Peruwelz to Tournai

 Another misty morning.

But at 9.00 a mobile bakery arrived at the marina with fresh, warm croissants, pains du chocolat and baguettes! we bought 2 pains de chocolat for breakfast and a baguette for lunch, and cast off the moorings at 9.15.
It wasn't long before the sun came out and chased away the tendrils of mist.  As you can see, not a breath of wind.

We had 2 locks to negotiate, the first one had a drop of 12.6m,

fortunately it has floating bollards,

and we entered onto a huge lake at Peronnes alive with Sunday morning yacht club activities, but with no wind these yachts were not exactly racing along.

The second lock at the other end of the lake was only a 5.6m drop, but exiting we ran the gauntlet of this deluge of water off the gate; thank goodness for the bimini!

We soon left the Nimy-Blaton-Peronnes Canal and turned onto the Scheldt River.  We moved along briskly with the downstream current.

 At Antoing there was this wonderful castle which dates back to the 13th century. 

 We passed a lot of other really ancient looking ruins.  Roman, Medieval?  I know I should know, but I'm not sure!

I never expected to find an industrial area interesting, but we did find these rows of huge barges tied up alongside very old quays, waiting to start loading/off-loading after the weekend interesting.

In Tournai we aimed for the Port du Plaisance, not knowing what to expect, and found this inviting dock.  And free to boot!  Electricity and water are available at coin operated stands along the dock.

After lunch we watched the F1 Grand Prix, streaming on the computer, then went for a walk  There are some really interesting old buildings so we have decided to spend a day here so I can get some cultural input (forgot to take the camera so I'll have to go back!), do some laundry and buy some fresh food.
A beautiful evening to end an enjoyable day.