19 July 2014 Namur, Belgium

They say troubles come in threes. Well, we've just had ours over the last few weeks.

Gent was great, Alison and our friend Joanna had a week of delightful walking in the south of France while I stayed on board Sirius in a marina a few km south of the city centre. I did a few of the outstanding boat jobs until the weekend when my eldest grandson Nelson and his girlfriend Freya took the fast train from London to stay on board for the weekend. The weather was perfect and we motored the canals of the Gent Ringvart and spent time in the old city eating Belgian chocolate and testing the beer. We all had a ball... really cool Grandpa!

On the way again

With my crew back on deck we took off down the narrow and attractive River Leie, stopping at Deinze for a laundromat break, then on to Kuurne near Kortrijk overnight. Next day a side canal called Bossuit-Kortrijk took us to the Haut Escaut canal and into Wallonia. 

Waiting our turn to enter the lock

Although we had a cruising permit for Flanders we needed different papers for the southern part of Belgium where we began to hear only French spoken, an odd transition within the same country.

Entering Tournai with Jo on lookout

Our tieup at Tournai

We found this great Wallonia French restaurant in a back lane in Tournai

Tournai was a bit less clean and ordered like the towns to the north but we spent 2 nights here tied up on the central canal and exploring the city with our bikes. A long day then took us to Mons where things went downhill.

It was a Friday night that we pulled alongside the dock there, a slight reverse then forward to kick the stern in …. but there was no forward gear. We tied up and I checked the cable and changed the oil, all to no avail. After a rash of phone calls all over belgium and Holland I found a Volvo dealer open next day. He was Pieter from Kant Marine in Niewpoort in the north of Belgium 160 Km away. His mechanic Murat drove the distance after work on Monday and together we lifted out the gearbox, tested it as far as we could in his truck before he drove with it back to Niewpoort.

Parts had to be ordered from Sweden so we waited in Mons until the following Sunday to see Murat again. Not a really exciting place compared to towns we had seen before, but we gave it our best shot. The Yacht Club seemed to specialise in jetskis and water skiing with fancy, overpowered boats fitted with overpowered stereo systems. Their taste in sound differed from ours... somewhat! On the Saturday night the harbourmaster warned us that we should leave the harbour due to a booking for a very loud event so we booked a hotel some 5 Km away. We justified the $$ spent on the basis of the huge black amplifier boxes and fed by enormous power cables lined up under the rows of strobe lights, all just 20m from Sirius. We were glad we did as we had to close the windows in the hotel to keep out the noise.

A day trip to Brussels brightened our spirits

We were delighted when Murat the mechanic gave up his Sunday to instal the by now as-new gearbox and we were able to bid farewell to Mons around 1pm. At last we were away again after losing 10 days of cruising. At the first lock just 2 Km away the motor stopped as we were entering. We had wrapped something around the propellor!! We drifted back out and tied up so I could strip off and dive into the distinctly unhealthy canal. After an hour of gasping and gulping I had removed very little of the tough material caught around the shaft. We flagged down a passing cruiser who kindly towed us back to Mons...just the place we didn't need to be.

The diver came next afternoon and after an hour of serious cutting for him, we were away again, this time around 5pm.

A small part of the heavy wrap around the prop

We were very happy to be away from Mons and hopefully our boat troubles and we motored through to the famed Strep-Thieu Ascension lift. We motored into a giant bucket with a large commercial barge and were silently lifted 118m into the air.

Entering the lower level behind a barge

Gates open at the top

Looking back after exit at the top

This was more like it we thought. Now for a reward by heading south for a short while towards France on the quiet River Sambre. .... but we had one more trouble to go... Around this time Alison developed a raging toothache. She dosed up on painkillers and antibiotics hoping it would wait until we flew home in 10 days. But it soon became an internet hunt for a local dentist along our proposed route until finally we tied up at the delightful Landelies on the Sambre and took a taxi to the local hopitale. Alison had exellent treatment there and was delighted to be able to use her Australian Medicare card.

The  part of our journey looks just like France, green hills surrounding the canals, Freycinet style locks and friendly locals

 Going up on the Sambre

 Entering Thuin

 Lovely riding along the towpath albeit in the rain

 Abbay de Aulne, started in 673 AD

Our mooring in Namur where we handed over to Chris and Margie