Schoorbakkerbrug, Ijzer River

Yesterday we spent the day with Michel, just chatting and catching up, and watching the dinghies and wind surfers having fun.

He took us out to dinner last night, marvellous man.  We went to the restaurant at the marina called De Ark and had a really good meal.  Michel and Ian both had steak and I had pork cheeks.  So succulent, and delicious.  I wanted to have mussels but they are not in season.

Today it was pouring with rain when we woke up.  Not a good day for a bike ride and Michel had a long day ahead of him, to Calais to catch the ferry to Dover then all the way across the south of England to the far western tip of Cornwall.  Hopefully it was only raining this side of the Channel and he found some sunshine in the England.

Mid-morning, even though it was still raining, we untied our lines and headed up the Ijzer River.  We have stopped at a free mooring near the Schoorbakker Bridge.  

We suspect it is a private dock belonging to a house next to the canal that is for sale.  

There is no one living in the house, and no one has come to tell us to move on, so we will stay here tonight.

This was yet another scene of total devastation in the First World War.  A huge battle raged here between 14th and 30th October 1914 as the Germans tried to cross the river in pursuit of the Belgian army.

We found this information on a board alongside the canal with a picnic bench.  We have seen these picnic spots throughout Belgium on the towpaths of the canals.  They are primarily for cyclists and hikers.

Rather cold all day today, but we see that next Saturday it is forecast to be 27 degrees; our last day on the boat when we will spend the whole day cleaning and packing up prior to our departure early on Sunday!

Another post from Nieuwpoort

We were supposed to meet our friend, Michel, from Cornwall, in Diksmuide but he came here instead, arriving yesterday late in the afternoon after a bike ride from the Black Forest region.  It is great to see him again.

Before Michel arrived, Ian, never one to sit idle for long, thought he would fill his time by routing a new breather tube for the water tank.  He had unblocked it a few weeks back but it had gradually blocked again.  Well, what a mission that turned out to be!  But it's done now, and done properly and now the water flow from the tank is much better.

Today, the weather wasn't too bad in the morning so he painted the top of the coachroof.  

Then he changed the oil in the engine (and discovered that the new filter we bought in Rotterdam is the wrong size - grrrrr), fitted a new engine room light, went through the 9 cans/plastic containers of "stuff" stored in the engine room - and threw away 6 of them.

I did some basic boat "house"cleaning and cleaned the barbecue, and read a lot.

All day the wind had been picking up and the it looked very ominous but it held off until Ian

was away throwing out the rubbish: then first rain squall came through.  Vicious!

That is surface water being blown off the lake.

Now it's cider time and, seeing we have good free wi-fi here, we might just watch a movie after dinner.  And no, we are not having a barbecue tonight!

Nieuwpoort

We're  still here, and we will be here till Sunday.

Two nights ago, when I heated water to wash the dishes, the gas ran out.  They have the same gas bottles here so we thought it best to exchange the bottle today.  But, the habour master only works from 19.00 to 20.00 on Wednesdays so we had to spend another night.

Yesterday:

The marina being almost empty,

Ian spent the morning working on the coachroof.  He had done some grinding on Tuesday while we travelled along the canal, and yesterday he carried on working while I went off the supermarket by bike.  When I got back, I climbed on board as usual and heard a yell from Ian, who was inside:  Mind the epoxy! 

Too late.  I hadn't seen it and managed to get it all over the side of my jacket and my bike pannier.  Well, I didn't know he was going to be epoxying right next to gangway!  I managed to get most of it off my bike bag but my jacket looks a real mess and I'll never get it off.  And Ian had to redo the epoxy which had gouges out of it, which didn't thrill him either!

Today:

The wind picked up a lot during the night and we woke today to a dreary, grey, windy, miserable morning and forecast to get worse later and tomorrow with rain.  So we have paid up to stay here for another 3 nights, which takes us to Sunday morning.

This morning, before the wind got too bad, we untied our lines and motored slowly up and down a wide section of the canal, actually it's like a big square lake, for an hour so that Ian could do some sanding.  It was pretty chilly  - and as soon as we got back to the mooring the sun came out!

I went into the town to find a bank to draw some cash and took the opportunity to walk around the "old" town.  This is another of the towns, like Ieper and Diksmuide that were right on the front line during the First World War and was badly damaged.  It has been rebuilt in the old style but the buildings look new(ish - 90 years old instead of 500 years old).  It is pretty though.

