Thursday 11th September 2014 abv Auvelais to Namur. 26.8kms 4 locks

Hotel ship Victor Hugo leaving Auvelais lock

8.4°C Cold and grey again with a chilly north wind. A few very brief sunny spells later. The hotel ship Victor Hugo came up the lock and a little later a loaded péniche. Mike loaded the bike back on the roof and then went in the car to get the diesel containers for the boat refilled. It was 9.40 am when we winded and waited a short while above Auvelais lock as loaded boat Flipper (67m long and about 700T) was coming up in the lock. He cleared and we went down, still just us, we’d seen no other private boats (and didn’t see any until we reached the Meuse at Namur). A loaded péniche called Loma was waiting below and another big boat was above the lock (almost on the top end gates) waiting to come down.

Hotel ship Victor Hugo leaving Auvelais lock

Antarctica, from Maasbracht (80m x 8.20m 1190T) was loading aggregates (fine gravel) with a big shovel digger at Surmont just before the big Solvay works. The river was flowing faster than normal with around a 2 kph flow - we were flying along. A big empty went upriver running hard and making a big wash, we bounced around for some time and later I hung the mat off the front deck over the top plank to drip dry. Mike called on VHF and Mornimont lock was ready for us when we got there, straight in and down. An 80m loaded

Rebuilding work at Auvelais lock

boat called Raypa was moored on the quiet mooring quay above the lock. An 80m loaded with soil called Audac went past heading upriver. Mike called again and Florifoux lock was ready with gates open and green lights. The long guard wall between the lock and the weir was full of Canada geese, the first we’d seen this year. Going well, we were in, down and out again in around ten minutes. I took a photo of the lock cabin, weir and middle gate as all of these things are being replaced on these river locks. A Dutch tanker from Druten called Natrona (85m x 9.5m 1149T) went past heading

Loaded peniche Loma below Auvelais

upriver. Just below the lock was a huge recycling plant with a boat-unloading facility under cover; lots of dustbin lorries were driving in and out of the plant. More Canada geese, little gulls and mallard were congregated downstream of the recycling plant. A pair of Egyptian geese were standing on the top of the sloping concrete bank a bit further downriver. Then we saw some more beautiful foreign ducks, two male mandarins, which must have escaped from some park or zoo. The sun came out

Antarctica loading aggregate

as we passed the big bus depot on the outskirts of Namur. Mike called again for the lock and Salzinnes was ready. It was 2 pm. I took photos of the new weir. Still just us, we’d seen no other pleasure craft since we left Strepy. The river is narrow through Namur and the waterfront houses have for the most part been renovated over the past few years. All the restaurant boats that used to moor in the last few hundred metres of the river before the junction with the Meuse have long disappeared due to the size of the working boats that now use the Sambre. Thankfully we didn’t have to squeeze past any of them today in the

Old style lock cabin, weir and central sliding gate - soon to be no more 

narrow bit, nothing was moving but us. We turned right by the statue of King Albert on his horse and motored upriver on the Meuse to moor by the Casino at 2.45 pm with a couple of cruisers and DB Stella Maris. Moorings are 7€ if your boat is less than 13m long then add 1€ for every metre up to 20m long – anything over 20m pays 14€. Electricity and water were available and tokens from the Capitainerie on the far side of the river to pay for it. Tokens are 50c and one will buy one kilowatt/hour of electric or 100 litres of water. The signs said

New weir control cabin at Salzinnes

they come to collect the money between 6pm and 7pm. Gave Mike a hand to unload the bike and he went to get the car around 4.30 pm, he was back at 6.45 pm and no one had been for the mooring fees – Mike spotted there was a sign further back on the quay that said no mooring after 1^st Sept – did this apply to us or commercials, difficult to say? Another cruiser arrived later and moored upriver of us.

Moored in Namur by the Casino looking upriver

Wednesday 10th September 2014 La Louviére to abv Auvelais. 54.6kms 6 locks

Dependant overtaking below Viesville

10.2°C overnight. Grey and damp with only brief glimpses of sun. Coats on as it was only 12°C when we set off, early at 7 am to clear Charleroi. Pins in to do washing as it was 20kms across the summit level before the first lock down. Samarinda, the empty péniche we shared a lock with yesterday was moored on the last quay nearest the junction with the main Brussels-Charleroi canal, waiting to load. We hadn’t been going long before Saona loaded with soil overtook us. Dutch boat Antarctica from Maasbracht (80m x 8.20m 1190T) was unloading a cargo of sand into lorries at Familliereux. At Seneffe a loaded boat called Brabo from Wijngem (79.17m x 8.18m 1140T) went past. The washing was finished so we paused in mid canal with the engine off while Mike extracted the coupling from the

