Still in Menen

We have been here 3 days now and got the third coat of paint on the deck.  It takes less than an hour to apply the paint and we spend the next 23 watching it dry!    We fill in the time going for rides on the bike and taking longish walks.  I am getting to know the town quite well!  The weather has been bright and crisp, i.e sunny and cold.  Yesterday morning it was 2C when we got up, and not a cloud in the sky.  This morning it was cloudy and almost balmy at 7C!  It warms during the day to max 14C but as long as the sun comes out, and so far it has, the steel deck gets up to 20C, for an hour or two, long enough for the paint to dry,   but not cure hard.  We will have to spend an extra day here so that it gets hard enough to work on with ropes, etc, when going through locks.

Two days ago a magnificent Tjalk barge moored up in front of us.  It was built in 1899 and the owner told us the hull is still totally original.  Compare that to what is built today!

Two huge marquees have been erected alongside the old Leie River offshoot about 1 from our mooring. 

The old Leie River meandered across the flat plain and in the 1960’s it was widened and canalised with straight sections cutting across the curves.   Many of these offshoots are now recreational areas. Yesterday they were doing lighting and sound checks – a warning of what was to come! -  and bringing in hundreds of barrels of beer. 

Stacks of beer barrels

The cacophony started at 10.00 and went on till about 5.00 in the morning.  It was so loud that it made the boat rattle!  Didn’t sleep a wink.

In my ramblings I discovered that some remnants of the old ramparts

The ramparts date from the 17th century,the crumbling wall from about 1820.

and a casement that has been restored with a big sign saying “Free entrance”, but is was locked.  

Another interesting statue close by

I also discovered that the old lock on the old Leie River offshoot was destroyed at the instructions of the Allied High Command by a handful of resistance workers and 2 parachutists on 28th April 1944.  

The old disused lock

Plaque at the old lock