Carry on up the Sambre!

The French Sambre 26th to 29th August 2021 This is a nice short blog, especially in comparison to some of my recent ramblings. We had three nights and the best part of four days on this stretch of the 2021 voyage. Bienvenue en France! We left Erquelinnes on a blue and sunny morning, crossing theContinue reading “Carry on up the Sambre!”

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”

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”

A river and three canals in a week!

Well not exactly complete rivers or canals, but we did steam along 53 kms of the Base Sambre river, 20kms of the Canal Charleroi à Brussels, and 24 kms of the Canal de Centre and 40kms of the Canal Nimy-Blaton-Péronnes And that included an unplanned en panne two night stop, but more of that later.Continue reading “A river and three canals in a week!”

The river Meuse – La France a Belgique

Initially it didn’t seem so different, the change from the Canal de La Meuse to the actual river, probably because a lot of the canal section is actually on the river itself. However as we progressed the geography changed hugely and spectacularly, as you will see. We left Stenay after my early morning mammoth cycleContinue reading “The river Meuse – La France a Belgique”