Friday 26th June 2015 Thieu to Bellecourt arm. 16.3kms 1 lock 2 boatlifts I liftbridge

Above lift 4 Thieu - UNESCO World Heritage site
for more info on the lifts click here

13.8° C Sunny am hot, overcast later. After Mike did a rapid trip back to the UK to collect his Mum and my new freezer (plus batteries, solar panels and a 2KW sinewave inverter) and a few days at Thieu to install everything, we were ready to move at 9am and I phoned at 9.10am to make sure they were coming. Three men arrived five minutes later and said they weren't late, they’d just had the time to get in their vehicles. We pushed off from the bank at 9.15am. The guys were very friendly and waved au’voir. A short wait for the lift then a van came and the guy said the lift would be ready for 10.15am, then a DB called Omega from Seneffe came down the canal (he must have been moored in the town) and we went into the lift together. They said

In the caisson of boat lift no 4 Thieu - 17m drop

we’d have to wait until midday for the electric cables (? There were contractors working on the lift) but we were soon dropping down to ground level 17m below. The new lock across the basin was full with a green light so we followed Omega across. A cruiser came out of the moorings further down the old canal, but there wasn’t enough room for him in the lock, they thought they could come alongside us but were too wide. Set off down with a rope on the lockside bollard, but as there were none in the wall below it was soon redundant. Omega’s crew went down with a rope and a hook down a ladder. On to the big lift at Strèpy-Thieu. It was 11.45am. Again we had to wait a while, this time for the tripper Peterborough to load passengers, a bus load of children, by which time an Australian flagged

The big boat lift - 73m Strepy-Thieu
for more info on the big lift click here

cruiser called Tiger arrived and followed the trip boat into the caisson. Omega went to the front alongside the tripper and we stayed at the back left. The lift attendant asked for papers, we hadn’t got any. He said Peronnes should have issued papers for us - they didn’t - we did ask for them - but they said we didn’t need them nowadays. I had to slog round the caisson to take my bit of cardboard with all our details on including our Belgian computer reference (or MET number) to the office right opposite our bows, as we’re not allowed across the tail end of the caisson – only the staff. On the way back the skipper off Peterborough came to tell us that we should follow the other two pleasure boats out as his passenger boat would go out last. OK. Then he went back across the tail end! As we went past I told him we would stop on the left hand quay for about ten minutes. A loaded 62m x 5.7m boat was waiting above to go down the lift. Omega and cruiser were soon dots in the distance and the tripper likewise as Mike did a bit more rudder adjusting from the low quay. On our way again with the Markon running to power the washing machine. I steered while Mike made lunch. The washing finished, I did the vacuuming and we paused while Mike disconnected the drive. I just had time to eat my lunch then hang up the washing before we arrived at the Bellecourt arm

View of the old canal (where we were moored) from the big lift

. The water point moorings were full with three cruisers (and more on the opposite bank) and so we tied on the end with bows opposite a small wobbly pontoon. The pontoon visitor moorings were empty. No one at the Capitainerie until 6pm. I gave Mike a hand to unload the moped off the roof, which was awkward as we don’t normally moor starboard side to the bank. I dumped our very large old satellite dish by the club’s bin (no room to keep it any more) as I opened the side gate for Mike to drive through. We went back to the Capitainerie just after six and spoke to Arthur. We had a key for water

Moored at Seneffe BC in the Bellecourt arm

which we used and took straight back and paid 14€ for an overnight mooring. 

Friday 19th June 2015 Bellecourt to Thieu. 17.4kms 1 lock 2 boat lifts & 1 liftbridge

Starting to refill the dock

8.7° C Sunny spells, lots of clouds (some grey but only a tiny light shower of rain) chilly wind. After a week of solid hard work we were ready to refloat the boat. Our SPW men arrived early at 8.40am. Rushed around to finish off the odds and ends. Mike had decided to make sure the echo sounder would come out of its tube and pushed it up from underneath (we’d made the tube smaller by painting it with Comastic, it had been a loose fit, now it was tight) so he added a layer of

Water cascading over the wooden bostocks

Vaseline to lubricate it so it would come out from the top more easily. He put two long ropes out off the bow to a stake he’d knocked into the bank and tightened up using a sheeting knot. It was my job to take photos and remove the ropes when the dock was refilled. The crows were a bit miffed that we’d hidden all the rotting mussels that they had been feeding on as the whole area became a little lake again. Mike went out first while I was gathering up ropes with the