Suction dredger at Luttre

generator. A cruiser set off from Seneffe’s other moorings in the branch de Bellecourt and, just after we set off again, a tug called Infinity pushing an empty pan called Infinity II went past. Into another deep cutting with sloping grassy banks. A tractor was mowing the grass along the edge of the towpath near Espinette and as we passed it the flail arm went over the top of a set of concrete steps and the rear roller came undone, bounced and rolled down the bank into the canal. No more mowing today until he gets that fixed! We passed through Pont à Celles at 9.45 am, the sun appeared briefly as a loaded Dutch péniche from Terneuzen called Keiko went past, crew waving in the wheelhouse. Swimming along with a

Art work on wall at back of unloading quays Marcinelle

large group of mallard was a female ruddy shelduck, an escape from a collection according to my bird book, as they live in SE Europe not here. Under a railway bridge and a tug called Cat pushing an empty pan called Namur went past making a lot of wash. An empty called Dependant (80m x 9m 1438T) was fast catching us up, it and the tug and pan passed each other under the railway bridge. Not long after that the empty square fronted barge overtook us as we went under the footbridge at Luttre. Two big bouncing boxer dogs were running up and down its gunwales woofing at us as it went past. Took a photo of an interesting looking green painted suction dredger that was moored by the footbridge. Bad

Steel works chimneys at Marcinelle

luck for us that the boat that had just overtaken was a big one as we couldn’t get in Viesville lock 3 with it as the lock is only 87m long, so no need to rush to keep up with it. A boat that had just come up the lock went past us on the last bend before the lock, Lincy from Schoten (80m 8.8m 1120T) loaded with coils of wire. The countryside was pleasant with wooded hills on our left and a railway track on the right. We arrived at the lock at 10.40 am and moored in the area reserved for plaisanciers opposite Dependant, who was also waiting for the lock. Loaded boat Redoubtable (80m x 8,20m 1204T) came up Viesville, then Dependant went down. I got on with the chores. An empty called Clacit 9 came up and then it was our turn to go down. Just us, at 11.40 am – we’d been waiting just an hour.

Steel works at Marcinelle

Waiting below was an empty called Revenge (80m x 8.20m 1099T) from Brugge. Twenty minutes to the next lock no 2 Gosselies. A boat loaded with scrap metal called Will-Tier was moored by the scrapyard above the lock. Loaded péniche Picaro came up the lock then we went down, still just us. I made some lunch while Mike held the string - the first three locks today have floaters as they are all 7m deep locks). Waiting to come up below the lock was Orca (73m x 8.20m 1041T) loaded with rocks. Another stray duck was paddling around with a bunch of mallard, this time it was a very unusual stiff tailed duck – a male white headed duck – definitely another foreigner. A Ryanair ‘plane flew over low, coming in to land at Charleroi airport. Another went over as we passed the gas-fuelled power

Boat graffiti abv Marcinelles lock

station above lock 1 Marchiennes-au-Pont. We had a short wait while a loaded boat called Welland came up, then we went down. It was 1.30 pm as we left the bottom. Passing the long quays full of recycled material,  a huge pile of busted car windscreens, more glass in small pieces called cullet, then big piles of scrap in various stages of sorting, a long sand quay then a concrete works backed by a wall full of graffiti in panels, proper art work not tagging. A sharp turn right and left on to the Sambre, so Mike put out a call on VHF announcing our presence. No reply, so we carried on to the lock at

Montignies lock

Marcinelles. There was a queue of boats for the scrap berth by the lock. Two empties then Missouri unloading (looked about 105m long but had no dimensions on its coamings) and Infinity III behind it, waiting to unload. Odra (81.27 x 9.50 1370T) came up the lock, then we went down. Risky from Brugge loaded with soil (80m x 9.50m) was hovering around the first bend in the concrete trough through Charleroi and loaded péniche Aude which was sitting by the right hand wall. We kept left (as the signs indicated) passing lots of people walking along the top of the high concrete walls, people living in the flats were out on their balconies – they waved. Loads of cars were crossing the numerous bridges over the river, the noise reverberated along the deep river channel. Out into more industrial surroundings as we ran down to Montignies lock. The lock filled and we went down. Two men came out from the lock cabin up on high and waved as we left. It was

