20-24 September Oudenaarde Town Hall and Sunday morning cyclists Wednesday 24th We left Mons on Wednesday and headed towards Peruwulz. However we had such a good days sailing we went a little further and reached Peronnes. We moored just before the first lock in Peronnes which is 12.5m deep. We went for a bike ride after we had settled in, and met a lovely Aussie couple Steve and Rosie who were moored at the marina in "le Grand Large" (the big wide bit) between the two locks. They own a barge that is usually based near Paris. We had some pleasant pre-dinner drinks before heading back to the boat for tea. Thursday 21st The locks close overnight, but two large commercials arrived overnight ready to take the lock first thing in the morning. We were able to call the lock keeper and stay in our mooring until the lock was ready for us. We had a stop to take on fuel and grease (to refill the automatic greaser), and reached Tournai by lunchtime. We had mixed reports on Tournai, so weren't especially keen to stop there. Tournai has a one way system as the canal is quite narrow, so you have to wait for your turn to go through the system. There was a small pontoon just before the one-way system started, opposite to where the boats wait to go through. Initially we thought we'd go through, but after waiting a while with two massive commercials, we changed our mind and moored up on the pontoon. We were very glad we did as Tournai was a delightful town, with a huge cathedral which was under massive repair and was a UNESCO world heritage site. The was also a belfry and town square which were quite lovely. Neither Howard and I were feeling 100% so we had a bit of a wander and then had drinks at a cafe on the town square before returning to the boat. Friday 22nd The next morning we were able to watch the traffic on the canal on the AIS (which shows us local ships traffic - anything over 20m), so we knew when we would get the green light for our trip north. We waited for two large commercials to go and then called in on the AIS to announce that we'd go too. It was a nice trip through the town. From there the trip was fairly straight forward with a couple of locks with a descent of less than 2 metres. We were chatting to Rachel, the friend of Jean-Marie and Leona who bought their boat, and waved to them as they passed us. Our final destination for the day was Bossuit. We had been told that there were nice moorings on the other side of the lock which was on a side canal and was a rise of 9.5m. We had to wait nearly 30 mins for the lock to be prepared. As they emptied the lock the water below the lock was very turbulent and we got hit a couple of times but something big and heavy which was disturbed by the water. After passing through the lock we moored at the end of the quai near the lock. After an overcast morning the sun came out. The mooring also had free electricity (yes free), and we had a pleasant afternoon, including a bike ride into the small town nearby. Saturday 23rd Saturday was a misty morning, and we set off to Oudenaarde. We were back in Flanders so no more French, a lot more English and much better cycling facilities than in Wallonia. Howard wasn't feeling well so we settled down for a lazy afternoon in our mooring just past Oudenaarde. Sunday 24th As it was Sunday the locks open late, and according to our book, it is only for pleasure craft traffic. So there were not a lot of big boats on the river - good for a sleep in. We went for a cycle into town for breakfast as we hadn't seen much the day before. There was a lovely town square with a beautiful town hall and large church. We stopped in a cafe for breakfast, but found they didn't serve food, so we ordered drinks and I went to the nearby bakery for something to eat. It was a lovely sunny morning so it was very pleasant. On the way home we stumbled across the railway station which was also an interesting building. We didn't get underway until almost 11am, quite late for us, but as we had a reservation at the marina in Gent we were not worried about finding a mooring. Although we didn't see much commercial traffic there were quite a few speed boats and even a jet ski on the river. Once we passed the Ringvart (the ring canal that bypasses Gent), the canal became narrow and windy with lots of pleasure craft traffic as it was such a lovely sunny day. With no major mishaps we reached our mooring right in the heart of Gent. There were a lot of people who were moored up just for a short while, and Howard got chatting to some locals while I got chatting to some Kiwi's in a rental boat (Ross and Leslie). Howard got the phone number of the locals for next time we visit and we ended up mooring behind the Kiwis and inviting them on board for a drink, a lovely way to start our visit to Gent. We will be here for a couple of days - with wifi provided by the marina, which (although quite slow and unreliable) is very welcome.
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August 2023
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