MILES TO ANTWERP-ZERO- WE'RE HERE!!!!
We sat at Anchor last night near Vlissingen, in company with the Alexander von Humbolt. At an unnatural hour this morning, the engineers started the engines and we raised the anchor, just before the river pilot joined us ( It took a lot of convincing to persuade Mr Chipps that 6 o'clock happens twice in one day) Once the pilot was on board we set off up the river to Antwerp. It's a very busy river- barges hurtling along at warp speed!At 1200 we went into the lock, courtesy of 2 tugs, and by the time we had finished lunch, we were out and with a second pilot on board, heading into Antwerp. A couple of the bridges made us all breath in quite deeply but it always seems worse from on deck!!
Our final manoeuvre was to reverse through into a little cut and we are now tied up opposite Shabab Oman- I'm sure we can invite them round for a party later.
The ship is now looking very beautiful - all dressed up- and the crew are now starting to drift ashore to explore beautiful Antwerp, and to visit other ships- of which there are many! We will be open tomorrow for visitors, and then Monday we have a crew change, ready for the race to Aalborg Sue MP