One side of the Market Square

The other side of the Market Square

Lots of flowering planters waiting to placed around the sqaure 

The entrance to the Town Hall

The Cathedral Spire

On this large square lake there is a government watersports centre for the "Promotion of Physical Development, Sports and Outdoor Recreation" (BLOSO - we have seen them all over Belgium).  We have been watching them all day, making the most of the windy conditions on dinghies and windsurfers.  There are also some kayaks out and even a "pirate raft".  I tried to take some photos but they were too far away.  Looked like they are having fun. 

Knokkebrug to Nieuwpoort

Still a bit chilly and breezy today but the sun did come out from time to time.  We trundled along from Knokkebrug to Diksmuide, where we stopped for half an hour to go to the Aldi supermarket for fresh meat and veggies.  Near Diksmuide there is this beautiful thatched cottage with flowering bulbs planted along the ridge of the roof.

Then trundled on a bit more till we got to Nieuwpoort.  We have returned to the VVW Westhoek because they have free wi-fi here. Not the cheapest marina at €12 but not the most expensive either and water is included.  And if I remember correctly the laundry was quite cheap and I need to wash the sheets.

But the main aim of coming back to Nieuwpoort was to speak to the Westhoek Marina about leaving our boat in the Nieuwpoort Marina and not in the Veurne Marina.  Ian and I went there by bike, it's only a few hundred yards away, and the man in charge was quite happy to make the change. 

We were surprised at how few boats there are in the VVW Westhoek this time, compared to when we were here 10 days ago.  The visitors' marina is almost empty.

Knokkebrug for a third day

Fiesta day today.  Unfortunately, the weather had turned overnight and it was cloudy, windy and rather chilly - but dry, thank goodness.

Ian helped Chris, the owner, set up tables and chairs outside under the marquee

At noon the sound man arrived and set up his speakers, amplifiers, etc, and the music started.  Soon people started arriving, the  meat went onto the barbecue

and the beers were going down a treat.

Astrid, an accordionist, started playing at about 2 and didn't stop till 5 - standing the whole time.

She was really good, great personality and walked round to all the tables getting everyone involved.

A thoroughly enjoyable day.

As it got dark the stragglers helped pack away the chairs, tables and sound system and we sat drinking in the pub till 10.00.  I finally found a beer that I can drink - it's called Kriek and made from cherries, doesn't taste much like beer at all.

Knokkebrug

Ian woke up this morning and said "I feel like doing nothing today".  So we stayed put. We had glorious sunshine and not a breath of wind so we went and had coffee on the terrace of the pub/cafe.  There were already quite a few energetic bike riders passing by and I was amused that some of them stopped and had a beer - at 10 in the morning!

Then we strolled across to the other side of the bridge where there is a strange bee-hive shaped hut with info panels about the area and a diagram of Louis the Fourteenth's fort, and also the remnants of the moat around the fort.

I took a photo of our large scale map so you can see the area we are hanging out in, a great big loop of canals and rivers.

At the moment we are right between the two strawberries.

The pub

The boat dock in relation to the pub.

The dock right in front of the pub is a 1 hour max waiting place for the bridge.  A boat was tied up there for a couple of hours this afternoon and the bridge keeper told them to move.

I did some laundry and we were just thinking of going for a bike ride when a fancy boat came along side and someone yelled "Hello, do you remember me?"  It was Willie, the harbour master from Diksmuide.  Except he is no longer the harbour master, he is now the President of the club!  The guy we couldn't find yesterday is new - but not as good.

We all went and had drinks at the pub.  I took the opportunity to ask him about leaving our boat for the summer in Veurne and he said it is not a good idea.  It is too public and it has been known for vagrants to break into boats and sleep in them - and make a huge mess.  So when we leave here we will go to the Westhoek Marina in Nieuwpoort and tell the boss that we would rather stay there than in Veurne.  Both marinas are owned by the same company and the price is the same but at Westhoek marina in Nieuwpoort the access to the pontoons is locked.  Also the showers, etc, are a lot cleaner - and that matters, a lot!

With the hot summer weather I cannot tell you how many bikes came by.  And motorbikes.  And vintage cars.  Most of them stopped for a coffee, or coke, or beer.  It was a really jolly atmosphere.

Alcoholic beverages at 2 in the afternoon? Not really my scene and by 4 my eyelids were getting very heavy so I came home.

Willie left to go back to Diksmuide at about 5.30.  We will see him there again in the near future.  

Veurne to Knokkebrug, via Diksmuide

A sad start to the day, saying goodbye to Lynn and Shaun.  They have gone south to France, we will stay in this area till we leave in two weeks.

