When Technology Fails

The Dutch locks on the Maas River and on the canals we've traveled the past few days have been technological marvels. Most of the locks (and lift bridges) are no longer operated with on-site lock and bridge tenders, but are controlled remotely from centralized locations and are thus highly dependent upon a myriad of cameras and other sensory devices at each lock and lift bridge. We have been pleased with how well and efficiently the locks and bridges have worked for us during our 2-week cruise. Until yesterday.

We left the city of Den Bosch on Saturday morning via the Zuid-Willemsvaart and spent the night at a mooring in the village of Beek en Donk. Our plan on Sunday was to cruise for four hours and stop for the day. One-and-a-half hours into the cruise, at 10:30 a.m., we were halted at Helmond Lock.

The dreaded vertical "double red" signifies that a lock is not functioning

We were not the only boat to be stopped and were able to get the "scoop" on what the problem was from a Dutch gentleman on the boat in front of us. The Helmond Lock is operated from a center in the city of Tilburg, about 35 miles from Helmond. Apparently, the cameras at the lock had gone black, and without cameras it was not possible to get boats safely through the lock. The Dutch water services did not have sufficient staff to send a lock tender to Helmond for on-site operation. The fact that it was Sunday probably complicated matters as well. Tilburg did not have an appropriate technician on-site at the control center and had to send for one from the city of Utrecht (about 50 miles from Tilburg). So, we tried to relax, had a leisurely lunch, and continued to wait some more. The lock was still inoperative at 3:00 p.m., at which time we decided that, even if the lock were to be fixed, it was too late in the day for us to continue. Some locks stop operating at 5 p.m. on Sundays and mooring spots are somewhat scarce in that section of the waterway. We decided to spend the night moored to the lock quay and take an hour or two to "escape" the boat and get an impression of the city of Helmond.

Helmond had a fair amount of industry, and the central part of town was mostly newer construction with no cohesive "feel" to it. It did have two really interesting features, however, a castle and "cube houses."

These "cube houses" were designed by architect Piet Blom in the early 1970's. They are supposed
to be evocative of trees. They initially formed an architectural whole with a theater that was
destroyed by fire in 2011. Subsequent, and more famous, versions of Blom cube houses are in Rotterdam. The angles of the walls and windows were somewhat disorienting to look at--and no doubt the houses require a good deal of creative thinking with respect to furniture and window coverings

Helmond Castle is the largest moated castle in the Netherlands. Construction of the castle 
started around 1325. It passed into city hands in the 1920's and was used for a time as a town
hall. The castle is currently the location of Museum Helmond and also serves as a wedding venue

When we got back to the boat after our brief excursion into Helmond we found that the lock was back in operation. It remained that way overnight and worked perfectly when we went through this morning.

Prior to the lock misadventure we'd had several interesting days. As mentioned in the previous posting, our last cruising day on the Maas River was Wednesday, June 22.

Playing "dodge the ferry." There aren't a lot of bridges over the Maas, so ferries were a 
common sight along our entire Maas route

The captain of this commercial barge greeted us via horn, no doubt because we, like he,
had a Polish boat registration

While it was mostly sedate cruising, we did have a brief bit of excitement just before we turned onto the Maxima Canal.

Two military helicopters decided to do a "gun run" at low altitude on the Maas, and passed
right by our boat

We spent Wednesday (June 22) through Saturday morning (June 25) in nearly-unpronounceable s'-Hertogenbosch, a lovely old city (dating to the 10th century) of about 150,000. The name is a contraction of archaic Dutch des Hertogen bosch, "the forest of the Duke." It is colloquially known as Den Bosch--much easier for us to say. The Duke to which the name refers was the town's founder, Henry I of Brabant. 

Den Bosch was built in a swampy area between two rivers. Its first walled fortifications were replaced in the 14th century by a second set of walls, which both increased the size of the town and enclosed the branches of the rivers within the city. Most Dutch towns demolished their medieval walls to facilitate growth, and Den Bosch could have done the same after an act on fortifications was passed in the 1870's.  However, the walls were preserved then, and still exist today, because they also served as a defense against flooding.