Steel works railway engines nr Pont de Loup

3.30 pm. We met the next boat uphill just before Pont de Loup, a pusher pair called Stradivarius (28.5m x 5.5m) and Largo (about 55m). A steel works occupied the left bank for a considerable distance. An unusual engine pulled a long train of steel coils on flat wagons. At Van Kerkhoven's yard here were two péniches on the dry dock and more boats moored by the old trip boat, Discovery 76m and a smartly painted péniche called Ingona. Nothing was on the big slipway. Beyond the yard there was a long quay filled with cubes of compressed steel scrap. At the new Port Autonome de Charleroi there was a loaded boat called Cutty Sark (61m x 7.24m 698T) moored next to a mountain of sand.

Piles of soil or dredgings near Tamines

We had a short wait above Roselies lock while loaded péniche Zambesi came up, then we went down. I made a cuppa while Mike took charge of the rope. Below the lock we were at last free of industry for a short while, there were green grassy banks and rolling wooded hills. At the first bend we passed another scrap boat Amore (67m x 8.20m) – the keeper had just shut the gate behind us, there was a lot of shouting on VHF. At the next bridge there was the revolting pong of the piles of rubbish waiting to be recycled. Then back to rural smells. Past Carrefour Market at Tamines on its high high quay wall and into the town. The main road bridge had all the EU member flags flying and we puzzled over some of them, needless to say the Union Jack was flying upside down. The sun was out at last, but the wind was still cold as we ran down the last leg of the river to Auvelais. We met the next uphill loaded boat by the disused railway bridge in Sambreville, Equitable (79.5m x 8.5m) loaded with more soil. An empty was catching up, so Mike slowed off so it could

Roselies lock

overtake us on a straight section. Antarctica came past, (we’d seen it first thing this morning being unloaded) now empty it was hurrying back towards the Meuse. Mike called him on Channel ten to tell him we weren't going down the next lock so not to wait for us. Yo! Said the Dutch skipper from Maasbracht. More sandpipers. A man walking a large brown dog was overtaken by a lycra-clad cyclist, the dog started chasing the man on the bike who started pedalling like fury and the dog owner ran after the dog shouting at him as he tried to catch the bike!  An empty Dutch boat called Statenstad was mooring up, well beyond the lock, with props at both ends still turning. We winded and moored by the armco at the end of the lock waiting area. It was 6.40 pm. We set the TV up and got the bike off. Another Dutch boat arrived at 7.10 pm, Bastimo loaded with scrap, it moored between us and the empty. It was 7.25 pm when Mike left to collect the car. Mike sent a text at 9.30 pm to say he’d just loaded the bike in the car and would be about 45 minutes. He was back around 10.15 pm and decided to leave the bike in the car rather than try and struggle with it in the dark. 

Thursday 7th August 2014 Abv Gosselies lock – abv La Louvière. 25.1kms 1 lock

The magnificent Wallonie Spangler!

13.2°C Sunny start, grey clouds then sunny and hot with white clouds. Breezy. A tug and pan went past heading uphill just before we were ready to go. Oll had told Mike he’d seen a brightly coloured bird, so Mike went to take a photo – Oll nicknamed the parakeet the Wallonie Spangler – it was very brightly coloured. Set off at 9.15 am. The tug and pan were still waiting below Viesville lock when we arrived. Three cruisers came down, then the tug went up; as the pan was 67m long and the tug about 20m there was no room for us in the 87m long chamber.

Leaving Vieseville lock

Another three cruisers came down, then it was our turn and, as it was just us two narrowboats, we had the pick of the floaters and straddled the centre gates to have the luxury of a floater fore and aft each. Up 7m in no time and at 10.30 am we set off on the summit level of the Brussels-Charleroi canal. Nothing waiting to go down the locks. The industrial grot was left behind, but only for a while. Several loaded boats and another tug and pan went past heading for Charleroi. I made a cuppa and we ate two speculaas biscuits with our tea as a

Fishermen beware!

celebration that I’d just got our new Belgian PAYG Internet connection to work – it is so nice to be able to access the Internet at any time! A 70m tanker called Zesteinhoven was moored by an oil storage depot near Seneffe and we were back into the land of factories. The Snail was in front and turned into the canal du Centrum first, as an empty called Present came out of the canal and turned towards Brussels at the wide junction where there was another large oil storage depot. A cruiser was not far behind it and he turned the other way towards Charleroi. The start of

