Sunday, December 10, 2017

Barge Date:  06-09-2017

Namur to Diksmuide


Have been back home for over a month and have neglected to do the final chapter of this year’s travels.  So here it goes. 

For this last stage of the travel I have a crew from Australia. Tony and Robin have been thinking about barges for some time. Perhaps it all stems from Tony's time growing up in Holland where he was able as a young boy to be a mate on a ferry. He learned a few things and still remembers how to handle the lines. I can see I will be learning from him. 

Tony and Robin have done many things during their adult life including living in the outback doing church work with the aboriginals. Tony is also a pilot and holds a multi engine rating and at one time owned his own plane. He is also handy in thinking about and doing a lot of things on the boat that I will welcome.

For a shake-out cruise we decide to go up river to Dinant. This is further than what I traveled when Marianne and the kids were on board. It will give Robin and Tony at chance to use those confounded bollards that someone installed at each lock along the way. It does not take long to get to Dinant and as we arrive we see that there is considerable construction taking place right at the riverfront. When the work is complete, I hope it is good not only for the riverfront businesses but for boaters, including those of us with larger boats.



 

We are able to make fast at a public dock along the right bank of the river. In order to get electricity and to pay for our stay, we make a trip to the tourism office in town.  Part of our welcome package includes two cans of Leffe beer which is a big name and brand here in Belgium and Dinant is its hometown.




 
 One of the first things you notice walking around town are large replicas of saxophones. This is Belgium and one of her sons, Adolphe Sax, called Dinant home. For some reason the saxophones along the street are associated with member countries in the EU. Each piece of art is totally different but I was not able to find all of them. Hey, good excuse to return next spring as this will be our route into northern France.

I go with Robin and Tony up to the citadel which is perched precariously above the river. To make the ascent we use a cable car from the town below up to the fortress. Not only is this a great fortified location, it gives one a nice view up and down the valley. We take a self-guided tour through the citadel and enjoy some refreshments.




One of the stories you learn from the tour has to do with the tragic opening days of World War I. After a good bit of resistance from the Belgians, the Germans took over the town. At some point a German soldier was shot and as retribution the Germans gathered about 612 residents - men, women and children as young as 3 years old - and executed them. That is not something that is easily forgotten.

On my own I go by bike to the left bank to view an exhibition of paintings by Marc Chagall. It is a range of his art from his early beginnings to some of his last works. There is some that I like and some that I don't care for at all.  

I also go by bike along the river’s path until it is just a narrow rut and ends. I could go to the other side to go further but choose to return.

From Namur I wrote about Bayard and the 4 brothers out for a ride. Look at the picture to see the notch they all made in this rock. Today the road goes on either side of this outcropping.


From Dinant we head downstream and make the turn at Namur to head west on the Sambre. The weather changes each day and sometimes we end up traveling further than we expected since there is not much to do in case of bad weather.

Some of the next few days will be over territory I covered with either Bruce or with Marianne. But I want to show the Aussies a good time so we look for things to do. Up ahead we will be meeting up with the Silk Purse at a marina that has a small dry dock. Don't know what happened but the Silk Purse has sprung a small leak and needs to make repairs.  Barrie and Carole will use the dry dock and they have workmen coming in to weld some steel onto the front portion of their barge.

Of course Barrie suggests I bring Lionel into the Marina but, having seen this location previously, I am not convinced that this is something I want to do. However, with a bit of coaxing we pull in behind the Silk Purse and tie up.  The dry dock does not seem to have been used a lot as we see quite a bit of grass growing in the lagoon that will be flooded to first accept the floating Silk Purse and then to have the water drain so the barge will sit on supports. Tony and I offer our assistance and by carefully navigating the narrow channel to the dry dock we are able to back the barge in to the flooded lagoon. The boat is precisely located above supports and the water in the lagoon is emptied. A perfect job by Barrie, and the following day welders will come to make the repairs.


To add excitement to our stay, I plan on giving Barrie several books in the Jack Reacher series that we have been reading all summer and as I walk to his boat I trip on a line and make a five point landing on the metal dock. Of course I quickly get up and look around to see who witnessed this magnificent event. I climb on board the Silk Purse and drip blood in their wheelhouse from a small wound on my cheek. My palms are a bit red and my knees hurt like hell. Tough it out. But I sense that some of this pain will only go away slowly.

