Namur to Holland Meres

Blog 123 Namur to Holland Meres

Sorry folks! It’s been a long time since we wrote our last blog and we have met so many people and discussed so often what we’ve all been doing during that time that we actually thought we had posted another blog!!!!

So here goes, to make amends. We left Namur with a kind donation of a map of our next section from Sean and Lynne on ELLE but we failed to get their contact details. Do get in touch S and L so we can return it!

We made good progress down the fast flowing Meuse but after a couple of locks we came up against a long queue of commercials waiting at the next lock. Suddenly a voice came over the radio on Channel 10 saying “RICCALL come forward to the front of the queue; you can go in with the next commercial in front of me”. This came from the captain of a commercial who had assessed the situation. So up we went and just as we were about to enter the lock we got the red light. Wot! Again? The lockkeeper didn’t think we could fit in with the other boats. Actually, there was plenty of room but we waited and went with SINBAD and Captain Hank (who had called us forward) on the next lockage.

We arrived at Lanaye lock a few kilometres before Maastricht and turned into the Meer just downstream (Waterrecreatiecentrummere!!!!) We had been told of a little mooring behind the island and with some trepidation nosed our way round, keeping a watchful eye on the depth meter. All was well and it was so nice and peaceful we spent 2 nights there – unable to get off to go anywhere, but so quiet and delightful with just the occasional passing rowing boat.

We had contacted our friends Jeroen and Anja of DA CAPO II

who we had moored with 8 years before and who had been so kind to us. They said there were just upstream of the John F Kennedybrug in Maastricht, but we missed their turning and had to turn upstream to get back to them. It took ages against the strong current going nearly flat out, but we made it into their quiet and calm mooring and moored on their 39m barge.

A lovely couple of days’ catch-up with them and one of their delightful now-grown-up daughters Marijn (unfortunately Janne was away) then a late start for Maasbracht.

(More borrowed maps for our travels – thanks J and A.) 

The view from our mooring on Da Capo II - the Mastricht Treaty building

Another lakeside mooring that night but the level dropped overnight so a bit aground in the morning - but no problem pulling away and off.

Toasting our success at getting this mooring on meres right!!

A few days later we arrived at the Niewesluis Shijndal. An 80m commercial was moored up on the ‘sport wachtplatts’ (mooring for pleasure craft) and a 110m waiting for the 135m lock on the commercial side opposite. We moored behind him as we couldn’t see any mooring bollards for sport boats. We were gearing up to ask the lockkeeper if we could use the lock with the 110m when a 125m container carrier MISIKO arrived behind us followed by another 85m barge. MISIKO just kept coming on and on, and the two boatmen on the front told us to move (never mind that we could have gone in with the 110m barge in front) “Go to the other side, there ARE bollards” they said. We still couldn’t see any, but we just had to move as this behemoth kept coming closer and closer. So we started our move across the canal, but at that moment the lock gates opened and THREE barges started to emerge. Alex made a quick decision and in the face of the emerging barges swung RICCALL in a circle under full power to the opposite side facing back the way we had come, then we both frantically tried to secure our 80 tonne barge to tiny pins 20mm in diameter and 100mm high with a minimal taper towards the bottom, most of which had been broken off!

MISIKO - our bete noir!!

So we just stayed there until everything had calmed down and all the barges had gone, then asked the lockkeeper if we could just moor for the night at the very front end of the commercial mooring. “No problem” he said, so we did. (He had clearly seen the mayhem of our dismissal from the left bank to the right and took pity on us!)

We got to ‘S Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) where we were due to meet up with Alice and Bea coming for a long weekend, and finally met Michael and Susan of NAUTILUS who had been there for a few days (vet visits for their lurcher Elvis).

It was a great mooring but a shame about the weather which has been pretty variable ever since we started out this season and that weekend was no different.





However we managed to catch an hour or so of sunshine on Sunday morning for a trip through the canal tunnels UNDER the city of Den Bosch with A and B, a visit to the cathedral statues and then into a café just as the heavens opened.