The summit level of the Brussels-Charleroi canal

the Centrum canal was pleasant with an avenue of trees on the left and fields beyond them, while on the right was an old railway branch line, trees and more fields. Families were out fishing and picnicking along the canal. A DB called Argo from Kampen went past and a cycling team all in matching lycra zoomed down the towpath. Under the motorway and turned left into the old Centrum canal leading to the four ship lifts, the ascenseurs - which are now a UNESCO world heritage site. Straight ahead was the new superfast lift at Strèpy-Thieu that

Moored abv lift no.1 Houdeng-Geognies

replaced them. We moored above the first lift (no. 1 Houdeng-Goegnies) at La Louvière at 1.55pm. Anne phoned the Belgian waterways to find out if the lifts were all open now. Nope. Thieu, the bottom one is, but the other three won’t re-open until next year. By the time we’d got maps and Lucy (GPS) sorted out, etc, it was 3.40pm before Mike set out to thread his way around Charleroi to get back to the car at Auvelais. I’d printed him the maps he needed from our Belgian Atlas and he’d got Lucy in his pocket with headphones on. The route looked very complicated. When he got back he said Lucy (GPS) did a perfect job until she got to the N90 which has been upgraded so he couldn’t go on it with the moped. He had to find his own way round as you can’t exclude a road in Lucy’s memory.

Wednesday 6th August 2014 Auvelais to abv Gosselies lock. 30.1kms 5 locks

Through Charleroi down in a concrete sided hole

12.9°C Hazy grey clouds and sunny spells until midday then rain. Set off at 9 am. One loaded commercial had already gone past heading upriver before we set off and another arrived below Auvelais lock as we untied. Signs on the side of the river said beware at the railway bridge. When we got there the bridge was wrapped in plastic as there were men at work and signs that would have shown us that we should be on the left hand side were obscured by the concrete road bridge a few metres in front of the railway bridge; on the right there were safety nets hanging down under the bridge reducing the headroom. Through the small town of Tamines where there was a

Leaving Marcinelles lock,
located in the middle of Cockerills steelworks

very high sloping quay wall with ladders and at the top there was an Aldi and a Carrefour Market, OK for bigger boats than ours! The river looked quite rural for a few kilometres as there were no factories or roads, just trees on the left and a towpath on the right which was much in use by walkers and cyclists. More low tree covered hills appeared on the right. Several pairs of golden eye ducks took off in front along with the usual sandpipers. Osiva (75mx8.20m 1000T) was loading at a silo at Tergnée, dust and bits of chaff

Boat grafitti Charleroi abv Marcinelles lock

were filling the air and a layer of it covered the water surface; an empty called Liberty (67.18mx8.22m 1008T) was waiting its turn to load. Another nasty smell announced the presence of yet another rubbish recycling plant upwind of us. There were big piles of sand and rubble along another big quay. We had a short wait below Roselies lock while the lock emptied and a cruiser came out. A floating car wheel stopped us getting close to the wall to attach to a recessed bollard, so we went closer to the lock as a bloated dead rat drifted past. Followed the Snail into the lock and Mike took charge

Health and safety notices at the steelworks

of the centre rope while we rose 3.7m and I made a cuppa. The commercial we’d seen as we were leaving Auvelais arrived below Roselies as we left the lock at 10.55am. A big new sand quay with an offline berth on the left had been under construction when we were here in 2004 with Bill and Rosy, now it was piled high with sand. An empty called Muscari was moored at the next quay. On into Pont-de-Loup, passing a huge coal berth and a long quay heaped with piles of cubes of compressed zinc plated scrap

Steelworks abv Marcinelles

steel. There were very few boats moored at the boatyard of Vankerkoven, just an ancient tripper and a few very old and tatty péniches. One péniche was on the dry dock. (This boatyard used to heaving with Dutch barges being converted and repaired, what happened?) Into the industrial outskirts of Charleroi. Spoil heaps, here called terrils, became part of the scenery. Yet another big and smelly recycling plant and a long scrap quay where they were sorting scrap into similar sizes using machines, piles of rust and dust filled the air. A large flock of seagulls scavenged the area. Another wait below Montignies lock as a commercial was going up, then another (called Largo) came down. It started to rain heavily. We had a green light so we went into the chamber, then the lock keeper came out on his balcony, waving at us and eventually conveying the fact that the commercial behind us had caught up and we must go out of the chamber and let him in first. We backed out and a loaded Dutch boat, called Coby from Nijmegen, went in and right up to the top end then put one rope out from its bows. We sat behind it with fore and aft ropes on in the back of the lock chamber. A tug called Spes was waiting

