19th - 22nd May. From Maastricht, into Belgium on the Albert canal, and then on the River Meuse to Huy.

Maastricht is a lovely city. St Servaas Cathedral and Basilica overlook the Rijthof, the main square which is surrounded by cafes.

The old town walls are hidden among the back streets of the town.

Above Lanaye lock we will join the Albert Canal to go south into Belgium. However, the lock is currently “kaput”. We arrived there at 1.30 pm, and were in the company of many barges, by the time that the first locking went at 7.30pm. We were told that we were to go in the second locking, but as each cycle, up and down, took about an hour, we decided to wait until the morning. Here four smaller (a relative term) barges are exiting the lock, so that four more can go in.

We retreated behind the wall, tying up behind a work barge there. We could hear barges going up and down Lanaye all night.

A new lock is being built here, which will take four large barges. This lock can only take one, plus small boats like us. We are tied on to the barge so had an extremely gentle ride up the lock, which has a rise of over 13 metres. This was our deepest lock so far.

We passed through Liege, which is a big city, but we did not stop there.

At the next lock we had to wait on a dolphin, which is built for big boats too.

Is it a house or a castle up there? No doubt we will see more of these.

Mooring is allowed at the small town of Engis, opposite the huge gravel works. A large sign tells us that mooring is forbidden, except with fenders. All of our tyres came out again, so that we were legal! Tyre fenders are not allowed in locks in Belgium, in case they come loose, and then sink to create a problem.

The barge, Tesco3, was loading on the opposite bank. Here the skipper is measuring carefully to check the weight of his load. There are three of these marker scales on the side of each barge.

On coming into the town of Huy, we found a wall mooring, beside some steps. The red arrow points to The Puzzler, to give an idea of the size of the river Meuse here.

In Huy can be found the Collegiate Church of Notre Dame. On top of the cliff is the fortress of Huy, which was built in the year 1818, but was notoriously used as a prison by the Germans during both World Wars.

12th- 18th May 2015. South towards Belgium on the Maas, Zuid Willemsvaart, and Juliana Kanaal.

From the Biesbosch National park we headed upstream on the Maas, which is a huge river. Although the barges too, are very big, they do not create as much wash as we had expected.

The banks are protected by these large stones.

We moored in the first marina at Heusden, which is an old town built in a star shape.

Leaving the Maas, we went on to the Zuid Willemsvaart and on into 's-Hertogenbosch. This town is usually known as Den Bosch. Sam, Cees and Cheetah joined us here, and we carried on, locking through with one large barge!

There are few moorings on this waterway, but this grassy bank above lock 11 was perfect for us.

The Zuid Willemsvaart is long and straight, but we chose this route, rather than going an extra hundred kilometres upstream on the Maas, in order to reach Belgium sooner.

We pulled into this small harbour at Nederweert to go shopping, but this was a bad decision!

One very large barge came past fast, and sucked most of the water out of our harbour. The Puzzler was tied by the top rope and leant over quite a long way. However, the rope held firm, and we came upright again with no breakages. We moved on quickly before any more barges came along.

Just before reaching Maasbracht, we turned off the main canal into Polderveld, which is a lake complex, full of lovely moorings. To our surprise, we found a full length narrowboat there, so we moored together.

Anne and Ollie live on Wandering Snail, which was also fitted out by them in Norfolk. Anne Husar has written a book called “ A Cigar in Belgium”, which describes the Belgian canals in interesting detail. We look forward to visiting all the places so well described by her, and can highly recommend this book to everybody.

Walking is good here, with stepping stones to add interest.

Shannon and Cheetah had some great games together.

Beavers have been very active here. Even Shannon could not believe the size of this tree which they had felled.

It was time for Sam and Cees to leave us, so Ollie kindly provided the water taxi to get them to a bus in Maasbracht. Andy went along for the ride.

The dinghy, Origami, is groaning under the weight!

After a very pleasant weekend together, we all set off, with Wandering Snail moving out, having first pulled The Puzzler off the bottom. We had settled on the stones quite securely!

It was out to the river in tandem, then The Puzzler went south towards Maastricht, on the Juliana Kanaal, while Wandering Snail headed north down the Maas.

We were in Maasbracht Sluis with two barges, and it filled extremely quickly. I counted 4 seconds for each rung of the lock ladder, as the water covered them.

In Born Sluis, you can see the floating bollards. These are really good, as it is a long way up these locks, on the Juliana Kanaal.

In Maastricht there is a free mooring along a wall, which has been built between two river bridges. We found a spot easily, as the weekend boats had moved on. We were told that it had been quite full yesterday.

This wall acts as a breakwater against the barges on the main river. We can hear them passing, but there is not much wash where we are.