Bea enjoys the experience

Lock 0 in Den Bosch only opens 3 times a week at 3 o’clock in the afternoons, and of the 4 lift bridges on the section only the first, into the lock, is raised. The one out of the lock is only 3.4m clearance when down and the other ones are a bit higher. So it was going to be roof off for us to go through and that would depend on the weather.

And then at 2.30pm the sky cleared, the sun came out and we said right, we’ll go for it. Our new friends on NAUTILUS have a fixed height of 3.4m so they were going to ‘test the water’ as it were and come into the lock too, the low bridge being on exit.

NAUTILUS in Lock 0

Well it was no problem for us and as we went under the bridge Alex used his measure and thought it was more than 3.4m so radio’ed that info to Michael. They decided to give it a go and got through with 20mm to spare – pretty close.

Underneath Den Bosch's amazing railway and road bridges

From the lock it’s about 2kms to the next mooring and we could see a black cloud coming towards us. Could we make it before the heavens opened again? Alex gave it full speed ahead quickly onto the mooring, full reverse to stop, the front rope missed the bollard but Alice jumped off and popped it on, then the back rope, then we managed to get the roof back on. It settled into position just as the first drops of rain began to fall and before another absolute deluge!

Alice and Bea left on the Tuesday and we set off again the next day. The first hurdle would be the Egelen Sluis just before entering the fearsome Maas (Dutch for Meuse). In we went with no problem alongside an 85m barge on our right and a cruiser in front of us. Then as the gates started to open to let us all out the 85m engaged his propeller and just sat pushing against his front rope while the gates opened fully. We are not sure why he did this but it set up quite a circulation of water in the lock. Then he left and the cruiser left and we started to leave – ropes off, kick the back end off, bit of reverse to pull the front end off, then a VERY loud bang from the back of the boat. Alex dashed out to see what had happened. The steering ram and the rudder had become disconnected. Blimy!! Back to the radio, warn the lockkeeper, try and rope a bollard. No chance. Riccall was being spun round in the lock by the whirlpool set up by the commercial. Well, that was lucky really because we ended up on the opposite wall facing the other way and Louise just managed to get a rope on at the front and with a touch of reverse the prop walk brought the back end in and Alex could rope a bollard at the rear!! Phew!!

So now it was all out to fit the emergency steering. It’s so long since we did this that everything that had to be moved was jammed, and in the meantime a HUGE pusher and dumb barge had gingerly entered the lock (having been advised of our problem by the lockkeeper) and the lock was filling back up.

Finally, just as the gates opened again, we had the emergency tiller set up and with Louise on the throttle and Alex on the tiller we set off back out of the lock behind the pusher and his cargo.

“Just give it a quick burst of power”, said Alex, with the tiller set at about 45^o to get us pointing the right way – whooommf, Alex was catapulted across the deck by the force of the tiller. We had no idea what the back forces were like as we had only ever used the emergency tiller once before when being towed with no engine. So it was, “Easy on the power Louise” and hang onto the tiller for dear life Alex!

It turned out that the clamp bolts had come loose and the end bolt had sheared so Alex fixed it during the afternoon and we returned to Den Bosch for another night and a short ‘road or river test’ of the steering before going out onto the raging torrent of the Maas (only about 3kph actually as it turned out).

Whilst at Woudrichem Historic Harbour on the Maas

Snuggling up against some REALLY old ships
in the historic harbour at Woudrichem

we had heard from Nicci and Peter that there was the possibility of a good mooring in the historic barge port of Vreeswijk, a couple of days’ cruise away.

Vreeswijk historic harbour

And sure enough, we were welcomed by Dick the Havenmeester and slipped into the mooring space vacated by Jeremy and Carol on ANTHONIA.

We decided that perhaps a trip back to the UK would be useful to tick a few more boxes vis a vis our move south. As it happened Nicci and Peter were also returning to the UK and could give us a lift as far as Bruges where our car was parked. So that was excellent and thanks very much to them for that.

About 10 days back in the UK, a trip north to check on the Newton Aycliffe house and to bring another load of stuff down to Hawkinge, the usual appointments with doctor, dentist and hairdressers, then back to France on the 14^th. We were hoping to do a quick shop in a French Lidl for the stuff they don’t stock in Holland – but we hadn’t clocked that it was JULY 14^th - Bastille Day in France - and everything, but everything was tight shut.