Filling up slowly

assistance of the apprentice, then Graham followed and reversed MR through the bridge to tie up alongside us to get water from the club. I had to walk up to the club carrying three big sodden ropes plus the mooring pin, hammer and plastic cover for the mooring pin. G had a keycard (they’d used the showers and toilets in the club) so he put money on it to get some water then went in the Capitainerie to get his 15€ deposit back. We set off at 10.45am really glad to be afloat

Crows looking on - where's me dinner gone??

again. Mike was annoyed that he’d put too much of a bend on the leading edge of the rudder trim tab; so the boat, instead of wanting to turn right all the time, now wanted to do a hard turn left. I had to lean bodily against the tiller all the time to keep it in a straight(ish) line while he was doing other odd jobs. A big boat called Demis (80m x 8.2m 1082T - ex-CBR11 embossed on its bows) was being loaded with rocks at the quay by the first road bridge. A Dutch cruiser called Danny

The extent of the dry dock, quite a little lake

went past in the opposite direction, then by the big stop gate at the beginning of the new canal we passed Alph, a loaded cement carrier. Sanderos, Belvona and two others whose names I couldn’t see were loading/unloading at the container port in the start of the arm leading to the top of the old lifts. The wind was getting fierce so we put fleeces on and I added my waterproof as it’s also windproof. Trip boat Scaldis was winding above the big lift at Strèpy-Thieu and so

A short pause at Seneffe BC for water

we thought we would be able to follow it into the lift. Mike called the lift on VHF and they told us we’d be second locking in about fifty minutes. Scaldis had moored on the right above the lift and disembarked his passengers, who set off across the aqueduct in two little tourist trains. The skipper was driving the first one, waving very enthusiastically to us as we passed him. G went on the left and we went on the low quay on the right as Mike wanted to bend the rudder back a bit

Going down again in the big lift at Strepy-Thieu

using his (slightly modified) UK swingbridge pinch bar. It seemed much better as we moved across the canal to the left to moor in front of MR by the traffic lights. I made some lunch which we managed to eat before loaded 80m boat L’Equinoxe came up and cleared the lift. We still had a red light. Not many minutes passed before Eragon, loaded with scrap, came past us and into the lift. Mike had tried asking on VHF if we could follow Eragon and got no answer, but the skipper waved

Big smelly exhausts, wonder my smoke alarms didn't go off

us to follow him. There were no dimensions written on his coamings but he must have been around 85m as there was not a lot of leftover space for us. Mike checked with the keeper, the lift is 112m long. The big boat kept his engines running and boy was there a load of very smelly exhaust coming out the back of it, right in front of me! We were soon down and out of the lift. More scrap metal went past on loaded boat Loky – off into the lift caisson we’d just vacated - and he was followed by 72m loaded boat Neophyte.

Lift 4 Thieu, right hand caisson coming down

A short distance to the new lock at Thieu. My turn to lift the bar this time and I couldn’t shove it up high enough, neither could Mike – he ended up getting up on the roof to lift it, then it worked and the lock emptied. We went in first and stayed on the left, G brought MR in on the right. Mike lifted the blue rod (hard to operate as the bars are so long in the deep lock. Then we rose ropeless. MR winded and went to moor on the quay overnight and we found the caisson in lift four was ready for

As the right hand one went down we went up in the left caisson
Trip boat Peterborough

us so we went straight into the left hand tank. Then we had a short wait while trip boat Peterborough came into the right hand tank up above us. I made a cuppa and remarked to Mike that there were lots of big baulks of timber ling across the bars in the supporting towers and wondered if they’d been left there by painters. As the lift started to move the railings on our tank lifted two of the timbers which eventually slid off and went crashing down to the bottom and lay across the edge where the right hand tank was going down. 800 tonnes of tank descending and the huge piece of wood had to break, making a horrific cracking sound as it did so. It made the hostess on the tripper stop her commentary! Hope that incident

Peterborough heading for the new lock at Thieu
Matilda Rose on the quay.

