We arrive back at Peronnes on 4 June. After the incident on the St Quentin, and
knowing there is very heavy traffic in Belgium we realise and are advised that
we must always have very sound moorings.
We spend some time while in England trying to establish safe moorings on
the Leie and the on the Ghent-Oostende canal within reasonable travelling
distance each day for a low-lying 18 metre boat which travels at 8 kms per hour. And we fail.
Nothing at Courtrai or anywhere near.
We are assured both by the harbour master and Flemish Waterways that we
would not be safe there. Nowhere else on the Leie. There are suitable moorings at Beernem on the
G-O, but we can’t reach there in a day.
Back in Peronnes we are reviewing our options. We also see the excellent Mr Pascal Roeder
who is the Inspector for the Nimy-Peronnes waterways and has been wonderfully
helpful by email. He says it is critical
to ensure that we are always moored safely in Belgium.
At Peronnes we also meet Roger and Margaret on the Pendragon,
a bigger and wider but shorter boat than ours.
They also urge care on the G-O.
We face a real conundrum. We are
low, flat and slow. While Bruges and
Ghent are beautiful, getting there is going to be challenging and stressful at
best, and possibly worse. Reluctantly we
decide may be too challenging and decide to change our plans. Is this wimp or wisdom? Perhaps a bit of both, but we decide to
change our plans.
We tell Mr Roeder this. He fully understands but says we will have to
register our change at our lock of entry, were we agreed our itinerary in
Belgium. Oops! That didn’t happen as they just recorded that
we were going into the “Club” immediately adjacent. We discover we have just broken Belgian
waterways law. But no matter. Mr Roeder sorts it all out for us with no
fuss whatsoever. A real gent. We really are enamoured by Belgian
hospitality and friendliness. We will have
to support the “Red Devils” in the World Cup (after all they are from the Group
representing Wales!).
On 7th May Chris and David arrive to
enjoy a fortnight together. We explain
the change of plans. They are
disappointed like us, but happy to go along with the changed itinerary.
The next day we take a day out in Tournai. This is a delightful little town, with cheery
restaurants and cafes for all tastes, and we enjoy a light lunch and good
stroll around. There is much here of the
various wars of Europe, from the Thirty Years War (1618-48), and from before
and after that. Charles Quint (earlier – Emperor Charles V: remember him – nephew
of Katherine of Aragon, and son of Philip the Fair and Joanna the Mad). This Burgundian Habsburg ensured that this
part of the low countries stayed in Habsburg hands, whether Spanish or
Austrian, right up until Napoleon came along.
It was a great day out.
Linda, David and Chris view the town
square in Tournai
Some fine Flemish architecture (can we say that in Wallonia?)
Fascinating decorated windows in
Tournai
Next day we set off down the Nimy Canal to Mons. The
big lock at Peronnes (why didn’t we take any photographs) and its industrial
barges show we are definitely in big water country. But it is a pleasant trip
down to Mons, with no incidents. As we
dock we meet Roger and Margaret from the Pendragon again, who help us moor,
and also give us lots of tips over the next of couple of days.
We decide to stay an extra day and have a day out in
Mons. It was well worth it. A Sunday, but the “Grand Place” was full of
life, and there was much to see. We
decided we had better stroke the monkeys, though, but whether this helped or
not we would see later.
The Grand Place in Mons
David and Chris stroke the monkey for
luck (but will he play tricks?)
Mons’s famous belfry
Cycling for charity in Mons
These are quite long days cruising now, but on
Monday we set off down the Canal du Centre towards the Bruxelles–Charleroi
canal. The feature of this is the
amazing boat lift at Strepy-Thieu, which lifts the lock with up to eight boats
117 metres. This was almost worth doing just for this
experience, which nevertheless was peaceful and gentle. So much better than 117 metres of locks!!
The boat lift at Strepy-Thieu
Inside the boat lift – ready to rise
After a longish day we moored at the beauty spot of
Seneffe. There are not that many places
to moor in Belgium but this was well worth it.
Surrounded by beautiful natural countryside, with a pleasant and
efficient capitainerie, this is a great spot to visit. And as it threatened (and indeed provided)
bad weather the next day, again we stayed for two days.
The girls enjoyed the great walks, and we cannot
believe we do not have any photos, for we thought we had taken several. Also the town, only a 15 minute cycle ride
away, provided adequate stores for anything we needed.
On the second night, enjoying a beautiful stroll,
Chris was leaning to look at some interesting plants, and was just standing
back when Topsy also decided that there was something interesting to dart
at. The collision took Chris right over,
and although she was able to get up, it was obvious that her arm was in
considerable pain, even though she made light of it. It was also quite swollen. The monkey magic had not worked, and Topsy
was really in the dog house.
