2015 European Waterway Cruise – The plan comes together.

Flags flying – raring to go

I love it when a plan comes together!

Our travel from UK to Zwartsluis went exactly to plan and we arrived back on board Shangri-La at midday on Thursday 16th July.

There was still quite a bit to do before we could set off on our trip to St-Jean-de-Losne.

(See previous post for our trip plan)

Newly sanded hatch cover

So we had a busy day and a half –

The most labour intensive was to finish trimming and sanding the caulking from the new or refurbished wooden hatch covers.

About half a days work, using the sanding machine borrowed from de Kranerweerd.

They are very helpful at the marina and even
lent us their van to drive up to the village to shop up for stores and supplies.

Borrowing the van

After all the sanding Shangri La needed a good wash down.

My duck scarer had done not too bad a job, but there was some mess to clean up on the swim platform.

We topped up with fresh water (full is 750 Litres) and took 500 Litres of diesel, which brought that to almost full. (also 750 Litres).

Karen fueling us up

Shangri La has been lying idle in the water for about 2 months, so there was already some of growth round the waterline.

A bit of work with a deck scrubber took care of that.

I’m a stickler for nautical etiquette, and hoisted all the correct flags – Red Ensign at the stern, Dutch Courtesy flag on the starboard side with the South African flag on the port side.
These last 2 now in their new positions on the radar arch.
(see first picture)

Previously flown from the little foremast, they tended to obscure vision while driving, and also got in the way of photography.
And of course I had to settle up my final account with the marina, as we would not be coming back for some time.

 

Last night at Zwartsluis

On the Friday evening, we said goodbye to all the friendly marina staff, and were ready to set off the next morning.

The first leg of the trip was across the Ijsselmeer to Enkhuizen, so I had checked the weather forecast.

Fine and clear with a max 15 kn Westerly.

Not the most ideal, but still okay.

Breezy day on the Ijsselmeer

Saturday 18th July dawned fine and clear as promised, though a touch more wind than I had expected.

We set out at 0915. The first half of the trip was still on canals or rivers so was pretty calm.
Once under the Ketel bridge and onto the Isselmeer a bit of a sea had developed so we did bounce around for the first hour.

As we approached the west side of the Ijsselmeer and were slightly in the lee of the land the sea flattened substantially and we made good time, arriving at Enkhuizen and mooring up in Compagnie Haven at about 1530.

Next – Enkhuizen.