Kortgene to Goes
Friday, 28th June, 2019
We had a reasonable night’s sleep, although Carole said that there was definitely some side to side motion at the front of the boat when on a box mooring. We showered and had breakfast before readying ourselves to move on to Goes.
We decided to leave at 10:30. The wind was about 12kn coming from the starboard side. The plan was to keep the windward bow and stern lines on until we were ready to slip. Plan B came into action fairly quickly as Chris fumbled with releasing the stern line and in that few seconds, with the bow line also released, the bow ended the other side of the post. It wasn’t a problem, though, as there wasn’t another boat or dividing lines to worry about, so Chris went out through the next set of poles just as if it had been planned that way. We then left the Marina heading for the Zandkreeksluis. This is a large Lock with large bollards in the side walls. We had to wait for about 10 minutes, but once we had the green light we went in with about 8 others. Carole put our spring line on one of the large bollards, keeping us nice and tight in and safe. The lock only took about 5 minutes and we were on our way, back in tidal water for a short time. The depth of water also increased to 40Mtr. It was then but a short trip to the next lock – Sluis Goes-Sas. We joined a couple of others and once through, motored gently through the shallow canal to the waiting pontoon just outside Goes, where we tied up and had lunch before the next bridge opening at 2 pm, which almost caught us out as we had thought it wasn’t until 3 pm. Once through, we spotted the harbour master, who guided us in to his beautiful garden marina, one of our favourites in the Netherlands. The air temperature was already beginning to increase, so we thought this would be an ideal spot to be in with temperatures expecting to exceed 30 degrees.
In order to stop the boat from rubbing against the wooden posts, we had to adapt a couple of our fenders to lie horizontally instead of vertically (first time we have had to do this). We did one each separately and differently, but both did the trick. We then paid a visit to the Harbour Master’s office and paid our dues for two nights. The air temperature was creeping up, so a trip to the local Aldi was warranted, both to buy a few bits, including a little pot of ice cream to share and to spend 20 mins or so in the cool, air conditioned atmosphere. Once back, we sat below, where it was cooler and ate our ice cream. Water temperature here was now 25 degrees, so Carole slipped on her costume and checked there wasn’t a bridge lift due, before climbing down the steps into the cool canal water. Bliss! After enjoying a nice supper, we watched a bit of TV before flopping into our beds. The air temperature was still around 29 degrees, so we weren’t expecting too much quality sleep tonight.
Goes
Saturday, 29th June, 2019
We woke to brilliant sunshine and after our first cuppa of the day, went up for a shower to begin the day nice and fresh. After breakfast we took a stroll into town to check out a possible restaurant for later and to do some window shopping. It was already very warm, so we returned to the boat for refreshments and Carole’s first swim of the day to cool down. We had a light lunch, then 40 winks. Carole’s costume was already dry, so it was time for swim no. 2. After drying off, it was time to get an ice cream; this time Chris didn’t want to share, so we bought one each, which went down well. When it was time for another swim, Chris was very hot, so without too much coaxing, he got in for a swim, too. We decided it was far too warm to eat out, so we prepared a lightish supper which we ate on deck in the shade. After tidying away and trying to get cooler, Carole took her fourth and final dip of the day. Chris opted instead for a cool shower on the boat. After an interesting game of cards, we settled down for the night, hoping for a cooler night’s sleep.
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