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| 2 locks, 7 mobile bridges |
After a work
day yesterday, more cleaning for me, Ian finished installing the rev counter, and
a shower of rain in the late afternoon, we left the mooring at Oudenburg at
9.00 this morning. I called the
bridge/lock at Plassendale by phone as we approached, got no answer, but
straight away the bridge started to prepare with the bells ringing to warn
cars, booms going down, bridge went up, lock opened and in we went. Then we waited, and waited…..
Finally, about 15 minutes later, the second
set of bridge/lock gates were made ready.
We were the only boat passing through and didn’t bother to tie up inside the huge lock so
thought that might have caused the delay, but eventually we realised that, in
fact, there is a 10cm difference in water level and the lock was actually filling
with water while we waited!
At the next
bridge, the wonderful Stilhallebrug, I called by phone again - and again got no
answer but the bridge was prepared to let us through
same story at the next
bridge, Nieuwegebrug. Well, we were
surprised, and a bit disappointed, because we have always found the Belgians so
polite and friendly. But more of that
later.
We stopped at
the Scheepsdalebrug, even more wonderful than Stalhillebrug, to do some shopping
for milk and a 12 volt mini-compressor to pump up the bike tyres and fenders
(on special at Lidl, a meer 500m walk).
There is a small public dock there and there were already 2 boats tied
to it, one right at one end and the other right in the middle of the remaining space,
leaving a tiny, awkward and difficult spot for us to wriggle into. We managed that OK then discovered that the daft
skipper had not only taken up the middle of the available space but had also managed
to mess up the available cleats, leaving one unused at the very end and taking
up another 2 that left nothing for us – so we tied to the railings along the
side of the dock. Then we discovered that the cleat amidships of our boat that
the oddball boat was tied to was loose. After we got back from shopping, the bridge
opened and 2 barges came through. One of
them was moving very fast, creating an enormous wash. Downstairs, preparing lunch, I felt the boat
lurch around dramatically and rushed onto the deck – the loose cleat was now at
a 90 degree angle to the dock and had a suspicious scraping of white paint on
the point! Yes, it had gouged a chunk
out of our hull, through the blue stripe as well as the white, right through to
bare metal. Uurrghhh! Another thing to add to the “to do” list – it gets
longer, not shorter!
Being the only peasure boat waiting just before
14.00 (the time that the bridge opens for the convoy of pleasure craft to
pass through the canal around Bruges which includes 5 lift bridges and a lock)
I called the central office which
replied, spoke over me, and cut off.
After 3 attempts Ian gave it a go but listened to what was being said
instead of speaking and said they can’t
hear us: the phone was on mute! No idea
why and being a new phone, no idea how to fix it! So I resorted to the VHF
radio, which I can speak into just fine but with hearing problems cannot
understand what they say in return hence the preferred use of the phone.
At last,
they prepared the bridge for us (I love this bridge which lifts a whole section
of the road plus cycle path)
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| Scheepsdalebrug closed for river traffic |
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| and open as we pass underneath the elevated road |
and through we went, and the next bridge
(Krakelebrug). Between Krakelebrug and
Warandebrug we passed the junction with
the Boudewijn Canal and noticed there was a big barge waiting to come into our
section of the canal. Sure enough the
next bridge, Warandebrug, did not prepare to open until the huge 70m long
Noordelicht was in line behind us.
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| The Noordelicht entering the Doortocht around Bruges |
Well,
from there on we went through the Dammepoort lock, Kruispoort bridges,
Gentpoort, Katelijnpoort and Steenbruggebrug in double quick time. We had to up
the revs to 2200 to keep up with the barge, doing over 10 kms/hr (in a 5km/hr
zone) and arrived at our destination, Moerbrugge, before 16.00. Whew, a bit of a whirl and not much time to
appreciate the magnificent scenery. Fortunately we have passed this way many times before and I knew what to look out for
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| A live aboard with character - and it's for sale |
There are 4 lovely windmills alongside the canal:
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| The Koeleweimolen |
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| De Nieuwe Papegaai |
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| St Janshuismolen |
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| Bonne Cher molen |
And 3 ancient gates
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| Kruispoort |
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| Gentpoort |
– but I managed to miss the
Katelijnpoort with the camera!
Tomorrow we
have a 40 km stretch to Deinze on the Leie River.