Worried somewhat about Chris we nevertheless pressed
on the next day. We know there would be
at least 8 hours cruising down through Charleroi and then down the Sambre towards
Namur. Everyone told us that Charleroi
had black water and was best passed as soon as possible.
The journey started slowly, with several times
before Charleroi having to wait considerable times at locks while 85-110m industrial
barges took priority. But we made
progress.
It was after lunchtime before we passed Charleroi,
but nowhere to moor there, even for half-an-hour. The waters were indeed black, but to some
eyes at least the town has an industrial charm.
The dark waters at Charleroi
We then progressed down the Sambre, again with an
industrial who was alas very slow, and insisting on his rights of
priority. We had been nine hours on the
water, and now desperately looking for a mooring. Finally at Auvelais near Sambreville the
lock-keeper said we could moor there for the night, but there was a better
mooring just a km downstream, as indeed there was.
We moored up with great relief at 7.30pm – another
11½ hour day. First priority was to give
the girls some relief, and then some supper.
Chris needed a good rest for she was clearly suffering badly from her
arm. She retired for a rest while we
took the girls for a longer walk and David did some exploring.
Then suddenly, from somewhere “Aidez-moi!
Aidez-moi!”. We thought it was some
youngsters messing about in the park opposite but then another dog walker says
No, there is someone in the river. This
was indeed serious.
Out from the only other boat moored with us dashed
the Dutch skipper. Chris thought he was
pounding on our boat. He raced up the
steep steps from the mooring and then jumped 40 feet into the water and swam
magnificently across the 40 metres of river to grasp the young woman struggling
in the water. But when he was holding
her there was no way to get her out of the water, surrounded by high and steep
stone walls. His mate brought their boat
over to him, and they got her aboard.
Such drama after a very long day. Everyone trying to help. Where did all that
energy come from?
Rescue at Auvelais-Sambreville - reaching the
drowning girl
Getting her out of the water
Rescued and being laid down for
recovery
This was indeed a heroic rescue. Shortly the ambulance and fire brigade
arrived to take her from the boat. The
rescuer however wanted no more, not even to give his name. He had done, he said, what anybody would
do. Not quite, we thought. It was indeed a very young woman, sadly
dressed beautifully in evening wear.
What sad story lay behind this incident? But a very brave Dutchman
certainly saved a life that night.
We said our goodbyes to him and his colleague the
next morning, and headed on down to Namur.
The journey was reasonable but we were always
amongst the industrial big boys, though not too many of them. At the last lock into Namur we moored a little
closely to the lock (it was the only mooring available) and the drag from the
industrial exiting gave a real fight to avoid being drawn into her.
Arriving in Namur by boat however gave some
wonderful scenery.
Arriving in Namur
Former warehousing on the Sambre
(3693)
A different architecture in Namur
The downside was the only difficult official we met
throughout Belgium. The lock-keeper at
the first lock on the Meuse didn’t want us mooring on his side (which is where we
should moor) and was very stroppy about it.
Then he wanted us to moor on bollards we couldn’t reach. Then he decided he would really have a go and
issued a formal warning about the tyres we used as fenders at front and
rear. Maybe he was just having a bad
day, but he let Belgium down.
Turning into the Meuse
That afternoon we
wanted only to moor up and rest, but Chris was clearly seriously in pain and
her arm now quite swollen. David
insisted rightly that we sought a doctor, but finding one nearby on the
internet proved elusive. So we sought
out a pharmacy, who directed us to a doctor nearby. A quaint old-fashioned surgery, but a very
efficient and friendly doctor. He suspected a fracture and immediately arranged
an X-ray at the regional hospital, and even organised a taxi for us. And he would accept no payment. You are guests in Belgium he insisted. It was so reassuring to be back to normal
Belgian friendliness after the lock-keeper.
Not so good for Chris,
though. It was indeed a serious
fracture, and her arm would be plastered for 4-6 weeks, severely limiting her
movement. And she was clearly in pain,
but nevertheless took it boldly. The
hospital was amazingly efficient. X-rays, diagnosis, plastering and medication,
all in one hour. (In contrast we hear later that our grandson Alfie had to go
to hospital in England at exactly the same time for a stitch over his eye, and
that took three hours. Was it just good
and bad luck or are our systems so different?)
Saturday was return to
Tournai/Antoing/Peronnes for David and Glyn to collect the cars. The taxi to
the station turned out a nightmare as it seemed that nearly every street in
Namur had road works. They should have
had a half hour to spare to catch the train, but only just made it.
