Yesterday was Friday, June 30th. I know that because it was Koos' birthday, but I honestly woudn't have known otherwise. Time seems to have stood still since we left over a week ago, so I need 'hold fast' dates like this to even know what month it is, let alone what day. We are moored at
an halte nautique at La Bassée in a sort of triangular arm
parallel to the Canal d'Aire, which eventually leads to Calais.
We've wanted to come here for years, so after leaving Deinze
on Monday, we decided to make this place our first goal. The first kilometres
between Deinze and Kortrijk were all known to me from last year. We had to wait
at Sint Baaf's lock to be able go through with a commercial. Even on the Leie,
they are being very careful with water. But when we arrived at Harelbeke, the
next lock, the commercial had already turned off to go to Roeselare, so we had
to simply wait until another commercial was coming through. In the end, we
waited two hours in very hot sunshine. Koos climbed off for a walk around, and
here he is on the bridge.
The lock we went through is new, but totally unfriendly to
pleasure craft. The mooring bollards in the wall are so far apart we can only
use one for both forward and stern mooring. It surprises me as there is a lot
of cruiser traffic on this waterway in the summer. Most of the cruisers tie up
to the ladders, which is very not done, but they get away with it much of the
time.
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| Looking back to Kortrijk |
We continued on through Kortrijk to Menen, where we moored
up in another old side arm which was free for 48 hours. It's a great spot, but
we had to put extra ropes on to compensate for the movement caused by the
commercial traffic going past. I really enjoyed being at Menen. It's a border
town and connects with Comines on the Wallonian side although France is not
much further on. Originally it was
a moated town with star-shaped fortifications, but when the Leie was canalised,
it was also straightened, so the new canal cut through it. I don't know when
this happened yet, but I'll find out when I have better access to the Internet.
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| Delightful water bird paradise at Menen |
We spent a lovely evening there. I'd managed to get some
piping hot water in my douchesak, so a hair wash in the sunshine was just what
the doctor ordered. To add to my pleasure, there was a lively community of
waterfowl: ducks with their tiny babies, geese, a black swan and several coots
milled around as I threw bread crumbs for them. An old lady was sitting on a
seat at the top of the bank when we arrived. She represented the dual community
perfectly, speaking to us in a curious mixture of Flemish and French, although
she said she was mainly French speaking. She was taking her dog for a walk in a
pushchair. Yes. I know.
Further on from our mooring, there were a few liveaboards.
One of them was amazing. It had a veritable conservatory on its roof with marvellous
exotic plants and art work. We couldn't help wondering what the owner did when
his barge needed a hull inspection, though. There is no way that barge would
get through any bridges anywhere in the region.
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| Guard dogs on the exotic barge |
The next morning, we left at about 11:00. At the first lock,
the keeper told us we'd have to wait with another cruiser until a commercial
came through. They'd been waiting for more than an hour. Eventually, though,
the lockie took pity on us and let us through together. We continued on to the
Comines lock, which is in Wallonia, so different rules apply. Our Flemish
vignette was no longer valid and we had to give our special Wallonian number
we'd been given last year. The cruiser we were travelling with got severely
ticked off for tying up to the railings and ladder, so Koos and I felt a bit
smug that we hadn't. It just goes to show that keeping to the rules is safer in
the long run. A little further and
we pulled in to Warneton, or I should say we did a U-turn to go back there.
Initially we skipped the turning as it was obvious other boats were getting
stuck in shallow water, but Koos, ever one for adventure, wanted to try anyway.
As it happened it was a serendipitous decision as we met Fred, a charming
Walloon, who lives there on his Groningen Snik. After realising we wouldn't
reach the mooring pontoon available due to lack of water, Fred invited us to
tie up next to him, and so began a great chat. What a lovely, lively man! He
was so helpful and generous, and we were all so excited to discover we both had
Sniks. Had he not told us that we needed to get through Douai before 1 July to
avoid a month's closure, we'd probably have stayed. As it happened, the lock
keeper at Quesnoy, the first lock in France and the first on the Deûle (which we joined shortly after leaving
Warneton), explained that beyond Douai was already closed but would be opened
on July 11th, so once through we motored on to moor up at Wambrechies for the
night. No further rush needed.
The last time we were in Wambrechies was 2001 when Koos
terrified me by steering his 22 metre Luxor through throngs of tightly packed
and expensive cruisers. This time we were greeted by a lovely American, Don,
who with his wife, Cathy, spend their summers cruising in Europe on their old
Dutch barge. He watched us come in and told me kindly that it didn't matter if
we nudged (for that, read bashed) their boat. "It's only paint," he
said. "And she's old and strong!" We spent a very pleasant hour or
two with them in their marvellous wheelhouse, chatting and filling each other
in on what we knew.
In the morning, which was Wednesday, we took a long walk in
overcast weather to find a hardware shop that turned out to be closed for lunch
(we are in France, after all) before returning to the Hennie Ha via the
supermarket. All in all, this took so long, we only left at 2:30. But then the
weather cleared and the afternoon and early evening sun were beautiful. We
eventually reached the second of our locks of the day at Don, so decided to go
through and moor up behind an island we stopped briefly at last year. The lock was
a bit nerve-wracking as there are no bollards in the walls at all and I had to
do the slippery, slimy ladder routine to put a rope on the bollards at the top.
My challenge was increased by the building activities they are busy with there,
meaning I had to climb through scaffolding to reach the land too. I was very
relieved I didn't have to climb down again and just waited till Koos and the
Hennie Ha rose up to join me.
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| Heavenly mooring behind the island on the Deûle |
The evening was bliss. We were the only ones using the
gorgeous mooring facility offered by the island in the Deule, and it felt like
paradise. We took our time leaving the next day and in fact we only spent an
hour or so faring to reach La Bassée, where we've spent the last two nights.
It's lovely here. Busy and lively during the day as we lie between two bridges
that form a one way system in the town. At night, however, it is quiet and the
canal is incredibly peaceful. After waking to heavy rain in the night when I had to close the roof window (koekoek) to stop the torrent in as well as outside the Hennie Ha, the
water is higher this morning - good news for everyone. We shall probably leave
again today, and head towards Calais, but we haven't decided completely yet.
Watch this space!
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| Mooring at La Bassée between two bridges |
