After a very peaceful night we ambled up the Dender to Aalst. Not very far, only 10 km, but this is a narrow canalised river with a lower speed limit.
We were held over 45 minutes at
Denderbelle Lock while 3 commercial barges took precedence over us but it
wasn't a problem.
A barge loaded with water?
As the "water" barge leaves the lock, another is waiting to enter
And then the third barge exits
The barge that passed us going upriver being unloaded
We tied up at VVW Aalst at
1.00 pm and were met by yet another friendly Havenmeester, called Mario, but he
is Flaams not Portuguese.
It costs €10 to stay here
overnight (€13 if over 12m), showers are 33 cents for long enough (about 4
minutes), electricity and water are extra but we don't need any so don't know
the price.
It is about a 10 minute walk
to the Grroote Markt, the main square, which is really pretty.
This town was occupied by the Germans during
the First and Second World Wars with a notice outside the lovely old Town Hall
that, during the 1st WW, the Germans broke in repeatedly and stole and damaged
paintings and furntiure! I guess they
weren't popular.
In the evening we met up with
friends Frederik and Josephine who live here, and 2 of their friends. It was a
really good evening with beer,wine and tapas.
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