David spotted a good
connection at Tournai back to Antoing, and Glyn suggested they walk back to
Peronnes, only a couple of miles. As the
sun rose higher and stronger in the sky, with no shade, it seemed longer. So they thought they could cheat and have a
coffee and some lunch at the “Club”. Luc
and his assistant were as ever very affable.
They decided to drive
back to Namur separately but somehow stayed together until Mons where they got
separated, but then somehow were suddenly back together, and then separated
again. David drove back through the
centre of Namur and confirmed it was a nightmare. He had no desire to go back in. Glyn cheated by taking the ridge road from
Mons to the Meuse valley and then driving down from Dinant along the river – a
beautiful view – avoiding the town.
We all felt deserved a treat by now, and Chris especially
deserved one. So we decided to drive up
to Yvoir to check out the moorings, and have a meal out. Alas the restaurant on the island was closed,
but we found a quite good Vietnamese restaurant, which if slow was very
acceptable.
The next day we contacted Yvoir about mooring there,
but they were adamant they had no space for an 18 metre as they were very full
on Sundays.
So we motored by car up the
river as far as Givet in France, to look at the various moorings. Dinant looked good with plenty of options,
others possible, but Givet itself presented a dilemma with fingers too short or
a quay wall far too high. We spoke to la Capitaine at Givet but she thought it
would be difficult to use the fingers.
We left a car at Givet and decided Dinant and Givet would be our next
ports of stop.
Dinant was wonderful if a little noisy. An excellent place which should sell its
tourist wares rather more we thought.
But it is dominated by tributes to Adolphe Saxe, the inventor of the
Saxophone. Every saxophonist should
visit here. It seemed that many did!
The splendour of Dinant
Saxophones on the Bridge
Mr Saxe himself
Moored opposite Saxe street
Chris, David and Linda with the Golden Saxe
We really enjoyed our visit here, though alas there
were road works right next to us (is this Belgian pastime?) which started up at
7am and so pointed out time to move on up the river,
The Meuse at this point is wide, magnificent and the
valley beautiful.
The Chateau de Freyer between Dinant and Givet
Crossing the border at Quatre Fontaines
We crossed the border where we had to register our
entry into France. Glyn explained we had
all the documentation, and he even had the hat (at Riqueval he had cheekily
asked and been given a VNF cap) but didn’t have the T-shirt. Ah! They are only for workers or cost $1000
said the VNF staff. But I used to be a
worker, joked Glyn. And to his surprise
they presented him with an old but cleanly washed VNF polo shirt. (T-shirts
really are only for workers!)
And so into Givet.
We tried the fingers but they really were too short with no stability
for the boat. So we tried the quay
wall. We would have to use a ladder to
get out. Chris couldn’t manage this
(with her arm in plaster) nor could the dogs. Whoo-eey!
Then Chris had a master stroke. She had noticed that as we had passed the
industrial port they did have a low quay.
A few days earlier Glyn had called them by mistake and they were very
amenable. We had cars so we could always
drive the couple of miles into town. A
quick call to the commercial port and yes they are still very amenable. We cruise back the 2 or 3 kms and the mooring
is good, even if the scenery somewhat industrial. We decide we deserve another meal out. David and Linda drive back to Namur to
collect the second car. And we have a
very good meal in the local Logis.
Night view of Givet
Moored at Givet industrial port
The girls at least are enjoying this mooring
But we are worried that ex-restaurant boat La Boheme might fall on us
From Givet we move upstream to Fumay, including
through the short tunnel at ham where incidentally we discover our headlamp
doesn’t work. Need to watch that!
Remains of the Roman wall at Givet
Slate quarries upstream from Givet
The tunnel at Ham
It was very pleasant at Fumay. The quay wall is still high but just
manageable with 45º gang planks. It was
also market day which added to the interest.
Chris and David will leave us here to head back to Ypres and Popperinge
for some WW1 family memorials, but first they help us take our car to
Pont-a-Bar so it will be there for us at the end of this journey. Glyn tries to arrange a blood test. Not locally they say, but we’ll get a nurse
to come to you. And they do, directly to
the boat, to take a sample. Health
service to your door!
Moored at Fumay
From here we will head up to Pont-a-Bar on our
own. It was so great with Chris and
David that we will miss them sorely. Although
we enjoy our time on our own, having good friends really does add a further dimension
of enjoyment. And Chris and David are
such great company. We hope they, though, are not too sore after Chris’s
horrendous fall.
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