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France to Belgium by Boat - day 27

11/6/2015

12 Comments

 

Time for a celebration? Sorry, no time!

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Waiting at a lift bridge.
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The canal from Veurne to Diksmuide is narrow and shallow, which slows us down. The lift bridge operators are brilliant and manually lift the bridges and then race to the next one.
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Our first sloping wall lock in Belgium
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But it is all so easy with jetty's to tie to.
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I love this design - friends can come stay and have their own house - you can meet in the middle!
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Near Diksmuide
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Our Women on Barges (FB group) flag is furled as it has some wind damage! We are about to arrive into Diksmuide and end this part of the voyage.
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Horaaay!
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We temporarily tied up at the visitors' dock, right next to our buddies Carole and Barrie on Silk Purse.
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On the way in we saw Iron Lady. Alison and Roger gave us a very warm welcome (Alison is a WOB too - Women on Barges - and other boats too!)
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Settled into our winter mooring. Here's our view on port (there's a boat tied next to us now - which is empty 90% of the time)
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Our view aft
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View on Starboard
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Our view forward! Pretty nice eh? I think we'll like it here.
While this journey ends another begins.

First we had to dash to the UK and we couldn't explore Belgium for three weeks!
We are making up for that now and just love it here. Belgians are the friendliest people we've met so far.

So, what's the next journey? Well, there are plenty of projects occurring on board. Noel is fitting a fireplace and I am busy writing. My next manuscript is almost ready for the editor. That book is about our adventure flying to America (from Australia) to buy a sailboat and sail it back to Aussie via Easter Island and Pitcairn. You can see we don't sit still very long - for our other adventures, take a look here.

As for this blog, it's going to be pretty boring to show you what we do during winter (work!) however, I've an idea. In the last few days I've posted some pictures of our journey around The Great Loop in America. I will post some photos and stories of that trip - it was a few years ago, but one of the most wonderful experiences of my life.

It's been a pleasure to have you on board....... here's a quick taster of that loop trip...
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Puttering through the middle of Chicago!
There'll be events in Belgium to write about - so stick around, I'll do my best to bring Belgium to your laptop! :-)
12 Comments
Graham and Jill
11/6/2015 07:32:56 am

We had a great time in Belgium, on land, the waterways for us was not great, moorings for us few and far between. Enjoy your winter stop.

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Jackie link
11/6/2015 10:42:05 pm

Belgium is fascinating. That's interesting information, we've not done that much research yet on places to stop - I may pick your brains :-)

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Glen Barrera link
11/6/2015 08:04:11 am

Congrats on your well-done journey! Great shot of Chicago and the river! Yay!

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Jackie link
11/6/2015 10:41:04 pm

Thanks Glen, it was a ball. So looking forward to moving next spring - in the meantime there's lots to see (and photograph). Our trip through The Great Loop was incredible - we just loved Chicago - that picture is one of may favourites - it's not everyday you putter through Chicago on a ten metre, Australian sail boat!

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Val
11/6/2015 10:26:52 am

I think we'll be coming to see you sometime soon, Jackie! Diksmuide is not so very far for us. Could you email me a phone number where I can reach you?

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Jackie link
11/6/2015 10:39:28 pm

Oh how exciting - will do!

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Deb McEwan link
11/6/2015 11:11:14 am

Great blog Jackie. Some fab photos there.

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Jackie link
11/6/2015 10:38:23 pm

Thanks Deb, we had a wonderful trip - tonnes of photo opportunities here - there'll be lots more pics...

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Ian McCauley link
11/6/2015 02:22:41 pm

Well done, the end of an epic journey. I'm still catching up on the intervening activities. We're booked into Diksmuide next winter. See you around.

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Jackie link
11/6/2015 10:37:19 pm

Thank you, we enjoyed every minute. Now installing a diesel fire place and catching up with some renovating (well, trying to). If we don't leave Belgium this summer I'm sure we'd be back.... it's great. Catch you next year hopefully!

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Michael Ball
11/16/2015 01:44:34 am

Hi Jackie and Noel. Not been to look at you site for a while, so it was good to catch up on happenings. Have a great winter in Belgium. It is just starting to warm up here so no diesel heater needed :) Stay warm and be careful.

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Jackie Parry link
11/16/2015 02:18:01 am

Hi Mike! Great to hear from you - we've just taken on 600 litres of red diesel for the winter! Most people give us a very strange look when we say we are wintering here - but it is lovely, the people are wonderful. Noel's just bought a motorbike too, so on warmer days ;-) we'll get out a bit more.... hope all is well with you and yours.

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