won’t cause us any problems. The guillotine opened to let the tripper out, but then the new Thieu lock decided to go “en panne” ie broke down, so the repair team had to set to work. (It did that to us when we went down last time). We waited again for our guillotine to lift before we could proceed along the canal. We went slowly along the canal towards the liftbridge, no signs of a keeper to operate it speeding up the towpath in his van. Mike said G would be there before us – as he’d said he would cycle up to us because Mike was going to give him a lift to move his car on to Cambrai. We tied to a canoe stop over, a mini floating pontoon made up of inflated cubes of rubber and I called the office again. It caused me to smile when the guy who answered said Yes Missus (trying out his best English, bless him!), when I asked if there would be a bridge keeper to wind the liftbridge for us. A few minutes later G & J came up the towpath walking the dogs. We chatted for a few minutes, Jill said we didn’t get chance for a hug and a kiss goodbye as we didn’t stop on the quay by them at all. The men in a van (the repair team) went whizzing past and worked the bridge. We winded and tied to the quay while G & J sat on the grassy bank and waited. Had our hugs and kisses and Mike walked with them to our car which was by the liftbridge. I said I would set up the TV etc. I spent twenty minutes trying to get satellite TV, no way would it work, so there must be a tree in the way. When Mike returned we moved the boat further up the quay as the tree was definitely in the way.

Sunday 14th June 2015 Cleaning mussels off the bottom of the boat.

Just a few pictures of the work that took us two days' of really hard graft fetching over forty bucketfuls of freshwater mussels off the bottom of the boat. Mike getting muddy!

Friday 12th June 2015 Seneffe to the dock in the Bellecourt arm. 1km

Our mooring at Seneffe BC on DB Geeske's mooring

10.6° C Sunny with distant thunderstorms. Prepared everything for the dock and set off about 8.20am to go to the arm where Seneffe boat club have their main moorings and a dry dock. Nobody about, so we winded and tied in a space to wait. About 9.30am Christian arrived and his boss from Service Public Wallonie (SPW) and topped up the dock (which resembles an old-style turf sided lock except it has a set of big timbers (called bostocks in English dry docks) for the boats to sit on when the water is

The dry dock gates from the canal arm at Bellecourt

emptied out) then they opened the gates. We went in first and I hopped off with a long rope for our bows and Graham reversed MR in alongside us. Mike put our quant poles out down our port side to keep the boat in the right place and put a stern line to a bollard by the gates, then we added an extra rope to a long rope off the bows, but there was nothing to tie it to, so Mike chucked me a short pin and the small lump hammer so I could put bang a pin in the bank to tie the bows to and try

Christian pressure washing MR

to keep it in a straight line down the dock, but I just could not remember how to tie a sheeting knot to tension up the rope even though I’ve done it hundreds of times before.  There are just two posts marking the left hand edge of the dock in the very large puddle of water. The SPW guys took ropes from MR to the right hand side of the dock and Jill and Graham held MR about a metre away from our starboard side. Christian had donned his wetsuit (he’s a scaphandrier, or professional diver) and he went

The dock emptying paddle - water goes into a stream

round checking the boats were both in the right place before they wound open a paddle by the lock gates and started letting the water out. It took just over an hour from going in to being settled on the bostocks. I collected up all our ropes plus the mooring pin and hammer, while Mike fetched the quant poles in, then I paddled across the wet grass to the boat. Christian and his boss set up a powerful jet washer and he pressure washed both boat’s hulls. They were finished around 12.30pm and Mike and

Sitting on the bostocks

Graham paid 160€ each for the hull cleaning. It saved us having to hire a machine and the time to collect it and take it back,. One big disadvantage of this dock is the height of the bostocks, too low to get at the bottom of the boat effectively, but an advantage for the ease of cleaning down and painting without having to use ladders and planks. We had lunch, Graham went for chips as Christian had recommended the local chippy (fritterie) right next to the dock. He was right,

Just to show the size of the dock, photo taken when refilling it

they were excellent. After lunch we set to work with wire brushes. We cleaned around the bows and as far back as the start of the cabin on each side before putting a first coat of Comastic paint on as we’d seen the weather forecasts were predicting thunderstorms and heavy rain. Thunderstorms rattled around all evening but none came close to us - we did get some rain but not until early the following morning.

