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.