Hendrina, Ghent

 Saturday 19/09/26

Gorgeous Ghent (Photo by Nathan Johnson)

We left Kortrijk the next morning, and enjoyed seeing huge numbers of birds on the way towards Ghent.  

We were delayed for a while at one of the locks as a vessel was coming from the opposite direction and ended up being one of four vessels waiting to enter.  The lock was 280m long end the controller had calculated we could all fit in - just.  We were by far the smallest vessel and, as a non commercial craft, we were asked to enter the lock last.  The barge ahead of us was over 100m long and we were only just able to squeeze in behind it.  We were a bit nervous about possibly being bounced about in it's wash when it left the lock but needn't have worried; the very professional captain cruised away carefully until well clear of us and we all passed through without incident - very slick.

Hendrina squeezing into the lock - lots of duckweed on the water

Once we left the the canal and entered the stretch of the river Leie to get to Ghent (via the scenic route), the pace and scenery changed dramatically.  Rows of fancy houses, each with their own robo-mower hard at work, edged the river for miles.  There is definitely a lot of old and new money in Ghent.

Hendrina stopping traffic

The river meanders dramatically and Nathan had his work cut out to turn Hendrina back and forth through the narrow bends, avoiding kayakers and leisure boaters along the way.  As we approached the outskirts of Ghent we had the added hazard of day-trippers in rental boats, some of them with no idea how to steer or aware of the danger of getting in front of a 20m long iron barge.  Nathan earned his stripes - again!

Our wonderful berth in the middle of the action

We arrived late afternoon at the marina in the centre of Ghent to find our berth had not yet been vacated by the previous occupants.  They were an Aussie couple: him a chilled hippy-type fist-bumping us all on arrival and her a slightly annoying ball of stress.  We had to moor up against them for the night which was no problem, thanks to our capable skipper.

We headed off into town and had a lovely meal with some more brilliant beers.  We arrived back to Henny just in time for the lantern festival parade to pass us on their way out of town.  We were now effectively double-parked at their final corner out of town,  so it made for some tense moments as the boats made their way around.  Everyone was super chilled though, and it was a lovely welcome to Ghent.

The lantern festival - an excuse to make some noise.

The next day, the Aussies left and we could move into position against the wharf.  We were really quite taken with Ghent, in my opinion it rates as one of the best cities I have ever visited.  It helped that we had fantastic accommodation on Henny right in the middle of the city,  and we really had such a wonderful time exploring with Nathan and Charmaine.

(Phot NJ)

All too soon it was time for us to leave again and on Monday morning we caught a train to Lille, then a fast train from Lille to Aix and finally we caught a bus back to Peyrius.  Our little car was waiting patiently for us and soon we were back home.  

(Photo NJ)

(Photo NJ)

(Photo NJ)

(Photo NJ)

What a fantastic experience!

Happy times !
actually they were all laughing at me trying to work my camera properly

Castle of the Count (Photo NJ)

Hendrina - Lille and Kortrijk

 Thursday 17/09/26

Charmaine and Nathan are going to over-winter Hendrina in Europe because they are looking after a friend's boat and dog for a few months in London so we decided to meet them along their travels. 

 Conveniently, there is a direct high-speed train connection between Marseilles and Lille so we left our car at the bus stop near Peyrius and caught the bus to Aix-en-Provence TGV station.  The bus was running a bit late so we had to dash through the station to find the correct gate for our boarding.  Once sorted, we settled into our seats and began cruising through the French countryside at 300 km/h.  It's a no-frill train, so all passengers had to sort their own food - packed sandwiches and a flask of coffee for us.

Lille Chamber of Commerce Belltower

Charmaine met us in Lille and we walked to Henny, conveniently moored on the canal alongside the citadel near the city centre. Nathan welcomed us on board and we settled in for a lot of chatting followed by a wonderful fish curry supper, a joint effort between Nathan and Charmaine.

The next morning Toni and I went for a walk around the area and rustled up some bread for lunch and pastries for breakfast.  We had around six hours travel ahead of us, but, as we would find out, timetables on the canals are variable as there can be long delays with a lot of commercial traffic taking precedence.

The very decorative town hall in Comines
We had to wait as there was a large craft coming through the narrow section

The trip reminded us of travelling through the canals in the UK, except the canals and vessels here were a lot bigger and the entire system is better maintained as it is still used for commercial transport.  All the locks are 'hands free', controlled by a voice on the radio, quite different to the windlass winding in the UK.  They are also huge, built to accommodate the 100+m barges we encountered.