Wednesday 10th June 2015 Thieu to Seneffe. 16,4kms 1 lock 2 boatlifts 1 liftbridge

Lift 4 Thieu - archway where road passes through

9° C Sunny but windy, very windy at times. To Mike’s great surprise the bridge keeper turned up at ten to wind up the old liftbridge. We set off and had to wait a short time as the boatlift, No 4 Thieu, wasn't ready. The wind blew us left on to the bank, so we sat there and waited. Into the lift at 10.20am with a young man working the lift for us. Cantankerous old thing was difficult and the gates were stubborn and, once we’d descended 17m, the lad had to ash the seals (good old bad tradition of chucking ashes in the water to be sucked into the gaps where the gates were leaking, it works but it makes the leaks worse over time) then the bottom end guillotine went up and we left as the trip boat Scaldis, which had just come up Thieu lock, was waiting for the lift to go up as we left. The lock must have started to empty off because, after I’d lifted the bar to activate it, it took some time before the gates opened.  When both boats were in the lock I lifted the blue rod (there were three of them spaced out along the lock wall) and nothing happened. Mike got off and tried the one at the top end of the lock, still nothing, nor the one by the bottom end. He called on the intercom. The guy

Hanging pole to lift and activate new lock at Thieu

who answered was most surprised that the new lock didn't work, but within a few minutes a SPW (Service public de Wallonie) van arrived with two men from the offices and workshops by the bottom lift. They unlocked the lock cabin and worked the lock for us. We descended, the gates opened as a loaded 80m boat was going past on the new canal and one of the men shouted to say OK nothing else coming (I went up to the bows anyway to check  as

Old lift at Thieu

we left). The wash from the passing boat caused the boats to start running back up the lock chamber until Mike and Graham put the engines into forward gear. Nothing coming, turned right and headed for the big lift. Mike gave them a call on VHF and was surprised to get an answer (surprised by waterways twice in one day!!) we’d be in the next locking with about 40 minutes to wait. OK. MR moored on the left wall behind tripper Peterborough (a converted péniche) that had just loaded up with passengers and we went behind a smaller tripper called Heinrichenburg (not in use today) and tied on the right hand wall. Mike went in the cabin to flush the loo water intake pipe which was blocked up again with weed (loads of floating duckweed in the old canal). A loaded 85m boat called St Just arrived and sat behind MR, its skipper went to chat with G. Nothing to come down, so as soon as the gates went up we followed Peterborough into the left hand caisson and went as far forward as possible, expecting the big boat to come in too. It didn’t. The tourists on the tripper were all standing outside and chatting with G, as MR had tied alongside them (the wind was still

In Thieu lock

blowing hard). Soon we were at the top and left at 12.45pm. Scaldis overtook us and sped off across the aqueduct. The wind was blowing at gale force. A smart Luxemotor went past heading for the lift. I made some lunch. Scaldis winded and headed back to the lift, all the passengers were now inside the cabin, probably eating lunch. We waved. There were several 80m boats moored at the container port in the arm leading to the top of the old lifts. Two small speedboats went past close to the junction

Waiting below Strepy-Thieu lift

with the Charleroi-Brussels canal (which leads to another interesting boat lift, Ronquières), followed by a three-man rowing skiff, then an empty called St Jean Bosco (66.68m x 7.21m 625T) then a Dutch-flagged DB with Dent YC on the bows. Quite a queue of boats after nothing for over an hour. An empty péniche called Porto-Rico was moored next to a factory quay under a disused gantry crane (there were trees growing under it) that said Demanet-Cassart on it. MR moored at Seneffe on DB Geeske’s mooring and we tied alongside. It was 3pm. As we were mooring an 80m boat called Eragon loaded with scrap went past heading for Charleroi steelworks.

Loaded 85m boat St Just waiting below Strepy-Thieu

Coming to the top of Strepy-Thieu

On DB Geeske's mooring at Seneffe

Monday 8th June 2015 Pommeroeul to Thieu. 31.6kms 3 locks 1 boatlift 1 liftbridge

80m empty boat Pat-Vero

12.9° C Sunny but windy and the wind was cold. In fact, the wind tried to glue us to the pier, so Mike had to power the stern out then back out into the middle of the “large” to wind. It was 9am and a hotel boat had just gone past with a very noisy engine, heading in the same direction as us. Just before the Grand Large at Mons an empty 80m boat (1375T) called Pat-Vero went past and after the Large two big pans being pushed by a large tug were being loaded from tipper tanker lorries. The canal changed its

In Havre lock

name to the Canal du Centrum as we left Mons behind. Mike called Obourg lock and told the keeper there were two boats coming. He asked if it was a pusher-pair, no, sorry just a couple of English narrowboats - he said he would get the lock ready for us. It was ready and only us to go up the 5m lift in the enormous chamber. Roping up the bollards in these big Belgian locks is very easy as the bollards are less than a metre apart. A big empty boat called Chateau de Lafaurie was

