Astene-Abbaye d’Aulne

We can offer a round trip for the beginning of September, going through the beautiful and impressive ships elevators and the Inclined Plane of Ronquières.

We can offer a special deal and if you care to find out more just follow this link

Although summer has formally been there since my previous blog we, like most of us, haven’t noticed it until recently.

This blog’s entry is characterised by the huge amounts of water that have come down.

It has resulted in extremely high water levels and fast currents, faster than usual.

Upon leaving Astene we did not go down the Leie River to Ghent. More’s the pity as I had been looking forward to that but I had to take a rain check, we went down the Afleidingskanaal instead.

The Leie is a narrow, twisting river, hard to manoeuvre and even more so when going downstream where you cannot control your speed completely.

And besides, the water levels in the Leie can rise very quickly, a few meters within 24 hours which makes it a broader river, but hard to know where there are shallow parts.

Not the right choice for us this time.

Once we reached the Scheldt River we found the current to be very fast there as well, going downstream with low-tide. There was more water than usual, but the river is very wide so there was no real problem. Just watch out and stay alert.

bank on the Scheldt at low tide

When we went upstream on our way up we went with high-tide, now the water was going down. This alters the picture completely, wide mud banks with lots of birds searching for worms instead of a wide river where the banks are shallow.

When I think about the effects of high or low tides I can figure it out, and yet it’s different when it is clearly visible.

At Dendermonde we left the Scheldt and entered the Dender river.

 statue of the horse Bayard carrying the four children, on the tower in Dendermonde

Here also there were higher water levels and faster currents than usual but – going upstream – it bothered us less, though sometimes navigating was not that easy. We passed a tjalk about our size – going downstream – who really was scraping the banks.

Michel likes this, he is doing it well and he likes a bit of a challenge.

We intent to go down the Dender on our way back, provided it doesn’t rain as heavily.

At Geraardsbergen we were even advised to wait for a few hours before leaving because of the heavy current.

When water levels at the canals and rivers that join the Dender are getting too high they open the sluices and let the water into the Dender which then suddenly rises heavily.

No real problem, there was plenty to look at in Geraardsbergen.

Like in every town and village in Belgium there was a track laid out for cycling in the weekend.

We had already noticed that the Belgians cycle in herds, very fast, not really taking heed of their fellow road-users and quite fanatically.

Lots of, not cycling, Belgians complain about it, too.

a (small) herd

But in Geraardsbergen it was special, because there is the Wall, even ignoramuses like us are familiar with the Wall, that was taken out of the yearly Flanders Cycle Tour as of this year!

We have seen the cyclists coming down, slithering and sliding through the mud and then going up on the cobblestones.

Next day we came back for another look and we could walk there and now we understand why these stones are called “kuitenbijters” (calve-snappers).

slithering down and than a sharp turn left to mount over the cobblestones

After Geraardsbergen cruising became easier because there the Dender is canalised and after Ath it is a proper canal.

In Lessines we visited the Hôpital Notre Dame à la Rose. This museum provides an overview of eight centuries of health care. Beautiful building, a nice and informative exhibition and an astonishing herbal garden, over 120 kinds of medical plants and a special cellar for storing ice.

the former hospital and herbal garden

Well worth a visit when in the area.

What would have been out of the question in Holland was Panache being allowed inside and doing the tour (not showing any interest, but even so). He only wasn’t allowed to walk in rooms where there were 17^th century wooden floors (parquet). So our guide carried a little stool for Michel to sit on with Panache on his lap, now that’s service to you!

The whole of the track from Dendermonde to Blaton was very green, rural, nice little towns and villages, especially the part from Ath.

stair of some locks in the canal Blaton-Ath, in the back the bridge in the E42 (a different universe from the one we’re moving in)

We moored for the night at the huge, completely unused, lock of Pommeroeul where we had spent a whole week last year.

 After that we took the Grand Ascenseur (a really grand elevator) at Strépy, going up, just as impressive as going down last year see here for the blog on Pommeroeul and the elevators from last year

and here for our SPECIAL OFFER  for cruising the elevators in September).

view from the Grand Ascenseur Strépy, between the rows of trees the de Ancienne Branche

 The Brussels Charleroi Canal turned out to be a beautiful stretch, a pleasant surprise for both of us as – we don’t know why – we both were under the impression that is was gray and industrial, on the contrary!

 the friendly  Brussels Charleroi Canal

Just before Charleroi it was a bit more industrial, but the real surprise was just after turning on the Sambre river.

It is bordered by a big collection of old, partially tumbling down partly still functioning, industrial glory from the past.

It is absolutely clear that once they were prospering factories, but there is not a lot of activity any more.

It is a very special stretch to cruise, so ugly that it’s beautiful in its own right and surprising to find it still there (unheard of in Holland).

the almost deserted and very run down industrial part on the Sambre banks

We now have moved a bit up the Sambre, lovely and green and in a few days we’ll cross the border to France a fortnight sniffing at “la Douce France” before heading North again and going to Holland, taking many detours.

PS: we postponed the decision on solar panels till we’re back in the Netherlands, so more about that in the first blog next year