Lock doors open, waiting for the green light to drop ropes

We arrived into a lovely mooring as the canal passed through Kortrijk.  Charmaine and Nathan had discovered it on their previous trip and it was well worth the visit.  We had a lovely stroll around the time, sampled a few Belgian beers and had a lovely schnitzel supper.  Superb! 

Kortrijk

The interior of the 13'th century Church of Our Lady of Courtrai
was very decorative, albeit a bit gothic.

Monastery Church of Saint Michael

The following day we planned to head out towards Ghent, most of the trip following the commercial canal but Nathan wanted to follow the Leie river to get into the city, a much more scenic, winding route. 

Channel crossing - Queenborough to Calais

 Saturday 2 May 26

We woke early, keen to get the day underway.  A quick breakfast, checked the weather forecast and we were underway.  The Swale was calm in the early morning but the tide wasn't helping us as much as we had hoped.  Our view was mainly of mud but the bird life was amazing, even the odd seal was spotted.

Leaving our mooring in Queenborough

Calm waters of the Swale.  Mud everywhere.

It took around three hours for us to get through the winding Swale, entering the channel at Whitstable,  and once we were past the channel markers we turned east to follow along the North Kent coast.  The going was steady but sedate and by the time we had reached the Margate area, we needed to make a decision how to proceed.  The wind had been forecast as southerly, but as it blew up the channel between England and France, it turned easterly into the estuary so we had been chugging into it for hours with no outlook of improving conditions.  There were also storms forecast for the evening.

With the time we had lost to the tide and wind we realised that we would only arrive at Nieuwpoort in the middle of the night and with the weather threatening, it seemed the prudent decision was to aim for Calais so we started tracking south down the Kent coast in order to cross the shipping lanes at the correct angle.

Luckily Nathan had a warm waterproof that fitted me

By then it seemed as though we had been travelling for hours but the view of the English coast wouldn't leave us, and there was no sign of the French coast because of the low cloud and haze.  it was amazing to see how quickly the huge ships would move, but we were lucky in that our progress somehow threaded between all of them so we didn't need to deviate at all.

Unsettled sky

It was already late by the time we could see the coast and I got a bit disorientated when a DFDS ferry passed in front of us.  I was at the helm and had assumed it was going into Calais and would help me get my bearing on the harbour mouth.  Unfortunately it just passed by on its way to Dunkirk, leaving us rolling over it's wake.

Wake turbulence from the ferry

As we were approaching the channel we could see another ferry incoming and, although it was still some miles away, it's greater speed meant it was safely past and docking before we even entered the fairway.  We were then asked by the harbour-master to hold off to the south of the fairway as another ferry was en-route and we could enter the harbour after it.  By now we had already been through one rain shower and there was thunder and lightning in the air; we were keen to get into a mooring for the night.

Keeping well out of the way of ferry traffic who get preference here

When we finally entered the harbour and motored through into the basin we met the Australian couple again who gave us directions to moor on one of the buoys as we would only be able to enter the canal on Sunday at high tide.  Just as Charmaine and I went to catch the buoy and tie off the bow the heavens opened.  Luckily we were both in waterproofs or else we would have been soaked.

We all spent a sleep-disrupted night, every time a ferry entered or left the harbour we would get bounced around so it was a welcome relief the next day to get through into the start of the canal system.  Charmaine and Nathan went into the port to sort the customs paperwork and we were then invited to have a drink on the very fancy barge owned by the Aussies.

Calm waters of the Canal de Calais

The next morning I headed off to catch a train back home and Nathan and Charmaine headed off for some adventures in the canal systems.

A sad farewell after a fabulous trip

Well done Hendrina, excellent captaining by Nathan supported by Charmaine.  A real treat to cross the channel on a piece of nautical history with such an accomplished team. I had a brilliant time!

London - Queenborough 46 nm (85km) 8hrs

Queenborough - Calais 78 nm (145km) 15hrs

Hendrina's next night's mooring, happy sailing!

Channel crossing - London to Queenborough

 Friday 1 May 26

Hendrina is almost 100 years old, is 19.75m long, 3.73m wide and weighs around 45 tons (and could take another 50 tons of cargo).  She travels quite slowly, 7 knots maximum (around 13 km/h) but we usually travel much slower to conserve diesel and avoid overworking the engine.  This means the tides and winds can have a massive effect on travel times, especially on a long-distance trip like we were planning to undertake.

