A mission, migration and the Meuse

Unusually, we started our 2012 season with a mission: our friends, M and M, who have holidayed with us on Erewhon three times before, would be joining us for 10 days from late May. M2 is particularly fond of bubbly wine and we have often said that we would love to travel through Champagne with them on the boat, if we could. This year it would be possible – if we didn't muck around too much en route. We arrived in Antwerp on May 14^th after a few relaxing days in London and spent our first few days shuttling between the boat and the home of our lovely friends, Winnie and Regnier. We unpacked and anti-fouled the boat in the cold and in between showers and had her in the water late on Wednesday the 16^th, as planned. We then spent a few days cleaning, organising and provisioning the boat – and one day visiting Bruges with Winnie as it would have been a sin to leave Belgium without seeing Bruges.

 If you read our 2011 blog post about our trip from Gent to Antwerp, you will understand that the Scheldt, which runs through Antwerp, is a tidal river not to be taken lightly – and because of the tides, any travel on the river needs to be carefully planned. Not only that, our departure from the Linkeroever Jachthaven, (the left bank port) where our boat had spent the winter, was also reliant on the tide. The lock that allows entry and exit from the port only opens for an hour either side of the high tide.

Jachthaven Antwerpen Linkeroever: waiting for the harbour master to give the green light

We were both more than a little apprehensive about heading out onto the Scheldt again but this time was always going to be easier than the last. We had only about 14km to travel to the start of the Scheldt – Brussels – Charleroi Canal (instead of the 83km we had travelled on it at the end of last year) and because we were travelling away from the sea we had the tide with us for longer. We left on a Sunday afternoon on a late afternoon tide, heading out of the port at just after 3.30pm. Fittingly, there was a cruise liner moored on the side of the Scheldt, just as there had been on the day of our arrival last year, although this one stayed put. Because it was a Sunday, there was no commercial traffic on the river, so we didn't have to contend with the waves or wake created as they whizzed by – a blessing. In under an hour we were at the lock and by 5pm we were moored in a picturesque spot on the side of the canal with a drink in hand, happy to have been to Antwerp on the boat, happy to have left her there for the winter and happy to be able to relax with our time on the Scheldt behind us...

In port in Brussels (in the distance)

The Scheldt – Brussels – Charleroi Canal is not a tourist canal. I'm tempted to compare it to a motorway but, in fact, it is much more akin to a main trunk line of the railways. It is there for industrial and commercial purposes and although used by the occasional pleasure craft, it is dominated by commercial barges. The industrial nature of the canal does not lend itself to lingering along the way. It does, as the name suggests, run through Brussels and although we stopped in the port there for a night, we still have no idea where the centre of the city is in relation to the port. That we were able to find a supermarket to buy some supplies seemed like a big enough achievement. The commercial nature of the canal meant that everything was in working order and, apart for the hold-up at Ronquières described in the previous post, navigating was simple and speedy. There were some pleasant stretches in terms of scenery but many which are better described as “industrial” and at best “interesting”. The passage through Charleroi at the southern end of the canal might even be the ugliest we have experienced. That said, we managed to find somewhere pleasant and safe to moor up each night and we were pleased to have experienced this other side of the waterways. We found the commercial bargees unfailingly friendly and cooperative.

After a pleasant night and day on the Sambre, we turned onto the river Meuse, which is known to Dutch-speakers at the Maas. Suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by pleasure craft and the scenery was not just pleasant but spectacularly beautiful. It reminded us a lot of the Doubs (part of the Rhine to Rhone Canal) with its meandering nature, steep sides and citadels. With the stretch of water from Namur to the French border, Belgium had saved its best until the very end. We particularly enjoyed our stay in Dinant, a lively tourist town, which proudly proclaims itself as the birthplace of Adolphe de Saxe and therefore home of his creation, the saxophone.

Namur - from the boat

The Meuse/Maas IS a major highway – part of the route that joins the low countries, especially Holland, most directly with the southern parts of France. Spring is the time when Dutch boaters, along with Belgians and Germans, head south for the better summer weather and we seemed hit peak season. It was an astonishing change! We went through the last locks in Belgium and the first lock over the French border in the company of no fewer than seven other pleasure craft. As we were the last boat into the locks, we then were held up for quite a long time while the others bought their French Waterways vignette (sticker). Initially we thought there were some other formalities to complete and lined up with all the rest. Once we realised that all that was required was the sticker, which we had bought via the internet before we left home, we were able to jump past some in the queue and leave once our side of the lock had cleared (we were in two rows of four down each side).

Heading into France

Our next stop on the Meuse was Fumay, where we had decided to stop, provision and clean before being joined by M+M. We are hoping that they will pick up the story from there. We've asked them to contribute a post for the blog to shed a different light on our adventures - and to let you know to what extent our mission was successful.

C getting up close and personal with Mr de Saxe in Dinant (He was not amused)