22th July to 7th August 2024 Calliope and crew proudly left Diksmuide with a newly painted hull and headed for the coast down the River Yser (Iser). The cruise is pleasant, through wide flat plains of farmland – no locks until Sint-Joris, Nieuwpoort. Areas such as these are know as polders – areas of land,Continue reading “From Nieuwepoort to Deinze – enjoying North East Belgium”
Tag Archives: barging in Belgium
Crossing Belgium SW to NE Part 2
Gent to Diksmuide July 1st to 10th 2024 Gent, on the Scheldt This was one of several special family weeks during 2024. Calliope had to be in Diksmuide, North Belgium, on July 10th to be lifted out for her quinquennial (5-yearly) hull clean and re-paint. We had been travelling up from Saint-Jean-de-Losne in France forContinue reading “Crossing Belgium SW to NE Part 2”
The Magnificent Meuse
– part 1 From Belgium into France 7th – 13th May 2022 We didn’t start at the bottom, or the mouth, of the Meuse; we joined at Namur, so this account does not do full justice to the river. It was a rather overcast day when we left the Sambre and found turning upstreamContinue reading “The Magnificent Meuse”
Short Trip on the Scheldt
(Actually the Haut Escaut; we are in Wallonia!) From Bossuit, at the end of the canal from Kortrijk, it is not far to Peronnes where we were to join the Nimy-Blaton- Peronnes canal – just 27 kilometres. Nonetheless, in our new sedate gentle mindset we took a break of two nights along the way atContinue reading “Short Trip on the Scheldt”
A winter visit
6th – 10th December 2021 We had kept enough off our Schengen 90 days to visit Calliope at least once during the winter, and despite Covid rules both sides of the chan new requiring several tests each we decided to go. So with the ‘leaving UK’ PCR test accomplished and negative results received we wereContinue reading “A winter visit”
Late summer in Belgium part 3
Down the Belgian Sambre with some Haut Escaut, and Canals Nimy-Blaton-Ath, de Centre and Brussels – Charleroi August 15th to 26th 2021 We left Antoing and friends Mieke and Frans, setting off up the Haut Escaut towards the two big locks at Péronnes; these still ring alarm bells in the mind of the Captain asContinue reading “Late summer in Belgium part 3”
Hull maintenance in Zelzate
29th September – 23rd October 2020 As we left the marina at Spanjeveer dawn was breaking on a lovely late September day. We were on our way to have the hull pressure washed and repainted – part of the five yearly maintenance programme. The Moervaart was glorious in the early light, and we shared theContinue reading “Hull maintenance in Zelzate”
Down and up the Durme
16th to 29th September 2020 We left Gent on the Tuesday, with a lovely send-off, knowing (or should I say thinking?) we had almost 2 weeks to kill while waiting to go into the boat yard for the 5-yearly hull cleaning and painting. The cruise out of Gent was interesting in itself, up through theContinue reading “Down and up the Durme”
Back to Gent, via Leuven
31st August to 16th September 2020 I have promised myself no more than 5 photos a day this time …. unless it is photos of a town or city that deserves more than five – so let’s get started. (Update; I didn’t quite manage this!) The last post took us to Mechelen on the DijleContinue reading “Back to Gent, via Leuven”
From Blaton to Namur; a journey of 3 canals
22 – 27 July 2020 Canals Nimy-Blaton-Peronne, du Centre, and Brussels-Charleroi As we left the Ath-Blaton Canal at Blaton and joined the Nimy-Blaton-Peronnes our hearts sank a little; we were leaving a narrow-gauge rural canal for the width of the commercial , industrial, super highway canal system again. But we needn’t have worried, al leastContinue reading “From Blaton to Namur; a journey of 3 canals”
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