Back at Vreeswijk we stayed another few days (aware that we needed to leave before the Historic Boat Event coming up) for some socialising (including a lovely surprise visit from our Dutch friends George and Suzannah in their campervan – who we’d met in Dordrecht 8 years before on their tjalk AEOLUS: they had just got married after more than 15 years together) and a couple of evenings with John and Hilary of ISKRA who had moored in the adjacent port while we were away, then headed north again and onto the lovely, winding Vecht.

Lovely weather for our Vecht trip too

There we came across NAUTILUS again and had yet another boozy time catching up! It’s no fun this boating, but someone has to do it!

A couple of days later, we were out onto the southern end of the Markermeer which feels like being at sea without the swell, which it is, I suppose, but it’s quite hard at first to spot the buoyed channel. PC Navigo helps of course, but quite often seems to guide us to the wrong side of some of the buoys!

We risked going into Almere Haven for lunch and managed to moor up on a super quay next to a huge party boat called SUCCES.

It was so nice there that we asked to stay the night hoping against hope that the party boat wasn’t operating that night!! It wasn’t, and our mooring was fine with the Havenmeester.

Since then we have used an excellent ex-industrial quay and two or three island moorings on our way to our present position which is a canal-side ‘ligplatts’ – a boat mooring place provided and often free – just south of a lovely town called Blokzijl.

From here it’s onwards into Friesland proper and then to our lift-out in Harlingen for our hull check and repaint. More of that later.

Bruges to Namur (via Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide!)

We left Bruges and spent a few days cruising close to Calais via Nieuwpoort and Oudenburg to Veurne, 

Nieuwpoort Sluizencomplex Ganzefoot

Waiting in the 'Goose's Foot' basin 

Dick Whittington?

and then on to the French border on the Dunkirk Canal where there was just enough width to turn round. 

At the French border - 2 metres of Riccall is in France!

We spent the night there under the watchful eyes of the adjacent road police who were protecting the border from the hordes of ISIS terrorists flowing in from France! Back to Veurne for a night, then up to Fintele on the Ijzer river where we spent a couple of nights on what must be a 9¾/10 mooring (electricity only €3 a night, no mooring costs) quiet, peaceful, middle of beautiful country. 

Leaving Fintele mooring

 After that we went to Diksmuid on the Ijzer River which was also a very good town mooring and which gave us the chance to spend a week in a pleasant town at a very reasonable rate and have Paul and Diane to stay.  We climbed the AVV-VVK memorial tower museum (All for Flanders, Flanders for Christ) which was a very interesting morning's work.

What is this seal doing here?

Eventually, we got back to Flandria to leave the boat for a week while we sorted out the final stages of purchase of the new house in Hawkinge.

This turned into a month as there was so much to sort out (as there always is).so we didn't get away for this year's cruising until the 3^rd of June – a very late start for us.

We are heading for Friesland this year and amazingly that is still the plan! Louise hates tidal rivers so 'we' decided to go the long way round via Tournai, Mons, Charleroi, Namur, Maastricht etc rather than down the Scheldte to Antwerp then via Kreekrak Sluizen and the Volkerak.

The advantage of this current route however, is that as far as Namur we know the rivers, canals and moorings well, and also it gives us a chance possibly to catch up with old friends in Maastricht when we pass through.

However, we seem to have been beset by misunderstandings on this route. We spent a noisy night upstream of Kain Lock in Tournai and in the morning asked the lockkeeper if we could follow a commercial through the one-way system when the lights turned green. Our impression was that he said Yes! And as we followed CENTURIAN, albeit a little further behind than we would have liked, the lights turned red on us. Had they just turned them red too soon or what? We decided to keep going, but half way through the system we saw a woman gesticulating wildly from the bankside and waving a piece of paper at us, so we pulled up as she indicated: she said we should NOT have followed the first boat.

