Maastricht to Bocholt, Belgium

HOT!  Not just hot but very hot.  By the end of the afternoon it was 29C in the saloon and every hatch and opening window was open and I was wearing shorts and t-shirt.  How can the weather change so quickly?  I have the answer: while we were in Maasbracht we bought am electric fan heater for the times we are in marinas where electricity is included in the basic price.  Like this one - so we now have a heat wave instead of mid-winter!  Murphy is at it again.

Anyhow, we left Maastricht at 8.30. We had to wait a fair amount of time for the lock between the Maas and the Zuidwillemsvaart Canal to be ready for us and I took this photo of the houseboats just before the lock.

Then just steadily chugged our away along the canal.  It is quite a narrow canal and couple of times we had to move close to the bank as large barges passed by.

We briefly thought of stopping at Eisenden but it was still only 11.30 and it was rather bleak and uninteresting looking.  Ian has an appointment tomorrow to do his ICC test in Bocholt.  He has both South African and Portuguese Yachtmaster Ocean certificates but in France he has to have the ICC (International Certificate of Competence).  So we decided to press on to Bocholt.  It was such a lovely afternoon, not a breath of wind. Aren't these reflection marvelous?

A few more interesting sights:  immaculate gardens, one even with free range chicken

And  a residence with canal frontage and character, in need of some tlc!

We arrived about 2.30.  Lovely little place. Immaculately clean ablution block, only €7.50 per night, including electricity - hence the thoughts about the fan heater!

There are quite a few moorings and a caravan campiong sight behind.

We broke out the bicycles again,  which we didn't use in Maastricht because it is a pedestrian only zone, and went on a hunt for a Belgian SIM card so we can get on line.  Well, it was a bit of a mission because there are major road works underway,  and wherever we got directions they were messed up by deviations.  But I got one, obviously, and lots of bicycling practice into the bargain!

As evening drew on the raucous noise of big black birds nesting in the trees on the other side of the canal got louder and louder. A murder of ravens for sure!