We say goodbye to the Silk Purse but we expect to see them again in Diksmuide. Next on our agenda is the big vertical lift that I used previously going east and up so this time we are going west and down. It is an experience, but I think the next time I pass this way I will use the older lifts that only operate on weekends. It is a recline lift where the boats in a big bathtub travel on  rails.  This will happen next year.

We spend a day in Mons then head again west to Peronnes and then Antoing, both towns where I have been before. We take time in Antoing to do some laundry in town. From this location, I contact our young Belgian teacher friend whom you have met previously, Sihame.  We arrange to meet her in the center of Tournai the following day for lunch.

We catch a bus just up the street from our barge and are taken to the center city in about 15 minutes. There is a market going on in the center of town and we do some sightseeing and some shopping. I scout out a location to have lunch and pick a restaurant right on the square. Sihame arrives with a gentleman friend and the five of us sit down for lunch in a restaurant with a lot of white tablecloths and napkins. Sihame updates us on her teaching work and introduces us to her friend who is a fireman in the area. The menu looks wonderful and we make our selection with the help of the owner/ maître de.  Sihame is her usual bubbly self and we learn a lot about her summer in Italy and Greece. And if I remember correctly, her position at the school is now full-time. Good news.

As I am paying for the meal, I strike up a conversation with the owners who also include the chef. Just the two of them operate this business. They are French and came to Tournai a number of years ago and from the looks of it have a successful operation. The two of them join us at the table and our conversations continue as we are the only table remaining from the lunch crowd.


Perhaps I should not mention this, but the chef has told us that he runs an illegal kitchen. What does he mean by this? It seems that the ever present health department does not want chefs to make their own sources  (from things like fish heads). You have got to be kidding me; this is Belgium and almost France. We are told that the sauces should be made from some powdered mix. So to make sure that his supply of mix is constantly decreasing, he throws away some of it each week. He does not use it. Having spent a good number of years at the best restaurants in Paris, he knows all the best food suppliers there and if he places an order prior to midnight, the best fish and meat and other supplies will be at the restaurant first thing the following morning.  Health department be damned.

After the meal, we are taken by Sihame and her friend to a location above Tournai for a spectacular view of the area and we are treated to a snack.  Hope to see Sihame next year and have another meal at our favorite restaurant in Tournai.


The next several days have us moving at a good clip. We are held up at the Bossuit lock as it is the weekend and we did not realize that their schedule has them closed. We soon press on to Kortrijk/Courtrai which is now a new area for me. But it is raining so we decide to push on to see how far we can go. Passing through Kortrijk we have the help of a lockman that follows us from one lock to the next through the center of town. In the rain we saw a very wet rat who must make its home at the lock. Perhaps this is the same rodent the Silk Purse saw here in town.





Our next stop is the town of Deinze which I visited in the spring when I had my friend Rich on board. We stay several days there then head north on the Leie River so that I can show Tony and Robin this small waterway with lots of twists and turns and beautiful surroundings. See my earlier post about this waterway.

We tied up for the night along a commercial Canal and did not realize that some of these large barges can operate during the night. We are occasionally shaking and if a large pusher barge comes along, we are shaking even more. The next day will bring us to Bruges where we will be stopping for several days.  

Along the way, Tony and I take some time to install 4 stainless steel fold-out steps that we attach to the sides of the main section of the cabin. This will make it easier for someone who needs to step up on top of the boat for whatever reason. The supplies and tools brought from the US by my son-in-law Trevor have worked out perfectly. We were also able to attach two gold stars at the bow of the boat. These stars, made of cast steel, were provided to us by the Silk Purse. The gold stars, I am told, signify that the boat is owned free and clear of any encumberments. It adds a nice touch to the look of the boat.

Also with Tony's help we have rearranged the items that sit on the top deck. Previously, the dinghy and gangplank were arranged from starboard to the port side. With some finagling with the items we have, we arranged it so that most everything now runs from bow to stern. This allows for easy walking from in front of the wheelhouse to the fore deck. Also makes the boat look more streamlined. Next year I will add a red coat of paint to the hull of the dinghy.

Into the city of Bruges we find a nice tie-up at the first bridge. The sign says that we may stay for 24 hours but no one else has asked us to move on so we stay. Unfortunately, there is no electricity at this location so we rely on some good sunny days to keep the power on.

