Belgium River Leie and Kortrijk 24-28 August After leaving Lille we headed back into Belgium to Kortrijk on the River Leie. This is quite a busy commercial river and so at all our moorings we had some wash to contend with. At Kortrijk, I had my first physio session and we had Claudio (mechanic) visit to fix our stern gland. We left Lille on Saturday and headed along towards Kortrijk. Just after Deulemont the main route became the river Leie. The old river Leie is the border between France and Belgium, but because so many bends have been straightened, we went into and out of Belgium for most of the way. We moored for the night in Comines on the Belgium side of the river. In the afternoon we crossed the bridge into French Comines whose main square was quite dramatic even though they were in the middle of building works. Belgium Comines on our side of the river looked more prosperous, but less impressive. Another barge, Calliope, moored behind us so we had Lesley and Stewart over for drinks in the evening which was lovely. In the morning we shared the lock and travelled into Kortrijk together. They have a permanent mooring and we moored at the other end alongside Soraya as arranged with our friends Geoff and Margaret. The weather was heating up so we spent the afternoon listening to the cricket on the back deck (we still can't believe Australia lost that game) before having a walk around Buda Island, the land between the old river Leie (where the moorings are) and the canalised river Leie where the big ships are. On Sunday night we went out for dinner with Geoff and Margaret whom we knew from DBA Rallies. It was great fun, but we had to say goodbye to them the next morning. The one advantage of them leaving was that we were now able to tie up to the mooring directly, reducing the amount of bumping and banging when a ship went by. Over the next couple of days I wandered around Kortrijk with my camera. On Monday afternoon I had my physio appointment. I was a little nervous as my arm and shoulder were still very stiff and sore, but she was happy with progress and said that there was nothing to worry about, but that it would take a few months to recover. So she started me on mobility excercises. On Tuesday Claudio visited us and put additional "rope" into our stern gland which seems now to be well sealed. Another relief for us. On Tuesday afternoon, we visited the flax museum. This was interesting giving the history of flax production in this area, which is still the major centre for flax brokerage. Then a walk down to the "beach" for an evening drink. On Wednesday we left and headed back up the Leie. We decided to stop a little past Comines to see a different town. We moored at Warneton, where there was a lovely town square and dramatic church. We moored about 500 m down a side arm of the Leie. During the afternoon and evening two locals separately warned us that the river was very shallow, one was surprised that we could have even reached the mooring. We had seen that the other side of the river was very low, as we had sometimes seen the mud exposed after a wave of wash. In the morning we carefully backed out following as closely as possible the route we had taken to come into the mooring. We had no problems at all, which was a relief.
We later found out that this town was on the front line of WWI and was completly rebuilt, like many of the nearby towns, including Comines.
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AuthorWe are sharing stories about and travels on our barge Moondance. Archives
August 2023
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