Crossing Belgium SW to NE – part 1

Namur to Gent

22 June to 1st July 2024

Calliope began the summer in France, down on the Saone at Saint-Jean-de-Losne, and we were taking her on a special trip to Belgium for her five-yearly hull repainting. Following recommendations from lots of people we had booked her in at Buitenbeentje in Diksmuide; we needed to be there by July 10th, with a family visit booked in along the way!

Having had a lovely time on Canal Entre Champagne et Borgogne, Canal Des Ardennes, and the Meuse we were now onto the next stage.

The Sambre

[We actually entered Belgium whilst still on the Muese, between Givet and Hastière. That little section is included in the Meuse blog. I am starting this new post as we leave the Meuse and enter the Sambre.]

We had beautiful blue skies as we went under the bridges at the start of the Sambre in Namur, past the old Watergate with its Naurette tourist boat stop, and under the funicular that goes up to the Citadell. The walk up there is interesting, but not for the faint hearted, though we have done it in the past.

A few minutes later we were at our first Sambre lock, Salzinnes, with a nice bright green light to welcome us in.

All in all a gentle upstream transition from one river level to the next.

Soon we were on our way past some surprisingly industrial areas before making headway towards the much more rural Floreffe – our next stop.

The quay there is supposedly 40 m long so we had some hope of finding space. And yes, when we arrived, we found one other boat already moored there, with just space enough for Calliope behind.

We only planned to stay for one night, but that night was definitely going to include a walk up the hill to the old Abbey at the top. We have been there before and had a proper look round but this time the mission was the beer garden!

Later, after an easier walk downhill from the abbey and village, and back with Calliope, we were able to enjoy rosé wine in the evening sun. Chilled rosé wine tastes so much better out of doors on a warm sunny evening!

In the morning, we continued on up the Sambre to Auvelais where we had a special mission! We had recently, and rather belatedly, realised that we could order things from Amazon and have them delivered to Amazon lockers in towns that we would be visiting. This time we were picking up a new handheld VHF radio set, as an addition, to the one built-in to the boat. 

Along the way. We saw more industry, and barges being loaded and unloaded – good proof of the continuing use of the canals and rivers for commercial purposes.

There were The big locks on this river have a different way of opening and closing lock gates. Sometimes they act like guillotines going up in the air; other times they drop down below the waterline. And here at, Mornimont, they glide sideways.

In addition to the big barges we were passing we also saw a couple of interesting smaller craft and passed under a striking modernistic bridge, all worth a quick mention and photo.

Before long, we arrived at the rather unusual mooring at Auvelais . A wooden pontoon has been built into a slight indentation on the river. I guess it was originally a commercial quay. 

Did you spot Calliope through the railway bridge girders??

We went into town to collect our handset, did some shopping, and came back to settle down and enjoy another sunny evening on the boat ………..

In the morning, I did a quick scurry across the railway bridge and into town to get some bread before we left Auvelais behind.

Then on to the first lock of the day, one of only three before we would be turning off onto a new canal.

We had a couple of hours of quite pleasant countryside and small towns, but as we got closer to Charleroi the signs of industry, in this case the scrap metal industry, re-emerged.

Charleroi is one of the main industrial cities of Belgium, famed for its steelworks in the past. Now it is more famed for dealing with the metal remains of previously valued commodities.

As Calliope passed under the various road bridges of the city, we were surprised and delighted with the lack of commercial traffic around us. Usually it is very busy and the Captain has to be ready for large barges appearing round the bends.

After this lock we planned to turn starboard into the Charleroi – Brussels Canal. It turned out that one of the locks a bit further up this canal required major work and had been closed for 3 days.

At first it seemed that we might not be able to continue but after some discussion between the guys working at the different locks, it was decided that we could carry on and just take our turn along with the commercials barges; great news.

Canal Bruxelles-Charleroi

Then, through the slightly awkward Charleroi wiggle. You go under a bridge into a basin where we turn left  (wiggle 1) and then immediately right (wiggle 2) to leave the basin.

This little time-lapse video makes it look easy!

Before long, we had taken our place in the queue for the next lock; the tailback from the problem further up had reached here.

