First we go up then down then up again

In an effort to stop my blog being hijacked by the skipper and am going to devote a little time to explaining to the barging novices the mode of travel on the canals. The skipper has decided my audience wants a bit more than descriptions of our stopping places along the way. So here goes.

The lock system takes the boat up the mountain then down the other side. When you go up the direction is upstream, when you go down, the direction is downstream. This is important to know as the downstream boat has the right of way. Also you can prepare yourself for the movement in the lock, either up or down.

A little side note, in the Netherlands, where sometimes the movement is only a few inches, it is difficult to know if you are going up, or down.

Lifting bridge in Oudenaade

The 3 locks from Oudenaade to Tournai only climb about a meter

The upper scheldt is a commercial waterway

Easy travelling along the upper Scheldt

The passage through Tournai is one way

Artwork on the bridge at Tournai

After the lock before Tournai, all the barges stop until they are given permission to cruise through the town

We turned left from the upper Scheldt to the Nimy Blaton Peronnes canal. We were still going uphill, but the next lock was a bigger one, with a rise of 5.6 meters.

This is a deeper lock, we are going up 5.6 meters

Cleats in the wall to secure to

So deeper locks are not a problem if you have floating bollards (picture and explanation to follow). However if you are confronted by cleats in the wall, then the crew is very busy moving the ropes from bollard to bollard up the lock wall as the boat rises. This is a bit if a dirty job so gloves are recommended.

Just a little aside…. we stopped off at Peronnes to meet up with friends, James and Julie on Mimosa and deliver mail that we had picked up in Brugge. Bike riding and walks were the order of the next few days with dinner at Chez Joie de Vivre and Mimosa on alternative nights.

Wall art

Beautiful stair case in the tourist office

The chateau entrance at Antoine, sadly not open for visitors

Spring blossom

Dinner on Joie de Vivre

Some of the locals

A welcome sight, Mimosa on the pontoon

More info on the locks etc.

We are still ascending and the next lock from Peronnes is 12.5 meters. It is always a welcome site to see a floating bollard running on rails in the lock wall that rises with the water

Waiting to enter the lock

Moored up on the floating bollard

Our travelling companion

At the top

We stopped a few days at Mons to stock up (beer and wine), before tackling the next part of our journey

A memorial under the railway bridge at Mons, commemorating two soldiers who in the First World War received the first VCs awarded, for defending the bridge.

Leaving Mons we were now on the New Centre Canal heading towards the Strepy Thieu boat lift. The boat lift is composed of 2 tanks 112 long x12 meters wide with a height of 117 meters, that lifts the boats 73 meters.The twin tanks are operated independently by electro mechanical means and are suspended on cables. The counterweight are huge blocks of concrete, weighing 1,000 tons.

Approaching the boat lift

Up we go!

At the top

The Strepy Thieu was opened in 2005 and replaced the 4 historic lifts that we cruised along in 2019. The old lift system was designed by a Scottish engineer and similar to the Eiffel Tower,the iron structures resemble a Meccano set

The historic boat lift

The next part of our journey took us through the uninviting industrial waste land of Charleroi. With no place to stop we battled on through, arriving at the lock at Auvelais about 8pm.

The landscape of Charleroi

Crush steel, can you see your old Mercedes there?

Mattresses, not a comfortable nights sleep

Loading the scape into a waiting barge

Once we ascended the Strepy Thieu we were on the Charleroi Brussels canal and descending

The red light indicates we cannot go through the lock.

Our destination was Namur on the Meuse, but the lock was closed at Auvelais which meant an enforced stoppage for 4 days. Oh well that’s the joy of cruising the canals

Waiting for the lock at Auvelais to open

One response to “First we go up then down then up again”

Marion Nicholes

May 5, 2022 at 1:52 am

Great to see that you are once again enjoying the canals in Europe.
The first blast of cold weather arrived today, but we cannot moan as we have had such a glorious Autumn.
Rob is still very unwell a combination of recovering from his hospital stay with Covid and his on going health issues.
I have been busily painting and now have a student, actually a friend of Sally’s who is coming to paint with me each week.

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