Karen’s Travel Blog

Journeys on water and land

Cruising season 2026

What do they say about timing flying when you are having fun? It seems as though our 6 months sojourn in Melbourne had only begun and we were planning our return trip to our Joie de Vivre in Europe.

Our 2026 cruising season started when we hosted the DBA flag day get together on the 22nd March at our home in Brighton. Yes look at how many friends you make when cruising the inland waterways of Europe! And this is only the Melbourne contingent.

Arrival

With troubles in the Middle East, luckily we had booked our flight via Vietnam, so we faced no disruptions to our travel plans. We arrived back on our Joie de Vivre which was languishing in Brugge on 16th April. With only a day to clean and restock we welcomed Julie Law, our first visitor of the season, aboard, throwing off our lines on the 18th April to make our way to be lifted at Diksmuide on the 21st.

Leaving the port, thanks to Anna for this video. To play the video click on it twice

On our way to Diksmuide

Our first stop was Oudenburg, 2 locks, 11 bridges and 21kms down the Ghent Oostende canal to the Plassendale Newport canal. This town which seems to be growing in size and population has a Roman museum which is well worth the visit. In 325 Oudenburg was on an estuary of the North Sea, and perfectly positioned for the construction of a Roman defensive fort. Although the fort has long since disappeared the museum does highlight the Roman artefacts found in the local area.

A story in a bottle in Oundenburg
The museum is housed in the formers abbey
A Roman soldier or an artefact???
Our next stop was Nieuwerport, where we caught up with some boating friends, for drinks of course!

We arrived in Diksmuide on the 20th ready for our lift the next morning. Julie and I spent the afternoon with our friend Anne, wandering the town. Diksmuide was on the front line during WW1, and was wiped out. The town was rebuilt in the old style, Today the recently built yellow sandstone buildings shimmer in the golden afternoon light. We moored opposite the Tower of Peace (an appropriate analogy for today’s disruptions). The Tower but was built after WW1 but dismantled by the Nazis during WW2. Some people throughout history just can’t abide Peace. Thankfully it was rebuilt after WW2 and is now a constant reminder of how fragile Peace is.

The driver
Towere of Peace
Town tour
The town square in Diksmuide
Joie de Vivre being lifted out of the water. We replaced our rope cutter, which we lost in 2024, cleaned the barnacles off her bottom and patched up some paintwork

Back to Brugge

Julie left us in Diksmuide to travel back to the UK, while we headed back to Brugge

Of the 16 bridges between Diksmuide and Brugge this one wins the prize as the most memorable. This is a video click on it twice to play
Watch a video of the lifting bridge that allows you to enter and exit the port of Coupure. This bridge allows for a very safe winter mooring, when we are not on board. This is a video click on it twice to play.

Yes, now I have a new toy, my movie camera. Lookout for my posts this season for some interactive FUN!

, , , ,

Leave a comment