Diksmuide: arrival and departure

On Saturday 16^th March, at 7.45 on a cold, rainy and windy morning, as our train pulled into the station at Diksmuide we were dreading the slog from the station to the boatyard with two heavy aluminium boxes and who should we see but Thijs from Buitenbeentje waiting to transport us to our boat. 

And there she was, Njord, looking a trifle sad and dirty after a winter on dry land, but it was not long before we had the covers off, bicycles etc, out and the gas turned on so we could get some warmth going.

Fortunately, that is the only rainy day we have had so far.  The wind and clouds disappeared, the sun shone and it was a pleasure to be able to ride around by bike without layers of jackets, scarves, hats and gloves. However, the thermometer plunged at night to very low single figures, how lucky we are to have such a warm comfortable boat.

Tuesday was launch day and Njord was back in the water before 9 a.m. and we spent a couple of nights at the Ijzervaarders club while waiting for a delivery of new batteries.

The first boats were launched soon after 7.00

On the move

Going up.....

...and down, safely.

Killing time is good for spending money and not much else!  We have acquired two new jackets (one each) and managed to overload the boat with food and booze – the waterline has all but disappeared!

March 21^st

Not such great weather today: dry and calm but heavily overcast and a bit nippy. Expecting the batteries would arrive today I dashed to the laundry this morning (probably the last opportunity I’ll get for the next two weeks or so!).  We moved Njord to the services dock and filled up with water (cost the grand total of 90 cents) and then we tied up at Buitenbeentje’s dock awaiting the delivery of the batteries (which was promised before 18.00).  They arrived at 14.30, still early enough for us to get to Nieuwpoort  today so by 15.00 we were on our way. 

18 kms, 1 lift bridge, 1 lock

Goodbye Diksmuide

How sad we are to say goodbye to the Ijzervaarders and Buitenbeentje  -  they have been our family in Belgium since 2015.  But we are moving further afield now in our exploration of the French canals and decided over the winter that it is time to find a marina further south.  We have secured a berth in Roanne so that is where we are heading; we have about 12 weeks to get there.

It was barely 12 degrees when we set off, but thankfully flat calm and dry.

We arrived at Westhoek Marina at 17.45, (10 degrees C)and were stoked with the new jackets which proved to be gratifyingly warm.