We set off for Diksmuide, after calling Bridge Service.  

The lock next to the marina 

Today we had a young lady bridge operator travelling with us to open the first 5 bridges. 

We saw so many water birds today, including a mother duck trying to teach her reluctant duckling to fly.  It was almost painful to watch, he was struggling so much.  But he eventually got the hang of it. 

Almost every bird we see now has brood of chicks 

Back onto the Ijzer River through the Flintele lock, we had the same chatty lock keeper from yesterday.   He told us we had to hurry to the low Knokke lift bridge because he had a boat coming through from the opposite direction which he would then accompany half way to Veurne.  Sure enough when we were about 2 km from the bridge we passed the boat going to Veurne and just minutes later the lock keeper came driving down the road to see how far we were. 

Once through the bridge we eased our way along the few remaining kilometres to Diksmuide and tied up in the same place we were in a few days ago.

Ian went to find the hawenmeester (harbour master), not Willie, who is having a few days off, and I went to buy a new watch seeing mine broke about a week ago.

No hawenmeester.  We watched Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, went shopping to stock up on milk, bread and vegetables, went to the Eco-shop (second hand shop) to look at a ladder (we will need a boarding ladder in France), didn't buy it.  Got back to the boat and there was a phone call from Lynn.

It  was now after 6 and the harbour master's office was supposed to be open so Ian went there twice to pay for the night in the marina.  Still no harbour master.  It was a beautiful evening so at 8 o clock we decided to leave the marina and try out a free mooring we had passed at the Knokke bridge.  

We fired up the barbie while we were travelling and the chicken was just done when we tied up. 

Two locals came to talk to us, gave us 2 huge strawberries for desert and told us the little dock belonged to a pub at the bridge, we were welcome to stay the night and please come to the pub for drink.  So we did.

What a lovely little local pub.  

We learned a lot about the history of the area (pre WW1!).  There used to be a fort here, started in the 16th Century and enlarged and reinforced by Louis the Fourteenth of France (the Sun King) in 1678, and Napoleon's armies fought here.  There is a dyke only one side of the river and the opposite side floods every winter as it does further upstream.  There were bowls of strawberries on the table, the produce of one of our new friends, who proudly informed us they are grown properly in the ground, not in containers, which is why they taste so good.

And it didn't cost us a cent - they paid for all our drinks.

Monday is a holiday, Pinksteren, and there will be a fair here - we might just come back.

Ieper to Veurne

Today was a long day in the saddle - even longer for Lynn and Shaun on Elle.  They needed to fill up with fuel, and although Ieper was advertised as having a fuelling station, it was on a bunker barge and it was closed.  So, we set off together at 8.30 through the 2 locks where the lock keeper takes you lines but at the junction with the Ijzer River Eller turned right to Diksmuide where there is a fuel pump at the marina, and we turned left towards the Flintele lock.

We passed large groups of kids bikes

We tied up at a free mooring to wait for them to catch up with us.  We discovered that this section of the river floods every winter and tens of thousands of water fowl fly in to roost, mate and breed.

Further upstream the Ijzer River is a protected bird sanctuary. 

The Flintele lock is quite different from all the others we have been in to date.  It has sloping sides and a pontoon to tie up to.  

It is still a manual lock and the lock keeper raises and lowers the sluices and opens the gates by hand.

He told us it is going to be "electrified" later this year.

After the lock we were into the Lo Canal.  Very narrow, winding, lots of water fowl, and pretty.

At Veurne the junction of the Lo Canal and the Niuewpoort-Dunkirk Canal is at a very acute angle.

That's the Lo on the left and Niuewpoort-Dunkirk Canal on the right.

The marina is immediately after the junction on the Niuewpoort-Dunkirk Canal and we finally tied up at 5.00 - eight and a half hours after leaving Ieper.

This is where we will be leaving the boat in the summer. 

The town was left unscathed by the First World War.  It was well behind the front line and did not suffer the bombardment that destroyed Ypres and Diksmuide.  The town square is beautiful.

Tomorrow we part company with Elle.  They are going into France and we are spending our last 2 weeks in this area, mostly on free moorings where we can paint the deck.  Time to get rid of the patchwork look!

Lynn and Shaun treated us to a wonderful dinner on our last night together.  Lovely restaurant.

The building is the second oldest in Veurne, dating from the 15th century and some of the walls are original.

The food was excellent.  Ian and I went for steaks, Lynn had bouillabaise and Shaun had sole.

Before

After

We finished off the evening with Irish coffees on Njord.

The marina at night.