A passenger on the Westropa: from Belgium to the Netherlands, through Belgium to Paris
If you live in Hanover and often cycle along the Mittelland Canal, you’re used to the sight of these cargo ships and push-boats making their way steadily forward. And the thought occurs to you: I’d really like to travel on a ship like that, along the great rivers and canals of Europe. Is that possible?
That’s how I came across the Westropa. A picture in the Peiffer Cargo Ship Cruises catalogue immediately captivated me. A ship significantly smaller than the others and therefore, I thought, offering a different connection to the landscape it passes through during the journey.
The journey began in Leuven, Belgium. Henny, the captain of the crew, picked me up at the station. Her husband Janarie, the other captain on the Westropa, welcomed us aboard the ship – together with Nera, the black, ever-friendly German Shepherd.
The ship set off towards Vlissingen in the Netherlands. First, we chugged into the Scheldt, and it soon felt as though we were heading out to the high seas. In the industrial harbour there, we took on a cargo: cellulose. Lots of white bales filled the hold of the ship, which is small by comparison but can replace 14 lorries as a means of transport. And the hold is 4 metres deep; as Henny tells me, one of the children once fell down into it, but came out completely unharmed…
I spend eight days on this ship with Henny and Janarie, the ship’s owners and captains, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner with them in the galley or the wheelhouse, which Henny has prepared alongside her other duties. I find myself immersed in the unique daily working life of a family I’d never met before. And it takes a little while for us to get to know one another. But in the end, Henny cheerfully adjusts my life jacket for me, which I’ve once again fastened incorrectly.
Every day, in the mostly lovely weather, I sit for a long time on the foredeck in the comfortable folding chair, which I struggled with for quite a while trying to set up properly… Henny ended up doing that for me. Janarie talks at length about the positive environmental aspects of transporting goods by ship, including the use of biofuel. These are unique and very intimate impressions and insights into a field of work (and, at the same time, a way of life) which I’d previously only been able to observe from the outside – that is, from the shore.
I enjoyed seven meditative, relaxing days on the foredeck of the Westropa, gazing at the green landscapes gliding serenely by. Restful.
But then came the last day of the trip. Cruising down the Seine through Paris. Sensational. Actually, my journey would have been over by then. But Janarie had pointed out to me, in his gentle way, that this might well be the highlight of my trip. And so it proved. We glided past houseboats on the Seine, but also past Notre Dame, which was under reconstruction, past magnificent, stately buildings and museums, past the Statue of Liberty – a replica of which the French had gifted to the Americans – and past the Eiffel Tower too!
That’s when Henny served me her wonderful ‘Bolognese d’Eiffel’ on the foredeck. Because, faced with all this splendour, I naturally couldn’t bring myself to leave my vantage point.
Then the journey was almost over. The next morning, I disembarked. I was given a warm send-off by Henny and Janarie and provided with very helpful, detailed information on how to get to the Gare du Nord, as well as a printed online ticket to Cologne.
There stood my bike, and I set off on a cycle journey through hills and valleys towards my home town of Hanover – but travelling light, carrying only fond memories of a very special journey.