13 October Leers Noord to Oudenaarde

33 km, 5 locks, 4 mobile bridges

Our nav programme just refused to do a route through the Espeirre Canal.  In the diagram above the red flag is the beginning of the Espierre Canal, Leers Noord lock; the yellow flag is the junction with the Schelde River and the green flag is the Oudenaarde marina where we stopped.

The 3 locks and 3 lift bridges of the Espierre Canal are also operated by a mobile lock keeper who you have to book 24 hours in advance, and yesterday I made the booking for 9.00 this morning but he arrived early at 8.30!  I was still in the middle of making breakfast. But by 8.40 we were underway.  We kept a beady eye on the exhaust temperature and after the 2nd lock it started to rise again.   Gregory, our “eclusier” (lock keeper) told us many boats coming through from France had the same problem but the Belgian water is clear. 

What a delightful area, very different in character from the Canal de Roubaix.

There are lots of ducks on this canal

Gregory, our "eclusier"

After said goodbye to Gregory at the last lock we tied up at a tiny pontoon and Ian got busy in the engine room again, disconnected the inlet tube from the valve, opened the valve – no water came in – adapted the tool he made yesterday  and managed to hook wodges of green weed  out of the valve.  

Sharing a tiny pontoon to clear the weed

After an hour we set off again and turned into the wide Schelde River.

Leaving the Espierre Canal

and onto the Schelde River

At the first lock, Herinnes, the lock keeper told me to come up to his office, just to check on our paper work.  We are already registered with the Wallonie waterways so all I had to do was give him our number and he brought all our details up on the computer. Voila!

At the second lock, 125m long by 14m wide, the light turned green, we entered – and waited and waited.  Then we noticed a huge barge manoeuvering away from a dock just before the lock and coming it to join us.  We moved right to the front of the lock but it turned out not to be necessary because he needed the entire length. Fortunately the lock was wide enough for us both.

From one end of the lock....

....to the other

At Oudenaarde we had to wait at the lift bridge for a few minutes because there was a barge approaching from the opposite direction.  This bridge is very busy with road traffic and pedestrians crossing from one side of the town to the other so they really don’t want to open for one little pleasure boat, close it and open again just a few minutes later.

The impressive lift bridge at Oudenaarde

Then we turned off into the Oudenaarde Passantehaven, where we get 2 nights for the price of one as members of the VPF, and the showers are free. It is rather a nice little marina and close to the old town.

12 October Warmbrechies to Leers Noord

22 kms, 12 locks, 6 mobile bridges

Today was a bit of nightmare – and this was the part we were looking forward to most of all:  The Canal de Roubaix.

We had a very early start at 8.00 and woke to leaden overcast skies.  When we left the mooring it was not fully light yet, but fortunately not as cold as it has been lately, about 7C.  Fortunately the navigation lights work!

We used the telecommande to get through the first lock at Marquette and arrived at the Marcq en Baroeul Lock at 8.50, 10 minutes early.

Our “equipe itinerante” (mobile team) arrived just after 9.00.  They were very friendly, helped with our lines – most of the locks are too deep to reach the bollards at the top and there are none set into the lock walls.  Not long afterwards is started to rain, and got colder.

Maintenance work, leaving a very narrow to pass through

Rain

More maintenance

At the third lock we started to encounter some weed, and from lock 3 to lock 6 it got thicker and thicker.  

At each lock Ian cleaned out the water filter.  

Weed from the water filter

7 locks climbed up to a plateau, including 5 in a staircase sequence, climbing a total of 20 metres.  The canal is quite delightful, narrow and beautiful. 

The lock keepers stop for lunch from 12.30 to 13.30 so we stopped at a convenient place at the top of the flight of locks just before noon and I made a pot of soup for lunch.

The town of Roubaix, not the most beautiful part of the canal!

This little urchin was rather cute

A squatter camp?

There was no weed on the plateau but as soon as we started descending the weed got thicker and thicker and we noticed the exhaust temperature going up and the amount of water coming out of the exhaust was less and less.  

At the top,not so much weed.  Looking down the flight of locks

Farid, one of our Eclusiers.  Great guys, very helpful.

