Deinze to Kortrijk

26 km, 2 locks

Clear skies and sunshine this morning, but a little bit nippy at just 7.5C.  

After 2 days of inactivity we were keen to get moving so, as soon as the supermarket opened at 8.00, I bought some fresh bread and milk and by 8.15 we were ready to roll, just to discover that the Tolpoort bridge in Deinze doesn’t open between 8.00 and 8.30. 

Our route took us up the wide, canalised Leie River – one of the main waterways between France and the big Belgian ports so we saw a lot of big commercial barges.  

Thalassa, an old friend which we have seen 3 times before.

Down in the bow and heeling to port!

100m long and very wide 

We have seen lots of big flocks of geese getting ready to migrate, flying in V formation.  I think these are Canada geese.  

There are 2 big locks: St Baafs-Vijve is 140m long and 16m wide, and Harelbeke is 115m by 12m but it is currently being enlarged.  Last year when we passed this way we used the old lock and could see a new one under construction alongside.  This time we used the new one (also 115m x 12m) and the work on the old one is already well under way.

We shared both locks with a the rather large “Amazone”, and the smaller Harelbeke lock only just fitted us both in.

Very close to the turbulent water rushing into the lock

Amazone right behind us

By lunch time we were tied up in the passantehaven in Kortrijk:  €8 per night including free electricity and water, and in sight of the ancient Broeltoren, remnants of the gates in the old city walls.  

The Broeltoren

A town has existed in this spot since Roman times seeing it was at the crossroads of 2 major Roman roads and the navigable river.  In the 9^th century it was fortified to repel the invading Vikings who came up the river from the North Sea.  In the Middle Ages it became a prosperous centre of the flax industry.