took the train to Amsterdam and sought Steph and Alan out in their hotel.
They are truly delightful people and I had a really special time with them. It was only a few hours, but enough to confirm that Steph is exactly like her internet personality and we got on like a house on fire. She's a hugely talented and prolific writer stemming from Bandera in Texas. She now lives in Scotland, so her books are very international in background and have a great sense of place as well. I can recommend checking out her colourful and lively murder mysteries here.
Alan too is an author of some rollicking good time travel adventures and I've enjoyed those I've read very much. He particularly likes the historical research that he puts into his books so you know when you read them that he's really done his homework. His books are here
Of course we had to take the usual 'author meet-up pics', especially as we don't know if we'll ever have the opportunity to meet again. These are moments we'll all remember, so forgive the happy mugshots.
Next time, I'll be writing about the latest works on both the Vereeniging and the Hennie H, which are making slow progress towards being 'vaarklaar' or 'fareworthy' again. It's all hard work, but then at least it's the summer and while we might be slow, we are getting there!
Have a good week allemaal!
The first were Jill and Gary, fellow boaters that we know from various online barging groups. We've exchanged knowledge, jokes, comments and experiences in these groups for several years and almost met once when visiting other friends, Ann and Olly up in Groningen...well, we passed their barge on a spuddle in Wandering Snail, Ann and Olly's narrowboat. See here.
We kept missing each other while they were on their way across country (they were in Rotterdam when we weren't and vice versa). So, when Gary and Jill arrived in Sas van Gent about three weeks ago, we spent three lovely days meeting them, imbibing large quantities of coffee, walking their gorgeous dogs and generally catching up with our real lives rather than just what we'd shared online. They are wonderful, inspiring people and nothing seems to daunt them.
Their barge is a beautiful craft that was formerly used to deliver to and refill the gas in the big shipping buoys, so it was built with breadth and volume and seems positively palatial in terms of space compared to the Hennie H. It was a very special meeting and we enjoyed it tremendously. As they're on their way back to the UK (and yes, crossing the channel), we don't know if or when we will meet again, so I'm so glad we could do this. Thank you both, Jill and Gary!
The other meeting followed shortly after when I met fellow writer, Stephanie P McKean and former author with Sunpenny Publishing, the company that produced our earlier books. Again, I've missed previous opportunities to meet Steph so knowing she and her husband were coming to Amsterdam was a chance I couldn't let go. Sadly, Koos couldn't come too as it was when he was having his dizziness problems, so I took the train to Amsterdam and sought Steph and Alan out in their hotel.
They are truly delightful people and I had a really special time with them. It was only a few hours, but enough to confirm that Steph is exactly like her internet personality and we got on like a house on fire. She's a hugely talented and prolific writer stemming from Bandera in Texas. She now lives in Scotland, so her books are very international in background and have a great sense of place as well. I can recommend checking out her colourful and lively murder mysteries here.
Alan too is an author of some rollicking good time travel adventures and I've enjoyed those I've read very much. He particularly likes the historical research that he puts into his books so you know when you read them that he's really done his homework. His books are here
Of course we had to take the usual 'author meet-up pics', especially as we don't know if we'll ever have the opportunity to meet again. These are moments we'll all remember, so forgive the happy mugshots.
Next time, I'll be writing about the latest works on both the Vereeniging and the Hennie H, which are making slow progress towards being 'vaarklaar' or 'fareworthy' again. It's all hard work, but then at least it's the summer and while we might be slow, we are getting there!
Have a good week allemaal!
July 25, 2019
Perfect peace in Picardy
I don't know if I can really express how much I love the north eastern parts of France where we've just spent a few days, especially Picardy, which speaks to me in so many ways.
Koos and I last went on a car trip to the area in 2011 and I wrote about it here. This time, we decided to stay at a Chambre d'Hôtes for two nights to spend some time revisiting places we remembered and also to do some investigating on our beloved Canal de la Sambre where we went by boat last year as far as Landrecies. Our hope is to travel its length on the Hennie Ha when a) the collapsed aqueduct at Vadencourt has been repaired and b) when the Hennie Ha's engine is replaced.
Picardy is an incredibly rich agricultural bread basket. It has sweeping hills swathed in wheat and hay grass, contrasted with broad acres of green green kale. There are wooded copses on the crests of the rises, and valleys where lazy cattle feed on the left over hay after the harvesters have done their work. There are gorgeous villages, fortified churches, magnificent farm yards and above all, that meandering canal that itself is criss-crossed by an even more meandering river Oise. For me, it has everything I love, and love it I do.
The photos below are of the places we visited on the way down on Tuesday.