Tony and Robin are new to the city so I send them into town to explore. I, in turn, take to my bike to do some circumnavigation of the town. It is so easy to get lost in the constantly curving and turning of the roads. But this is a great town to sit at a café with a coffee and a book.

One day, while I was on board by myself, a hire boat tied up behind us with some difficulty so I helped. The two couples on board were American, the first I have met this summer. They were waiting for the lift bridge and had some time and interest so I invited them on board to see what a barge looks like. I believe they were from Utah.  A nice visit.

On one of my bike excursions, I came across a flea market in town. It seems to specialize in brass items and as I have been looking all summer for something for the top of the mast I looked and got lucky. A good size brass dolphin was found and I have since mounted it to the top of the mast. Because of its shape, it looks good whether the mast is up or down. I think it looks great.

 As I noted earlier in this blog when I passed through Bruges in the spring, there are working windmills along the canal that you use to pass the city. Out on my bike one day, I saw that one windmill was open for visits and so I went. The woodworking of the mechanics inside is rather special.  Note the date painted on a part inside the mill.









To navigate around Bruges, a barge must pass through a number of lift bridges and one round lock. This round lock presented a big problem for me in the spring but this pass-through I was able to demonstrate some degree of competence in handling the boat. I just wish those people with smaller boats that are much more maneuverable would take positions on the curved part of this lock and leave the straight wall for bigger boats.

On the home stretch now and have no particular schedule to keep. But we are making good time and think we can make it to Diksmuide by the evening. At the turn south along the Belgian coast I again handled the boat quite well in a difficult turning situation. Hey, when you can do it right after a summer of travel you have to talk about it. I try not to mention when I have problems.

Arrived in Diksmuide to see some confusion. The marina was updating the docks and we understood that the work would be done by the time we returned. But whole sections of the wall have no floating pontoons and many boats have been squirreled away in unusual ways. We tie up to the wall which is the public dock. The weather is cool and damp and over the next several days we work to get Lionel d’Antan ready for winter.

As a surprise I get a visit from Barrie and Carole.  They could not get here fast enough by boat so they took a train to town to wish me a goodbye.  A nice gesture and I appreciate it.  They have been a good resource when something new happened on my boat.  At times I could even help them. They have decided to sell the Silk Purse and hope to find a smaller boat to continue their life afloat.

My departure is one day before Tony and Robin leave for a trip to Holland to meet family that he has not seen since he was 14 years old.  I leave them to do some final things and lock up.

My brother-in-law offers to come to pick me up for the return to Brussels. The Belgian family has been very supportive of our barge adventure and we thank them.  I spend one night with them, we have a farewell dinner, and I am dropped at the airport for the return home. I can tell you that I am already planning for next year’s outing.

Will gather some thoughts about this summer and will make one final post at some point. I think a summary is in order.




Monday, October 2, 2017

Barge Date: 03/09/2017

Wedding Bells

The family is beginning to arrive in Belgium. Aliénor and her husband Trevor have flown in and have been met by the Brussels family. They are off to Ghent and the North Sea for several days. They have rented a car which will come in handy later in the week.

Andy and Christina arrive in Brussels two days later and will be with the Belgians for dinner that evening. 

Aliénor and Trevor travel to Namur to visit the boat and town and we all make a trip to the citadel for pictures and refreshments. I think we had some ice cream too.




Late afternoon, the three of us travel back to Brussels and arrive at my brother and sister-in-law's house about dinner time. Andrew is traveling with Christina, a young lady we have never met. She is an accomplished artist and is a curator at a museum in Pittsburgh

The purpose of the gathering is to have a family meal with the Belgians and Americans with the bride and groom in attendance as well. After some talk and a visit with the new chickens we have a wonderful meal prepared by Monique and Philippe.





One of the events of the evening is the unboxing of a wedding gift from the Americans to Morgane and David. It is a Pennsylvania spice box that I have made for them and was able to transport on the plane.

Following dinner, the Americans depart for the boat and on arrival we must set-up the sleeping quarters in the wheelhouse. In the morning we will take a trip up river to the same gardens and restaurant that Marianne and I have visited.

Early in the morning I walk across the bridge to the other side of Namur to purchase fresh croissants for the new crew on board. After breakfast I make some instructions about the boat and how to pass through the locks and we are ready to push off.

