Karen’s Travel Blog

We are now in Coupure, our winter mooring in Bruges. It has been rather a wet trip south, with rain everyday. I wish I could stuff a few storm clouds in my bag to bring back to the drought effected areas in Australia.

But all the rain did not impact on our journey. The wheelhouse is snug and as there are not many locks in this part of the world, so the crew did not have to step out very often to throw the lines. And the purchase of a new warm jacket at Willemstad offered protection when I did have to brave the elements.

The last part of our journey took us from Rotterdam, back to Dortrecht, then onto Willemstad and Tholen, down the Scheldt Ring Canal through Antwerp harbour to Dendermonde and Ghent, then the 4 hour trip on the Ostend Ghent canal to Brugge. Not bad for our final 2 weeks on the waterways.

In summary our 2019 year on Joie de Vivre saw us cruise the Thames, cross the Channel into Europe, explore parts of the Belgium, French and Dutch waterways, covering approximately a total of 2628kms, visiting 51 ports and welcoming aboard 9 staying guests and a number of new friends.

We said goodbye to our boat, packed up and winterise on the 22nd October, with plans to return in April with new adventures waiting.