9 and 10 July Our friends Leona and Jean-Marie, who are captains of a commercial barge, were stuck in Groningen because a bridge was being replaced and the canal was closed, so we went our for dinner. They suggested that we come for a trip with them the next day when the canal re-opened. We made a plan that they would pick us up near to where we are moored, which would give us about 30 minutes to get there once they called us to say they were moving. A 10 minute bike ride and 20 minutes to finalise packing and lock up the boat. Waiting to board We spoke with them in the morning and they said that it looked like it wuldn't be until later in the afternoon - so we had a lazy morning, and then all of a sudden we got the call. We made it in time for them to just pull in briefly and pick us up. Nature put on a lovely sunset for us. Jean-Marie moored us near Lemmer at about 11:30pm, when we were already tucked up in bed. In the morning the lock re-opened at 6am so Jean-Marie was up again to get an early place in the queue to try and make up some time they had lost with the bridge. Leona's dad was unwell so she and the car got off at Lelystad so she could visit him. We stayed on until Amsterdam lock, where there are actually 4 locks. One for pleasure craft and three for commercials. It was a great trip - so different to driving a pleasure craft. Howard and I both had a go at the helm.
After we got off we cycled to a small free ferry that took us to Amsterdam station where we caught trains back to Groningen, then cycled home. We got caught in a thunderstorm and were completely drenched when we got home. But were happy as we'd had such a fabulous trip.
4 Comments
Hazel
12/7/2017 12:01:13 am
Looked like a great experience :)
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Ian
12/7/2017 08:28:25 am
What a great experience! Very jealous. How did you meet the couple? This wasn't the barge that you had your cruise on last year. Good to see you and Howard are REALY getting around!
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Deb
13/7/2017 07:41:32 am
I met them last year after I put an ad on the DBA site looking for a crew position. Last year I was on the Sjouwer, a 190m commercial.
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Sue Veal
12/7/2017 09:42:32 am
So glad you had a good time - lovely photos too. X
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