We waited about four hours until it was our turn – a lot quicker than the 3 days we had been warned about.

( * In case you are wondering, a dog box on a boat is the raised glazed hatch on the cabin roof – I have no idea of the original of the term!)

Eventually I was our turn to go up through Marchienne lock, and we felt hopeful that we would reach the same over night mooring as we had planned, despite the delay.

We shared the lock with a pretty Tjalk that had been waiting almost as long as Calliope. It is quite a deep lock and we had managed to line up to two floating bollards, fore and aft. It was more difficult for the Tjalk as it is a different length, but they found a method using the bollards in the wall.

(For the detail conscious among you, the super new dogbox cover was removed for cruising as it was quite a windy day, as well as hot, and the constant billowing was a bit distracting for the helmsman)

We had a short wait at the next lock as well, then we were through and onto the night’s stopping place.

The original plan had been to moor above Viesville lock. We were just too late for that; they close at 7pm, so moored below instead. This photo ws taken at 7.33, by which time we had tied up and poured some cooling beer! The Captain took a mouthful, then walked back to help the Tjalk get tied up too.

I was glad we had planned a salad supper that evening!

The locks opened at 0700 and the Tjalk took the opportunity to go early. We had a more leisurely start; I was on the radio at 0805 to ask the lock keeper if when could go up. He already had a commercial barge coming down, but we were next in and by 0815 on our way.

We came out of the lock to see another four commercial barges waiting – on is hidden on the right. There are often a few commercial barges ‘overnighting’ here above Viesville lock, all keen to get away and continue their working day.

Canal du Centre

The junction with the Canal du Centre is wide and open! Sometimes it is hard to spot the waterway into which you want to turn, but here there is a sense of spaciousness and calm .

This canal is part of the waterway to connect the Meuse and the Scheldt rivers. As the height difference between the two is 315 ft about 32 locks would have been needed, so a series of boats lifts were deigned and built between 1885 and 1917.

In the 1950s it was recognised that far larger barges were needed for modern transportation and a new canal was built, partly alongside the old. This increased the size of boats from those with a displacement 350 tons to almost 1500 tons.

A defining feature of the enlarged canal is the Strépy-Thieu boat lift, which we were soon to descend, one of my favourite Belgian canal exp[eriences.

The lifts on the old parallel canal remain in position and I have included a link as they are rather magnificent.

Before we went down the lift we went under the ‘barrage’. There is a long, high aqueduct leading to the lift, and if there were to be a leak from the canal in this area it would cause quite a catastrophic flood as water poured from the canal. This barrage would be quickly lowered, sealing off the rest of the canal and minimising the damage.

Forty minutes later and we are on our way into the lift basin, following a commercial barge and our new friend, the Tjalk, coming in behind.

If you have clicked on the above link to the Strèpy-Thieu boat lift you will know that each side is essentially a big caisson (watertight chamber) measuring 112 m × 12 m. We measure almost 20m x 4.2m, so I guess 10 Calliopes could fit in at the same time!

We had unexpected visitors on our way down.

Just under an hour after entering at the top we were exiting at the bottom, and round a bend to find the long Thieu quay almost empty.

It was still rather warm, so all the window and dog box sun covers were deployed. They are new this year and we are loving having windows open, sun reflected away, and any breeze that is around able to come in at the sides!

This is another place we quite like to be.

The walk also gave me a chance to photograph some of the wild flowers I had been noticing along the banks, and Calliope (in the distance) from across the water.

I was back aboard by 0830 and we left Thieu soon after, enjoying the morning sun.

There were just a couple of locks today – both going down, and both fairly deep.

At the first we caught up with Calvi – a heavily loaded commercial barge – following her out onto the canal. We traveled a little slower than normal behind her for quite few kilometres…..

The area became increasingly industrial, explaining not only Calvi, but the other working boats passing by. This strangely shaped panoramic view gives an idea of the canalside on this stretch – not so many trees here!

Not much later we were at the amusingly (to me) named Le Grand Large at Mons. It also marks the junction of the Canal du Centre and the Canal Nimy-Blaton-Péronnes.

