Gruelling

Day 3

The alarm was set for 5:30.

 

It was an APPALLING day. It was freezing cold, windy and pouring with rain......and guess what?...NO wiper blade!!!

It was abysmal, grey and frankly dangerous without adequate visibility ! G finally opened up a section of the canvas biminee above the windscreen...like looking through a letterbox slot with driving winds and rain blowing in.



Juliankanaal

Did we bring enough winter clothing?.....NO!

We managed the next 5 humongous locks in the driving rain.



We were sharing lock space with enormous commercial barges, scaling heights of 15m or more, trying desperately to hold steady against the overpowering wash of the vessels.

We bobbed like a cork in comparison.



Juliankanaal

 Unfortunately, we did swing wildly on 3 occasions swiping the back corner of our boat against the sides of the mooring...once. This was just another rung on the learning curve !

 

Apprehension and anxiety levels were high. This was an ugly environment, uninviting, industrial, grey, cold, windy, wet, intimidating. The banks were occupied with massive dredging and processing plants, stock piled high with gravel, sand and the like. Vessels loomed over the top of us and travelled twice the speed.



Julianakanaal Maastrict

 

 Inside the locks it was oppressive, dark and slimy. We sat in the shadows against walls of 20m in height. Thankfully the fastenings were automatic, lifting as the water level rose.
 

We hit the Belgium border by 3:50pm. We entered the city of Liege just after 5pm.



Leige

Liége

 

 

Location:

Liège is a historical city on the river Meuse, at the crossroads of an important motorway network linking Paris, Amsterdam & Cologne -Germany, it is only a few miles away from Maastricht, Holland.

This is the cultural center of Wallonia with an intense artistic life as well as an important architectural heritage.

Traditional Cuisine

Boulets a la Liégoise (Liège meatballs) : Probably the most traditionnal dish from the region. Prepared with pork and beef meat, meatballs are served with fries and a sweet sauce (a mixture of pears and apple syrup, wine, onions and peket-)

Salade Liégoise :green beans, potatoes, diced bacon

Fricassee :omelet with bacon or sausage

Liège Waffles : invented in Liège in the 18th C. and are made with chucks of sugar, which caramelize and form a crispy, crunchy coating.

Café Liégois : dessert made with coffee ice cream.

Not forgetting: the peket, Galler chocolate, Herve cheeses and local beers

We were charging straight ahead towards our overnight resting place of Huy.

 
We were so weary..2 more locks, long delays, shock waves of panic as we watched how terrifyingly close we were pinned into one of the locks.
 

We didn't make Huy. G saw a siding with a possibility so we took it. After driving in the mooring stakes and securing our berth, the crew came in. It was 10:00pm. 

 

Our mooring

Greg  had performed a 14 hour day!!

Everyone was beat.
 

Totals: 7 locks, 104 km