The trip upstream is uneventful and I think everyone was interested in the countryside and nice homes that are along this stretch of the Meuse. Once again we tie up at a small dock and make our trip up the hill to the gardens and restaurant. We have left early so we have a bit of extra time and we all walk through the gardens before we must walk back to the boat and make way for the return trip.




Andy and Christina will remain on the boat while Aliénor and Trevor return to a hotel in Brussels. An evening walk through the town allows us to select a restaurant and I have a nice meal and discussion with Andrew and Christina.

On Saturday, the day of the wedding, I send them out into town to explore and they also manage to sprint up to the citadel for a view.

We have arranged for taxi transportation to the wedding site which is close to Namur. We arrive mid-afternoon for the beginning of the festivities. In Belgium, people who want to get married must have this taken care of by city administration. Morgane and David were actually married several weeks prior to today's event but they wanted to include a great number of friends and have arranged for a grand party to take place. The setting is an old farm/castle/interesting spot in the countryside.




Morgane and David have put a lot of time and energy into this ceremony and they want everything to go perfectly. And it does, including an impromptu flyover of Belgian jets just as the new couple are dancing through an alley created by their friends. A meal followed and at 11 o'clock the real party began. There is a DJ on hand and we are told that the celebration lasted well into the following morning.

Andrew and Christina depart Sunday morning for Brussels and I am talked into taking a train later in the day so the family clan can have a restaurant celebration for our nephew's birthday plus a send off for the kids. I was seated beside Christina and was able to talk to her about her life in Pittsburgh and in the arts. Morgane and David were able to attend and we all had a good evening.



Aliénor and Trevor have one more day in Brussels and then they will return to the old grind back home near Syracuse, New York. Andrew and Christina have a bit more time and will visit Belgium and then fly off to Venice for three days then a return to Brussels for a final departure. I really enjoyed having the four of them on the barge and I hope they found it interesting enough to want to come back for a real trip.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Barge Date:  09/09/2017

Namur

As seen in a pastry shop.
As Bruce has several days before his train ride back to the UK, he and I begin to walk the streets of Namur. As with most European cities, it has a good number of cafés and restaurants. As we look further, we think that Namur may be more interesting than we had believed. So many shops and interesting streets, churches, and places for refreshments. One evening we have to share our outdoor meal with a number of the city people nearby who would be classified in the US as homeless. We also see a good number of people panhandling throughout the city and we are told that they are busted in the morning and picked up in the evening, and they must collect money so they can pay someone for their upkeep. Perhaps a sad story.

Marianne has returned from Brussels to be on the boat until her departure back to America. The three of us decide to take the boat up the river to explore and so Bruce can do some training with Marianne at the front of the boat. Unfortunately, these locks on the Meuse River have the most stupid arrangement for bollards that I have seen thus far. You want to be able to place or throw a loop of rope around the bollard and be able to retrieve it when it is needed. So to make the process more difficult, these bollards have metal pins coming out opposite sides from each other. This may not interfere with getting your loop on the bollard but it sure makes it near impossible to flip your loop off the bollard when you need to. Added to this, there is a railing system immediately behind the bollards. So if you want to throw your rope around the bollard, it inevitably hits the railing and falls off the bollard to be retrieved so you can try again. As I have said, just a stupid arrangement. From this training, we have determined that we will get a lighter rope next year for attaching to lock bollards and use the existing ropes just for mooring. This should make the front end rope work easier for whoever is doing it.



We passed through three locks and see some evidence of a place to eat so we inch our way to a dock in a small town (Rouillon). We have seen a phone number and Marianne calls but they do not offer lunch. However we are given some information about a nice garden a short walk away that has a small restaurant. So we strike off up the hill and in 15 minutes we are at a lovely setting with manicured grounds with lots of fountains (the gardens of Annevoie) and the small restaurant we were told about.

There is not enough time to tour the gardens as we must get the boat back through the three locks before they are closed for the evening. But I am thinking this might be a good trip for when the kids are here for the wedding.

The return trip back to Namur is uneventful but of course the front deck crew must deal with the stupid bollards.

The following day, Bruce must depart by train and we thank him again for helping us out. We met some interesting people and I learned a good deal from him. We hope he finds the barge of his dream.

