24th July
We awoke about 7.30 and after a cuppa and biscuit headed to the yacht house facilities for a shower. We thought we would head off around midday but the French boat we were rafted up on said they would like to leave by 11.00, so we decided to do the same. After breakfast cereal, Chris nipped to the shops for fresh bread and something for supper later while Carole tidied away, ready to leave. When Chris returned he was carrying two items, one bag of soft rolls and one of fruited buns. Oh well, it will be eggs and bacon tonight or a visit to Ostend Yacht clubhouse.
Chris brought in the electricity reel and we untied our lines and slipped out of Veere without fuss. We just made it into the lock at Veere before the gates closed and as there was no room on either wall, we rafted on a slightly smaller Dutch boat. As we waited, he chatted to us about his single-handed trips over to the UK and said his most recent had been into the river Deben and up to the tide mill at Woodbridge. He said he thought they were lovely places and couldn’t wait to return as he would like to go up the river Aude, too. Once out of the lock we made our way along the canal to the first bridge and had to raft up for a 40 minute wait for the next bridge opening at 12.37. Before long, we were ourselves rafted on and they in turn, too. By the time the bridge opened our convoy had increased from 7 to over 20 plus one large commercial vessel which, of course, had priority over the rest of us. We finally reached Vlissingen Lock at 1 pm where we had to jill about waiting for both yacht and commercial locks to open and empty before eventually being allowed in to the commercial lock. We encountered the same problem with tying up as in the previous commercial lock in that there were not sufficient places on the walls for smaller craft to attach their lines. However, Carole got her spring line on no problem and within a couple of minutes, Chris had also secured his bow line again using his magic hook. While we had only one line holding us on to the wall, Carole had to turn away a Dutch boat seeking to raft on us, as they had missed the wall despite having a bow thruster to use. This made us feel quite happy that we had managed to get secure without one. The water level rose and the inner gate was opened. The water level continued to rise, all in all, about 1.5M, before opening the outer gate. As soon as the light changed to green, we escaped and headed off, destination Ostend.
We had to cross over to the other side to Breskens across the small TSS (Traffic Separation Scheme). Luckily, the tide was running out pushing us towards Ostend, so we didn’t have to fight it. The wind was not strong enough yet to sail and get there in a reasonable time so we remained on engine for a while. Soon the sea breeze picked up and the engine went off. We could see Zeebrugge’s cranes in the distance which would be about our half way mark to Ostend. Once at Zeebrugge we heard a security warning from a Belgian Navy ship which sounded like Warship Pollocks announcing that there would be a controlled explosion a few miles away in the next half an hour. However, Chris thought that the ship’s name sounded like something else and the more the lady said it the surer we became!. Very soon in the distance we spotted the plume of water that indicated the explosion had taken place. We were still getting help from the tide as we approached the entrance. Once the sails were taken in, Carole called the Harbourmaster to ensure we had a berth for the night and she was told he would be waiting for us. Once turned in to Ostend harbour and double checking that there were no red lights showing we continued through, with Carole putting out the fenders and readying our lines. We waved to the Harbourmaster on the pontoon and within minutes we were tied up safely on our berth for the night. Chris went off to the office with the Harbourmaster to pay our dues as there wouldn’t be an opportunity tomorrow as we were planning to leave at 06:00.
Carole cooked us a nice simple supper of bacon, eggs and new potatoes and after washing up, we headed up for a nice shower to wash away the cares of the day plus the layer of sun protection cream. We returned to the boat to chill out for an hour before heading to bed for an early night.