The time had come. Low bridges were forecast and the wheelhouse would not win in a contest with any of them. Andy and I set about dismantling it.
It did not take too long and we set off along the Canal de la Sensee in 34 degrees heat. After 15km of pleasant green and wide waters we turned onto the Escaut (or had we reached the River Styx?) and accepted a challenge of mythical proportions. Trees bowed down to touch us with their branches whilst their roots stole the width of the waterway so that the water dodged and weaved to get away from them. Lobelia slowed and the fun began! The first bridge was lower than we had expected and Lobelia was not interested in stopping that quickly :
Shiv sprinted to the bow to lower the already lowered mast to a new low then sprinted to the stern to hurl the Ensign and pole to the deck. At the same time, Andy wrestled with a parasol in the wheelhouse, the weighty blue board signal on our starboard and the controls. We cowered. We waited. Callum jumped up and down on deck and gleefully touched the bridge. We made it through! We wondered if perhaps we had taken a wrong turn. This was meant to be a commercial waterway and we dreaded the thought of meeting anything. There just did not seem to be any room.
Thankfully we reached the first lock without incident and moored up for the night. A storm was brewing so we rebuilt the wheelhouse.
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