Waiting below Gosselies lock

to come down, it was pushing a pan loaded with grey clay-like dredgings, this took us back to the good old days when the muck from the bottom of the BCN looked like that – real industrial grot!! We followed the Dutchman through the middle of Charleroi, where the river becomes narrow and winds between concrete banks down in a hole. Signs that said change sides severely confused a cruiser that was coming towards us; it passed the commercial on its left then went diagonally across the river in front of the Snail to pass us on our right – where it should have been all through the narrow section. A Dutch boat called Martina was waiting to unload on a quay on the right and Sikka

Moored abv Gosselies lock in the rain

was unloading dredgings into a series of tipper lorries, while Mahattan was unloading stones and large gravel, also into tipper lorries. There was a strange smell that was almost spicy?? We followed Coby into Marcinelles lock. The Snail was on the left by the keeper’s cabin and he came down to explain to Oll (who speaks very little French) that he had to go up to the cabin and do the paperwork - and us, when the lock is full. When we’d risen a further 3m, I took an old bit of card with all our details on it and the Belgian computer reference number (MET) and went across the top of the sliding gate to give the keeper our details (in French). Before we left he came back

Scrap unloading berth abv Marcinelles

from the office with our paperwork and gave it to Oll. (Although the old system of “quittances” has stopped and no payments have to be made, it seems they still like to dish out the same paperwork with the list of canals on your intended route.) The commercial in front backed into the Brussels-Charleroi canal so Mike called on VHF10 to ask in French where he was going. He answered in Dutch to say he didn’t speak French then someone else said (in English) that they were going to turn

Piles of scrap

and go back towards the lock and moor. OK now we know what he’s doing we can avoid him, so as he finished winding we passed him (one on either side) and carried on to turn right, then left, on the start of the Brussels-Charleroi canal. There were murals along the canal banks at the junction and they were covered in graffiti. I made some lunch as we went up to the first lock, Marchiennes, which now has shorter lock chambers (the first one was 85m) than on the Sambre (which were 120m long). A loaded boat came down the lock, then a tug and loaded pan went in followed by a large Dutch cruiser which had been waiting. The lights changed to red and the cruiser was shut out. He tied to the lock approach, then thought better of it and came back to moor on

Steel works abv Marcinelles lock

the piled wall where we were. Another cruiser arrived (Belgian) and he moored in the lock approach. The lock emptied and we all went in, two cruisers first who attached to floaters in the rear of the top half of the chamber leaving us two floaters in the bottom end section which were about 40m apart. We went next to the forward one and I put the fore end line on it (Anne did same on the far wall) and Mike kept the engine running in case the stern should be blown off the wall (it didn’t). The lock filled gently from the front and we rose 7m. It was still raining when we left the top at 3.05 pm. Both cruisers shot off into the distance but were waiting below the next lock, Gosselies (a bit longer at 87.6m) when we arrived. An empty loaded boat came down and we all piled into the chamber, another loaded boat arrived – a péniche called Shelendo (we’d moored by it back at Ampsin) – so the cruiser opposite us moved up and the commercial came in on the wall opposite us. Mike chatted with the péniche skipper after he’d attached their fore end line to the forward floater. We rose another 7m in the pouring rain. When we left the lock Anne and Oll said they’d had enough and wanted to stop – there may be nowhere to moor above the next lock and there was a long empty quay (by a scrapyard) where we could moor. We reversed back towards the road bridge (as far away as possible from the scrapyard) and found two bollards closer together than the standard 40m and managed to tie up just using fore and aft lines. The Snails came back and moored in front of us. It was 4.45pm and still pouring down with rain. Set the TV up, no Wi-Fi and Mike said he’d collect the car the following day.

Tuesday 5th August 2014 Sclayn to Auvelais. 38.6kms 5 locks.

