Ghent to Lille

We have now arrived in Lille in France. We are moored on an old commercial wharf a little way from the centre of the city. It is a lovely spot, quiet but with barges (and canoeists) gong past on a regular basis, not to mention lorries pulling up to spend the night in the car park next door.

Before we left Ghent, Emily and Ric came for the weekend which was great. We all went and looked round the castle (excellent), went for a boat trip round the medieval part of the city (interesting but a bit perturbing when stoned or rather pebbled, by the local riffraff) then Emily and Ric treated us to supper at a nearby bistro – great! (Alex had snails and frogs legs for the first time as part of a shared starter.) The following morning we all climbed the Belfry for a fantastic, if breezy view of the city.

The only fly in the ointment in all this, for Alex anyway, was that the root of one of his teeth had started to play up a few days before so he had put himself on Flucloxacillin. This did not help much after 3 days so he changed to Metronidazole (downside – no alcohol!) This began to work but he felt he ought to take professional advice. The outcome was a trip to the medical school/hospital, dental clinic, for a consultation - €50! They said as the root had already been filled and capped (twice) the last hope was to fill from the inside: i.e. cut away the gum, lift up a flat, drill through the bone to the root, fill from below, put all back together. Aaaaargggghhh. But an appointment was duly made for 9.20 the next day. So after pre-paying €1060 the consultant had a look and a chat. ‘Oh well, if it has only flared up twice before let’s give it another go with the Metronidazole before we decide to operate’. PHEW! No drink for 10 days, a small price to pay. But getting the pre-paid money back is another battle. And yes, the tooth does seem to have settled down!

So we left Ghent, saying our fond farewells to all those still moored there and headed off into the unknown of Wallonia and France.

We quietly snuck onto some moorings ‘de Plaisance’ near Sluis Sint Baafs-Vijve on the first night but nobody came to demand money before we left.

We had decided we would moor near the second lock in France the next night but when we got there, it was all under repair and chaotic – nowhere to moor. The next place – a deserted quay – proved to be too shallow for us so we ended up moored beside another live-aboard who was not at home, but others said it would be OK. We are not used to just dropping onto somebody else’s boat yet, but it does seem to be fairly common here in France. So we left a thank you note and a bottle of wine by their entrance door should they return in the night. They did, and we ‘chatted’ next morning, but no mention of the wine (maybe it should have been French, not Argentinian, but we didn’t have any of that – a mistake soon to be rectified!).

Then we got to this lovely mooring on the commercial wharf. We think we might just spend the whole year here!