Upon the relatively straight Zeekanaal Brussel Schelde,
one lock,
several lifting bridges
and plenty of others beneath which we easily passed
led us along a mostly industrial section of waterway, interspersed by a town here and there, or an occasional field.
The twenty kilometres easily travelled, Gratis arrived at the Brussels Royal Yacht Club.
Thirty metres south of its northern extremity is the entranceway through which the cruising visitor enters. Mooring on the portside dock, one is relatively well protected from the wake of the passing barges: in fact, the only real rock took place when one of the city’s tourist barges raced past.
About Brussels
- Situated just over 100km from the coast, Brussels is found on the Brabantian Mesa, almost 60 metres above sea – level.
- The first known human settlement of the Brussels region has been dated to the stone age. Sometime later, the Romans brought with them their civilisation and upon the fall of Rome, the area become part of the Empire formed by the Franks.
- The formation of the township of the early Bruissles, took place in the late five hundreds with the construction of a chapel upon an island situated in the Senne River.
- It was with the construction of a stone fortification in the year 979 that the settlement became known as the city of Brussels and its first charter created.
- The walls were removed between 1810 and 1840.