Thieu new lock and old boatlift

moored above the lock and a 73m boat loaded with scrap, called Gaele, was heading for the lock we’d just vacated. He was closely followed by two Dutch cruisers. I rang the phone number for the ascenseurs (boat lifts) to see if lift 4 was working. Yes. I said we’d be there later in the afternoon. A short distance and we were at Havré lock, twice as deep as the previous lock at 10m, but fully equipped with floating bollards to tie to. We had to wait below for a loaded boat to come down. It was still

The new lock and new canal from the old boatlift at Thieu

very windy and so we turned bows into the wind and G put MR’s bows on a ladder by the waiting steigers for the commercial boats (big stumps of steel 20m apart with a walkway across the top) and Jill attached a rope.  When the downhill 80m cleared the lock, there was a loaded péniche called Mober, coming up behind, so we did circles to get further from the lock and then followed Mober into the lock and went up 10m – very, very, slowly.  It was 2pm by the time we left the top. An

Strepy-Thieu boatlift, replaces the four old lifts

empty boat called St Louis (80m x 9.5m 1425T) was heading for the lock. Five minutes behind him was a small Belgian cruiser called Anaise. Jill lifted the bar for the automatic péniche-sized lock, it emptied and we went in and up. There was a quay with bollards to the left above the lock, not easy to get to when the wind was blowing off the quay. I was about to get off with our centre line just as the waterways man came to ask me loads of

Old wind up liftbridge on old canal du Centrum

questions. Mike got off and held the boat in while I answered the questions, then he said it would be a good half hour before lift 4 Thieu would be ready for us. We tied up. A British chap on holiday in a campervan came to chat. The lift was ready as promised and we entered the right hand caisson and rose 17m smoothly in a matter of minutes. I told the guy as we left that we would like to go back down on Wednesday at ten. A van went past honking its horn – our bridge keeper, waving. He

Moored at Thieu - now a dead end with only one lift working.

wound up the ancient Lllangollen style liftbridge and we motored on into the town of Thieu, with glorious views of the big lift and winded by the next liftbridge then returned to moor at the quay by the first liftbridge. It was 4.30pm. G had a call from Mike Clarke to say our letters from the Service Public de Wallonie had arrived and he very kindly brought them over. Mike walked back to the second liftbridge to get our car, then he and G went to get G’s car from Pommeroeul.

Friday 5th June 2015 Valenciennes to Antoing Belgium. 31.6kms 3 locks.

The weir and the moorings above it 

12.6° C Very hot and sunny until late afternoon, then the weather turned bad with torrential rain, howling gales and a cracker of a thunderstorm. The Capitan was not about at nine and there was still no water so we couldn’t pay him. The Capitan turned up and told us everything was free until Monday and used a swipe card to activate the water and we filled up and then Jill started filling MR’s tank. It stopped so Mike had a word with the guy at the Capitanerie again. Charges seem a bit steep, under 18m it costs 15€ a night, over 18m it is 26€, the far bank, rough with bollards and no

Old steel works Anzin

facilities is 20€, and water and electricity must be extra – obtained by using a card which can be topped up using a machine by the Capitanerie. We set off at 12.15pm, reversing to the main canal and winded, then had a short wait while an empty 80m boat came up in Folien lock, then we went down 3m on to a short pound, 2.8kms, leading to La Folie. Took a photo of the weir at the end of the weir stream (where we had been moored) from the canal end. Three loaded boats came flying up the canal, Manu

Junction with the disused (too shallow) Canal de Conde-a-Pommereoul

55m long, Tous-Nerfs 61m and Osma 58m, the latter so well loaded that his name on the bows was half under water. Through the city, passing a derelict steel works with new buildings in the distance, on our way to the lock, which was ready for us, so

Mooring at Mortagne at junc with R Scarpe

we went in and in no time we were another 2.9m lower (no floaters on any of these last three locks so I had our centre rope on a bollard, first on the lockside then swapping it for a bollard in a recess in the lock wall further down. Three more boats were coming up the cabnal, all loaded, two péniches - Shalendo followed by T-D from Vitry, then a 57m boat called Eclipse, all haring up the canal to La Folie. A Dutch cruiser from Amsterdam called Tomboy was not far behind them and another loaded Dutch péniche called Vania from Amsterdam. Two empty 80m boats were moored at either end of the next quay, Leughenauer at one end and Cervantes (formerly Scheldenkade) at the other. As we passed a container dock Mike shouted to the crane driver “I’ll take two!” but then said “Perhaps not, one might sink us!!” He laughed. A loaded pusher pair Saturne-un and

Bye bye sunshine!

