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.