The Thames is tidal along the stretch we  be were going to be travelling so we needed to time it to set off two hours before peak tide, punch through the last of the incoming tide, catch the slack tide in the region of Tower Bridge - a notoriously turbulent area - and then use the receding tide to draw us down to the estuary.

On our way at last!

The Clock Tower with Big Ben

This meant we could only set off around lunchtime and faced the prospect of a late finish.  Going through central London was certainly a challenge I would only consider doing it with an experienced captain like Nathan, as he regularly pilots these waters; he has the added advantage of usually getting treated considerately by the other captains, most of whom know him.

Tower Bridge

The Thames winds back and forth slowly, around Canary Wharf you can motor for 10 km along the water and only move 5km closer to the sea - very slow going.  

Canary Wharf

The further we moved from London, the fewer boats were buzzing around us although those moored on the shores loading or unloading were getting bigger and bigger.  At one stage we were tracking two huge ferries bearing down on us from behind but luckily we branched off on a side-channel just before they caught up.  At this stage, the Thames was more than wide enough for them to over-take us but it would have been a bit bumpy crossing their wakes.

Approaching the Thames Barrier

A rare over-taking by Hendrina.  Nathan got permission to use an alternative
channel through the barriers to pass the slow-moving barge

We would prefer to avoid meeting one of these
monster vessels behind us on the Thames

It was getting late by the time we entered the Medway estuary and we then turned into The Swale, a narrow waterway around the Isle of Sheppey.  From there it was a shortish run to Queenborough, our destination for the night. 

Nathan had pre-arranged mooring and we had been advised to moor on the pontoon, a long floating jetty.  When we arrived in the evening gloom we couldn't even see the pontoon, the entire area covered by boats.  Nathan phoned again and we were told to pull up alongside another barge and make fast.  It turned out to be an Australian couple on their way to Calais.

Approaching the Dartford crossing

We were exhausted after a long day's concentration but the excitement was palpable.  The weather was still looking favourable but you never know what the conditions are going to be like until you get on the Channel. 

Avoiding the Yasmine, a huge ferry bound for Zeebrugge

We knew the next day would be another long day.  We would have an early start, hoping to the tide to pull us through The Swale and then track along the coast past Margate and the across to Nieuwpoort, Belgium.  If the going was too rough or too slow, we would consider making for Dunkirk or Calais but the preference was Belgium as the customs process was a bit more simplified there.

Some iconic London views

A quick supper, short sleep and we would be away at six the next morning.

Channel crossing - Preparing Hendrina

Thursday 30/04/26

Two years ago Nathan bought an unconverted Dutch barge, still in it's freight configuration, and motored it back to London.  For those two years he and Charmaine have been living on board in extremely cramped quarters while renovating the interior to living accommodation.  

Hendrina pictured shortly after arriving in London in 2024

The transformation has been incredible and, although the work is not fully completed, they needed to travel to Europe to maintain the Dutch registration and tax status (another big thanks to Brexit).  

They asked me if I would like to join them as crew and I jumped at the chance and said yes.  The deadline for their crossing was looming so we were all keeping a watchful eye on the weather for a suitable window of opportunity.  She's built for canals and rivers so she really needs good weather conditions and favourable tides to embark on a channel crossing.

Final important touch-ups by the decoration department

Finally, at the end of April it was looking good so I flew over to join them at their berth on the Thames.  There were still loads of final jobs to finish and we all mucked in, fixing, adjusting, testing, checking and clearing up as we went.  It was hard to believe the amount of tools and materials that came out of her.

Earlier picture showing the newly built kitchen / living area

I was lucky to stay in the master suite, mainly because I couldn't 
fit lengthwise  in the original sleeping nook.

An earlier pic of the bathroom which has since been completed

Friday the 1st of May was our target date so, once all the final parts had been delivered and installed we prepared her for sea-trials; a trip upriver to Teddington and back to check everything was working well and ship-shape.

It was good to finally get underway, even if we were going in the wrong direction

My first time at the helm.  The huge rudder exerts a lot of force on the tiller 
so you need your full bodyweight on it the whole time.

Coming back to the berth against the wind made for choppy conditions

Everything went smoothly but the windy, choppy conditions gave us a taste of what was to come.  The initial part of the journey would be down the tidal portion of the Thames, a very busy waterway with a mix of pleasure craft, cruise liners, work boats and passenger clippers racing up and down.

Preps done, sea-trials completed, supper and a quick selfie.

An overview of Hendrina before we left

Choppy return to London

The next day we would check everything one more time and then get ready to slip the ropes a couple of house before high tide.