The photo is of a sculpture in Lille close to where we were moored for 3 nights. It honours some of the men who were shot by the Germans in WW2. There is no explanation available, perhaps because none is needed. You will see the men are in civilian clothes. Perhaps they were deemed to be supporting the resistance movement. Perhaps they were deemed to be guilty of some other crime against the collaborating government, we can't tell. We hope the photo is clear enough for you to discern the fortitude these men displayed as they stared down the barrel of a gun with their comrade already shot and killed beside them.
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An unexpected use for non-slip deck paint
The night we came off the Somme we enjoyed an all-too-rare, still and sunny evening on the boat in Péronne. We decided to make the most of it by drinking our digestif out on the bow of the boat. As we were sitting there, C started to rub her rough heels on the non-slip deck (painted on at the start of last year) and found, to her delight, that it does a fantastic job of smoothing down that rough skin! We'll both be using the technique again in future.
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We left Halluin on Sunday and had a pleasant and uneventful trip to Kortrijk (something of a relief after our adventures of the day before). The guide book indicated there were two possible moorings in Kortrijk. To get to either, we had to leave the main river and enter a loop. A bit like the waterways version of a crescent. One pontoon was at the near end of the loop, the other was at the far end. We slowly went past the first one with a view of checking it out, going on to the second one and then deciding which one we would tie up at. All eyes were on the first pontoon, looking at its condition and where the water and electricity points were situated, what was nearby. Having seen all we needed to see we then fortunately looked in front of the boat and just in time too. There was a bridge just a few metres away. J said to C, 'can we get under that bridge?' C quickly replied with a loud no!' Accident averted. We don't know how we would have explained that to Christian (our friend and insurance agent). We decided to stay at the first pontoon and didn't bother checking out the other spot until later in the day when we went for a walk. That spot is possibly less influenced by passing barges but would lose the sun quite early. We get the sun where we are until quite late in the evening. As usual, you win some and you lose some.
PS The navigator has promised to pay more attention to the height of bridges printed in the guide book. To be fair, we have never before encountered quite such a low bridge without being forewarned by the VNF (waterways staff).
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Yay!! We can buy cream cheese in Belgium; we have never seen it in France. Tonight's entrée was the most delicious, fresh, grainy bread with Philadelphia cream cheese and smoked salmon - a combination made in heaven!
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Monday was street market day in Kortrijk. We were very impressed with the variety, quality and prices of the goods for sale. Compared to most markets in France, the fruit and vegetables were much cheaper... and we were able to find such treats as butternut, buttercup pumpkin and (surprise, surprise) brussel sprouts. The fruit was fabulous, expecially the grapes and once again we are left to wonder why we can't get such tasty, juicy fruit at home. We were really impressed with the different kinds of food items you can buy. The different meats, cakes, cheeses and chocolates are almost bewildering! All are, of course, labelled in Flemish, which is a bit of a mystery for us although, not surprisingly, C can decode a lot of the words. She particularly impressed J with her understanding of the price one stall owner was asking for the items we'd purchased – until C revealed that she'd simply read the amount on the cash register that was hidden from J's sight.
As a special treat, we went into a cafe / bakery after the market. The cups of coffee (hot and delicious in itself) accompanied by a special treat for each of us arrived on a tray, beautifully presented and included a piece of tea cake and a little tablet of Belgian chocolate!
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Yesterday (Tuesday) we entered a large lock first and were instructed to tie up on the left side right up front. A HUGE barge then gentled its way into the lock on the right hand side and came alongside us! There was about a metre between us, all very intimidating. Another barge came into the lock on the left hand side, it was too wide to come alongside the other barge but its bow slightly overlapped the stern of the other barge which meant it just fitted into the lock, and the lock gate, which is like a guillotine, was lowered and there was not much room between stern and gate. We are constantly amazed at the skill of the lock keepers. It is of course vital they don't make mistakes! The ride down was gentle enough. J used the VHF to ask which order he wanted the boats to leave the lock. He said, 'you go first'. J said in a heartfelt voice 'thank you very much and you have a nice day'. We thought we could hear the smile in his voice when he said , 'you have a good day too'. We did not relish the idea of the barge going first, we would have been whooshed around as he got up enough power to move that monolith forward. We would have liked to take a photo while we were in the lock but we were both clutching ropes and were simply transfixed with the barge movements. However the photo shows the barge next to us leaving the lock. It gives you some idea of the amount of room that was available to us!
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