According to the internet there were strong winds building off the coast and they’d be with us by the end of the day, making conditions rather too difficult to contemplate navigating a boat in small spaces like the old canal at Lille for instance, where we had entertained thoughts of being tonight.
Years of experience tell us that leaving in the face of a forecast like that is one of the few ways one can get oneself into trouble in a boat, including in a narrow canal with limited places to tie should something go wrong. At the same time we looked up at the sky for signs of impending doom and a little voice in the back of our heads shouted “She’ll be right”, so we took off anyway with our toes and fingers crossed.
Thankfully the breeze had only built to a still manageable dull roar by the time we passed through the second and last lock of the day but it did seem to be increasing by the minute. Unwilling to push our luck and with surprisingly little shouting, we called it quits, snugging ourselves safely in the little inlet in Don before the worst of it arrived.
2 comments
‘The inlet in Don’: was that the Gare d’eau? Or the entrance to the old lock? Or the halte nautique after the lock? We’ve stayed in the first twice. It’s just lovely, the halte nautique was also good, but we’ve never tried the other end, so was curious to know if it’s accessible.
We were below the lock at the halte nautique, it's really well maintained with a35m pontoon next to a park. We thought that would be a little more sheltered, and apart from the exact time we were trying to moor, we were right! 80-90kph gusts tend to ruin our technique!
Post a Comment