July 2008

Back in this century and we revisit the Gent-Terneuzen canal on our way back to Gent. There's a festival we really must see.
We pass the sad sight of HMS Fearless (of Falklands fame) awaiting her turn to be stripped and scrapped.

July 2008

Proudly waving our troops off to battle, we really felt part of the pageant. By the way,the English led by Churchill's ancester (Winston, not the Insurance), won the day.

July 2008

We may look daft but we had a day to remember. Thanks, Claire.

July 2008

It's Friday evening in Oudenaarde and the eve of the great battle. The field where we had intended walking Woody is now covered in an 18th century camping site. There are hundreds of cavalry with their horses beautifully turned out and even more hundreds of infantrymen.

The officers are planning their strategies. How they can do anything in these outfits we can't imagine.

Cannons are polished, muskets cleaned and wigs carefully combed.

We meet the English contingent who immediately invite us to take part and provide the necessary costume.

July 2008

On the way back to the boat, we notice the town's traffic has come to a complete halt with all the roads having long tailbacks.

The cause is soon apparent. The bridge accross the canal that carries the main road out of town has been partially raised to let two men paint the edge of the bridge. Everyone waits patiently. Only in Belgium...

July 2008

Oudenaarde's town hall is beautiful and typical of the flamboyant civil architecture gracing many a Grote Markt. It also houses the Tourist Info and from them we learn that yes, there is a special event this weekend (surprise!), the re-enactment of their 1708 battle.

Many European countries took part in the original war including England and apparently they will all be represented. We are strongly advised to stay.

July 2008

Time to leave Walloon for now and re-enter the land of the Flemish.

We reach the old town of Oudenaarde on the commercial Bovenschelde. Possible free moorings on the town quay wall are too close to passing bigstuff so we opt to pay at the yacht harbour. We always try to avoid this as 1.We don't really need their electric hookup or water. 2. Because we are so long (21m) and they all charge by the metre (at least 1 euro),the resulting bill reminds us never to do this again!

July 2008

We return to the Canal Central and the new Strepy-Thieu, this one boat lift now replacing the four old ones. That means ascending seventythree metres in one of the two vast holding tanks in one go. At the top, a pair of sparrowhawks were nesting.
This structure dominates the landscape for miles and remains controversial. We were the only boat around this time (and on future occasions) so, as was often the way, it was operated just for us. Built at enormous expense for the commercials, they rarely use it.

July 2008

With due regard for H&S, this lift keeper takes the opportunity to refresh the paintwork while we leave the holding tank and approach the next of the four lifts.

It's a rural and pretty canal and we moor up for the night having experienced three of the lifts with no hiccups.

The fourth lift is in a bad state. The last commercial to use it had a very frightening accident when the guillotine gate opened before it was level with the water, breaking the back of the emerging boat.

We try not to think of this as the next day we turn around and the team operate the lifts for us to return again. Amazing.

July 2008

Navigating along the commercial Canal Central, we diverted right to experience the four Anderton -type boat lifts on what is now the Canal Historique.

They are no longer used for commercial traffic which, with boats being built bigger and bigger, outgrew them, but are still manned by a team (ofcourse) just for pleasure boats.

Middle of the summer but it remains very quiet around here and we have the entire canal with it's wonderful lifts all to ourselves and consequently operated just for us. All this for free. There's not even a licence requirement in Walloon for pleasure boats! However, they do still require tons of paperwork to be done at certain locks and waiting for their computer to spew it out can get to you. It's all a bureaucratic nonsense but you smile sweetly to keep the lockkeepers helpful.

June 2008

Despite pleading with the lockies in bestist French to let us through and navigate the Belgian side of this disused canal, they refused. Good place to moor for the night tho' as nothing uses this quay leading to the lock. Woody enjoyed a swim and well, you can see what we enjoyed! The orange drum is the wine supply.

June 2008

We pass this enormous canal,dug in the 70's as another route for commercial traffic into France. Due to silting on the French side (so the Belgians say), it has been closed for years. The locks are still manned everyday but nothing is allowed through!

It transpires that this canal used the same route as an ancient Roman canal long since filled in. The resulting finds as the new canal was excavated are exhibited in the town of Ath and include three Roman wooden barges, almost completely preserved.

June 2008

We spend ten full and interesting days in Tournai, making friends, getting to know the city and joining in the music festival. Everywhere we stop this summer we find a festival, usually for free, happening at weekends and extending into week days too. The Belgians certainly know how to enjoy themselves.
We force ourselves to go on, stopping first to fill up with diesel at this 'bunker barge'. The little boat alongside goes out to the commercials with water or diesel, filling them while still on the move.
Joining the canal Nimy we endure some difficult moorings on high walls with commercials rocking poor Snail as they pass.

June 2008

The finished dragon keeps guard for us on the roof of the boat. Disappointingly the Belgians often comment on our Welsh dragon and so we explain where our inspiration came from, much to their satisfaction.

June 2008

An unusual project for the skipper's workshop on the boat but kept him entertained for many an hour.

June 2008

Tournai had a splendid dragon! More correctly a wyvern (only two legs). Skipper decides this will be his inspiration and gets to work.

