I was wonderfully surprised this morning to receive an email stating that the old bridge blocking our exit would be removed imminently… A little later I was walking up to the heads and saw the honking great crane alongside the bridge. Then watched gleefully as the offending span was hoisted off!

Up…

….Up….

….and AWAY!!!

Our way out is now available through the new (temporary) lifting bridge – once the path is dredged a little deeper…

Our escape route via the new (temporary) lifting bridge.

Meanwhile, as the dreaded virus plays it’s game, many of our options for actually going somewhere else are limited as even sailing boats are being refused entry to various ports – but for the time being, we’re pretty well isolated on the boat, keeping healthy and doing lots of boat chores. Now that we can see an exit at least, we’ll start to slowly provision (without looking like hoarders!) and then probably get out of this harbour and tour around the local anchorages until we can find a country that will allow us to enter!

With the Corona Virus scare in full swing right now, we’ve turned our thoughts to how we might quarantine ourselves… Ordinarily, the boat would seem like a really good place to quarantine oneself – we’re pretty self sufficient (though we did go and buy a few items from the fast depleting grocery store) – and we could simply sail off to a nice pretty destination and wait it out. Unfortunately, we can’t do that because the harbour we’re in is currently blocked: the opening bridge is in need of major maintenance, so they built (took only 1 month!) a new temporary bridge for while it’s out of action. However, in the dismantling of the old bridge, they’ve hit a snag and the “late March” completion date is now in jeopardy – and nobody can tell us when it’ll be resolved. Apparently a permit is required – a process which normally takes 27 weeks!!! (They say it won’t take that long…) So, the old bridge which now can’t open, is blocking our way…

Impressive – Google added the new bridge to their maps within a week of it being built!

So we can’t escape – but at least we can hunker down right here… however, we’re now a boat of 4 – Abigail and Greg arrived on Tuesday for a 3 or 4 day visit… Looks like it could turn into longer as the US halts flights from Europe to the US. It’s lovely to have them stay with us (though my liver is taking a serious hit!) but the food and drink becomes a more limiting factor! They’re going to try making a run for it tomorrow – by bus to London – which Trump seems to feel is a safer place and therefore not hit by the travel restrictions – then flying back to Texas. If Trump changes his mind quickly (no, that’s never happened has it?) Abs and Greg could find themselves stranded again… in which case, a trip back here or up to Yorkshire might be in order…

It’s all rather fun in an odd sort of way – though it might well mess up all our cruising plans this year as country after country decides to close it’s ports – or insist on lengthy quarantine requirements…

We’ll see…

The Dreaded Bug

Laurie and I had a very nice day yesterday – headed by Waterbus up to Alblasserdam and then cycled to Kinderdijk to view the old windmills – which were built around 1740 and still working… Super day out!

Kinderdijk

All from the 1740’s

Turning quite fast…

Today Abigail and Greg arrive for a visit – and it’s raining cats and dogs!

So the last couple of weeks we’ve had some visitors to Toodle-oo!

First sister Kate came over for a week aboard – we spent most of the time touring around Dordrecht and managed to catch Carnival too – a most enjoyable, family oriented day. We also took a day trip to Delft on their market day. Laurie was tempted to buy a new teapot – until the price sticker was observed!

Enjoying a Carnival Day drink (or two)…

We also got a flying visit from best mate Steve Sykes who I haven’t seen for yonks! All in very good order – it was great to see him again and hope to see more of him as we move towards warmer climes!

Steve Sykes at the entrance to Dordrecht

Next week Abigail arrives with her beau Greg in tow. Looking forward to hearing how her recent multi-engine instructor training went.