Monday 25 June 2012

I know it's childish, but ................

Yes, yes, yes. It's childish, it's silly and I really ought to be thinking about far more high minded things.

But, having spotted one strangely named item in a French supermarket I am now on the lookout all the time!

Here's what I have found so far:

  

The product that started my supermarket game. Spotted in Netto in Watten, "Pshit!" is an airfreshner. Obviously.


And as if that wasn't enough fun, it also comes as a handy automatic room scent. Doesn't everyone long for a home smelling of "Fresh Pshit"?


Found at a Carrefour in Menin, Belgium, I bring you "Plop Sausage".

There is a well know quote "Laws and sausages, two things where you never want to know what goes into making them".

I think "Plop Sausage" takes that to a whole new level.


Lastly, for today "Plopsland" a children's theme park in Belgium.

Although, to be fair, I think if you asked most under-five's if they'd prefer Plopsland or Peppa Pig World, Plopsland would win hands down every time. Sorry, Peppa.

Saturday 23 June 2012

Watten & St Venant

After a couple of days in Calais waiting for weather and tides to be in our favour we were able to enter the inland waterways system through Calais Lock. We had a tense moment as we approached a very low bridge which the books we have assured us was 3.5 metres above the water but which the Marina Marina manager told us was actually 3.3 metres. Our boat has an air draft (height above the water) of 3.4 meters. Emma was sent into the cabin and we held our breath. And passed underneath with a bit of room to spare.
The low bridge at Calais

We made our way down the Canal du Calais to Watten, which we had read about in Damian & Siobhan Horner’s wonderful book “For Better, For Worse”, so we knew that there was a mooring place in the village.
Sadly, the recession hasn’t missed this part of France, and the lively restaurant they describe has, sadly, closed. We spent a couple of night in Watten, walking to the top of Mount Watten and exploring the village.
A sign at the entrance to the churchyard states that part of the churchyard is administered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. We looked all around, but couldn’t see anything that seemed to fit. However, later we got a little free Wi-Fi and looked at the CWGC website, finding that there is just one grave at Watten which they look after, that of Private Gornell who died, aged 33, in 1917.
If you have never looked at the CWGC site, I would encourage you to do so. Sadly, virtually everyone has relatives listed on there and it is a great source of information and very easy to use.
Stephen getting to grips with the tender at Watten

At Watten we moored alongside Mike and Heather on their boat La Gitna (it means The Gypsy Dancer). They were on their way back to Saint Venant, which is where they keep their boat. They recommended it to us, so that was our next stop.

On the way we had to pass throught the massive (13.7 metre) lock at Les Fontinettes, which was nerve wracking as we approached, but actually proved very easy to use.
The lock at Les Fontinettes

What a great recommendation that turned out to be! Saint Venant is a beautiful little town with great facilities to encourage visiting boaters.

Window boxes and hanging baskets in Saint Venant

Saint Venant watermill
We spend a wonderful couple of days there, moored alongside Ian and Karen on their converted London Tug “Tommy Lee” and were really quite reluctant to leave. However, it was time to move on, this time toward Belgium.

Friday 22 June 2012

Crossing the Channel

From Gillingham we planned to do the Channel crossing in two steps, firstly from Gillingham to Ramsgate, then from Ramsgate to Calais. We left Gillingham around 2pm, reaching Ramsgate about 8:30pm that evening. Emma had go to sleep quite happily as we motored along and we settled down to a fish and chip supper.
We had originally planned to leave Ramsgate the next day at around 2pm, but Andrew, Roy and Stephen reviewed the weather, saw that some more bad weather coming in, so decided to catch the earlier tide and leave early in the morning instead.
Leaving Ramsgate harbour

From my point of view, the crossing was pretty uneventful as I wasn’t actually in control of the boat; I was just looking after Emma. I am trying to persuade Stephen to write blog post about the crossing from his point of view, hopefully he’ll get round to it quite soon.
Emma turned out to be the best sailor of all of us! As I have mentioned before, Stephen and I are not very good sailors (inland waterways are fine – hence this trip involves very little time at sea). I start feeling queasy very quick, but I am generally fine so long as I either (a) keep watching the horizon or (b) lay down. Emma seems to be completely unaffected and is quite happy to watch the iPad, well away from windows, eat, drink & carry on as normal! I just wish I could do that!
We reached Calais in the early afternoon and had to moor on a buoy in the harbour whilst we waited for the tide to be high enough for us to get into the harbour, which we were able to do within a couple of hours.
We then moored up and waved Andrew and Roy off as they walked back to the ferry port to catch a ferry home.
Roy & Andrew in Calais

At last! We were in France!

Monday 18 June 2012

Gravesend & Gillingham - The Waiting Game

After our stopover at South Dock Marina in Southwark, London it was off down The Thames towards the Channel Ports, so we could cross to France.

Given the continuing bad weather and our inexperience with wide, tidal rivers we decided to make a short-ish hop to Gravesend, rather than try for a longer voyage all the way to The Medway. Having spoken to Andy at Embankment Marina, Gravesend we established that as you need to enter the marina via a lock, it wouldn't be possible to go into the Marina immediately, but a brand-new pontoon on the Thames itself had recently opened, and we could moor there overnight.

Almost straight away we were in for some excitement, as the RNLI Lifeboat at Gravesend had been called out to tow in a boat whose engine had failed in the Thames.


