7-12 May We arrived in Gent on Monday afternoon and left on Saturday afternoon and we packed a lot into that time. Our mooring was in Ketelvest, just around the corner from where we had stayed last year. It was a narrow waterway with buildings on both sides, so felt like a canyon, but luckily our boat was in the sun pretty much all day. There was plenty of traffic on the canal, ranging from kayaks all the way through to other barges and cruisers. And of course tourist boats. When we arrived we caught up with Alan and Sarah who had been part of our rescue team in Diksmuide. We had a pleasant BBQ on the back deck before they left the next morning. A couple of evenings we later we had Helen and Matthew from Havelok over for drinks which was also nice. Gent is a large town so we had many jobs to get done whilst we were there. We cycled to the ships chandler to get new buffers for the boat. We cycled to Ikea and bought a new dining table and chairs and new tall chairs for use when driving the boat. The dining table is extendable in case we ever want to entertain more than 6 people inside, and the chairs are actually office chairs, and very comfortable. The tall chairs can fold up too if we ever need the space - e.g. when we extend the dining table. We also cycled to the sluis where we will leave on Sunday morning, to see where we could moor and talk to the lock keepers. Davy also visited us to make changes to the software in our inverter to get it to use our solar panels more when we are plugged into shore power. The other job that I got done was to follow-up on my shoulder which was still giving me pain. So, knowing that the doctors had said there was no fracture, I went to the physio. She had to cancel my original Tuesday appointment, so I didn't see her until Wednesday. She was very nice, but a bit concerned and thought I should see a doctor, so arranged for me to see a sports medicine doctor that afternoon. The doctor arranged for me to get an "echo" (an ultrasound), but as Thursday was a holiday I couldn't get that done until Friday morning. Whilst doing the ultrasound, the doctor was concerned and gave me an x-ray as well. Would you believe it there was a fracture. I went to see the doctor that afternoon and he wants me to go to see an orthopaedic specialist as it is already 4 weeks since the accident, and they need to make sure it is setting correctly. He said there might be a delay before I can get an appointment. He said I could use my arm, but shouldn't raise it above 90 degrees, and I shouldn't ride my bike (after I rode back to the boat). He did say driving the boat should be OK so long as it isn't too hard. But by the time I called to make an appointment they were closed for the weekend, so we decided to leave Sunday morning as planned. Whilst doing all these jobs, we saw plenty of parts of Gent off the tourist trail. We were still very impressed with Gent as it is lovey even outside the city centre. Large parts of the centre of town are car free so it is great for walkers and bikers like ourselves. They even have a "wandelbus" - a walking bus, which travels at walking speed around the town and uses electricity. It has no designated stops you just flag it down. It went down our street but we never got around to using it. We went into town on Friday night and as it was a lovely night there were plenty of people about, including some enthusiastic soccer supporters in some boats. On Saturday afternoon, before we left, we did a walking tour which was really interesting. We left our mooring on Ketelvest and headed for Merelbeke lock. It was about an hour's trip and we are now settling in for the night here as we will be up at 6am to be ready to sail at 6:30 to catch the tide.
2 Comments
Ian McCauley
13/5/2018 04:03:02 am
Too bad about the shoulder - you really get to some interesting places by bike. Good luck with the cruising and enjoy the Dender.
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Sue Veal
14/5/2018 08:32:46 am
So sorry your shoulder is fractured - shame they didn't pick that up!
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