Uncategorized

Namur is situated a the confluence of the Sambre and the Meuse. Although still in Belgium, having fort our way through the largely industrial regions of Belgium, I now could finally anticipate with excitement our up coming sojourn in France. But one mustn’t discount the the picturesque city of Namur. To the uninformed eye the… Read more

There a a few routes that can be taken south from Belgium into France. In 2019 we took the Brussels Charleroi canal and in 2022 we travelled along the Boven Schelde. Alternative routes are the Lys, which is a round about way to get to the Meuse and the Dender. We had hoped to travel… Read more

Having survived a chilly Easter in Melbourne we looked forward to our return to Joie de Vivre and hopefully warmer climes. Alas our return didn’t herald the arrival of a balmy spring. One week in and with the exception of one day we have not experienced temperatures north of 10 degrees. Wow that’s cold! So… Read more

Before I commence this post Peter insists that I inform you, my audience that if you wish to enlarge the images you just click on them. Okay that the housekeeping finished, now on to the final chapter for this year The trip from Veere to Brugge is a total of about 120kms, and would take… Read more

Zeeland is located in the south western part of the Netherlands and as its name suggests is a land of the sea, being made up of islands and estuaries. We travelled through Zeeland on our journey back to our winter port in Brugge. Our first stop on this part of the journey was Oude Beigerland… Read more

Leaving Lemmer and Friesland behind us we took the canals, lakes and rivers southwest to Hasselt on the Zwartewater, then to Zwolle before we travelled up the IJssel to Central Holland. On our trip north to Friesland we had stopped off at Kampen on the IJssel and noted then river was only flowing at about… Read more

Firstly thanks to everyone for your feedback on my blog. We are certainly exploring parts of the world that most have never heard of let alone visited. Sue Neales pointed out that she needed to get out a map to see where we are, so as a nod to this feedback I have included a… Read more

We delayed our departure from Sixhaven by a day due to the inclement weather. Finally we we off, across the Markermeer and into the Nijkerkernauw to the old fishing town of Sparkenburg. Both these waterways are wide and shallow to they can kick up a bit of chop, even on a relatively calm day. We… Read more

No we did not cruise our Joie de Vivre along the Italian canals. In fact there really are no canals to speak of in Italy. Leaving our precious barge safely tucked up in Sixhaven, Amsterdam we braved the journey from Schipole airport to Naples. And yes I do mean we braved the journey. Just like… Read more

I know it’s taken a little time to update my blog, but the month of July was very busy, with very little downtime. We meet Margaret and Martin in Paris along with friends from the UK, Martyn and Nicola. Without a moment to catch our breath, our five days were spent exploring and shopping in… Read more