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Showing posts from April, 2019

The Large and the Little

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We've had a varied week cruising some interesting waterways. It started last Thursday when we passed through the sea lock at Wintam onto the tidal river Schelde.  The timing was important as we needed the rising tide to carry us up 3 hours cruising to Dendermonde where we could join the River Dender to head south again. The Schelde is an important shipping waterway, connecting the port of Antwerp with Brussels, Gent, and a whole lot of other places. So, we needed our wits about us. The lock keeper asked us to wait and follow 4 ships into the lock.  It's going to be crowded then.  Ha, this is quite some lock.  For a start it's 25m (81') wide which is wider than most UK locks are long.  And it's an incredible 250m (812') long.  You could easily fit 72 Kennet & Avon locks into this one - and that's most of 'em! It felt roomy even with 4 ships each weighing 134 times more than Taddy's 28 tonnes. (OK Rob, put the calculator down) The drop wa...

It's a tough life for a dog

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Apparently, it's something called Easter and the other humans have turned up with their annoying small human. They moan if I knock him over when I'm trotting around the boat. He's quite good at passing on food though, and I'm doing my best to keep the boat free of food scraps. You've heard of ship's rats? Not on this boat. I nearly lost it this morning though, when I found him in my water bowl. Is nothing sacred?

The Bridge to Nowhere

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Where have we been?  In Brussels, that's where.  There's plenty to distract a visitor to Brussels which is one of Europe's more under-rated capitals.  But we have the added distraction of daughter and son-in-law, Cat and Chris and (almost forgot) young Alfred George who at 10 months needs to see his grandparents! After Ronquieres, we headed north on the Brussels-Charleroi canal and back into Flanders.  Here and ecluse becomes a sluis and the lock keepers speak English!  The town moorings at Halle looked unfriendly and a close call in a narrow stretch with one of the 1350 tonners encouraged us to continue on to Brussels.  The canal get quite 'gritty' as it enters the city and there was some tight corners.  But the industry is interesting.  Belgium uses its waterways to get waste and recycling moved without clogging up the roads.  We could be doing a lot more of that in the UK We arrived at the delightful Brussels Royal Yacht Club in th...

And yet another wonder . . .

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Waterways builders have to think about getting over hills.  You can build a series of locks and climb up slowly.  You can build a lift like the one we used at Strepy.  or you can build an inclined plane or 'sloping lock' where boats enter a tank of water or caisson, which then runs down the hill on rails. The inclined plane at Ronquieres is a good example.  Built in 1968 to replace around 15 locks, it made it possible to carry those 1350 tonne barges down the hillside and north towards Brussels.  It's amazing engineering with the tanks weighing over 5000 tonnes and travelling on 236 wheels on 4 tracks held at the end of a series of cables.  It takes you 268 metres down the hillside. We could not have been more lucky as it is not unusual to queue for 3-4 hours for a trip.  But we radio-ed in from 2km away and the chap in charge said 'premier fois Monsieur'.  As we arrived, 1350 tonner left the caisson and we were signalled in.  You hav...

A Wonder of the Waterways

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We spent a couple of nights at Mons where we were moored right on the front line of the battle of Mons in 1914.  It's a lovely town with an impressive and moving memorial museum that evokes not just the trenches but also the suffering of the civilian population.  Sadly the weather was wet but that made us linger in the museum a little longer.  By chance, our route crossed with other Brit boat owners who were with us in Bruges over winter.  They have travelled a different route and are heading elsewhere from us too. Four boats then made a convoy heading east on the Canal du Centre.  This is an important trade route linking France to Germany and was upgraded for 1350 tonne boats about 20 years ago.  Up 2 locks and quickly on to the amazing Strepy Thieu boat lift.  This lifts boats (including those 1350 tonners) up 73m (240 feet).  For Kennet & Avon Canal fans, that's a metre more than the Caen Hill flight. We waited just 15 minutes or ...

Taking on Diesel the Belgian Way

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This is unashamedly a post for boat nerds.  Us boat nerds like to talk about all sorts of strange things like black water (poo), and setting springs (ropes) when we moor.  Today I want to share a first time experience in buying some diesel. I should explain for non-boaters that I have a pretty large diesel tank (no, not compensating for something . . .).  Actually, I have 2 and together they take 1200 litres.  A 'fill-up' on our boat costs well over £1000.  That's the bad news,  The good news is that a tank-full will last a whole season of cruising.  We last topped up in August and we were still around half full in the main tank. Price is everything and a few cents difference at the pump adds up to a lot when you're buying loads.  So we're always looking out for a good price but marinas tend to load the price heavily because boaters can't generally pop down to the supermarket petrol station.  Except today . . . Our harbour-master in Ou...

A Perfect First Day

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Monday 1st April and we're off. We're up bright and early to get ready and say goodbye to the friends we've made in Bruges; Andy and Felix the harbour masters, and Luc the trip boat owner. Bruges is a busy city and we need several bridges lifted as we leave town.  That means we're asked to leave in convoy: 3 from our harbour and another 3 from the one just up the canal.  And there's a big commercial barge coming through as well.  There's plenty of people watching to make sure we haven't forgotten how to drive over winter . . . We head east through a total of 5 lifting bridges where our convoy stops traffic for 10 minutes.  We're last and feel most guilty but the natives still seem happy to wave.  5 out of the 6 boat convoy are British and nobody shakes a fist (although we have been assured we're the laughing stock of Europe). On down the boringly-named Gent to Oostend Canal where spring is in the air.  We see our first dabchicks (baby gr...