Our land based research had included a trip to Tilburg where we found an expectant crowd gathering at the harbour, along with a handful of press and radio reporters. On enquiry it transpired that a large vessel was expected, although in reality it was only a large concrete pontoon, on which a state-of-the-art floating hair salon was to be constructed. There was some doubt amongst the local townspeople as to whether this would blend in with the historic vessels in the harbour but it was coming anyway and the chief excitement was whether it would fit through the narrow bridge. All went well and the harbour master enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame as he opened the bridge for this 'historic' moment.

We had seen a little of the Zuid-Willemsvaart from the road and were not expecting the most scenic of cruises, so we were pleasantly surprised that it looked a lot nicer from the water than the land. With a permanent downstream current on the river Maas, the Zuid-Willemsvaart makes a good quick way of getting to the south east extremity of the Netherlands, ready for a return trip downstream. We had already visited Helmond, at the junction of the Wilheminakanaal, so we ploughed on, making good progress at the automatic locks. Barge traffic was busier in the afternoon and we had to wait an hour at one lock which was undergoing maintenance and could only take one boat at a time.

We had a close shave with the Brug 15 at Nederweert under which we had only a few centimetres clearance, but once onto the Kanaal Wessem-Nederweert for the final leg we had to take the mast down anyway for a bridge advertised as 5.05m. Just north of this waterway's junction with the Maas, Sluis Panheel has an 8m fall, but the narrow lock pound emptied quickly and we were soon on our way again.

We had planned to head for the Spanjaardplas, a lake to the west of the Maas which falls into Belgian territory. Here, JH De Spanjaard sells red diesel which would keep us going on our return voyage north. We arrived too late and found they had already gone home for the evening, but noticed two Dutch boats fuelling from a tanker. On enquiry it transpired the yacht harbour were not so competitive and we negotiated a much better price from the tanker.

After fuelling and a run-in with a shallow mooring on the side of the lake we opted for a safe berth at JH Stevensweert, back on the Dutch side and finding the necessary facilities of water, electricity, wifi and car parking decided to settle down for a few days stay. The friendly welcome from the onsite harbour managers helped to make the decision and they even took us the next day to the station in Roermond. We were briefly hampered by a fire on the rail line which stopped all through trains, but fortunately some nifty re-scheduled turned the Maastricht train into the Eindhoven train and we could make our journing north.

Cruising Statistics

Distance (inland): 47nm

Total to date: 569nm

Avg Speed: 5.7 kn

Duration: 8:15 hrs

Diesel: 80 ltrs

Mooring: €16/night

Electricity:
Included

Water:
Included

Charts

ANWB K Grote Rivieren (electronic)

Toeristische Vaargids van Maas en Schelde

Locks

Sluis 0

Sluis Schijndel

Sluis 4, 5, 6

Sluis Helmond

Sluis 10, 11, 12, 13

Sluis Panheel

Bridges

6 opening

34 fixed (min 5.05m)