5th - 11th May 2015. From Meerkerk on the Merwede kanaal. Up the Linge river to Leerdam then back to Gorinchem. Across Nieuwe Merwede to the Biesbosch.

We sailed on to Meerkerk, and had to stay there for three days as it was too windy to move.

From the Merwede canal, we detoured up the Linge river to a campsite in Heukelum village. From there we cycled on to Leerdam, where glass is the main industry. There was a lot of teamwork in these glassblowing demonstrations – typical Dutch efficiency!

These ornaments show the work of one of the famous Leerdam glass workers.

After coming back down the Linge, we followed the Merwede canal to Gorinchem, where it was quite busy.

We had to wait for the third locking out on to the River Boven Merwede. We just fitted in with two small boats, so it was quite a contrast to the last lock. The barges have their own lock, downstream of this one.

This is a big waterway, with working barges moving quickly past us. They do not make much wash though, so are not a problem for The Puzzler.

That barge was long gone before we reached the junction, going left on to the Nieuwe Merwede river.

Soon after that junction, we locked down into the Brabantse Biesbosch, which is a large National Park. In many ways it is similar to Upper Lough Erne in Northern Ireland, having many islands within the lakes here.

We tried different types of moorings. The only thing is that this is an area affected by a tidal rise and fall of as much as 18 inches, so the boat must not be tied too tightly! Here we are on Rietsplas Island.

There are several narrow channels to follow between the islands. The minimum depth of each is shown on the chart, and we managed one of 0.5 metres, so it was reminiscent of the English canals.

At this mooring we had to be careful not to go underneath the jetty, when the tide fell. If this happened, then the boat could not come up on the tide, which would be disastrous!

On the opposite bank we watched a beaver chewing small branches. He was swimming when we first saw him, and we thought he was an otter. Then he came out of the water, and was huge, being the size of a large retriever dog.

In the morning, this deer swam across from our island to the next one. This is really an area which encourages wildlife.

1st - 4th May. From the Oude Rijn, down the Dubbele Wericke waterway to join the Hollandse Ijssel canal. Across the tidal river Lek, on the Merwede canal

We are now on the Oude Rijn, Not all of the thatched houses here in Holland are old, and it is always interesting to see new shapes!

The Dubbele Wericke is a little used waterway, due to its low bridges. We had to wait here with the bridge keeper for half an hour for this train to come, so that this bridge could be lifted for us. We wouldn't want to be any closer!

When we reached the Hekendorp Sluis, and found the lockkeeper, we thought that all was well. However, the lock gates would not open, so the lady in charge made a phone call, followed the instructions, and nothing happened. Her husband arrived too, and much humming and hawing went on! Several calls later an expert came along, and eventually the gates yielded to his superior power! We lowered the flag and chimney to creep under the bridge into the lock.

From Hekendorp we went down the Hollandse Ijssel to cross the tidal River Lek near Nieuwegein. Going down into the river, we were tied to a barge in the lock. He was travelling backwards down the lock, so sent us out first. These cruisers were determined to get to the lock on the south side of The Lek before us!

Once inside the lock, we could not really see why they had hurried, as there was certainly room for all of us. It is well named as Grote Sluis, being 120 metres long and 12 metres wide.

Our book of reference told us that there was a free town mooring, just to the south of the sluis, but it is now quite expensive, so we found a grassy bank, amid the flowers, along the Merwede canal.

23rd - 30th April 2015. Through Mijdrecht, past Zomerlust to an island mooring on the Nieuwekoopse Plassen, then on to the Oude Rijn.

From Oudekerk we headed southeast from the river Amstel, via various narrower waterways, to the south of the Vinkeveense Plassen. Here we are in the older part of Mijdrecht, where the canal is quite narrow.

However, just round the corner, the canal opens out and the newer part of town can be seen.

After joining the Kromme Midrecht waterway, we stopped again at Zomerlust, where this fine Friesian horse went past.

We continued on through the lock into the Nieuwe Koopse Plassen, to moor on a different island this time. Shannon was allowed to run free and really enjoyed this.

If you look closely at the grass alongside The Puzzler on this island, just behind the front tyre fender, you will see a slight hollow there. Andy took Shannon out late in the evening, and inadvertently stepped in this hollow. This was not a good idea! The water below the grassy covering was three feet deep, before he reached the soft muddy bottom, so he got both very wet and extremely dirty! I must point out that he had not been drinking. Well, not much!

Leaving the Nieuwe koopse Plassen at Zwammerdam, this was an interesting mooring on the Oude Rijn. We were opposite a sand and gravel works, and could watch barges being unloaded.