The excitement of our visit to the Van Nelle factory, meeting the historians and the boat=s second captain=s grand daughter, having been given a host of Van Nelle memorabilia and historical records plus having an article written and published in the shipping newspaper was a great way to climax our exploration of the Netherlands. Since we knew we could not top it we had decided to head south, away from Holland and into Belgium to attend the DBA Barge Rally at Namur. As a result we headed off to Den Haag.

Den Haag is a lovely big town with lots of quai space in the commercial area of the port, close to town. It is accessed via a round lock. There is only one other that we know of - at Agde in the south of France - so it is a bit of a novelty to enjoy. We had been here before so the town held few secrets. It does have a big library where the internet is available for a modest sum so we spent some time there catching up on mail and bookings.

We had received and accepted quite a few bookings for 2005, in fact we were booked pretty well solid from July through to September so it was time to round up some deposits and fix the schedule. E-mails were sent off to all and sundry and over the next few days we received mostly cancellations. This was a two edged sword. On one hand the dates had been reserved and other people had missed out, plus no shared cost income was going to be forthcoming. On the other hand it meant that we were free to re-arrange our schedule in this last year to do what we wanted to do. We decided that we would revisit Champagne, Paris and Burgundy.

Having made our plans we headed on to the south - and a stop overnight at Sluis 11 - not a brilliant tourist attraction but at the end of a day of travel you take what you can get if you are not planning to stay in a town.

The next day we arrived at Maastricht. Parking near the Shell bunkership, which is a great place to shop for boat bits we found on our visit to the shop that they had copies of the Schuttvaer newspaper which had the article of Van Nelle published in it. I bought three, keeping two and sending one to Mrs Annal-Slingerland the captain=s grand daughter.

Having been several times in Maastricht we took in the sights we had not had a chance to see including the historic city walk and bus tour. We frequented the many bars in the floral squares throughout the city and wandered through the weekend street markets and art markets. While not in a rush we moved on down the mighty Maas ( or Meuse in France) river on our journey to join 23 other barges at Namur. The DBA is the mnemonic for the Dutch Barge Association which has over 1000 members and lots of barges in it=s register. We joined as soon as we became serious about barging and gained a great deal of information and assistance from it. Each year they organise a couple of events where >bargees= like us can get together, enjoy the chat, the comparisons, the social gatherings and the water borne activities. These include handling exercises and a parade.

We had first to register and pay for the event so tried to contact the organiser via the name and number listed on the DBA website (www.barges.org). After a false start we managed to get the program and registration form through email and sent off the money and registration. We then had plenty of time to spend on the way at Maastricht, Liege, Huy, Namur, Dinant and Floreffe.

Maastricht is very pretty and pleasant to visit, full of colourful shops and restaurant an historic port, an old town tram ride, walking tour, Old Mill, three churches, fortifications, shopping streets, market, lots of art and music.

From Maastricht the next town is Liege - which as I have previously reported - holds no romance for us. It has a character slightly warped by a lack of cleanliness, lots of kebab shops and kids on scooters, limited historical interest and an avaricious port captain. Its not a place to stay in so we passed by.

On the other hand, the next town the river Maas is Huy, which is terrific. Overlooked by a fortress and split by the river, the people are welcoming and the feeling around town is lighthearted. While its tourist attractions are limited, the museum is interesting (and the curator stayed late so we were not rushed out at the end of our visit) and the fortress is worth the climb up the hill. Shopping was good here as well as we were able to buy a new umbrella for the back deck at a very reasonable price and in a colour that matched the boat.

Mooring in Huy was good as the Tourist Office and local tour boat people were great, assuring us we could use the quai for nothing and stay as long as we liked. On our visit to the fortress, we found the exhibits contained were rotting away with moisture and neglect, a far cry from those in the town museum.

I looked to buy some of the local wine from newly replanted grapes but no one sold the product. They had made wine here before phylloxera but not replanted subsequent to that plague on the grapes. Recently a couple of interested local amateurs have had some success. But since none was available I hunted out the huge local cave and drinks wholesale to buy some aged reds and whites for Burgundy.

On to Namur. Next morning was the 10^th of June - my birthday. I am happy to say that I received some nice prezzies, a wine carafe and Delft wine bottle coaster, a Dutch birthday card, calls from son Sean, friends Ian and Helen Palmer, Rod and Miria Cummins and Jan and John (our English boating friends from 2001), a text from son Simon and an email from my sister Sandra. All in all a good haul.

Having a week before the start of the rally we planned to re-visit Dinant where we had taken a great picture of the boat 4 years before and also to do a side trip to a small town named Floreffe which boasts a large monastery and ancient brewery. Stopping in Namur on the way we discovered a good place for free parking near the river entry to the Sambre, a canalised river and good little shops nearby - could be useful on our return.

On to Dinant where, free and available was almost exactly the spot where we were 5 summers before, right in front of the cathedral and fortress. We enjoyed my birthday dinner at Le Roi de Moules for the Moules Frites which we had enjoyed for lunch on the terrasse before. Very Nice.

The next day I was out with the digital camera to take lots of pics of the boat in the same position and then headed up the cable car (very steep and scary) for the conducted tour of the Citadel. While the tour was in French, the very helpful guide kindly spent a few minutes at times with us to explain the salient points in English.

Then on to Floreffe via Namur for a couple of days before back to Namur for the rally. Floreffe has a monastery which was taken over at the time of the Revolution by the government. It is now a school but features tours of the church and its museum. The guide here was very kind to do the tour in English as one other couple were English. At the end of the tour we visited the brasserie where we had to taste a Floreffe monastery beer and to buy Floreffe beer glasses.