Now, there is NOWHERE in Tournai where it gives any indication as to how one should contact anyone to ask for permission to travel through the one-way system. We had assumed the lockkeeper was the guy in charge. We were wrong. The piece of paper showed us the correct VHF number and telephone number to use for said permission! But there is nowhere on the canal side that gives the correct channel number to use. Our computer program PC Navigo makes no mention of the one-way system at all so how is anyone supposed to know? The lockkeeper made no mention of the correct procedure either. Well, we stopped, the female bridge keeper gave us the paper with the instructions for future reference, and we carried on, expecting a fine to be extracted at some stage, but at the time of writing, not yet. This delay just meant the boats waiting at the other end of the one-way system had to wait a further 10 minutes while Mrs Bridge Keeper said her piece!!

Later that same day, after getting fuel at Antoing, we were negotiating the two Peronnes locks. The first one was no problem, but for the second we had a long wait while a commercial descended. As we waited, another professional came up behind both us and the other pleasure boat waiting with us.

We heard the lockkeeper telling the commercial that there were two plaisances in front of him, then a short time later a long and unintelligible instruction. So when the lights turned green, we set off and at the very last minute were red-lighted. Emergency Stop! Back off, get in the way of the commercial, get out of the way, let the commercial in first then follow in behind, and slip our way alongside him to the front of the lock to moor up: exactly where we would have been if we had gone in first! We know that it is generally the rule to defer to commercials of course, but in this case it would have been so much easier , quicker and safer to have done the opposite. Anyway, the other plaisance followed us, moored up and up we all went. The lady capitaine of the commercial was obviously still furious when the gates opened as she took off like a rocket under full power. Hubby gave Alex an apologetic wave and a raised eyebrow!

Finally we got to our very favourite mooring – the Pommeroeul Canal Basin and moored up easily. RIVAL and JOHANNA were already there and Brett and John gave us a hand and a chat as we moored up, but at that very moment the heavens opened and we all retreated to our respective shelters.

The next day the crews of both boats were nowhere to be seen when we popped round to say hello, so after lunch we decided to cast off and get ahead of a very slow-moving commercial and at that very moment everybody returned! Oh well, so be it, we'll catch up in Bruges this winter if not before.

Weird No 1

A couple of nights later we were in our old haunt Seneffe for a peaceful night and a catch up with Arthur and Patrick.

At Marchienne Lock, just before the outskirts of Charleroi we moored up at the end of the lock moorings for a fairly quiet night with not too many commercials/trains/aeroplanes/cars! And in the morning it happened again! We asked if we could follow a commercial into the lock and got no reply – as usual. So we watched the lights and when the big boy was in they stayed on green, so we started to follow: then at the last minute the éclusier came out of his office and waved his hands at us in an indeterminate manner which we couldn't interpret. And then the lights went red! Not enough room for us apparently, so we had to back off and moor up again. Actually we had forgotten that this lock and subsequent ones are shorter than most of the others around this area – only 86m long instead of 120m as we should have known by this time. But why not contact us on the radio?  We checked it was working and that's what it's there for!

Charleroi - don't you just LOVE it?!

Shitty Charleroi lived up to its nickname in no uncertain terms with clouds of rusty dust emanating from all the scrap loading at the start, and again as we waited for the Marcinelle Lock, where suddenly our first ever Havenmeesters Martine and Pierre turned up on their boat NANCY, who we hadn't seen for eight years!!! Much kissing and catch-up ensued. They have finally retired and were setting off on their cruiser for the South of France and the Midi.

Once released from this dreadful lock, as we travelled through the centre of Charleroi, we went under a bridge and heard a sharp bang on the wheelhouse roof. Alex immediately thought someone had taken a pot-shot at us but when we looked back we saw that under a tarpaulin cover they were sandblasting the bridge above. Obviously a large chunk had fallen on the roof and in addition the whole of the rest of the boat was covered in a layer of sand and grit.

We finally moored at Auvelais Lock where there is often an exchange of a few commercials, that night being no exception. Usually though once the commercials have come and gone, it is pretty quiet, but this time the commercial behind us had been abandoned and had left his genny running! - a continuous gentle drone in the background and a plume of blue smoke from the tired old engine all night and into the following day. Was this going to go on ALL weekend? We think it probably did.

