A day in Menen then to Deinze

Yesterday we spent the day in the marina at Menen/Halluin.  It was windy and rainy again, so  a good day to stay in port.  The news from Sr dos Santos, the "guardien" of the yacht club, about a long term place in the marina over the summer is that they will do a study and reply by email in 2 weeks time!  Too late for us, I'm afraid.

Managed to get a photo of Mrs Coot sitting on her eggs, most of the time she has her head tucked under her wing.   Well, it looks pretty boring.  She almost never leaves the nest, only seen her do so once.  Occasionally she stands up and turns the eggs with her beak.  Apart from that she sits and sleeps.

I spent the afternoon lining the shelves in the galley cupboards.  They were lined with retro-1970's orange and brown bold patterned paper.  Not quite my taste!  One of the first things we bought in Rotterdam was 2 rolls of plain white shelf paper.  But it has taken me till now to pluck up the courage to take the job on.  Anyone who knows boats will know that cupboards up in the forepeak do not have any two lines parallel to each other and they are in the most cramped, awkward, inaccessible places .  It took all afternoon, many expletives and a lot of frustration before it was done.  I think I can now qualify as a magician's assistant who gets into a tiny box and then gets "cut in half."

Today Lynn and Shaun left early and went by boat to Armentiers in France to find out about leaving the boats there and Ian went by bike to a boatyard we saw advertised which does on-land storage and will clean the bottom, etc.  The price of the storage is €90 per month, way less than expected, but the cost of lifting in and out is €270 each way - ouch!  However, you can work on your own boat there, and that makes all the difference.  We have to take the boat out, it has not been out of the water for at least 4 years, and we would like to do a good job of removing all the old paint to check the state of the steel, then do any repairs if necessary, anti-foul, replace anodes, all the usual boaty stuff.  Also we can take the opportunity to repaint the entire deck.  So we are considering that place very seriously.  We have to take the boat out of the water in the near future, and I'm not sure we will find a better price elsewhere, and to find a place where you can do the work yourself is really not easy.  To pay a boatyard, as Lynn and Shaun found out, is just ludicrously expensive!

Ian passed the "You are now in France" sign.

While Ian was away I spent the morning doing laundry (by hand), cleaning the boat inside, washing the decks, and had just started filling the water tank when he got back at 11.30 and at 12.30 we set off for Deinze, 37 km back down the Leie River, the wide canalised part, unfortunately, not the pretty "krommel" (windy) river which only starts at Deinze and goes to Ghent.

There was a lot of commercial traffic - we were the meat in a 4 boat sandwich.

Surf-board?  He's got a sense of humour!

We passed a farm with llamas.

And at Kortrijk we passed Ian's favourite statue.

Not so impressive from the other side.

Through 2 locks and under the low bridge with mast, bimini and windscreens down, and we tied up at a free quay, no water or electricity, but what a great location. 

Pictures taken from our foredeck:

The church has a wonderful carrilon every half hour - hope it doesn't go through the night!

Supermarket just 50m away.

The stained glass windows of the church are lit from the inside at night.

Oliver an Penny arrive tomorrow.  I have not seen them since we were all in Falmouth Yacht Marina in 1989.  I guess we have all got a bit greyer and fatter since then.  We are meeting them in Bruges so tomorrow will be a long day - 44 km.