Floreffe has a nice quiet mooring, except that huge commercials come past very regularly, creating a wash that makes the glasses jingle.

Wednesday the 15^th of June we headed back to Namur to join other early birds on the vast quai where the rally was to be held. The town council workers were already installing the huge silent generator which would supply electrical power for the duration and the organiser, Roger, was already running back and forth up and down the quai organising boats. That was to be the pattern for the balance of the week as more boats arrived and people moored up fore and aft and side by side.

The boats attending ranged from small Tjalks to a 38 metre peniche and everything in between. Some were in pristine condition, being brand new replicas, others showed the maturity of the years they had spent working - one being built in the late 1880s. Van Nelle was comfortable among this crowd and looked well in the sunshine with all our flags and pennants fluttering from the mast.

The first official engagement was a Welcome Champagne Reception accompanied by local dignitaries=s speeches. The next day a Forum addressed by heads of the English, French, Belgian and Dutch waterways about concerns and future plans followed by tours of the city and the fortress. Our friends Bill and Sylvia came up from Cambrai to join us on this day and on the tour. The next day we joined the other boats in the >sail past= parade in two columns, alternatively placed - which became a bit of a scrabble at the turning point and then the final dinner in the town=s ancient Arsenal.

Lots of opportunities for meeting and learning about other people and their boats. Irish, Swiss, British, Canadian, Belgian, French, even Australian attendees made the event interesting and very worthwhile. We stayed a day or two after the event and then headed south.

First stop Givet, a smallish town that has the last Belgian fuel pump - a must when re-entering France - to fill up here with >red= diesel at 60 cents rather than something over the Euro over the border. We carried on that day to Fumay where we stopped for a one night. There=s not much in Fumay - but we did add frites (chips) from the caravan friterie at the port, to our barbecued ribs that night. Then on to Montherme, another small riverside stop with a couple of bollards and no other facilities, not even an ATM for cash. We carried on....

Our next stop was Charleville-Meziers, a big town with all facilities but also lots of Dutch boats. We opted for the commercial quai across the river from the floating ponton which held electricity and water since we could do without. We had company, lots of students come to the riverside to swim when the temperature is over 30 as it was through this whole period. We also attracted a couple of other boats from time to time over the next couple of days but they disliked our generator and plumped for the power over the river. There is also a huge new port which we were the first boat to visit some 5 summers ago but there is no shade and the costs are horrendous. We stayed long enough to top up our French bank account since the phone company seemed to be living exclusively off it - and left.

Sedan (of sedan chair fame) boasts one of the biggest medieval forts in France and here we stopped next to visit. We arrived at the back door of the fort and by wandering around, managed to find our way inside, about half way through the self guided tour - free. We enjoyed the attraction and ended up in the café having a beer when we realized we should actually have gone in the front door and paid. All was not lost - we went back the next day and did the whole tour, this time with the free audio guide in hand to understand what we were seeing. The fort has rooms with mannequins dressed in realistic costumes showing what the occupants would have done in bygone days. The audio guide was also very helpful !

Past Mouzon the next day where we stopped long enough to get an hour or so=s worth of water before continuing to Stenay where the port boats all conveniences for just i 6.50 per night. We paid for 2 nights and settle in to visit the crypt (didn=t find it) and the beer museum. This was a good attraction since it not only explained all the facts but invited you to taste the result. Unfortunately it was just as we reached the bar when the storm that broke the serious heat wave we had been experiencing, broke. We jumped on bikes and pedalled furiously back to the port - to find that our umbrellas (left up on departure) and windows (left open) had been taken down and closed (respectively) by the lovely Dutch couple on the next boat - a very pretty Tjalk.

Foko and Helma joined us and Mike and Josie (an English coupe we were virtually shadowing for the previous week), in drinks on Van Nelle - in the wheelhouse as the rain bucketed down around us. Foko has leukaemia - a rare kind with no cure - and he and Helma had 3 months away from their jobs to travel but had to head back to work and chemotherapy. What a bugger !

We found out from Foko that the other Dutch in the port had complained to the captainiere that we were only had to pay the same amount as them in smaller boats. They are never happy the Dutch boating fraternity out of their own country. Many of them are just a downright pain. They leave the Netherlands for France because its cheaper, bigger and has better weather, then try to saturate the ports and pass you on canals to get there ahead of you. A right pain in the .... clog !

Through Dun sur Meuse the next day with a visit to its hill top church and battlements while Van Nelle lay against the stony bank tied to three trees. A quiet and cool spot since we had the advantage of trees for shade whereas the Dutch on the floating pontoon opposite had none.

And so, on to Verdun where we stay for a week as Maureen goes off to Paris to work for the Clean Up The World team and I clean up the boat in expectation of her return with two guests - Rhonda Parker and her friend Pippa.

Verdun is an excellent place to visit. Free big port with electricity and water provided in order to attract the tourists on boats (yes the place is crammed with the ever parsimonious Dutch). On the quai is a huge sound stage for Saturday night concerts - this week was a Cuban group - very good. Lots of things to see and do as this was the centre of French resistance against the German attacks for three years in the Great War. There are conducted tours of the battlefields including villages that ceased to exist and are now just sigh posts and shell holes, museums, a mausoleum, graveyards, forts and memorials. There is a great fortress in the town and a cathedral with a World Centre for Peace next door. The town is crammed with restaurants and shops and a major rail connection to the rest of France.

The restaurant peniche in front of us is supplying us electricity and the shops are nearby - what else could you want.

2005 JOURNAL