Canal Nimy-Blaton-Péronnes

We were still pottering along behind Calvi, and decided to use the VHF radio to ask if we could pass her. The reply, in French, was a cheery ‘oui’ and he pulled over to starboard to help ease the manoeuvre.

So waiting until another barge had gone by in the other direction we made our move – and at that point discovered one of the reasons Calvi was so slow! She was one 37m barge pushing another 37m barge – both full!

We progressed a bit faster after this, not that we were in a rush. Our normal speed is only around 8kph on these canals, and slower than that had seemed a bit too slow.

Prior to its potential re-use we liked to moor there on the big long lock lead in quays, but we are a bit loathe to do so now, in case it suddenly re-opens. So we were carrying on to Peruwelz.

A couple of interesting artefacts along the way – the remains of an old windmill (others, more complete, were seen in the distance) and an old lift bridge, now permanently ‘lifted’.

You can see from the car on the left the level of the road, and thereby the level that the bridge would be at when down.

We had eaten lunch, with the morning’s fresh bread, as we cruised, taking it in turns at the helm. Now we were on the lookout for the Port at Peruwelz …. and there it was.

I had called ahead and checked that there was a space for us, knowing that the marina was mainly for smaller boats, and been told we would fit in. So Captain steered into the marina and we slowly moved along, looking for a non-existent 20m space!

As Stu reversed back out I was helped by another boater who, understanding the situation, phoned the Capitaine of the port. It was quickly explained that our space was on the external quay of the port – good news.

It wasn’t immediately obvious where we were to go, but friendly waving arms on the quay guided us to a space about 3m longer than Calliope. In we went, and almost disappeared beneath the high wall of the quay!

The port has an interesting bar and restaurant, of which we made good use.

After all it was our one and only night on the Nimy-Blatant-Péronnes Canal!

There was still another 13kms of the canal to go in the morning, with two big locks to drop us down to the Scheldt river; about two hours cruising then.

Along the 13 kms were 7 bridges of various shapes, sizes and purposes. This first one is the Pont de Grosmont; if you zoom in you will see the name on the bridge. Most Belgian bridges have their name on them and it really helps you to pinpoint where you are along a fairly uniform canal.

Soon we reached our next Grand Large – Le Grand Large de Peronnes.

Boats enter this huge lake-cum-basin through Lock 1 – Maubray-Péronnes – and leave through Lock 2 – Péronnes. Here we are arriving at Lock 1.

We once spent the night attached to the wooden dolphins on the right, arriving there in darkness having been warned by another boat that we should be there ready for the first lock down of the morning. That is a whole other tale from 6 years before, laid out in this old blog post, when my photos were not so good!

For fun I took one of the time-lapse videos of the gates opening. This lock has the ‘guillotine’ gates at each end. It’s a 7 second bit of fun.

At the end of the video you can see the Péronne Grand Large in front of us – almost 2 kms to cross to reach Lock 2 at the other side. A commercial barge was steaming across to meet us, to take Lock 1 up towards Peruwelz.

The Scheldt (known in France as the Escaut)

Calliope had a shorter trip, especially for that day. We were only a few minutes from the small harbour at Antoing so had fingers crossed for empty quay space there for a night.

Antoing is dominated by its castle – a real fairy-tale shape. It dates from the 12th and 13th centuries, but its present Neo-Gothic style is due to a 19th century redesign. The lucky owners, since 1634, are the Princes of Ligne.. It is open to visitors at certain times, but despite mooring here three times we have never coincided with an open day!

The Princes may have been there for almost 400 years, but for us it was an overnight stop. Granddaughter and family were arriving in Gent in 5 days time and we wanted to get there a couple of days before in order to see friends, to shop, and generally prepare.

The Scheldt flows into the heart of Gent; we would be there in time.

Leaving Antoing takes you almost immediately into Tournai – a city of history and some narrow bridges!

Here is a glimpse of Tournai from the river with its modern street arted bridges, its old houses lining the quays, the cathedral seen up a narrow side road, and the new, rather unusual, port of journal. It is a long pontoon separated from the rest of the river by an equally long floating pontoon. The outside of the latter is sometimes used by overnighting commercial barges.