We spent an hour or so brushing the whole boat down to get rid of the gritty sandblasting stuff, then the heavens opened again so the rest of the job was done by the rain.

So we have made it down to Namur, a city we have visited before by boat and car. But this time we made a special point of investigating the Citadel, high on its promontory above the confluence of the Rivers Sambre and Meuse. What a place and what views! 

View from the Citadel - spot the Riccall

'Ludus Pro Patria'

'Victorian' hotel at the very top

It's the most amazingly interesting complex – chateau, forge, barracks, with fortified walls on all sides. And all of it soaring above the town. Some of it is well-preserved but some of it is quite definitely NOT. There is a dilapidated outdoor auditorium at the top of the hill, just below a beautiful and well-preserved hotel. The auditorium had obviously just played host to an outdoor concert of some kind and the clean-up operation was in full swing while there were various makeshift sets being built for the next outdoor play, with actors rehearsing for 'Les Namur Medievals' in July. The whole thing made for a couple of hours of great interest.

When we got back to RICCALL we were sitting in the wheelhouse when suddenly a couple tapped on the window and said, “What luck! We have been reading your Riccallrambling blog for 3 years or more, but never expected to actually meet up. Do come for a coffee in the morning if you have time”.

So we went along for a coffee and a good chat with Sean and Lynn on their cruiser ELLE. They are from South Africa and spend about 3 months at a time cruising in Europe. They are heading up the Meuse, which will be hard going as it's flowing so strongly at the moment (easy for us going downstream though) so thank you both very much for coffee, chat and following our blog! (And a last-minute dash along the quay by Sean to give us a chart of the Maas – so kind.)

But hey! Two more readers!

Weird No 2.  It's just amazing what you see on these rivers.

So what do we make of our first 2 weeks or so cruising? Well, we've certainly entertained, if that's the word, several lockkeepers and one or two fellow boaters with our difficulty interpreting SILENCE!!!! We have discovered that interpreting French is one thing, Belgian quite another, but SILENCE???!!! Impossible!

Setting off for 2016

Well, we’re off again!  The new season has started, but look at our brilliant mooring in Bruges for the winter:

and our preparations for warmth for the coming months!

One whole load to be divided between AURIGNY and RICCALL

 our share now neatly stacked on the rear deck

but time must sometimes be put aside for reflection - Remembrance Day in Bruges

Between the end of the last cruising season and the beginning of this, we were absolutely determined to find a house somewhere nearer to Dover to help with our regular trips back and forth.  Our current house in Co Durham is a 5¹/₂-6 hour journey from Dover and in any case, we know no-one there or indeed in the north any more.

So at first we set a distance limit of 3 hours from Dover and decided it had to be south of the Dartford Crossing (a real-time thirsty bottleneck even with the new auto charge system). We realised that it was easier and cheaper to look from Bruges rather than from our northern outpost and narrowed our search area to Kent which we visited on several day trips from Calais.

Towards the end of February we at last found not one, but two houses that fitted the bill.  We made offers on both and the one we ‘sort of’ preferred was rejected but the other was accepted.  Each had various items on our wish list, but neither had them all!

We needed a quick exchange before the end of March, as were considering summer letting and would therefore be landlords and have to pay a whopping extra £10k stamp duty.

So we decided to carry out our own searches to save time and got into a wobble about planning permission for a wooden structure which had been built in the back garden of the house. We discussed it and decided we just couldn’t take the risk that the ‘lodge’ might be discovered by the authorities and have to be demolished.   This would mean that the whole raison d’etre for buying that house would be lost.

2 hours later, out of the blue, the estate agent rang about the earlier house and asked if we were still interested as the other offer had fallen through.  So we sort of changed horses (or houses) in mid-race.  But as the first house was a lot cheaper we don’t think we will bother to summer let and the stamp duty is thus a lot less.

So instead, when we have made a few changes to the house layout, we will offer it at a peppercorn rate to any of our friends as a stop-off before or after a channel crossing: this partly as an act of helpfulness to friends and partly so that it doesn’t stand empty for months on end.

So house searching is finally (we hope) at an end.

