Unchanged Waulsort, Ardennes, Belgium
We arrived at Waulsort ages ago – on Saturday the 28th of May to be precise. That makes a total of 3 weeks and 1 day today! Initially we paid € 48,00 for four days, planning to leave on the 1st of June. Heavens soon opened their gates to the full. The following deluge inhibited us from leaving. We paid an extra € 9,00, to meet the weekly rate. After that we paid € 48,00 again – for the second time followed up by € 9,00. Two weeks, two times € 57,00 – therefore € 114,00 for a fortnight. The circumstances did not change. So we decided to pay an extra € 51,00, (€ 165,00 altogether) thus creating the right to be here for a full month. (Deep sigh.) The river is unceasingly running pretty fast. Besides (1), she is still closed for over 90 kilometers as from PK 7 in France. That’s around 16 kilometers from here – 9 in Belgium and 7 in France. The thing is that the Belgians count the kilometers looking downstream (we think: normal) and the French upstream (we think: French). Besides (2), France suffers from a wave of strikes – VNF-employees among them.
At last we were able to demonstrate the meaning of ‘strike’ (‘grève’ in French) the best possible way, being an article in a regional French paper, to be found using this link: http://www.lunion.fr/region/givet-en-raison-d-un-mouvement-de-greve-ecluse-bloquee-ia3b25n70909. It’s about a strike, amongst other things affecting the lock ‘Les Quatres-Chemineés’, the first one for us after entering France. An important one, too, as it is a sort of ‘checkpoint’, ‘customs’ if you like.
Meest recente reacties