Mons to Lille via the Roubaix Canal. 13-20 August With a new crew (Jean-Marie and Leona) aboard we headed off for the next section of our voyage. We were looking forward to the Roubaix Canal which we had been told was great. It had only been re-opened in 2009, after falling into disuse and disrepair in the 1980s. We left Mons on Tuesday, after Jean-Marie and Leona found a suitable place to leave their car. It was a trip of almost 6 hours to Peronnes. On arrival J-M, Leona and Howard went for a bike ride into France that was only about 5 kms away. Where they looked at the Scarpe Inferior, the canal we thought we would go along, until we found that it had been closed for about 20 years. In the mean time, I went for a walk past the lock and into Peronnes, as I was still not able to cycle. For dinner Leona and J-M cooked up the muscles they had brought with them. Very Yummy. Wednesday was also a long day of cruising as we stopped at Antoine for diesel and water, and just above Tournai for lunch. The old bridge in Tournai is being removed as it is restricting the size of barges that can pass along the canal. The towers at the edge are listed and they will build a new structure between them which reflects the old bridge. In the mean time the old pylons are still in the canal, which doesn't leave a lot of room for those big commercials. We moored at Spieres which is a tiny corner of Flanders at the start of the Canal de l'Espierres (the Belgium link to the Roubaix Canal). I had a quiet couple of hours while the others went for a cycle down the canal. They went up to have a look at the turning basin in France, in case we couldn't get all the way through. It was only a couple of hours cruising to the end of this canal in Belgium, and we decided to only go that far on Thursday as we had been told that there was a car in the water in the Roubaix Canal and no-one was quite sure if we could pass it. And our scouts were happy that we could turn at the turning circle if required. When we arrived at Leers-Nord at the end of the Canal, there was already a boat moored - an Australian couple (Bob and Karyle) who has sailed from Australia in their boat "Gratis". They said we'd have no problem with the car, so we decided to push on the next day. In the evening we went out for dinner to the restaurant at the lock with Bob and Karyle. After dinner a young girl invited herself onto the boat. Jean-Marie took this photo. On Friday we set out for Roubaix in France on the French Canal de Roubaix. It was only a little over three hours but plenty of action as we had five locks and multiple mobile bridges to get through. For one mobile bridge the had to open two bridges at once, and stop traffic on a round-about that was built over the river. At our last lock there was an overhanging walkway that had bits sticking out to support the railings. We thought this quite dangerous as the overhang was higher than our deck in some places and could swipe a person or hit the wheelhouse. And the sharp bits that stuck out could have hooked into our railings. Luckily we avoided all that, but did get a nasty scratch on the back from the sharp railing supports. In the afternoon, Jean-Marie and Leona caight trains back to Mons to pick up their car, and we were able to have dinner on the back deck, between rain showers. On Saturday morning we said goodbye to J-M and Leona, and to our old blue bike as we had bought their fold-up bikes, which we thought would be better for guests. The old red bike we put out on the quay with a sign "GRATUIT" and it was gone with a couple of hours. We did a short ride to test out whether I was ready to ride my bike or not. This went quite well, so in the afternoon we cycled about a km to Tourcoing and had a look around. It was grey and overcast and we had a couple of rain showers, so not the best weather. On Sunday afternoon we cycled into Roubaix and had a walk around. And then after lunch in town, we went to "La Piscine", called a museum of art and industry. It is built in an old art deco swimming pool. Amazing location and special collection. Unfortunately my arm was getting quite sore so we didn't spend as much time there as I would have liked. When planning for our final day on the Roubaix Canal we saw that the wind was going to be up to Force 6 in Lille, so we decided to just go to the end of the Roubaix Canal, and leave the final run into Lille for the next day. So Monday morning we set off. The canal was a lot more overgrown, and our lock keeper informed us that under each buoy was a car (we could see 3 from our mooring and there was at least one more). So it was a challenging day. But we travelled in a cut for most of the day, protected from the wind. Also at last I felt able to drive so was able to do five of the six locks. With the narrow canal it wasn't possible to avoid all the trees so we had a good scattering of leaves, sticks and elderberries on the deck by the time we got to our mooring. And there was a section with quite bad weed, which clogged up our raw water inlet. Howard had a busy time when we arrived, cleaning up the back deck, re-greasing the stern gland which has been leaking again, and cleaning out all the filters which we clogged with weed.
Howard got into conversation with a passing cyclist David, who was Australian, whose barge l'Escapde was moored in Lille. When he was looking for a barge, he had seen Condor (the previous incarnation of our boat), so we invited him on board to have a look around. He was amazed at what a difference we had made with our refit, and hadn't even realised it was the same ship as the current paint job makes it look quite different. Howard cycled back with him to look at the Lille mooring. That evening at about 2am I heard someone on the boat, but they soon disappeared when they realised we were on board. On Tuesday we just had the final lock on the Roubaix Canal to negotiate, using the remote the lock-keepers had left us, and then just over an hour to Lille in the large canal, with only one lock. We passed l'Escapade on our way, they were heading up the Roubaix canal.
1 Comment
Richard Switzky
20/8/2019 05:37:03 pm
Thanks for sharing this beautiful and fascinating journal. The photos are fabulous and reflect your extraordinary eye. How did the cars get into the canal?
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