Diksmuide

What have we been doing for the last few days? Quite a bit really.  First of all, we bought a new fridge – a bit extravagant really.  We already have a magnificent National Luna which can get as cold as minus 30°C and we would like to use it as a freezer so when we see cheap specials we can stock up.  In the spring we bought a really cheap camping type fridge (for about €40 but you get what you pay for – so not much good).  The insulation was so thin that the motor was running more often than not. Waste of space and energy (and money!)  Last week we ordered a brand new proper boat fridge which runs on 12v and 220v.  It arrived at Buitenbeentje before we did so we picked it up on Thursday.  Again Ian was disappointed with the insulation and decided to work on it. 

Oh, and I did umpteen loads of laundry in the club machine. 

On Friday we moved to the visitors' mooring.

By Saturday Ian had worked out what he wanted to do and bought all the materials: a sheet of insulation foam 3cm thick and a roll of aluminium tape.

New fridge

First section of extra insulation

All done and wrapped in aluminium tape

When he got it installed we set it to run between 5 and 7 degrees and filled it with vegetables, wine, coke, cheese and pate.  I bought 4 packs or “boerenwurst” (our favourite Belgian sausage) which was on special: €2.95 for 2 x 400g packs.  Now that is cheap! And set the freezer to -7°C.

I went for a walk in-between the showers of rain.  Was I in for a treat.  In the St Nikolaas Church the choir was just rehearsing, perhaps a Christmas concert.

They were seriously good, especially one of the soloists who brought out goose pimples with her pure bell-like voice.  So my walk was delayed by an hour while I listened! 

Surely my favourite statue

St Nikolaas Church

The Belfry

Believe it or not - public toilets!

A street leading to the Groote Markt

A statue at the old fish market

The Beguinage

The Handzame Canal which runs through Diksmuide

Sunday:  a bright sunny day, but my goodness it started off cold.  It was warmer inside the fridge than inside the boat!  I got up early to watch, 6.30, to watch the MotoGP.  Ian thought about it but decided bed was the warmer option.  By late morning he thought it has warmed up enough for him to take on one of the jobs he has really been dreading – replacing the valves that go through the hull (kitchen sink, toilet and basin).  He started with the one he expected to be the most difficult – the kitchen sink.  He had to lie down on the pontoon, reach under the hull for the exit hole, place a wooden bung in the hole and then hammer it in so, hopefully, no water would come in when he took the valve off.  Surprisingly, it  was way easier than expected and we now have a brand new valve in the galley.

Old valve

New valve

Then we went for a bike ride across the countryside.  I bought a cycle route map of this area weeks ago when we first arrived and this is the first time we have used it – definitely not the last! Most of the fields have now been ploughed, except for those with parsnips, and we came across great mountains of beet.  

am not sure if this is sugar beet or fodder for the cows in winter.  We also passed a lot of “fat bottom” cows, otherwise known as Belgian Blues.  It’s the first time we have seen them up close, they really are very impressive, if somewhat grotesque. 

A Belgian Blue

Just another statue

Pretty countryside