Thick clumps of hairy weed

The strainer at the hull inlet had become completely blocked. This was a serious problem and we limped our way through the last couple of lift bridges and lock, turning the engine off to let it cool a bit then moving another hundred metres or two before drifting for a few more minutes. Very stressful - we even thought this might be the end of our cruising! And to crown it all Ian is still feeling very unwell.

Eventually we made it to the pontoon at the Leers Noord lock.  Ian put an endoscope down the inlet tube and we could see a mass of vegetation in the valve.  So he closed the valve, disconnected the tube and made a tool to poke through the valve and strainer.  Then he turned the valve back to open and poked and prodded. At first there was very little water coming into the boat but as he cleared the weed away the water flow got stronger and stronger, all going into the bilge of course.  At last he got it clear enough (not perfect but that would be an underwater job!), closed the valve, put the tube back on and pumped out the bilges.  Started the engine and it ran sweetly with water gushing out of the exhaust, and the temperature came down.  Relief!

This is the first lock on the Belgian side of the border and the beginning of the Canal d’Espierre.  There is a highly recommended little bar/restaurant here called “La Maison du Canal” and we were planning to have dinner there tonight, our one and only dinner out on this cruise, but more disappointment: no food tonight! Oh well, spaghetti carbonara for dinner instead.

The pontoon above Leers Noord lock

We would love to come back to this canal and take a lot more time.  There are a lot of places to stop, with free water and electricity.  At the first lock our wonderful “equipe”, Farid and Said, presented us with an information package (in English with British flag on the front) with plans of all the towns, information about the canal and its history, a booklet of the birds of this area and 2 little jars of local honey.  What a wonderful welcome.  However, next time we will come early in the season and hope to avoid the dreaded weed.  I wonder what tomorrow will bring!

11 October Armentiers to Warmbrechies

18 km, 2 locks

A very chilly start to the day, almost 0 degrees outside and 7 degrees inside.  It was crisp and clear, not a breath of wind and glorious sunshine. Out came the long-johns, caps, scarves and gloves.  This morning a commercial barge called Mint came past, slowed right down and waved cheerily.  How nice – and even more proof that the river is now open all the way. 

Tomorrow we will be going into the Canal de Roubaix.  This canal has 12 locks in total and all but the first is operated by a team who travel with you, but you have to book them at least 24 hours in advance, which I did at 8.30 this morning.  The lovely lady on the phone spoke really clear French and told me we have to get a “telecommande” at Quesnoy lock.

We set off at 10.45, once again got friendly and efficient service from the lock keeper at Armentieres and slid ever so peacefully down the old Lys River

When in France....

...French pastries!  These are called "escargot de raisain" - raisin snails.

Then we turned into the Deule River which is wide and well used by very big commercials as it is part of the “Grand Gabarit” route from the major ports in France to the major ports in Belgium,  but really pleasant compared to the canal from Dunkirk to Douai (also part of the Grand Gabarit).  

Deulemont Marina

Big barge, wide river

As we neared the lock at Quesnoy a big barge passed us, and there was another not far behind him.  We heard them call in and the first was told he would be in the second “basin” and the other would be in the third “basin”.  They were too big for us to fit in with either of them, and we had visions of waiting for well over an hour!   When they stopped to wait we passed them to get to the dock where little pleasure boats like us have to wait and we saw that the barge waiting to go in the first “basin” was a peniche, only 38m long.   I called the lock and we were told to go in with the peniche.  What luck.  

Waiting in line

Even so it was a half hour wait for the barge already in the lock to clear and the lock to be emptied and made ready for us. When the lock was full I jumped ashore when the lock was full and went up to the office to collect magic box.  He too was extremely friendly and helpful.  Why do the French have such bad reputation – they are wonderful!  

Autumn leaves

We stopped in the rather delightful Port de Plaisance at Warmbrechies.  It used to be an old lock so it is very attractive, lots of restaurants, bars, a carousel for kids and house boats.  First of all we stopped right at the entrance, knowing it would be bouncy from the passing barges but too narrow to explore further by boat and had to do that on foot. Fortunately there was plenty of space further in so we moved, none too soon, as a huge barge came by and poor little Njord almost jumped out of the water onto the quay!

The entrance to Warmbrechies marina

The marina from the bridge

 I went for a walk with the camera. Warmbrechies is really charming

 Right next to the marina is the Chateaux Robersart