Aalst to Pollare

A leisurely day today, even though it included 4 locks and 5 mobile bridges.

We left the marina in a bit of a hurry; just as we were thinking about leaving a small private barge passed us so we called to them to ask if they were going through the lock.  Yes, they were, so we hurriedly threw off moorings and tucked in behind them.  These locks/opening bridges are operated by mobile units so it is best to travel in convoy.

Downstream of Aalst there is a lot of industry, so many commercial barges, but upstream of Aalst we did not see one commercial barge.  The locks are a lot smaller (41m x 5.2m) and the pleasure barge and Njord just fitted in with no room for a third boat (well, perhaps a dinghy! 

Once past Aalst the Dender River is just lovely. 

What a fantastic bridge

We nogotiated 4 locks, hand operated by the mobile lock keepers, and the Happy Hooker was back in action again.

We passed a lot of potentially propeller damage

And a clean up operation

Ninove is a beautiful town, well what else can you say about a town the has a pink bridge full of flowers

and even more flowers alongside the canal and festooned from every lamp post

Even the kids are lovely

Oops, this isn't supposed to happen

We finally tied up at a dock that is shown on the maps as a public mooring but is infact private.  We got permission from the owners to stay for one night.

Lovely place, and the first hills we have seen.