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Day 20 from France to Belgium by Boat

9/25/2015

2 Comments

 
We departed at 8 am and at the first lock we had to wait thirty minutes until a commercial barge had gone through. Little did we know we'd have a heart-stopping moment a bit later!
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After the lock we quickly caught up with the commercial boat. The Dutch vessel's captain allowed us to pass fairly quickly, with a hearty wave.
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Plenty of room and good radio communication meant over-taking was not a problem.
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Further along this empty vessel clearly shows that for quite some distance, when you are directly in front of the boat the skipper wouldn't be able to see you from the wheelhouse. Most vessels use radar.
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Turning right.
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Lock keepers cottage
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Along the canal de l'Oise a l'Aisne another tunnel.
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As we entered we turned on our navigation lights - the first part was lit, then the lights went out and we realised our nav lights hadn't come on! Rather frantic scrambling to switch the spotlight on occurred! The light you see here is from the camera's flash - it was completely black, just the pinprick white dot to steer by. Needless to say I took the boat out of gear until we lit the tunnel with our spot light.
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With our spot light on.
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The spotlight is mounted in the perfect place - this it the first time in 15 months we have used it!
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Ahhh! The lights come back on. There is a vessel way up in front.
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It was pretty black for a while!
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Back to being fully lit!
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Warp speed!
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Sludge from the tunnel wall when we glided alongside within the black void!
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We made it without a drama. When we tested our nav lights again they worked perfectly!
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Tonight's mooring.
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There was just enough room at the end. Another beautiful spot!
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Whoop whoop, look at us!
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A bit more information of where we are. We stopped at 1815 after 14 locks, camping at PK25.
2 Comments
Astrolabe Sailing link
9/25/2015 12:13:56 pm

wow how cool going through a tunnel! Except for the lights and sludge! Is it one way? How would you have known if someone was coming the other way? It didn't look wide enough to pass inside?

Reply
Jackie Parry link
9/30/2015 06:39:45 am

It was cool! It is one way - there are traffic lights to indicate if you can go. If you hit a red, it can be quite a wait. We have traversed one tunnel with a wide section in the middle to allow passing as you go. It was quite exciting to steer by a tiny white dot in the distance for a few moments!

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