The part required for the running of the engine arrived via courier at the mooring dock just after lunch. By mid – afternoon, our sojourn along this not oft traversed section of water by pleasure boats commenced and, with the three locks at Kortrijk only operating between 9am and 4pm, it was a short run […]

Awaking to a warm morning, breakfast consumed, it was time for Bob to reconnect the seal and lid to the base of the water muffler. Taking a matter of minutes to accomplish, all required now was to turn Big Bertha over. Engine idling, no leaks evident, it was time to test by increasing throttle revs. […]

One the road again, the one – way passage through the narrow waters of Tornai would normally have made for a slow but relaxing motor, however, issues with our normally reliable Bog Bertha commenced (an Isuzu 4.5L marine diesel engine) and continued on a major scale. With the light green it was time to depart. […]

his was the day Bob and I designated to visiting various museums. First off the rank was the Musẻe d’Archẻologie. Housed in what was a pawn shop in 1622, we found housed here collections dating from prehistory through to the Middle Ages. There was a font of information, including the family tree, on the Merovingian […]

The bike trip to Tornai enabled us to make the decision to up moor Gratis and undertake the short motor to the Tornai mooring pontoon. It was delightful being able to view the sights from the water this time. There was even a barge undergoing the process of refuelling whilst on the move!

The bikes offloaded, Bob and I set off on a pleasurable ride to Tornai. Situated on the border of north – western Wallonia, what a town this was! With 2,000 years of history that dated back to 1BC as Tornacum under Roman rule, in our minds the oldest city of Belgium easily rivalled Gent. Our […]

Today’s was just a short leg to the marina at Peronnes. We wanted to check out the township of Tornai and its pontoons prior to continuing there. The 14m lock just outside of Peronnes marina was an easy drop with its floating bollards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRmNt2nJ8tc&feature=youtu.be

After the most peaceful of nights, the arrival of the lock operators at 8:30 it was an early start for all. With a barge joining the group, there were two teams, with us being in the second. Between Huissignies, the water level occasionally dropped to 1.7m, but mostly stayed at 1.9m and above. We found […]

This was our first day on the Blaton – Ath Canal, and a beautiful one it was. A mix of farmland and green forested banks with the occasional township thrown in, this was truly a waterway for the nature lover, and those wanting to have a break from the rat race. As always, ducks and […]

Prior to departing Geraadsbergen, we made the required phone call (0675679124) to the office of those operating the locks and bridges upstream, notifying them of our coming. This was the section of the Dender River that was causing the concern, as the English canal books were all stating a 1m or less draft was required. The […]

Another beautiful bike ride through Belgian farming country led us from Geraardsbergen to first the township of Zottegem, then on to the museum in Velzeke. There was just one word to describe this museum: sensational!!!! Covering a time period from 300,000BC to the present, the past was brought to life via a variety of mediums. […]

Today we undertook the bike ride up the Muur (wall of Geraadsbergen) which led us up Oudenburg hill that overlooks the township. Commencing near the Dender, with a length of 1,075 metres one finds themselves steering the bike up a steep – at times 20% – incline on which lay cobblestones set horizontally: this was […]

Bob and I were thanking our lucky stars that we had the electrics today, for it would have been hard yakka with our old bikes. Set high upon a hilltop, the old town square of Geraardsbergen with its impressive church and town hall is quite a sight. The church was pretty impressive, to0. We loved […]

Last night we discovered the largest laundromat we have come across in Europe. In another first, it also boasted a toilet, hand basin and provided paper towel – and was only a two minute walk away. With washing needing to be done, our prayers were answered. This morning we zoomed through the washing. The afternoon […]

  The morning found Bob and I wandering around Dendermonde. The Beguinage museum is closed Mondays, but it was still possible to enjoy the quiet of the old sanctuary. The old canal leading into the town from the Dender had been closed, but the lock permitting entry showed signs of having been partially upgraded at […]

This morning Bob and I caught the train to Ath in order to check out the viability of continuing first along the Dender then the Blaton – Ath canal: the section of canal we were concerned about was that between Geraardsbergen and Ath. Up until today, however, no two pieces of information were the same, […]

Being a sailor, the Mercator Museum in Sint Niklaas was just the thing to interest Bob, so off we went and weren’t disappointed. Since man first realised the world was round, cartographers had met with what seemed an insurmountable problem: that of representing our spherical world on a flat surface. Once the area being depicted […]

After much searching last night, with the help of the barge association website, Bob finally found the tide times page for the Bovenschelde. From there, in tandem with the small table in our Belgian Waterway book, it was possible to calculate high tide at the Winton Lock. Requiring the high tide to experience an easy […]

Considering a night at the Clothilde waterskiclub, the decision was made to take the turn that led to the Winton lock. Passing one industrial site after another, we soon arrived at the marina. Although the position was pleasing to the eye, unfortunately, the conditions weren’t suitable for our girl, so around we turned returning to […]

A short bike ride took us down to the next lock in search of more detailed information: there wasn’t a great deal of detail on the web page. The kindly keeper informed us the projected timeline for the repairs was ten days, but that could be indefinite. On making a comment about taking the Dender […]