16.06.08 In Bruges

Here in Bruges we have at last found a reliable wi-fi internet access at a small friendly hotel which charges us 4Euros for 2 cups of coffee and 1 hour’s access. Thus we have been able to post some belated additions to our blog. You will have to bear with us on this one: the blogs will always be posted several days (if not more) after they are composed as it takes time to get to the next internet cafe.

Bruges is as lovely as we remembered it from a North Sea Ferry trip we took 5 years ago. We promised ourselves then that when we next returned we would be on Riccall and so it is. (Long term planning, wishful thinking or luck?)

We climbed (again) the ‘Beltower’ in the main square (the Markt) and managed to miss the 12 o’clock chimes by 1½ minutes – typical! We heard it all happen as we raced up the precarious spiral stairs! Still, the view from the top is superb and the day was lovely, but we just couldn’t quite see where we were moored.

And then the next day, Steve Earey turned up, out of the blue on his motorbike! “Well” he said, “I hadn’t had the bike out much this year and a trip to Bruges seemed like a good idea!” Mad fool!! Anyway, most welcome and he showed us how to use our Skype phone to access our emails – amazing. Nothing like dogged persistence.

So next stop Ghent where we hope to pick up our ordered “PC Navigo Western Europe” disc -Poste Restante at the Central Post Office. Will this work? Wait for the next thrilling instalment to find out. In the meantime we hope are attached here, if Emily has informed us correctly, some pics of things of interest so far.

Jamie says we need to turn this blog into more of a ‘book’ but frankly, I think the quality of the writing is such that we will be lucky to keep any readers at all beyond the first two or three weeks. Incidentally – it takes Alex 30 mins to write this stuff, and Louise another 20 to edit the drivel and type it up – is it worth it? We need some positive feedback to let us know, otherwise we’ll ditch the whole idea!

Mooring here in Bruges has been difficult. The lovely moorings all along the bank beside the windmills is “mooring verboten” – so we are nestling on some rocks just before the first bridge into Bruges. It’s a good position but we have to keep the stern 2m off the bank with a pole or go aground.

There is a mooring arm at the other end of the city apparently but it costs 20Euros per night and we would rather “perch” here and use the money saved on fuel!