Ghent to Oudeburgh

Sunday 1st November to Wednesday 4^th November 2015

With mist still hanging over the water we said goodbye to Ghent

and set off on the first leg of the cruise to Nieuwpoort, down the Ghent-Ostend and Plassendale-Nieuwpoort canals. The 1^st of November 2015 turned out to be the hottest 1^st November since 1886 or thereabouts with temperatures rocketing to a scorching 20.8C – while our friends in Durban were talking about temps in the mid-thirties!

The commercial canal to a few kilometres before Brugge is a bit sterile but at least we could enjoy it in stunning weather.

We had phoned Andy, the harbour master at the Coupure in Brugge, to see if there was a space for us but as he said that we would have to reverse in as there was no space to turn and then have to raft up to another boat as there were no open pontoon moorings, we decided to make course directly to Moerbrugge, the first of the bridges through which the convoy through Brugge has to pass, and there we would spend the night awaiting the ‘system’ to start on Monday.

Right at the bridge we found a 24 hour mooring which seemed to have free electricity but which was largely being hogged by a commercial. An hour or two later we were joined by another cruiser with a Belgian couple and their son aboard - and their very mischievous doggy named Rocco.

Skipper Cuba Libre and Rocco

 Sometime after nine on Monday morning, after having called the bridge on VHF and received a stony silence in reply, Lynn found the correct number to dial and we started the system going – the reason for no VHF reply is that this bridge is operated from further downstream and they could not hear us calling. In heavy mist we started toward Brugge with the other cruiser, Cuba Libre, in tow; the commercial saw us leaving and scrambled to get their lines aboard and managed to join too before the bridge closed behind us. It was a little ghostly at first

Boats in the mist

but as we passed the Flandria Yacht Club the mist lifted and we enjoyed really lovely cruising weather, through the lifting bridges and the single lock around Brugge and on to the Plassendale-Nieuwpoort canal where we eventually tied up at the free electricity and water pontoon near the town of Oudeburgh.

The skipper of Cuba Libre, whose name I never got, and whom we were supposed to have left at the Brugge-Ostend canal but who had decided to join us to Nieuwpoort, came over and we agreed to leave at 09h00 the next morning – he would make all the arrangements for the ‘ploeg’ to meet us and escort us to our destination. A chicken braai later it was off to bed.

The next morning we both cast off and just as we we were on our way the man in a yellow Waterway Authority vehicle gestured us to stop – as I had seen on the internet, the Leffingebrug was being serviced and would only be available again on Thursday so it was stuck in Oudeburgh for a couple of days which were spent exploring the little, and not too inspiring, town, buying some delicious burger patties wrapped in cheese and bacon for the Weber, missing the recommended game stew as the restaurant was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and generally twiddling our thumbs.

But we were visited by a Waterways inspector who very politely went through all our papers and did an equipment check and we were quite relieved when he pronounced us 100%!