Meuse River at 5 knots - Part 3

Negotiating the locks was interesting. The first few locks in Belgium were geared towards commercial shipping, which allowed for half a dozen pleasure craft to lock through simultaneously, with a full time lockmaster managing the operations. Further upstream, the locks became much smaller and automated. We used what appeared to be a garage door remote control to signal our approach to the lock, and once inside used a push-rod behind the ladder to activate the process. The biggest challenge when going upstream is getting a mooring line onto the bollards - which might be on top of the lock wall 4-5 metres above the deck in some of the deeper locks! This usually requires the careful transfer of a crewmember to a slippery steel ladder with mooring line in hand.

We encountered a couple of automated locks that were out of service, but a lockmaster would typically appear within 20 minutes of pressing the intercom button, or calling the helpline.

We typically passed through about 5 locks each day, stopping off at various riverside towns along the way to buy fresh baguettes and sample the local patisserie specialties.