Moerbrugge to Oudenburg

It was cool again today, not quite a cool as yesterday which never got much above 21 degrees, but pleasant enough out of the sun.

26 kms, 9 lift bridges, 1lock

Today was all about lift bridges – 9 of them.   We did the “doortocht” through Bruges, my favourite city, pity we didn’t stop there this year.  
First off was Steenbrugge bridge which does not open between 7.30 and 8.30 when road traffic is at its peak, so the water traffic queues up instead.  Promptly at 8.30 the bridge opened and 2 barges came through from the other side, one of them was a very tight squeeze.

Urrrm, I'm not sure about this

Just 3kms later we had to wait at the Katelijnpoort bridge while a convoy formed: 2 pleasure boats and a commercial barge. 

The barge coming through Katelijnpoort swing bridge

After the second bridge, Gentpoort, 

we were joined by 2 more pleasure boats which came out of the Coupure marina.

The third bridge is at the magnificent Kruispoort.  

A few more pics from the wonderful Bruges

Two of the pleasure boats and the barge left the convoy after the lock and turned into the Boudewijn canal so it was just us and a Le Boat charter boat that continued to Scheepsdale bridge. There we had to wait almost half an hour for a pleasure boat coming from the opposite direction so they would not have to open the bridge twice in half an hour.  Just after the bridge there is a good dock with shopping area close by and we always stop there to get some essentials.  We have not bought any groceries for a few days so the essentials that were running  low included bread,  fruit juice, fresh meat and wine.

Half an hour later we were on our way again 

We were delighted to pass some boats from our club at Diksmuide which are going to Deinze for the long weekend.  They recognised us first and there was much hooting and waving.  We saw Kafijotolo and Hygeia first, both underway, then Orfelia moored at Stallhille bridge

Waiting for the bridge to open, Orfelia is on the far right

We stopped and a had a quick chat to Willie and Francine on Orfelia as we waited for the bridge to open.  At Oudenburg another convoy with 3 or 4 Diksmuide boats passed us including Pol on Sea Breeze

Many more boats will be going later in the week.

So here we are at Oudenburg, a free pontoon with free water and electricity.!   

Oudenaarde to Moerbrugge

This is what happened yesterday - no internet last night.

69 kms, 2 locks, 1 lift bridge - 9 hours

A long day today and it started off really well with the weather forecast being correct – much cooler, cloudy and even a little breeze.  It was even cool enough for jeans and a sweater - my kind of weather, I was a happy bunny today.  On the subject of happy bunnies:

these 3 were playing next to our boat early this morning

At 8.00 we left the marina at Oudenaarde heading for the first lock just 500m downstream.  There was already a commercial waiting to enter but fortunately we are small enough to share the lock with him.  The commercial, Rio 4, had left us in its wake  shortly after leaving the first lock but when we arrived at the second  lock, 11km away,  there it was queued up and waiting . Rabbit and  hare!  We entered the second lock in formation just as we had an hour or so earlier.

It was a long old slog today, almost 70  kms.  The first section in the Schelde river is attractive, 

The stately Schelde River

The lycra lads were out in force

and rode past us waiting for to enter a lock

The crossroads as the Schelde meets the Ringvaart:  north to Ghent, west to Antwerp, east to Bruges

but then you turn onto the Ringvaart around Ghent, which is the pits (all 11 kms of it).

The only interesting thing on the Ringvaart - the massive CocaColafactory

Then you turn onto the canal which connects Ghent with Oostende at the coast.  A long old slog of 301 kms.  The first 12 kms or so is rather boring but then it improves in leaps and bounds. There must have been a rally for traditional Dutch boats (Ian thinks it was at Oostende) 

A barge having to negotiate his way past 3 pleasure boats

Boring!

Much better

There are lots of irises on the banks of the canals now

At 17.00 we tied up at the quay downstream of the lift bridge at Moerbrugge, where we have stayed twice before and know that half the quay is reserved for pleasure craft.  A 38m barge, converted to a houseboat, was tied in the pleasure craft section, and there were various  commercial boats in the other section but there was plenty of room for us to tie up in the designated place.  Not 2 hours later a commercial came by with much communication taking place between them and the barge in front of us (in the pleasure craft section) but they were already waiting to go through the bridge.  However, the chap they were communicating with on the shore was from the big barge ahead of us and he came marching down  to us and demanded that we leave  because a commercial boat wanted to tie up there because we are just “passantes” (pleasure craft) and can only stay after 22.00.  What a load of bollocks.  So, Ian said to him, you are a passante  - why don’t you move?  He had a lot more to say and stalked off in high dudgeon.  Ian was so pissed off with this blatant attempt at intimidation that he took a photo of them and told them that we are reporting him to the VPF.  I have sent a report to our club president and he can decide if it's necessary to take it further.  I'm sure he saw the British flag and thought we would not know the rules and regs.

To make things worse he has a car there, but no crane to lift it onto the deck so he must be staying for longer than the permitted 24 hours.

Antoing to Tournai to Oudenaarde

Yesterday:  We watched the Monaco Grand Prix in the afternoon then left right away for Tournai, just 6 km along the Schelde River to Oudenaarde. The next leg, from Tournai to Oudenaarde is 39 kms so instead of doing one long day of 45 kms we took a nibble to shorten it a bit.

6 kms, no locks

Fascinating ruins just south of Tournai

Tournai at dusk

It was another hot, sultry, sticky day. Tournai is a city we like a lot but I didn’t feel like walking around in the heat.   So we watched the Indy 500 instead, then just sat out in the cockpit, where there was the vestige of a breeze,  and waited for it to get cooler.

39 kms, 3 locks, 2 lift bridges

We set off at 9.00 this morning.  

We have the green light to go under the lift bridge, look carefully at the second bridge, it is way above street level

The Schelde is a surprisingly pretty river, even though it has a lot of commercial traffic.   The old meandering river formed the border between French speaking Wallonia and Dutch speaking Flanders.  Now  the canal has straightened out a lot of the curves and kinks but there are a lot of old towns and Chateaux close by, not all visible from the canal unfortunately.

Industrial in parts but not too ugly

Chateau de Bellerive

What kind of geese are these?

A great big barge with pretty flowery name - Dahlia

A narrowboat

The belfry at Oudenaarde

The lift bridge at Oudenaarde, 2 barges coming our way but we get to go through first!

Oudenaarde is another fascinating town that we have visited before.  But again it was 32 degrees when we arrived - definitely not exploring weather.  We were here last year on 22^nd May when it was still cool and teaming with rain.  The “passantehaven” (port de plaisance, marina) here costs €9/night including showers and wifi.  Water is 50c for 100 litres and electricity is also 50c but I don’t know how much that gives you.  Last year I remember finding the showers really rather cold, this year they were just right.  There are thunder storms forecast this evening.  Hopefully that will cut the heat.