Loading grain at Marches des Dames

13.6°C A cooler night, just below 20°in the cabin. Hot and sunny all day. We set off first at 9.05 am, Snail following us, still towing Origami (their folding dinghy). It wasn’t long before two Dutch cruisers went past heading downriver. The first of the cliffs appeared on the left, the right bank was lined with quays. A tug and pan were under the loading chute for the quarry at Marches des Dames, being loaded from tipper lorries. More cliffs on the right, back of the cement works, and two more commercials were on the quays being loaded from tipper lorries which were

Car on stands on board Baraka

depositing their loads on to conveyor belts that dumped rocks into the holds of the boats. Quite a collection of boats were moored at the old lock. Loaded boat Barak had its car on stands behind its back cabin, unusual as most cars get stowed on the cabin roof. Two more cruisers downriver at the next bend, followed by two more as we passed Roche d’Albert, the memorial to King Albert I who died in 1934 after falling from the rocks here; he was an avid rock-climber. Passing the basin on the bend where the CNNY yacht club moor their boats, three more

Beautiful cliffs of Marches des Dames

cruisers went past. Myzako was being loaded by a digger on the quay below Grands Malades lock. We had a green light for the lock. Rose about 2m in the bottom half of the chamber (it has a set of gates across the middle of the chamber allowing half its length to be used). We went in at 11 am and came out ten minutes later. Two more cruisers were waiting to go down. On into Namur following the Snail. As Oll turned right into the Sambre a British-flagged DB called Anthonia came out and turned upstream on the Meuse. A small water

Roche d'Albert 

taxi was following it. It was 11.30 am as we started heading upriver on the Sambre, passing another statue of King Albert on horseback at the confluence. They’d finished all the building work that was going on when we were here last year, new flats had been built on old foundations and the area had been tidied up a lot. Still no boats were allowed to moor in the narrow section leading to the Meuse, not surprising when you consider the size of the commercials which use the Sambre nowadays. We had a short wait below Salzinnes lock, then just the two of us went up,

Myzako loading

again about 2m, and left the top at 12.15 pm just as loaded (with white powder, probably gypsum) boat Jaguar (110mx11.45m 2906T) came round the bend above the lock. We spotted a yellow flashing light and went to have a closer look, it was on a tube down into the water so we guessed it was a water depth sensor – if the level gets too low then it sets off a pump to backpump water. Four cruisers from Gent came past, then a French one called Hippocampus – sure we’d seen that one before. They were followed by another loaded boat, called Allonso (67mx8.2m

Mike on rope duty, Grands Malades

857T) which went past at Ronet. The valley was becoming steeper sided as we left Namur behind. Both banks of this canalised river have sloping concrete edges with flights of steps every 50m or so, occasionally there are vertical quays for loading and unloading. The Sambre is a very industrialised river. A long low building on the left before the first long right hand bend housed a bus depot full of red and yellow single decker buses. A for sale sign announced the sale of La Ferme Blanche (the white farm) and a sign outside it in neon said it was a discotheque. Sandpipers flew off in front of the boat, the first we’d seen for ages, they were

Smartened up waterfront on the Sambre at Namur

to be a regular feature of this river. We passed a crane unloading a pan in a new canalside building and oh boy was the smell bad – it was recycling rubbish. Beyond it were long sand quays and opposite was a huge warehouse. An empty called San Remo (80mx8.20m 1138T) went past heading downriver. Futura was unloading grain at the silos below Florifoux lock. The lock was ready with a green light so we went in and Mike did rope duty while we rose 2.5m and I made some lunch. As we headed past the church on the

Water level sensor, River Sambre

hill at Floreffe, loaded boat Las Vegas (80mx8.2m 1163T) went past heading downstream. Low wooded hills on our left and old farm buildings on our right. A new wooden landing had been installed at the foot of the cliff by the church, it was filled by two cruisers and a small tug. Another short wait for the lock at Mornimont; we’d caught up with a small yacht who joined us to go up the lock, a deep one, 4.9m, after an empty and a cruiser came down. The yacht moored above the lock. Two Dutch flagged boats were waiting to come down, one was a British built replica DB. Another came around the bend, called Fowey Belle with a red ensign, we were sure we’d

Floreffe Abbey, R Sambre -being Belgian it also brews very good beer!
CLICK HERE for more info on the Abbey.

seen it before somewhere. Past the AGC works with its four tall chimneys then on past the huge Solvay chemical works which seems to stretch for kilometres along the river. Another loaded 110m boat went past, Karina from Gent, just before we arrived at Auvelais lock. The new mooring below the lock was a wooden staging at the foot of a high wall – we carried on up the lock another 2.7m and moored at the end of the lock waiting area where we’ve stayed before. It was 5.15pm. Helped unload the bike off the roof and Mike went to get the car from Ampsin. The yacht we locked with came up Auvelais and moored in front of us and later a large Dutch hotel boat arrived from upstream and moored beyond the yacht. The Snails folded up Origami and stowed it in its box on their cabin roof. Mike didn’t get back until 9.30 pm. We put the bike back on the roof and had dinner, late.