We stayed in Maastricht during 4 nights, 2 of them with our visitor. Eventually we reluctantly left on Thursday the 11th of August, 2016, with all the drinking water we are able to take in and all laundry done. In between we frequented the lovely city as much as we were able to. Soon after leaving and going downstream the river Maas (Meuse) is no longer navigable, so we followed its lateral canal named Julianakanaal. On our way we passed Elsloo, a little town where our son lived for more than a decade when employed at Maastricht-Aachen Airport.

If, coincidentally, one of his anchors would drop down we are in trouble!

We cannot remember how long ago we had to use pins. It must have been years ago – somewhere on a canal in France. Anyway, there was only one bollard available, so we had to use them. Old tennis balls (‘new balls please’) protect us -and anybody else- from the burred(??) edges of the pins.

This picture shows the three of us, again, in front of the lock. It clarifies why…

…two commercials that arrived later (late?) that night, around 9:30PM to be precise, fitted the next morning in the lock not one at the time but together at the same time. The wide shape of the lock is clearly visible with the last picture. It took them a lot of manoeuvring when arriving and leaving alike. We were completely crammed in during the night and planning to take some pictures the next morning. Alas, they already left at 7:00AM – not an appropriate time to rise for a pensioner, we’d say! Anyway, here they both are, the first one already positioned inside the lock-chamber.

On we went the next (Saturday-)morning, leaving 8:32AM. Distance that day: 26 kilometers (over 16 miles. Locks: 4, all descending. From a distance the last lock looked painted green. It proved to be duck-weed all over the place.

We moored in a branch of the canal at Veghel at 1:40PM. Another long, 5-hours, cruise. We booked for (at least?) 3 nights here. Quietness is what we are looking for!

A shot of nostalgia to end with. There’s a little square-like space in front of Veghel’s marina. We noticed there an old fashioned ANWB-signpost of which we thought they’re all gone. Not in Veghel they are! And pretty accurate, too, mentioning even the 1/10 kilometers! It makes us think of the UK (3/8 miles, or so, would be 0,6 in ‘kilometer-countries’). Tot volgende week! (Use Google translate, if necessary.)