Saturnin went past as we came to the end of the 6.3kms pound. Above Fresnes, the last lock in France (or first depending which way you’re going) there was an 80m boat loaded with scrap called Betharrum. Just us again to go down and we slowly dropped down 3.1m on to the long run to Antoing, 14.5kms to the Belgian border then another 8kms to Antoing. The heat was building up, over 34° C and not much of a breeze to cool us down. No traffic for the first couple of kilometres. Took a photo of the junction at Condé-sur-Escaut of the Condé to Pommereoul canal, the short route to Pommereoul (constructed for the very big boats) which has been closed for over 15 years ever since the Belgians

Old Belgian customs post at Bleharies

removed the lock at Antoing which made it too shallow for navigation. Today, as always, it was being enjoyed by masses of swans, ducks, geese, coots and cormorants. Both banks for most of the distance were lined with willow trees making it feel very remote from the industry and agriculture surrounding it. Loaded péniche Octopus went past at KP34, Pont de Santeau. Then a large Dutch cruiser called Companion went past, all its crew out on the side decks trying to catch as much breeze as possible. Two loaded péniches went past, Heerenschip NL and Picardie Belgian, they were followed by an empty called Bonita which went past at the road bridge by KP38. An empty French boat called La

Two Polish 80m boats moored at Bleharies

Proue from Dunkerque (72m long) went past. Dutch loaded boat Nadenos from Nijmegen overtook us near Rodignies, as loaded boat Henriette from Gent went past heading for Fresnes. Dark clouds were gathering in front as we approached Mortagne-du-Nord and two more loaded French boats went past as we went through the bridge, Furious from Douai and Maryland. A little masted tjalk was bravely moored at the junction with the Scarpe, where a new quay had replaced the pontoon mooring. Loads of buoys marking the channel around the bend indicating the lack of depth. As we crossed the border into Belgium at 4.20 pm Mike swapped courtesy flags as loaded boat Canberra went past. We could see the edge of a weather front approaching. Two 80m empties Notec and Odra (named after two Polish rivers that we have travelled on - their

Mooring at Antoing (site of the old lock) when the rain stopped.

skippers were Polish, but the boats were registered in Gent) were moored side by side at Belharies as were two péniches, Bona-Fide a loaded boat who was moored alongside an empty. Neptunia’s bunkership went flying past then we passed two loaded Dutch boats, Mazzel followed by Franto by the junction with the Peronnes-Blaton-Ath canal, just as it started to rain. We could hear thunder rumbling, then saw flashes of lightening and the wind picked up to gale force. Mike had put the brolly up but the wind was threatening to shred it, so we hung on to it until the wind calmed down a little then Mike folded it up,  by which time we were both soaked to the skin, but getting cooler. I changed my sopping top for a vest and put a waterproof jacket on then took another waterproof out for Mike. It lashed down as we approached the mooring at Antoing. Just one cruiser was moored at the entrance to the basin, we followed MR in and tied to the quay wall. It was 5.30pm and we were dripping wet. Got dried out, hung all the sodden garments on the front deck and found dry clothes, then Mike and Graham went to retrieve Graham’s car from Valenciennes.

Thursday 4th June 2015 Iwuy to Valenciennes. 26.9kms 4 locks

Daevenos coming into Pont Malin lock

4.2° C Warm and sunny all day, light breeze. Having been let down again by the dock (an old side slip) that we have used for years (for the second time in two years) we managed to book the dry dock at Seneffe for the 12th, so we're on our way again with fingers tightly crossed that nothing else goes wrong! One loaded boat (Noliser) came down the canal and an empty went uphill. We set off at 9.50am and followed MR into the right hand chamber of Iwuy lock, there were two VNF men on the lock island. Mike had

Keeper's cabin at Pont Malin

problems with the raw water intake, it was blocked, so I asked the VNF if we could delay operating the lock until Mike had sorted the problem. It only took him a few minutes to extract a big wedge of compacted water weeds. I took our rubbish across the other lock chamber to the bins on the far side and asked if we could leave the car’s old aircon radiator by the bins. The VNF man took it for us. Down 2.7m and continued on down the Escaut at 10.15 am. Not far