That meandering Canal de la Sambre et Oise at Oisy
A lock keeper's house at Oisy
Etreux on the Canal de la Sambre et Oise
The canal at Etreux
Etreux
Sweeping grain fields
A water tower with a nod to art: Mathisse remembered
The Oise and a water mill outside Guise
Farm buildings in Flavigny
A bridge over the canal de la Sambre at Longchamps, where
we ate a picnic supper
The village where we stayed was called Proisy about 10kms from Guise, a town steeped in history, which is connected to British history too as Mary of Guise was the mother of Mary Queen of Scots. However, Proisy is about as rural as it gets and our hosts, Sylvie and Bruno, were so relaxed and unfazed about security they were quite happy to leave the doors unlocked all night. Formerly a village with a factory and chateau at its heart, Proisy is now a sleepy one street hamlet with a church, a traditional lavoir (natural spring where the locals did their washing) but with no shops at all, not even a bakery. The house we stayed in used to be a local hostelry (an estaminet) and there was once both a bakery and a small grocer’s too, but as with so many French villages, these have closed and the locals have to travel to Guise to do their shopping. It made me wonder how the old folk manage as there didn't appear to be much in the way of public transport either.
The villagers were very friendly and approachable and on our walk one evening, we chatted to a man who has bought a row of old cottages and is converting them to apartments. We also met the 'lady of the manor' from the chateau, a neat elderly madame who was out walking a small, but active bulldog. Apparently, she walks dogs for others in the community and we later saw her with a Labrador.
She wasn't at all grande for a grande dame and was very willing to stop and chat. I wasn't all too sure about what she was chatting as her charge for the evening was very noisy and busy and it took her quite some effort to keep him under control, so her speech was punctuated with 'viens’ and 'tiens’ and 'non', and it was hard to follow the thread. It didn't seem to matter, though. When she had finished explaining whatever it was, she wished us a good evening and dragged her busy bossy bulldog away.
There are several houses for sale in the village, which of course got our dreaming juices going, but realistically, we'd be better off staying with Bruno and Sylvie or hiring the gite (holiday cottage) they are busy renovating than contemplating a purchase or long term rental in such a distant place – quite apart from the fact we’d have to sell the crumbly cottage to do so.
Guise is quite a complicated town to navigate through and we got lost several times, which meant we saw a lot of it unintentionally but fortuitously. It's well worth a visit. There are the remains of the old castle at the top of the hill, which we saw several times – inadvertently, and there is a charming old centre complete with cobbled streets and winding alleys that all seem to be dead ends when you're trying to get through them. The Oise runs through the town and there are a couple of other tributaries that tunnel their way through to meet it, so we kept coming across bridges over these streams – always a welcome surprise.
Other places we visited were Tupigny, Vadencourt and Macquigny, all situated on the Canal de la Sambre et Oise. Sadly, we found the repairs to the aqueduct have made little progress, so even if the Hennie Ha is ready to roll next year, I doubt if we'll get further than Tupigny, which is the last place before the collapsed structure. The French waterways authorities will need to get very busy if they're to keep their promise of having it open in 2020.
Apart from that, we just revelled in the glorious scenery and the beauty of the rural villages where there were no tourists and the silence of the hot afternoon sang in the air. It had an almost surreal emptiness broken only by the occasional car roaring past. The heat was intense in the upper thirties centigrade; on Thursday, it reached 40C, but by then we were heading home – where it was also 40C but with the added joy of high humidity.
Here are a few more photos I took during the three days we were there:
Fortified church in Monceau sur Oise
Golden straw medals in the fields. We watched the famers harvesting the wheat
and then baling the straw to make these beautiful bales
The lock at Tupigny
Swallows on the telephone lines. It was a joy to watch them swooping
and soaring over the farm yards
Cows left to graze the remaining hay.
A WWI war memorial with fortified church in the background
The only lived in lockhouse we saw, and boy wasn't it pretty?
Zoomed in photo of this wonderful fortified churchThere's so much more I could write about, but I don't want to overdo it this time. Perhaps I'll focus on some individual aspects next time. I'll see.
For now, have a good weekend allemaal and keep cool if you are in the north, or warm for those in the south.
Koos and I last went on a car trip to the area in 2011 and I wrote about it here. This time, we decided to stay at a Chambre d'Hôtes for two nights to spend some time revisiting places we remembered and also to do some investigating on our beloved Canal de la Sambre where we went by boat last year as far as Landrecies. Our hope is to travel its length on the Hennie Ha when a) the collapsed aqueduct at Vadencourt has been repaired and b) when the Hennie Ha's engine is replaced.
