20241019

Field work

It was a misty morning when Joost and I launched Hatseflats at the Grutte Wielen to do some field work. Our objective was to validate a new route for a future Summer Solstice trip of Natuurlijk Varen.
We wanted to find out the clearances of the many fixed bridges and most of all, whether we would be able to operate ourselves the three locks between the Grutte Wielen and the Nije Feart.

We left at around 1000 hours. It was so misty that we could not see more than 50m ahead. There was no wind and a light drizzle. We rowed through the quiet back streets of Ryptsjerk and passed under some low bridges. We measured a clearance of 140cm and reckoned that the water level would be 20cm higher in summer so we are expecting a clearance of 120cm. Our first lock was the 'Klaas Sluske'. The wooden jetty was very slippery so we had to be very careful. We reckoned that 4 boats would fit in the lock. We spent around 20 minutes to bridge a 100cm water level difference.

Our next lock was the Walster Slus. Here the jetty was made of recycled plastic instead of wood which felt much more secure. This lock can also handle 3-4 boats. We spent around 20 minutes to bridge another 80cm difference.
A little further on we saw a small lake next to the canal which looked navigable. It was not as shallow as we thought but there was only one opening to the lake so it was not going to be part of the plan.
We noticed that the water was black because we had gone from clay country to peat country. The weather cleared a little and there was a little wind, about S2. On the Falomster Feart we could finally hoist the sail and made about 2 knots. We lowered the rig to row under a couple of bridges in De Falom and hoisted sail again. Around 1400 hours we stopped at a Marrekrite jetty for lunch and had pea soup.

Finally we reached the lock connecting the Falomster Feart to the Swemmer / Nije Feart. We followed the instructions and used the push rods to close the lock at the low end after Hatseflats. When Joost had opened the valve at the high end, we found that the lock did not fill completely because the valve at the low end was spilling water. It appeared to be stuck and creaked alarmingly but Joost finally got it moving. With the lower valve closed it took a couple of minutes before we could push the lock open at the higher end. We spent some 45 minutes on this lock including our self-inflicted delay.
We turned into the Nije Feart and arrived at the trailer slip at the Pottebakkersbrug around 1600 hours.

After our trip I went to see the Camping De Zilveren Maan which proved suitable for an overnight stop on the eventual trip. I also sent an email to the municipality about the unclear instructions and the lower valve mechanism.