Thieu

Saturday 14/09/19

After another long drive Bokkie has left France and is nestled alongside a Belgian canal, walking distance from the impressive Strépy-Thieu boat lift.  

Bokkie and friends basking in the sunshine

We had a reasonably uneventful day's driving travelling through northern France seeing the area become more populous and more industrial.  We travelled through the Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin dotted with mine dumps from historic coal mines and the area reminded us a bit of the Witbank area of South Africa.  

We filled up Bokkie with diesel as we expect prices to be a bit higher in Belgium and set off to cross the border - a bit of an non-event in the Eurozone.  We did notice someone had sprayed graffiti over the EU symbols on the Belgian signs at the crossing - is the Brexit effect still spreading?

Crossing into Belgium

Yes, Bokkie is being overtaken by carrier pigeons.
To be fair, EU law states they aren't allowed to fly anymore and must be
transported by truck...

With that we were in the land of beer and chocolate but unfortunately our stop is not near to any bars or shops so we will have to be patient.  

We are parked on the banks of a canal, so took a walk to the nearby canal lifts (there are some older ones nearby as well as the upgraded version) and watched it lift up a large tourist boat 73m to the canal above.  It takes around 7 minutes in total and, although I took some video, it's a bit like watching paint dry.  Very impressive machine, though.

Strépy-Thieu boat lift in action

One of the original lifts from the 1800's, now replaced by the new unit capable of lifting 1,350 tonne craft..

Tonight we need to do some planning as we have a week's gap before we want to be in the UK, and we want to do some exploring - it's really nice to be in a different country.  It makes one realise how small Europe actually is.  We've already seen some signs in Flemish, which makes us feel like our Afrikaans will be quite useful.  Now if only we can find that bar and chocolate shop..