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.