Deinze to Brugge

46 kms, 5 mobile bridges

The lift bridge before the quay at Deinze opens at 7.00 in the morning and at 10 to 7 there was a barge ready and waiting, drifting back and forth, engine and bow thruster going from time to time.  Promptly at 7 the bridge started to open and the barge came through.  Between 8 and 8.30 the bridge does not open because there is a school close by and we debated whether to leave before 8 or after 8.30.  We chose the latter because the supermarket right next to the bridge opens at 8.00 and I decided to get some fresh veggies.

The 40 kms from Deinze to the outskirts of Bruges (or Brugge in Flemish) are not the most interesting.  There are no locks, no lift bridges, it is big and wide, and rather featureless.

Entertainment is provided by the commercial barges, and we saw lots of them today.

This barge put up his blue board which means "pass on my starboard side", normally barges pass port to port  He was heading for a quay on opposite side of the canal..  

At a particularly narrow section we saw a barge coming towards us around a corner.  Discretion was the better part of valour and we back-tracked about 200m to a wider section and waited for him to pass.  There was another following close behind.

We heard them talking to a third barge which loomed up behind us, going fast, so we let him go by too.

6 km or so from Bruges the lift bridges begin.  There are strict rules and regulation for pleasure cruisers, the bridges are not just opened up willy-nilly just because you ask to go through.  It is possible to wait an hour for service (and this has happened to us in the past).  We were lucky to tag onto the coat-tails of a commercial barge a couple of kms from the first bridge but he was travelling really fast (pic above).  Ian gave it maximum wellie and we managed to make it through 2 bridges but by the third bridge he was too far ahead and we saw the bridge close in front of us.  We had to wait 45 minutes before another commercial came along and we finally tied up in the Coupure marina at 15.15. 

After a lengthy chat to the harbour master who recognised us from Diksmuide (and gave us a 50% discount for a one night stay, even though it is only supposed to apply for a 2 night stay), I went for a walk in my favourite city.  Yes, it even beats Paris.  However, I have to admit that is much more enjoyable in the early spring when there are not too many tourists.
While I was out doing the tourist trail, Ian had a much more important job to do.  We had caught something on our propellor and all day we could feel a slight vibration at certain revs and the boat didn't reverse as well as usual.  Fortunately we have the inspection coffer above the propeller but that means emptying everything out of the aft locker to get to it.  Also the propellor is only just within arm's reach and you have to be a contortionist to get to it.  He found plastic wrapped around the propellor, strong industrial shrink-wrap stuff.
Here are me pic: