Willemsroute

The South Willemsvaart, Friday, 27.9.- Sunday, 6.10.2013

Friday the 27^th: On a sunny day, only a few kilometers away from our home marina Boschmolenplas we go to the Oolderhuuske lake to the opposite of the Marina Oolderhuuske. There are some jetties for free use (like almost everywhere in the NL). Not far away there is a small street that we used sometimes by car when we went to the Marina. From that street the whole lake looks so beautiful that we already decided years ago to spend a few days at this lovely spot in the future in our own cabin cruiser. And future was now.

 

We had a great time with our barbecue. During the night the water was rough and the wind was strong so that it was not very calm but that was no problem.

On that day we also got our new flagpole at the bow. The actual flag is the flag of the province Limburg. At this moment, wind force 5-6.

Our next place was the lake next to the Marina De Spaanjerd in Belgium. It is situated not far away from the dutch frontier in Belgium. Again the sun is shining and – what happiness - like the rest of the next 9 days. Time for relaxing, enjoying and reading.

One day later we are again in the Wessem area. Because the weather is fine and we almost did not have any barbecues this year, it was time again. We had a great sunset.

One day trip was to Maaseik. It has a very nice market place in the centre of the town. The harbour was about 5 kilometres away.

 

Two days later we started our journey to Maastricht on the Willemsroute.

Actually we intended to have our first stop at Bree or at Bocholt. But the so called harbours in Belgium are very often just jetties in or at the rivers or canals close to industrial areas. So were these “harbours” and we did not like them at all. Finally we found a very nice harbour called ´t Eiland.

´T Eiland harbour also has a canoe club. On this weekend there should be a regatta and the members carved a wooden stick with a bell at the top next to our ship. The kids in the canoe were paddling with full enthusiasm and slammed their paddle against the bell. We had the feeling that the regatta has already begun.

On the next morning we went for a shower, and as we came back to the boat …. what was this? From the distance it looks like there was another boat next to ours.

When we were back we could see that there were some boat people who were a little nervous about that strange boat. Until this morning it was on the opposite site of the canal and opposite of our boat. A few minutes ago it swam to our side of the canal and was stopped by the wooden slat from the paddlers.

This was our first ghost ship! Maybe the owner has given up her, since her last vignette was from 2005.

The harbour master finally catched the boat and gave her a jetty.

Our next town was Maasmechelen. Maasmechelen has a famous shopping outlet center, a former coal mine. I think Simone likes it in its actual destination:

Fiona got some very nice liqueur glasses. Satisfied we went to our next stop, Rekem.

We had a walk and could see the nice houses and a castle in this small village.

Because meanwhile it was October the holiday season was finished. Only a few people were in the streets.

We were in the Netherlands again. The Zuid-Willemsvaart goes through Belgium and finally leads into the Netherlands.The highlight of our trip should be Maastricht. And no question it was!

Maastricht!

Before we could go into the harbour, we had to pass a lock. Here we are on our way after passing the bridge after the lock. We are going to the harbour “Bassin” in direct neighbourhood to the Business School.

Even the shops were open until 10 p.m. on this Thursday! Maastricht is a very vivid city with lots of shops, restaurants and bars. Back in our harbor we met some friendly guys from Roermond and had a nice evening hours with the 4 other ship crews on the left of our side.

We intended to stay for two nights in Maastricht. On the next day – Friday - we went to the famous fish market.

Not only fish was sold on this market:

All the chairs of the bars were occupied and the people took a sun bath.

Excursion ships in the river Maas.

Somehow a little bit of Italy in Maastricht.

In the evening we enjoyed the nightlife. The temperatures were almost 20 degrees so that many people were sitting outside in the bars and restaurants.

When we went back the next morning we took the direct way to Roermond, that means going through the Juliana Kanaal.

There are only two locks on our way to Roermond (plus the lock of our harbour). Each of the two has a range of about 12 metres. Because they have moving clamps all the action was very relaxing and comfortable. In Belgium we had locks where we did not have even clamps at the last metre so that we had to use the machine to avoid damages.

Back at our home base Marina Boschmolenplas we used our Son of Hibachi portable grill again at our favorite barbecue place.

During the last 9 days we had a great time, nice sunny weather.

Some impressions of our last day during that trip.

When we went into the lock Linne we had some smaller sport boats inside:

All the wild animals, bulls and horses had fantastic late summer days.

Fiona in Roermond, moored in a harbor next to the River Maas.

This is the same jetty for Fiona. The view depends on the different place of taking the picture.

- The End -