Lobbes and Erquelinnes 18-21 July John and Deanne arrived on Thursday morning and after a social lunch we headed off to Lobbes just over 2kms away, where I had my hospital appointment on Friday morning and there was boat jousting on Saturday. We had to say goodbye to Chris and Diana who were staying in Thuin for the weekend before heading north again. In our short trip Howard steered into his first narrow lock. There were two flocks of geese on the river, one who seemed to object to the Canadian Geese. The hospital was easy walking distance from the boat. And the orthopaedic surgeon spoke some English so that was good. He said that the bone is now only attached at one side, so I will have to keep this massive cast on for at least another 10 days. I assume it will then be replaced by a smaller cast for the remainder of the six weeks. After another week later (5th August) they will commence rehab to get my shoulder and elbow working again. That was good news as this cast is heavy and uncomfortable, and will be hot and sweaty in the upcoming hot weather, and I was worried that my elbow and shoulder would freeze or at least lose flexibility after 6 weeks. After lunch we moved the boat upstream as requested so that we weren't in the way of the festival, that was to include fishing, boat jousting, kayaking and stand-up paddle boards. For the first time we had to use stand-off poles - in our case our ladders - to keep us off the bank. In the afternoon we had a walk through town up to the church, where there had been a wedding earlier. In the evening we walked up the hill to a restaurant for mussels which were fabulous. The restaurant looked like a take away place but it had been recommended to us and was very busy. Saturday morning after the others went for a bike ride, Howard cooked up pancakes, with some suggestions from Deanne. Delicious. Saturday was the local festival and we suggested that Chris and Diana come down and join us, which they did. It was slow to start and not very many people came, but we were very interested in the boat jousting. I think the video below explains it. There were two types, pulling boats along a rope, or rowing the boats. Both entertaining. Sunday was we set off to Erquelinnes, the last Belgium town on the Sambre, before France. Tomorrow we head into France for the first time on Moondance.
2 Comments
Johanna Hersey
22/7/2019 02:20:50 am
Et vous parlez francais j'espere!
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Steve
22/7/2019 10:30:58 am
Young Howard, What's the fish in the guys net. It doesn't look like a carp.
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