June 2008

This is the view from the Tournai belfry. The wet patch is the Tournai millenium water feature which suddenly springs up out of the pavement, much to the delight of passing children and dogs. You are never quite sure if the medieval looking buildings that fringe the market squares are genuine or not. So much was obliterated in the two wars and often rebuilt in the original style so cleverly that there is little to remind you of the destruction this country has endured.

June 2008

Leaving Kortrijk in Flanders we join the Bossuit canal and enter the other half of Belgium, Walloon. Immediately the 'brugs' become 'ponts' and the next city we reach, Tournai, has a distinctly French ambience. Not surprising when we discover Tournai used to be the capital of France.

We moor on a free pontoon and walk in to explore this beautiful city making first for the belfry.

These towers were built by the medieval merchants in all the significant towns and cities in this part of Europe. They house carillons of bells that were used to warn the inhabitants of threat such as fire or imminent invasion but also simply to get them up in the mornings.

If you climb them they provide wonderful views as well as musical interludes on the quarter hour of varying quality depending on the state of the bells.

The belfry towers are topped with a weathervane, often in the form of a golden dragon as here in Tounai. Skipper decided Snail too should have one.

June 2008

More free moorings with electricity included encorouges us to stay and explore the rather exclusive town of Kortrijk.

When we return to the boat many people stop to talk and admire our 'smalboot' including a Flemish man called Francis and his son. Francis offers to take us to a specialist beer cafe as skipper has expressed an interest in all things brewed so off we go and have a great time with this kind and generous man.

This spontaneous generosity will become a feature of our travels in Belgium and was one of the reasons we decided to stay longer.

June 2008

Lost in a lock, a frequent occurrence but much less scary than when we have to share with the big stuff. The rising bollards make life easier so long as you can reach them. The spacing was not done with narrowboaters in mind!

We are now on the Leie canal, through industrial landscapes to the town of Kortrijk.

June 2008

Aah, this is more like it. The river Leie winds through countryside out of Gent spoilt only by rather too many expensive properties on the banks. They do not want boaters stopping thank you very much, so we push on and find a mooring on a pontoon near a village. It's first mate's birthday and among texts from friends is one from Ann and Hendrik. They are offering us a free mooring in Lokeren for the winter with electric and water. What a birthday present!

May 2008

We stop at a free mooring on the outskirts of Gent and are immediately greeted by two Belgians, Ann and Hendrik, who are moored behind us. It was the first of many Belgium friendships made throughout the summer, often brought about because Snail is to them, a very unusual boat.

They showed us beautiful Gent by tram and on foot and promised to keep in touch.

They also introduced us to homemade advocaat, a Belgian drink nothing like the runny stuff I remembered as part of a 'snowball' from my childhood. This was similar to thick custard with a very big alcoholic kick and quite addictive.

May 2008

Moored at the very pleasant town of Lokeren awaiting the mechanic while Fernand and his wife head off for their six months of summer cruising. Lokeren is at the end of this river, the Moervaart, navigation halted by a reservoir built many years ago to stop the town flooding. Fernand turns out to be an influential person here and is heading the push to get the navigation re-opened again. The resulting link to Antwerp would bring many more boats to the town.

As it is, there are five lift bridges to be opened to get off the river and onto the canal system. No problem you would think but here everything is done for you which means booking the team (yes, team)of bridgekeepers to open them for you. They are very small (the bridges, not the keepers) and with very little traffic on them. BW would very quickly change this system! Or close the spur......?

1500 euros later and the proud possessor of a recon. gear box, we too leave finally for Gent. It is our first inkling of how expensive goods are here.

May 2008

Disaster on the Gent -Terneuzen canal when within half an hour the gear box fails. We make all of 2 knots in choppy waters with no mercy from the big stuff passing us constantly. Our saviour Fernand van den Keybus offers to tow us to safer waters at Lokeren with his small but perfectly formed trad. wooden sailing boat. How embarrassing?

May 2008

We leave Terneuzen for Gent, Belgium which we think we will visit for a couple of months. How wrong can you be?

This is the enormous human made Gent Terneuzen canal with boats passing us upwards of 1500 tons. Not quite the Grand Union and a steep learning curve ensues.

Our first sighting of a European lock, one of three in Terneuzen. Skipper works out you can get 99 full length narrowboats in one of these at the same time. Most of the boats are commercial. Even at the height of summer there were not many pleasure boats using the system.

May 2008

Mooring at the first of several European yacht harbours in Terneuzen brings home how incongruous we look. So long that we block the width of the waterway completely and no-one can get past us. Not sure how skipper even got us in here.

May 2008

Here's Snail being lowered everso gently into Holland at Terneuzen.

We'd travelled from Streathay Wharf on the back of a truck the day before leaving at an hour I didn't know existed, 4am, an hitherto unexperienced experience.

Winter in Belgium

Apparently this hasn't happened for years! Quite surreal having people look in on the boat from the water side.

We awoke one morning to a very cold boat. The temp had dropped in the night to -18 which had frozen the diesel in the tank and cut off our heating.

Introductions

At last we've got round to a blog. Will take a while to post last year's Europe cruising and get up to date but there's the rest of this long, cold winter.
We are skipper and 'he who keeps this boat going' Olly, first mate and cook Anne, crew member and coot chaser Woody, all living aboard nb.Wandering Snail. Bye for now.