                                   

                                 The ferry having help from a tug in gale force conditions - Dover

We spent Christmas and New Year in Bruges with cousins Mary and Martin joining us for Christmas, and we joined friends Chris and Diana on ESME for New Year’s Eve – lovely meal followed by watching the town’s firework display, and of course spent time looking at Bruges in its winter finery:

We didn't only LOOK at Bruges' ice rink - we spent time on it too!

The following day was the ‘7^th International Paper Boat Race’ open to all boaters from the Bruges ports, Coupure and Flandria. 

The rules were simple; construction only from A4 sheets of paper (as many as you liked) and as much Sellotape as you needed (other brands of sticky tape are available!).

Alex decided on a raft-like structure and produced the ‘KONSTIKI’; Peter and Nicci of AURIGNY (our neighbouring boat in Flandria) made a beautiful looking Viking ship called FILANDRIA(!).  Chris on ESME had constructed a phenomenal ship with watertight box-section compartments and a huge yellow sail, and others had constructed everything in between (one boat just produced a big multi-coloured paper ball with dozens of hexagonal segments.)

Alex's brave little effort!

Most of the competitors lined up

 At 12pm the boats were launched into the Coupure and the first to get the 50m or so to the floating Xmas tree would be the winner.

ESME shot off into the lead but half way along slid between two barges and got into the doldrums.  Meanwhile KONSITKI, after a poor start, was making her way steadily along the centre of the waterway.

It is allowed in the rules to assist a boat back into the channel but the gentleman who ‘helped’ ESME’s boat back to the centre line also gave it a huge push towards the finishing post, which meant that it overtook KONSITKI, which had taken the lead by this time.  ESME’s boat won the race by about 2ft! 

KONSTIKI about to perform her rear-guard action as ESME heads into the doldrums!

Alex was gutted, but Lo!  The scrutineer had seen the push and ESME was disqualified, so KONSTIKI became the winner and the holder of the ‘silver’ cup for 2016.  What a hoot!  And next winter we can see it’s going to be paper darts at dawn if we are not all very careful.

All in all, we have had an enjoyable and sociable winter in Bruges as several of our old friends were also moored with us and we have made several more new friends.  The Flandria Yachthaven has a good clubhouse which is also open to the public, and does a range of very tasty meals.  The beer and wine are very reasonably priced, the staff friendly and the food and company good.  What more could you ask?

Apart from Mary and Martin. pictured above with us on Blakenberg beach on Christmas Day, we have also had Rob and Amy and Alice and Bea to stay with us, hopefully to enjoy the delights of Bruges – though the weather could have been better for both visits.  Others threatened to visit but for one reason or another cried off.

Throughout the winter Alex has been constructing things for RICCALL; blue board, water filtration system, AIS B radio receiver and upgrading the navigation system and at the same time doing much the same for several other boats moored with us at Flandria.  So no rest for the wicked there then!  In fact, some of the work for Riccall never did get finished, damn it!

So our plan now is to drift gently around the northern Belgium canals for a few weeks until we get the new house bought and sorted out, then we’ll be able to carry on with our earlier plan, which is to cruise up to Friesland in north eastern Holland before going into dry dock in mid September for the usual bottom scrubbing and painting! And other minor modifications, not to mention looking for any damage that might have been caused, by last year’s shenanigans, to the bottom

Arrival at Winter Mooring in Bruges

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know!!  All our avid readers have been champing at the bit as he and she await the final thrilling instalment of “What we did this summer on Riccall”!!!!!

Well as briefly as possible (thankful sigh) we left Compiègne and trundled our way up to the Canal du Nord and a meeting with David Almond, who was on his way back to CARMEN and Auxerre.  Graincourt Lock 7 on the summit is one of our favourite moorings.

A couple of days later we moored in the Bassin Rond – another favourite – then on to Cambrai for Alex to take his EGP (Extended Grand Plaisance) with Tam Murrell (which he passed).

We headed back north after Cambrai onto the Escaut which we know well, and were able to moor overnight in all our tried and tested spots.  However, we were overtaken at one point by a large and strangely painted converted peniche – strange because its whole hull was painted beautifully in a shimmering bronze-coloured paint.  It made a very strange looking craft but we each gave the other the “I like your boat” thumbs-up.