Pusher pair Anita and Twister

until we joined the Grand Gabarit (heavy tonnage route) and so Mike called the next lock, Pont Malin, and spoke to the keeper. OK, no problems the lock would be ready for us. The loaded boat Noliser was tying up on the quay above the lock. A loaded pusher pair called Kelvi came up the lock, the keeper called us into the short section of lock at the downhill end and we thought he was going to use the small lock (the chamber has intermediate gates) but he

Below Trith lock

came down from his high cabin and took all our details then told us there was another boat coming. Loaded Dutch péniche Daevenos from Weert came into the lock behind us and the skipper came to chat. He was keen to buy a narrowboat as he was going to retire in two years’ time and his daughter lives in London. He went back to his boat down the ladder as the lock emptied – his wife was on holiday in the UK with their daughter so he was working single handed. 4.3m down and on to an 8.7 km pound. A Dutch

Pusher pair Zeltina and Crao under the A2 motorway bridge

cruiser called Utopia went past heading upriver. Mike and Graham chatted with Jos on Daevenos on channel 77. It wasn’t long before the péniche was disappearing into the distance, on his way to unload at Einhoven. Empty 55m (643T) boat Cum-Deo was on the quay at Neuville and another Dutch cruiser (Ijsvogel) went past heading uphill, followed by an empty péniche called Anex at Lourches. G called Denain lock and we listened for the answer just in case he couldn’t understand the

Moored in the weirstream in Valenciennes next to new pontoons.

keeper. OK. One going down (Daevenos) and one to come up, then we could go down with the 80m boat just about to set off from the port above the lock. The loaded 80m boat was called Waterworld and we followed him to the lock. Koala was still in the port (an empty 80m) and an empty called Beatrice (1000T) was moored on the lock approach quay. Miranda, a 46m loaded boat came up the lock and we followed Waterworld into the chamber. Mike had a floating bollard for our stern end, but the bollard level with the fore end had no counterparts lower down the wall so I had to use one long rope. Down 4.8m (watch out for that rope coming down!) and on to a 6.7km pound. The loaded boat gradually left us behind. Going through Denain we passed a loaded uphill pusher pair called Anita and Twister (with the oldest hippy in the world acting as deck hand). Mike put a call out to announce our passage on channel 10 as we approached the narrows and three bridges on a bend at Haulchin, no reply, but we kept well to the right – good job we did as loaded boat Avila went past, pushing on at a good speed, heading uphill under the second bridge. Two Dutch 1000 tonners we in the port at Prouvy, Merweland was unloading at the silo quay, while Rumandy was at the silo beyond the container quay on the left. Another boat was moored on the quay, another Dutch boat but smaller (only 503T) it was some type of tanker as it was pumping something at the silo quay. We caught up with Waterworld at Trith lock as they had had to wait for an uphill boat. An empty 80m called Las Vegas was just setting off from the quay above the lock so we went past the one we were following and tied to the lower piling to wait. A loaded 80m came up then we went down another 3.9m. Below the lock there was another empty 80m boat Will-Teir on the waiting quay. In our engine room Mike had heard a rattling noise and so he investigated and found a support for the exhaust pipe was loose, so I steered while he fixed it. As we went under the A2 motorway bridge we passed another loaded pusher pair, Zeltina and Crao. On into Valenciennes. We passed the rowing club, which still looked derelict, a cruiser moored next to it looked like it had been left there for years. Sunbathers had taken over the rowing club’s pontoons and G spotted the first female topless sunbather this year. On the way into the city there was a row of moored working boats, empty Casablanca with high pram bows, then two Dutch boats, Alyssia and Lavanda, with skippers sunbathing on the decks. A group of drunks were shouting something at us from under the bridge, but we ignored them. A Belgian boat, Ludovic was moored by the university, again the skipper was sitting out enjoying the sunshine. An empty 80m boat called Dubail went past heading upriver followed by a loaded péniche called Luxor from Gent. G turned MR at the entrance to the weirstream by the high school, to the left of Folien lock, and went astern into the arm. We tied against new pontoons and a chap off a cruiser came to tell us that the Capitanerie doesn’t open until Saturday as everything is brand new. He said that water and electricity were connected but they had no way of charging for it yet. Packed all the stuff away then Mike and Graham went to retrieve G’s car from Iwuy.