Over the past few years a massive amount of work has been down on Tournai’s medieval bridge, Pont des Trous. The central arch has been widened and heightened to allow the passage of modern commercial barges.

As you can imagine there was a lot of protest about this work. It is now finished, using the original bricks in the re-construction. Here it is.

There were not many locks between us and the next hoped for empty quay.

We arrived at Bossuit, below the deep lock that leads up into the Bossuit-Kortijk Canal, to find ourselves lucky again – an empty quay sitting at the bottom of a grassy bank. We did feel lucky to find this space waiting for us as although the quay is long enough for two or three boats quite a few of the cleats have broken, making it only usable by one largish boat like us, or a couple of smaller ones.

Even though ot had begun to cloud over a bit it’s a lovely place to moor, with great views across the Scheldt and over farmland in one direction, and a funky bar-cum-Vespa-Hire place on the other.

We enjoyed both, despite some unexpected rain suddenly cutting short the time at the bar – a bar where the Captain found his favourite Belgian beer – Omer!

The rain left us with some beautiful almost stormy skies.

One more stop before Gent and that was at Oudenaarde – just under 20 kms away. And it is on this section that we passed from Belgium’s Wallonia (French speaking) region in the South into the Flandres (Dutch speaking) region in the North. This would become a bit more of a challenge linguistically! Thank good ness for DuoLingo and Google Translate.

It was a gentle Sunday cruise, with not too much other river traffic, even though the Scheldt is now a major transporter of containers, bringing them inland from around the world, via Antwerp.

The marina at Oudenaarde has been closed for redevelopment, and anyway it is not that easy for us to get in and out of it. Also we prefer mooring right on the river when we can.

A place next to the Pamela Kerk was picked out from the options in the DBA (Dutch Barge Association) Waterway’s Guide, and once again we had plenty of choice.

By noon we had tied up to a good size bollard and some strong railings, and were preparing our lunch. It is a quiet mooring, only disturbed by the ringing of the Pamela Kirk bells ….. and on this occasion live outdoor music!

I looked up the source of the music and discovered we had arrived in Oudenaarde on a festival weekend. That looked like something worth wandering round, so we did.

The entire big central square was filled by a stage, seats, bars, food stalls and umbrellas – all the trappings of a good festival in the rain.

For us it was not to be a late night. The final part of the Scheldt voyage into Gent is slightly convoluted, and in addition I was ‘attending’ a dear friend’s funeral service on line as we went along, so we wanted to get a good start in the morning.

Just ahead of us in the centre for Oudenaarde is a lift bridge carrying lots of traffic across there Scheldt. We knew it was important to get our timing right for this and not get to the bridge before it was our turn to go under.

I got the radio channel ready, called up the bridge and following lock, and understood we were being asked to wait. Then we saw the bridge lifting an d began to manoeuvre into place. As it went up we could see a commercial barge the other side waiting to come upstream , yet we had a green light – was there room for us both to go under at the same time?

About 45 minutes from my first radio call we were through the lock, and following Juno downstream.

The trip from Oudenaarde into Gent is mainly rural. I could enjoy the first few hours, helping us through locks with Juno and making coffee and sandwiches.

Then I was ‘off duty’ watching my friends funeral from afar. Always a sad event, but her family made it an incredible happy memory of her life.

We reached the Ring Vaart (the waterway ring road of Gent) and things are suddenly much more urban. At the ‘cross roads’ Juno turned off and we continued straight on into the much smaller part of the Scheldt – the part that runs into the centre of Gent.

There is one little lock before the centre and we called up to ask if we could go through. We arrived there concentration on the lights, the gates, the mooring bollards – and then suddenly noticed waving people from the road above. Our mates had come to meet us!

What a lovely welcome; Mieke, on the right, is owner (with husband Frans) of Dreamer, the barge we were to moor up against in Portus Ganda, Gent. Her daughter had come too, rushed out of her work during her lunch break just to wave us in!

Twenty minutes later we came under the last bridge of the day’s journey, and into the port.

We had made it, not only in time, but a day earlier than necessary. That would give us time to spend with Mieke, Frans, Ciska and the rest lf the family before our family arrived.

Gent is great, and we had such a good time there with the family; more about that in the next blog post!