At our Mortagne-du-Nord mooring we were joined by several other commercial barges (as per usual) amongst which was one built to look like a submarine (as per un-usual).

We later learned that it, a hot air balloon barge and also the bronze barge were all headed to Mons for a weekend display (organised by that stalwart of the European canal system – David Edwards-May).  Also invited to take part in this display on a first-come-first-served basis were a total of 6 barges including our good friends Peter and Nicci on AURIGNY and recently-met Stu and Lyn on MATARIKI.

Apparently the whole thing was part of the celebration of Mons being the City of Culture 2015 but it turned out to be a bit bizarre by all accounts.

And so, for us, no stay in Mons but the onward cruise to Seneffe for a quick return to the UK.

On our return to Seneffe Jamie and Janine came to stay for a couple of nights.  It was good to see them both as it had been 18 months since they moved out to OZ.  We took them on a short trip by boat to the top of the Ronquières Inclined Plane for a beautiful evening of sunshine, and the following morning a visit to the Ronquières museum.

After cruising back to Seneffe we drove by car to show them the amazing Strepy Lift (which for the second time in 2 weeks broke down 3m from the top for some reason, and while we were watching!  It also had a faulty seal on the gates apparently which meant boats had to enter and leave as quickly as possible!)

A good look round Lille and a splendid lunch with Jamie and Janine on their last day and we waved them goodbye on Eurostar.  Then we started on the last leg of our cruise for this year i.e. up and down the Blaton-Ath Canal, onto the Dender and Schelde Rivers, then the Gent-Ostend Canal to Bruges.

Timing seems to have been the mis-order of the day here.  We booked a 10am start at Lock 1 of the Baton-Ath which didn’t happen until 10.30 – not a long delay, but when you are flailing around in the canal . . .

Similarly, the next day a 10am start actually happened at 10.40.

At Ath, where we stayed 2 nights, and after we had watched some of a 24 hour marathon for bikes and runners accompanied by the town band, we booked for a 10am start, which became 9.30 when the lock-keepers came by and asked us to hurry so as to use the lock with another boat.  We did this of course, being helpful Brits, only to find that the phantom boat never turned up.  This was the second time something similar had happened and we were convinced that the situations were engineered by the keepers so that they could have an early finish in the afternoon!

At Lessines we had a good overnight mooring close by a redundant mill and ‘booked’ our start the next day for 9.30.

The original turbine house on the ground floor with pigeonnier above.
Ripe for renovation Alex?

Nothing doing at 9.30 or 10am, until our lock-keeper arrived to say the next-but-one lock was inoperable – he thought later that afternoon it might be fixed.    While we waited we met Mike and Katie of ELSIE VIOLET who were also stuck, and we exchanged drinks and gossip as you do.  (We also had a long chat with the lady who lived in the house next to the mooring who was able to give us some history of the area when used commercially.)

Eventually after 2 days we were through and on our way to Geraardsbergen where we hoped to moor overnight.  On arrival though, the whole long mooring was taken up by boats whose home mooring it was, save for one space where ELSIE VIOLET had managed to moor.  They kindly offered to move off to let us moor on the pontoon, being the heavier boat, and then came alongside.  So very kind of them. 

The ‘linguistic border’ between French-speaking Wallonia and Flemish-speaking Flanders occurs between Lessines and Geraardsbergen (Gramont in French) and is even marked on maps of the area!  Such a strange situation in one country to have such a defined division in language.

We had come to realise at this point that we had missed the jewel of the region in Lessines, while waiting for the lock to be repaired – the 17^th century Hôpital Notre Dame à la Rose – so we took the train back to Lessines to see what we might have missed!  And it was certainly worth the 10 minute train ride.  What a magnificent building, cloister medicinal garden and excellent museum – its history very accessible and interesting.

Lessines - Hopital Notre Dame a la Rose - just wonderful

Following and avoiding other commercials through lifting bridges

So onward towards the north, passing through Aalst – the most southerly port for commercial craft coming from Gent and Antwerp nowadays.

Ghastly Aalst!!!  The town itself is better!

Ninove with its lovely church

Eventually we completed our trip down the Dender to its junction with the Schelde tidal river, and moored on the waiting pontoon 1km before the lock.  We were too late for the 3 hour trip that day, so instead we cycled the 2kms into Dendermonde – a really lovely town and well worth the visit.

Dendermonde Grote Markt

Mike of ELSIE VIOLET had given us the tide times for going out and up the Schelde (which, of course, were in complete contrast to those given by one of the lockkeepers!) and at 3.30 the next day we set off for the lock, getting onto the river at 4pm.

Lovely sky over our safe haven 

3 hours later, we were at Merelbeke Lock in Gent and managed to find a mooring with our stern just one metre into the ‘RESTRICTED TO 2 HOURS TO TAKE YOUR CAR OFF’ section.  No-one seemed to notice or care!

We had booked two nights in Gent Centrum, hoping to re-meet Martine and Pierre who used to be the havenmeesters there and arrived to find a lovely 20m space at the city end.  The havenmeester now though was someone different and he took our payment for one night but said the next night would be at the discretion of the ‘Winter Havenmeester’ who would be arriving tomorrow as this was changeover day – 30th September/1st October.

Late in the evening the Winter Capitaine appeared and said, “You must move tomorrow because this place is booked for a winter mooring for a 23m barge”.  Right hand, left hand?!!  Our protestations of our prior booking were to no avail, so although a poor alternative was suggested we just upped and left the next morning.

And as luck would have it, there was a space at one of the 3 yacht havens close to the Ringvaart, where they were happy for us to moor for 3 days.  This was great for us as our good friends Paul and Diane were going to be with us for a couple of nights and needed to know where to find us!

Finally, after a couple of days exploring the local area in their car, we set off on the last leg of our cruise to our winter mooring in Bruges, spending one night at Mooerbrug where we moored up with Andy and Caroline, and enjoyed (Louise’s) birthday drinks with them on NEELTJE.

In the early morning gloom!

A VERY early start was called for the next day when a crane arrived on shore at 7am with a pusher and dumb barge on the river to begin loading huge baulks of timber and a massive generator.


NEELTJE was moored just where they needed to be, necessitating quick dressing and moving of the boat to free the space required!  An hour later we decided we were too close to the action and followed suit!

We had already done a recce by car to Bruges and had decided that although there was clearly enough space to turn round at the end of the port, it would be best for us to just go in forwards and moor up alongside VERTROUWEN - the boat designated as our mooring.  We could always turn before we left in the spring.

What we failed to realise was the occasional strong current that could flow through this mooring.  As we approached our designated spot Alex realised that we were being drawn downstream rather too quickly for comfort, so it became obvious to him that an about turn was absolutely necessary before we got dragged into the low bridge at the end of the port.  Yes, there was plenty of room, but halfway through the turn RICCALL hit something hard and unyielding under the water.  Everyone watching from the bank saw her lurch as she went over the obstruction but what could we do but complete the turn?  We touched again as we came back against the current for a nicely controlled mooring.  But what on earth was it in the middle of the channel and has it done any damage? We intend to get the inflatable out and go over to investigate the obstruction, and the question may be answered when we go into dry dock at the end of 2016.

So now we are safely moored in the Flandria Yacht-haven in Bruges not 10 mins walk from the railway station.  It’s a great mooring with a number of old friends and new acquaintances moored here too, a good clubhouse, and a great city to explore.

Oh and just for the record, we went slightly aground as we entered the port, just onto the silt thrown up by the passing commercials, and had to back out and try again.  (The River Dender had had a surprise in store on our last day on it too – we hit and rolled over a very large object hidden 3m off the bank: another stop and reverse off.  A very uncomfortable experience which we reported to the lock-keeper at the next lock.  He appeared honestly concerned and produced the ‘accident book’ so that we could record the incident in case in the future we discover damage.)

So, all in all, and taking into account our last blog, we’ve been a bit grounded this season!!

A happy Alex after another year's successful cruising!

This year’s stats?

1559 kilometres

  235 locks

      7 tunnels

    21 lifting and sliding bridges