Deinze to ..... Deinze

3 km, 2 lift bridges

Sometimes you forget what day of the week it is, and sometimes you forget to check that locks on a particular waterway are open 7 days a week.

This morning we set off bright and early (9 o clock), took down the bimini and windows to pass under the lift bridge at Deinze, because it is Sunday and the bridge keeper does not work on Sundays.  

Lowering the windows

Minimum air draught

Here comes the bridge...

...and coming out the other side

Other side of the bridge we put windows and bimini up again and I decided to do a quick check on PCNavigo to find that we would only arrive at our destination tomorrow!  Why?  Because it is Sunday and the locks on the Leie River are closed on Sunday.  Oh.  About turn, drop the bimini (not the windows, we noticed we could get under the bridge without lowering them), back under the bridge and tied up at our old spot half an hour after we left!

As a matter of fact, we had originally intended to stay here today after the long slog yesterday, but the forecast tells us that tomorrow the weather is going to be awful, cold and very windy, so we decided to move today and stay put tomorrow.  Well, now we will just stay put for two days!

A day off gives us time to do some work.

I spent the day route planning (very arduous!) and Ian installed the lights he bought yesterday.

Taking the ceiling down - not so easy

Job done (in the saloon)

Trial run.....

and second job done!

The main thing about the new lights is that they are LEDs.  The old lights chomped 1 amp and the new ones just 0.1 amp.  And they are brighter, we can make them dimmer (when required on romantic "date nights") and give a warmer, more pleasing light.

Charts and cruising guides everywhere

It was a beautiful day today, warm and sunny with not even a vesper, a good afternoon for a long brisk walk (or cruising from one town to another if the locks were open).