Now it is time for Marianne and me to discover Namur. One of the first stops is a museum dedicated to Felicien Rops. Rops was an illustrator in the 18th century and somewhat of a trouble maker. He produced some pamphlets and papers with his writing and art work but soon settled in to illustrating books for other authors. It is these pictures that we see in the small museum. Link:   https://www.museerops.be/

Marianne hears about a super large garage sale (the largest "brocante" in Belgium). Actually, it is an event that has been going on for many years and while you will see some Barbie dolls being sold, the great number of vendors are antique sellers. This event takes place in a town outside of Namur (Temploux, 8 kilometers away). We must take a bus to this location and when we arrive, the crowd is already quite large. The sales take place on the village streets which are now closed to all traffic and they extend into the countryside. Literally, there is just too much to see in one day. From soup to nuts you can find almost anything. Of course, being on a boat means that we do not want for much. But Marianne has found two small oriental rugs and a few other items. This is a two-day event and draws people from Belgium, France, Germany, Britain, and Holland, both buyers and sellers.

You can't be in Namur without climbing to the citadel. This fortress sits high on a rock bluff at the intersection of the Sambre and the Meuse rivers. While there are roads that you could take to the top, we must take the steps and path that lead to the fortress. There are many fine views of the area that can be had from this vantage point. 






By walking the streets of the town, you see things that you might not ordinarily seek to find. One is the sculpture of Bayard, the horse of Renaud de Montauban and his three brothers (the four sons of Duke Aymon). Bayard is a mythological horse and plays a role in literature of the Middle Ages. It is said that Bayard was given to Charlemagne and hence the link to Marianne’s family tree.

If it is Thursday, then you must be in Brussels. We go back for two things. First, my residence permit is now ready for me. This is great. I only have five more weeks in the country to use it. But we visit the City Hall once again to collect the document. Several weeks later, I will receive a letter from the mayor inviting me to a small soiree so I can get to know my new town.

No, that is not a beard.

I was expecting to return to the boat the next morning but I am talked into staying so that Marianne and I and the Brussels family can visit more museums in town. We travel to a museum dedicated to war paraphernalia and equipment. We had a nice lunch downtown and headed back to the in-laws home. They have just recently installed a modular chicken coop in their backyard and we are able to visit with the three hens that are now in residence. For our last meal, we are taken to a very nice Chinese restaurant where I have duck and enjoy it very much.



In the 2 books by the previous owner of our boat, Hart Massey, he talks about trying to get a good duck meal in France and never gets it until he eats at a Chinese restaurant.  The chef tells him that the French want a large duck, which is not good. The key is a younger duck. Bon appétit.

In the morning we go to the airport to launch Marianne on her return. Because of a strike of the baggage handlers there is some question about when Marianne will depart and when her bags might arrive in the US. Luck was with her and the flight was only slightly delayed (Note from Marianne: I would not call sitting in the plane on the tarmac for over three hours — after delayed boarding — and losing my connection "slightly delayed") and her bags traveled with her.

I am escorted by my brother-in-law to the basement to catch a train back to Namur. Again, thanks to our Belgian family for all the help provided this summer.

I am back on the boat and alone; there will be some time before the next crew joins me so I try to stay busy and this is not difficult given that I am on a boat. I have been dealing with a pump problem and have ordered a part that may solve the problem. I also must begin the cleanup of the oil spill made during the last oil change. I also get to do some electrical work as I have shorted out the pump and need to find how to reset it. For this, I re-read remarks made by Hart Massey when he sold the boat. He identifies which fuse or breaker controls which part of the boat. To make it easy for the next time something blows, I print out labels for all the fuses and breakers.

I have found a nice restaurant close by, run by a Croatian Albanian man. He speaks very good English and runs a very nice place. He usually begins the meal by offering something unexpected. Once it was a corn chowder. Once a new drink he was trying to create, another time fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. I return several times. It is the Le Ponti 2 Restaurant run by Gazmend.

Laundry is always on the list of something to do and even though we have a small washing machine on board, it's nice to go to a laundry to get the job done. They have instructions in English as I suspect they have a good following from the marina. Guests are coming so clean laundry is a must. Wedding bells begin.

Coming up, I will soon have family guests on board again. My Brussels niece is to be married this coming weekend and my two older children will arrive for the wedding with their significant other. So the boat must look shipshape and ready to go. I spend a good amount of time polishing and cleaning.