Outside a portion of the Den Bosch 14th century fortifications

One of Den Bosch's "claims to fame" is that it was the hometown of Jheronimus Bosch, a painter of the late Middle Ages (1450-1516). He came from a family of painters, although he became the most famous of them. Not many of his works still exist, but those that do are full of references to morality, church, sexuality, and conscience. It is also said that the people of the time found a great deal of humor in his work. One cannot deny that he had an extremely "active" (and may I say, strange) imagination (Google "The Garden of Earthly Delights" for a glimpse of Bosch.) Interestingly, not a single one of his works is in the city of Den Bosch today. 

A former Catholic church now houses the Jheronimus
Bosch Art Center. Sculptures in the plaza out front
represent interpretations of images from Bosch's works

Mostly we just enjoyed walking around town to enjoy the sights. Unlike many of the towns and cities we've visited on our current cruise, Den Bosch did not suffer destruction in WWII, so many of its buildings of historical interest still exist. We also took a small boat canal cruise on the Binnendieze, the term for the branches of the rivers contained in the city walls that served as a city transport route starting in the 15th century. Of the original 12 kilometers of waterways about 3.5 km still exist.

Shopping street in central Den Bosch

Saint John's Cathedral is celebrating its 800th anniversary this year. Most
of the construction is not that old, but the church is considered to be
the height of Dutch Gothic

The stone façade of the late 13th century Saint Anthony's
Chapel, now incorporated into a modern office building 

The Moriaan is known as the oldest brick house in Den Bosch. 
The oldest preserved parts date to the 13th century, although 
the current appearance is mostly 14th century. The local tourist
office currently occupies the 1st floor 

Getting ready for "Opera on Parade" in the plaza outside Saint John's

The main aisle in the interior of Saint John's. The 
mural work on the ceilings dates to the late
15th or early 16th century

  

Looking forward to our canal cruise in "underground" Den Bosch

Going down to board the boat

A chapel (center) was built over the river. It was once part of a large
monastery dating from the 16th century. There were once so
many churches and monasteries that the town was called
"small Rome"

It's a whole different perspective from the watery basement 
of the city

Bats are provided with dwellings in the shape of a bat.

A modern passageway was cut through the
old 14th century wall to emerge outside the 
borders of the medieval town
 

Friday's weather was a little unsettled, so we located the local multiplex and enjoyed "Elvis."

We liked this theater! Cushy seating like we have in our local
theater in St. Petersburg

Saturday morning we left Den Bosch in what turned out to be a "convoy" of a half dozen pleasure boats, all of whom wanted to catch the 10 a.m. opening of a lift bridge near the junction of the Maxima and Zuid-Willemsvaart Canals. It's quite a contrast between river cruising and canal cruising--the locks on the canal are about half (or less) of the length of some of the Maas locks (which means the commercial boats are generally smaller on the canals); the canals have long, straight stretches with very little of the meandering one finds on the river; and lift bridges are now part of the cruising equation.

Canal cruising: straight lines and the occasional lift bridge

Our stop for the evening was a small quay near Lock 6 in the village of Beek en Donk that allowed for up to 3 days of free mooring. 

A little bit of exploration found us at Croy Castle, on the outskirts
of the village of Aarle-Rixtel. The oldest parts of the castle date
from the mid-15th century. Over the centuries several noble
families inhabited the castle. A restoration in 1990 turned the 
castle into an office building. It has a moat!

Saturday dinner was at a fantastic restaurant just down the canal
from the boat, "Eeterij Uniek." Since most of the restaurants don't
have English menus, part of the experience is the use of Google
Translate to help us with our food and drink selections

The restaurant was definitely "Uniek"

It's now Monday evening and we are nearly back to Maasbracht. Given that our cruise yesterday was so truncated, we put in a longer day and are moored for the evening just upstream of the Panheel lock (just a few km to the north of Maasbracht). We'll be in Maasbracht tomorrow.