I've been a fan and a supporter of the RNLI for many years and it was great to see a successful rescue happen. The boat was towed in and moored behind us on the pontoon whilst they waited for a new engine to be brought down from Ipswich.

The night on the pontoon was pretty rough, with high winds plus the large wash created every time the Port of London pilot boat went out (it felt like every 10 minutes, but I'm sure it wasn't really), so as it became clear the weather wasn't improving, we moved into the Marina when the tide was high enough to allow us through the lock.

Andy, the marina manager, couldn't have been more helpful during our few days stay. Always on hand with advice and information, nothing was too much trouble for him. Emma fell a bit in love with him and would repeatedly ask "Where's Andy?" if she couldn't see him around the marina!

We also met Andy's brother, Malcolm and his partner Margaret. Malcolm is a Thames Lighterman who divides his time between London and Devon. He's also a part-time pirate and gave Emma a Jolly Roger flag, which immediately had to be put up in her cabin.

Malcolm, Margaret & Andy at The Embankment Marina, Gravesend

After a couple of nights the weather improved enough for us to move on down The Thames and on into The Medway to Gillingham Marina, where again we had to wait for the weather to improve enough for us to cross the Channel into France.

Whilst we were in Gravesend I developed a bit of a soft-spot for the town. Yes, it's a bit run down in places, but there are some wonderful buildings, a lively town centre and it's all in walking distance. Unfortunately, I can't really say the same for Gillingham.

Again we had to lock into the Marina and we were directed in to "Berth 3". The winds were very high and after several attempts at getting into Berth 3, we had to give up and moor in an unofficial space, with help of our new neighbours on "Floating Fun". Trying to get into Berth 3 Stephen had felt the boat pushing against something soft, under the water. We reported the problem to the Marina office who just looked at us like we were mad. It was only a couple of days later our neighbouring boat reported the same thing to us and said they'd found a mudbank. They also told us that Berth 3 was notorious for being the m ost difficult spot in the Marina to get into. We duly reported the mudbank to the Marina who really didn't seem to care. Although it was smart and new, this summed up my feeling about this Marina.

But, we did have some visitors during our stay, which was great. Our friends, Malcolm and Lois came down and took us for a wonderful pub lunch. Malcolm is a native of Gillingham (although now has escaped to Dorset) so took us for a tour of the highlights (houses he lived in, church he was christened in) and was able to recommend a good local beer in the pub (Spitfire Beer - wonderful!).

Finally, there was a weather window and our pilots, Andrew and Roy, decided we should be off. The trip across the channel was to be done in two stages, to take advantage of tide and winds (if you travel with the tide and wind, you use less fuel). Firstly to Ramsgate, then overnight there and then across to Calais.

Supplies were got in (milk, cake, biscuits) and Mum & Dad came down to see us off. Finally, at about 2pm, we left Gillingham.

Mum, Emma & Dad just before we left Gillingam

Whilst I really enjoyed travelling along the Thames and the Medway, it didn't really feel like we were really doing the trip we planned whilst still in the UK, so much as I dislike sea trips (I get very seasick) I was a relief to be away.

Friday 8 June 2012

Through Central London - Our Luck Improves!

We were up bright and earlier after mooring overnight beside Simon & Nunzia on Swan Island and, thankfully, the engine burst into life!

Motoring towards Richmond Lock we had a real unexpected treat. We had planned to move through ahead of all the Jubilee boats, since 1,000 extra boats in London mean a lot fewer mooring places, even counting the additional places laid on at West India Dock Quay.

We had expected to see a lot of Pageant boats, but what we hadn't expected to see was the Jubilee Barge itself! It was moored up at Richmond, and the painters were still at work, putting the final touches to it. It looked fabulous in the early morning sunshine.

Jubilee Barge at Richmond

According to the tide tables, Richmond Lock should have been open so we could go straight through, the tide being high. However, the tide was about an hour late, so we had to lock through - I hadn't realised tides were so variable, I assumed they were pretty much fixed.

On through London and under all the bridges. I was surprised by just how many there are and how close some were together. Emma was excited by all of them, especially when we saw a red double-decker going across one.

We went by the Houses of Parliament just as Big Ben struck 11 o'clock and then on past were I used to work, by Southwark Bridge. It was quite a while ago that I worked there, but I was amazed by just how much had changed - I recognised two buildings (the FT offices and a great pub, The Anchor at Bankside).

Houses of Parliament

Thanks to the influence of her favourite TV character, Peppa Pig, Emma has come round to the idea of wearing her life jacket (Peppa always wears one when she's on Grandpa Pig's boat - thank you, animators!), which is essential, especially on a river as deep, fast and busy as the tidal Thames. We also have a tether-strap, which means we can fasten her to a rail on the boat (it's not as cruel as it sounds, honest! She doesn't even realise she's attached!)

Captain Emma

We had managed to persuade South Dock Marina to push our booking forward by one day, despite how busy they were with pre-Pageant bookings and other work and we got there in good time to get through their lock. Stephen expertly manoeuvred us into the rather tight space we had been allocated. The marina was pretty full, but they seemed just as busy with boats arriving by crane and needing to be craned in. Emma and I made an expedition to Surrey Quays shopping centre and re-stocked with our essentials - bacon, hot-cross buns and milk, while Stephen got down to the serious business of plotting our next-day's journey through the Thames Barrier and down the Thames.

South Dock Marina