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.