Hendrina, Ghent

 Saturday 19/09/26

Gorgeous Ghent (Photo by Nathan Johnson)

We left Kortrijk the next morning, and enjoyed seeing huge numbers of birds on the way towards Ghent.  

We were delayed for a while at one of the locks as a vessel was coming from the opposite direction and ended up being one of four vessels waiting to enter.  The lock was 280m long end the controller had calculated we could all fit in - just.  We were by far the smallest vessel and, as a non commercial craft, we were asked to enter the lock last.  The barge ahead of us was over 100m long and we were only just able to squeeze in behind it.  We were a bit nervous about possibly being bounced about in it's wash when it left the lock but needn't have worried; the very professional captain cruised away carefully until well clear of us and we all passed through without incident - very slick.

Hendrina squeezing into the lock - lots of duckweed on the water

Once we left the the canal and entered the stretch of the river Leie to get to Ghent (via the scenic route), the pace and scenery changed dramatically.  Rows of fancy houses, each with their own robo-mower hard at work, edged the river for miles.  There is definitely a lot of old and new money in Ghent.

Hendrina stopping traffic

The river meanders dramatically and Nathan had his work cut out to turn Hendrina back and forth through the narrow bends, avoiding kayakers and leisure boaters along the way.  As we approached the outskirts of Ghent we had the added hazard of day-trippers in rental boats, some of them with no idea how to steer or aware of the danger of getting in front of a 20m long iron barge.  Nathan earned his stripes - again!

Our wonderful berth in the middle of the action

We arrived late afternoon at the marina in the centre of Ghent to find our berth had not yet been vacated by the previous occupants.  They were an Aussie couple: him a chilled hippy-type fist-bumping us all on arrival and her a slightly annoying ball of stress.  We had to moor up against them for the night which was no problem, thanks to our capable skipper.

We headed off into town and had a lovely meal with some more brilliant beers.  We arrived back to Henny just in time for the lantern festival parade to pass us on their way out of town.  We were now effectively double-parked at their final corner out of town,  so it made for some tense moments as the boats made their way around.  Everyone was super chilled though, and it was a lovely welcome to Ghent.

The lantern festival - an excuse to make some noise.

The next day, the Aussies left and we could move into position against the wharf.  We were really quite taken with Ghent, in my opinion it rates as one of the best cities I have ever visited.  It helped that we had fantastic accommodation on Henny right in the middle of the city,  and we really had such a wonderful time exploring with Nathan and Charmaine.

(Phot NJ)

All too soon it was time for us to leave again and on Monday morning we caught a train to Lille, then a fast train from Lille to Aix and finally we caught a bus back to Peyrius.  Our little car was waiting patiently for us and soon we were back home.  

(Photo NJ)

(Photo NJ)

(Photo NJ)

(Photo NJ)

What a fantastic experience!

Happy times !
actually they were all laughing at me trying to work my camera properly

Castle of the Count (Photo NJ)

Hendrina - Lille and Kortrijk

 Thursday 17/09/26

Charmaine and Nathan are going to over-winter Hendrina in Europe because they are looking after a friend's boat and dog for a few months in London so we decided to meet them along their travels. 

 Conveniently, there is a direct high-speed train connection between Marseilles and Lille so we left our car at the bus stop near Peyrius and caught the bus to Aix-en-Provence TGV station.  The bus was running a bit late so we had to dash through the station to find the correct gate for our boarding.  Once sorted, we settled into our seats and began cruising through the French countryside at 300 km/h.  It's a no-frill train, so all passengers had to sort their own food - packed sandwiches and a flask of coffee for us.

Lille Chamber of Commerce Belltower

Charmaine met us in Lille and we walked to Henny, conveniently moored on the canal alongside the citadel near the city centre. Nathan welcomed us on board and we settled in for a lot of chatting followed by a wonderful fish curry supper, a joint effort between Nathan and Charmaine.

The next morning Toni and I went for a walk around the area and rustled up some bread for lunch and pastries for breakfast.  We had around six hours travel ahead of us, but, as we would find out, timetables on the canals are variable as there can be long delays with a lot of commercial traffic taking precedence.

The very decorative town hall in Comines
We had to wait as there was a large craft coming through the narrow section

The trip reminded us of travelling through the canals in the UK, except the canals and vessels here were a lot bigger and the entire system is better maintained as it is still used for commercial transport.  All the locks are 'hands free', controlled by a voice on the radio, quite different to the windlass winding in the UK.  They are also huge, built to accommodate the 100+m barges we encountered.

Lock doors open, waiting for the green light to drop ropes

We arrived into a lovely mooring as the canal passed through Kortrijk.  Charmaine and Nathan had discovered it on their previous trip and it was well worth the visit.  We had a lovely stroll around the time, sampled a few Belgian beers and had a lovely schnitzel supper.  Superb! 

Kortrijk

The interior of the 13'th century Church of Our Lady of Courtrai
was very decorative, albeit a bit gothic.

Monastery Church of Saint Michael

The following day we planned to head out towards Ghent, most of the trip following the commercial canal but Nathan wanted to follow the Leie river to get into the city, a much more scenic, winding route.