Three days in Belgium
We have sailed in Belgium for 3 days and spent the night in the cities of Liege, Statte and Namur. We have been through 9 locks. I have learned that in Belgium the lock rules are not as strictly observed as in Germany and the Netherlands.
We no longer contact the lock guards before entering. After all, they only want to speak Flemish and French. Instead, we lay down just behind a river bed and follow into the lock as soon as possible.
That tactic works fine. Maybe because we are the only leisure sailors in the lock every time.
Today we ducked Namur. Here, Morten will sign up tomorrow. The stretch from here to Revin in France is referred to as one of the most beautiful on our route to the Mediterranean. We have been very much looking forward to experiencing it with him.
Very industrial
Until now, there has been a lot of industry on the Belgian side of the Meuse - both industrial areas with activity and areas that are dilapidated and deserted. We have passed a large nuclear power plant in Huy, which is right down to the river. The residential areas signal poverty and decay. Belgium has a relatively high unemployment rate and clearly areas with social problems.
Landscape according to Statte
On the last part of the stretch to Namur, the Ardennes began to rise. The landscape became more beautiful and the houses well maintained.
In Statte we met a couple our age from New Zealand. They bought a motorboat a few years ago and sail the canals during the European summer. In a few weeks, they will go back to New Zealand and continue the summer there – a 'win win situation' you might say.
They were the ones who brought us the disappointing news.
Shut off the water in Namur?
The section from the border town of Givet to Revin, 50 km further into France, is closed until 11 November due to the repair of damage caused by the early summer floods.
The plan to reach South France this year is hereby destroyed.
Now, instead, we have to find a place to put Heron for the winter and resume sailing towards the Mediterranean in the spring.
Damn .
Right now it feels like a game piece that has been knocked back to square one.
.
That must be a lie !! Are there no other detours, resorts, solutions? How about raising the boat and getting it to a place where you can move on? Where the hell are you going to live if you turn your nose up at Denmark - and I just bought plane tickets to Nancy !!
Practice how sour! Are there really no other channels. Do not you have the big package?
Just give us a glimpse when you know when you're coming home.
Kh Mikkel
We stay in southern NL.
See you next year!
That's a shame!
I agree with you in your deliberations - and I have been searching in my memory for a good port….
The best is in the Netherlands just south of Mastricht - that's probably where the New Zealanders are - it's safe.
Good luck
Can't change the route and sail along Sambre to Maubeuge and St. Quentin and that way get back to your route again? Sincerely, Arne and Nins
Unbelievable!
It may be easier said than done - you just have to hit a ludo-sexer next time - then you must advance to the globe!
But it is not an option to get the boat on a block car for the 50 km so you come past the part that is undergoing improvement. After all, you have made such good progress that it is almost too unfortunate to have to bite into the sour apple and interrupt the trip for months.
But what about the riverboat traffic - they are not waiting for spring, are they? Don't they sail on the Sambre? Yes, I do not know.
Carl, you should say that, have you taken a little while before you went downstairs. Well, if you come home, Jette has offered you to live in her big house with many rooms where she herself lives. I think I could be cozy, it's in Dronningmølle