Almost There

We are in the Netherlands!

Our current location in Maastricht, the Netherlands. One more
cruising day to get to the boat yard in Maasbracht.

Yesterday we knew we were going to need a longer-than-normal cruising day to get from Huy, Belgium to Maastricht in the Netherlands, but we didn't expect it to be quite as long as it turned out to be. Eight hours became ten-and-a-half because we needed 3 hours just to get through the large Lanaye lock at the border of Belgium and the Netherlands. A combination of lots of commercial barge traffic and the Lanaye lock using only the largest of its four chambers created a nightmare of a slowdown. The lock keepers played the equivalent of "boat tetris" to try to maximize the number of boats that could be accommodated during each fill/empty cycle, but because we understood neither spoken Dutch nor French it took us one lock cycle to observe the process and figure out what was going on.

The drop in the Lanaye lock is over 13 meters (40+ feet). The cruiser
in the photo is dwarfed by the lock walls.

How to play "boat tetris"--barges to the left wall, barges to the right wall, and a barge squeezing
into the middle.  Commercial boats get priority over pleasure boaters
and load the lock first. We were happy that we didn't have to pair up with one of the "big boys."

Riding the water down.

The lock gate is open and they're off! Going, going . . . 

. . . gone! The two boats to the right in the photo are waiting
to enter the lock. We waited to depart until after the turbulence
 created by the commercial boats had subsided a little bit. 

Up until Lanaye we'd had a great cruising day. There was no wind when we left Huy, so Lon was able to finesse CARIB III out of the port without having to resort to the use of lines to help us turn. The previously predicted rain did not materialize until we encountered a few showers late in the day. 

The scenery wasn't as nice today as it has been most other days
this summer. The industrial side of Belgium was definitely on display.

The ruined 19th C church of Ombret-Rawsa. How it became
ruined is an unanswered question.

One of the bridges of Liege, Belgium. In a different year we might
 have been able to spend a few days exploring this fairly large city.

This wide body of water is a canal--the Albert Canal. It was opened
in 1937 to provide a route for large commercial barges between
Antwerp and Liege. A navigable section of the Meuse/Maas River
that parallels the canal for about 12 kilometers north of Liege is used
by pleasure boats, but we opted to stay on the canal.

After our "Linger in Lanaye" we were thrilled to get Maastricht in our sights, finally go through the lock at the entry to the T'Bassin marina in the old port of Maastricht, and tie up for the evening.

The Sint-Servaasbrug, the stone arches on the left forming a bridge dating from the 13th century. 

We're experiencing language and culture shock after the
"all French, all the time" of France and the Wallonia region of Belgium,
 but the number of bicycles is a good reminder to us that we're now in 
the Netherlands. That, and the fact that most of the locals we've
encountered have spoken English.

We are staying in Maastricht for at least 4 nights. Whether we actually leave Tuesday for Maasbracht will depend on what we're able to work out with the boat yard next week as they reopen after a long August holiday.