Picardy is an incredibly rich agricultural bread basket. It has sweeping hills swathed in wheat and hay grass, contrasted with broad acres of green green kale. There are wooded copses on the crests of the rises, and valleys where lazy cattle feed on the left over hay after the harvesters have done their work. There are gorgeous villages, fortified churches, magnificent farm yards and above all, that meandering canal that itself is criss-crossed by an even more meandering river Oise. For me, it has everything I love, and love it I do.
The photos below are of the places we visited on the way down on Tuesday.
That meandering Canal de la Sambre et Oise at Oisy
A lock keeper's house at Oisy
Etreux on the Canal de la Sambre et Oise
The canal at Etreux
Etreux
Sweeping grain fields
A water tower with a nod to art: Mathisse remembered
The Oise and a water mill outside Guise
Farm buildings in Flavigny
A bridge over the canal de la Sambre at Longchamps, wherewe ate a picnic supper
The village where we stayed was called Proisy about 10kms from Guise, a town steeped in history, which is connected to British history too as Mary of Guise was the mother of Mary Queen of Scots. However, Proisy is about as rural as it gets and our hosts, Sylvie and Bruno, were so relaxed and unfazed about security they were quite happy to leave the doors unlocked all night. Formerly a village with a factory and chateau at its heart, Proisy is now a sleepy one street hamlet with a church, a traditional lavoir (natural spring where the locals did their washing) but with no shops at all, not even a bakery. The house we stayed in used to be a local hostelry (an estaminet) and there was once both a bakery and a small grocer’s too, but as with so many French villages, these have closed and the locals have to travel to Guise to do their shopping. It made me wonder how the old folk manage as there didn't appear to be much in the way of public transport either.
The villagers were very friendly and approachable and on our walk one evening, we chatted to a man who has bought a row of old cottages and is converting them to apartments. We also met the 'lady of the manor' from the chateau, a neat elderly madame who was out walking a small, but active bulldog. Apparently, she walks dogs for others in the community and we later saw her with a Labrador.
She wasn't at all grande for a grande dame and was very willing to stop and chat. I wasn't all too sure about what she was chatting as her charge for the evening was very noisy and busy and it took her quite some effort to keep him under control, so her speech was punctuated with 'viens’ and 'tiens’ and 'non', and it was hard to follow the thread. It didn't seem to matter, though. When she had finished explaining whatever it was, she wished us a good evening and dragged her busy bossy bulldog away.
There are several houses for sale in the village, which of course got our dreaming juices going, but realistically, we'd be better off staying with Bruno and Sylvie or hiring the gite (holiday cottage) they are busy renovating than contemplating a purchase or long term rental in such a distant place – quite apart from the fact we’d have to sell the crumbly cottage to do so.
Guise is quite a complicated town to navigate through and we got lost several times, which meant we saw a lot of it unintentionally but fortuitously. It's well worth a visit. There are the remains of the old castle at the top of the hill, which we saw several times – inadvertently, and there is a charming old centre complete with cobbled streets and winding alleys that all seem to be dead ends when you're trying to get through them. The Oise runs through the town and there are a couple of other tributaries that tunnel their way through to meet it, so we kept coming across bridges over these streams – always a welcome surprise.
Other places we visited were Tupigny, Vadencourt and Macquigny, all situated on the Canal de la Sambre et Oise. Sadly, we found the repairs to the aqueduct have made little progress, so even if the Hennie Ha is ready to roll next year, I doubt if we'll get further than Tupigny, which is the last place before the collapsed structure. The French waterways authorities will need to get very busy if they're to keep their promise of having it open in 2020.
Apart from that, we just revelled in the glorious scenery and the beauty of the rural villages where there were no tourists and the silence of the hot afternoon sang in the air. It had an almost surreal emptiness broken only by the occasional car roaring past. The heat was intense in the upper thirties centigrade; on Thursday, it reached 40C, but by then we were heading home – where it was also 40C but with the added joy of high humidity.
Here are a few more photos I took during the three days we were there:
Fortified church in Monceau sur Oise
Golden straw medals in the fields. We watched the famers harvesting the wheatand then baling the straw to make these beautiful bales
The lock at Tupigny
Swallows on the telephone lines. It was a joy to watch them swoopingand soaring over the farm yards
Cows left to graze the remaining hay.
A WWI war memorial with fortified church in the background
The only lived in lockhouse we saw, and boy wasn't it pretty?
Zoomed in photo of this wonderful fortified churchThere's so much more I could write about, but I don't want to overdo it this time. Perhaps I'll focus on some individual aspects next time. I'll see.For now, have a good weekend allemaal and keep cool if you are in the north, or warm for those in the south.
