Going Up!

Peruwelz to Liege

Sailing to from Peruwelz to Mons, to meet our final visitors for the season, we were saddened to see an increase in the amount of rubbish – bottles, paper, and even several large full, black rubbish bags – floating in the canal! We had seen very little debris of ‘a man made kind’ prior to this.

We moored in the Port du Grand Large a Mons, an area of water shared by sailing schools, jet skis, canoes, cruisers, a marina and large commercial ships passing Mons on the canal on the other side from the marina. While waiting for Tommo and Sally to arrive we visited the centre of Mons and very quickly abandoned our bikes. Uneven cobbles, hills, narrow roads and car drivers with no regard for cyclists made it very apparent that cyclists were not catered to in Mons.

Tommo, aka JT or John, and Sally joined Notre Vie on a Sunday evening and brought very welcome rain! Water levels in the rivers and canals have suffered as a result of the long dry hot summer and even a few mms were very welcome.
Leaving Mons the next day, in bright sunshine, we travelled along the Canal du Centre in the Hainaut region of Wallonia. This canal was built between 1882 and 1917 to transport raw materials and good to the North Sea, Germany and France.

Sally steering

Sally took the helm early on. Tommo joined Anne on managing ropes in the locks. It was great to have extra crew – the skipper could relax!

Our highlight on this particular day was going up! Yes, we have gone up, and we have gone down on this trip! However lock levels of 3-10 metres were nothing compared to this. The Ascenseur Funiculaire de Strépy-Thieu.

Approaching the Ascenseur

A giant lift, dominating the countryside, enabling ships to go up or down 73 metres! The lift has a capacity for ships with loads up to 1350 tonnes. We shared the lift with one other pleasure boat and a large commercial barge. There was still room for several other commercial barges in the lift. You enter the lift lock as normal, sailing in to what is like an enormous tank of water and tying up to bollards, and the gates close and one man pushes a few buttons and the tank carrying you goes up while on the other side a tank comes down with ships from the upper level of the canal. Once you are up the gates open and you move out. Quite easy really. The views are amazing. Hard to believe you are sitting on your boat 70 odd metres up in the air!

On the way up in the lift

Risky business – sign in the lifting lock

View from the top of the lift

In the basin going up!

Leaving the lifting lock

JT

The next day, with Tommo on the helm, we travelled in convoy with another cruiser owned by fellow Kiwis from Stanmore Bay, the first New Zealand boat we had met. Our route took us through the black country of Wallonia, the industrial heartland of Belgium around Charleroi.

Charleroi

Charleroi

Rusting factory hulks – some operational but many more obsolete, miles of waste of all types including scrap metal, mattresses, appliances etc, lined both sides of the canal for much of the day. It appears the area is a tourist attraction! People along the tow path were stopping to take photos.

Deciding to call it a day after 60 kms or so, we and San Souci, the Kiwi boat, tied up to a small pontoon in Floreffe, a small village along the Sambre river.

Floreffe Abbey

It boasts an Abbey on a cliff overlooking the Sambre valley – founded a just a couple of years ago in 1121 – a seminary and brewery (established in the 13th century and still functional), but not much else. Tommo and John went off to sample more Belgian beer, walking for miles before finally finding a ‘guys only’ bar in the middle of the small village whilst Sally, Anne and Marilyn – from Sans Souci – decided to walk up the hill to the Abbey. Sadly they took the wrong road and ended up in the cemetery below the Abbey.

view of the Namur citadel at night

Namur, the capital of Wallonia, was our next stop. Towering cliffs along the Sambre river where it meets the Meuse River have made the ideal spot for fortifications for nigh on 2000 years! History shows the first ramparts built by the Romans and the Citadel has defended the region up until 1977 when the military left. The Citadel is now open to the public and a large area behind it on the cliff tops is used for public events and concerts.

View from Namur Citadel

Meuse river

Namur Bridge – citadel across the river

Visiting the citadel we toured a section of the restored tunnels which have been built over centuries and most recently added to in WW2, the parade grounds and the museum outlining 2000 years of history. Quite mind boggling the sheer age of the place.

Marina in Namur at Jambre. Charlie’s Capitainerie

Our mooring was at Charlie’s Captainerie in Jambre, just across the Meuse river from the citadel.

Huy, pronounced ‘We’, was the next place we stopped. On route we had a bit of drama in the first lock of the day. One of the ropes got jammed on itself as we were going down in the lock. John raced into the galley to grab a knife – not in its usual place – leading to a bit of angst onAnne’s part! Knife found and rope cut…Notre Vie dropped about 1 metre! Lesson learned – ‘keep knife in cockpit…just in case!’

John expertly spliced the rope so we can use it another day.

The citadel in Huy is known as the Castle. It is much younger than the citadel in Namur having been built in the early 19th century on the site of a former castle. Today it is a memorial to the second world war having been used as a concentration camp between 1940 and 1944.

Approaching Huy

The Gothic Notre Dame church in Huy has some beautiful stained glass windows and a painted vault.

Rose window in Huy

Huy cathedral

Bethlehem portal – sculptured in 14th century.

The usual cobbled streets make it difficult to walk or cycle around the old part of the city.

Cobbled streets in Huy

Tommo had his birthday during his visit and we ate out in Liege to celebrate. Local cuisine comprised large fragrant meatballs and mussels. John reckons these mussels are almost as good as those of Der Post! And of course…a local Liege beer!

Dinner for JT’s birthday

Liege’s citadel is built on the hills overlooking the river Meuse.

Marina in Liège

Liège

Anne and John climbed the 374 steps up the Montagne de Bueren to the old fortress and had great city views despite the cloudy day. This staircase was built in 1881 to honour soldiers who had defended the city in a battle in the 15th century!

Stairway to heaven in Liège

Almost there!

Tommo and Sally enjoyed their trip on Notre Vie, Sally reporting the boat ‘looked much nicer in reality than in the photos!’ Evenings were spent playing bridge, quaffing great wine and eating fruit tarts!

Thanks Sally and Tommo for your visit.

Until next time – A bientot!