Oudeburgh to Diksmuide via Nieuwpoort, Veurne, Fintele and Stenestratebrug.

 Thursday 5th November to Monday 9th November

(Monday 21 December 2015: Yesterday, coincidentally, two people reminded me that I had not finished the Autumn cruise blog so, with 32C outside and high sub-tropical humidity the norm, I will try and do the necessary)

Going back on one’s route is never as exciting as exploring new waters and this last part of our journey has been no exception. As advised to, we left Oudeburgh promptly at 09h00, arriving at the troublesome Leffingebrug at the town of Middlekerke an hour later only to find that electricians were running around trying to re-connect the traffic lights and bridge opening warning lights without which the bridge operator would not open the bridge. "Two hours delay" we were told so we moored up and took a stroll into the town which seemed to be quite modern by European standards with the church only having been built in the 19th Century.

At five minutes to 12 we were back aboard Elle and a few minutes later the electricians and bridge operator agreed that it was safe to commence with the first test opening - the lights all seemed to work satisfactorily and whilst the bridge was open the bridge operator gestured to us to go through as quickly as possible.

Come on, open!

Taraaa!

Two minutes later all lines were on board and we were waving goodbye to Middlekerke and on our way back to Nieuwpoort

Unattractive Nieuwpoort skyline

Delightful countryside

where we partially filled the diesel tank with 300 litres at €1.08 per litre and then settled in at the visitors moorings for a quiet session with the Weber while watching the youngsters racing their various classes of dinghy.

A lovely day weather-wise and one which ended far better than it had began.

Having arranged with the lock-keeper at the Sint Joris lock to be there at 09h00 the next morning it was up early to do engine checks and straight into the lock only to be informed that there would probably be some delay at the next lock because of the possibility of a working boat having to use it. So it was off with the engines and we waited - again! Luckily for us, the operator of the commercial decided that there was not enough water for them in the Gansepoort and we were ordered under way. So engines were started and we putted the short distance to the next lock - except the ‘putting’ didn’t sound the same as it usually did. I glanced over the stern and saw no water coming out of the starboard wet exhaust; something I had been dreading had happened - I had omitted to open the strainer valve after cleaning the strainer and the engine was overheating. Luckily Lynn was in the galley and switched off immediately and then took over the helm while I jumped into the engine room and opened the offending valve. And then we could only wait and see whether there had been any permanent damage or not. Ever so slowly the temperature gauge needle moved down from 120C toward a more normal 90C (according to my heat gun the gauges over read so 90C on the gauge is about 78C in reality) when, with hearts in mouths, we started up again and, lo and behold, the forty year old Peugeot turned over and settled into a comfortable rhythm almost immediately. What a relief!

And then we were off through the Gravensluis and Veurnesluis

Monument to King Albert I

Veurnesluis

Monument to French casualties

and, after Lynn comfortably managed the opening and closing sequence at the Wulpenbrug, we passed under the last couple of bridges and through the Nieuwpoortsluis to our Veurne mooring.

Nieuwpoortbrug

Nieuwpoortsluis

'Westhoek' marina, Veurne

That evening we again demolished a delicious bouillabaisse at the Hof t’ Hemel and returned home for a well earned sleep.

Morning dawned cold and threatening and after a visit to the local Colruyt to stock up on provisions

Veggie cool room at the Colruyt

Doggy Doo bin.

we were joined at a pre-arranged one o'clock by a most cheerful lockie who saw us through the first few obstacles before waving us good-bye and handing over to the same lock-keeper at Fintele whom we had met in the summer.

The restored sloping lock, Fintele

It wasn’t long before we were tied up at the pontoon outside the Hooipeter restaurant when who should come along in his lovely little boat but the Havenkaptein (chief harbourmaster) from Diksmuide, Pol Denijs, with his wife, son and grandchildren. They were on their way to Lo-Reniger to deliver their boat which would be used in the forthcoming Sinteklaasfeest celebrations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas).

Pol and family arriving

Later that evening they all popped aboard for coffee and a chat before returning to Lo-Reniger and leaving us on our own until the arrival of the British flagged, Piper replica barge Kabouter - whose owners never introduced themselves…

Sunday morning we cast off after 10h00 with plans to have Sunday lunch at the restaurant at Steenstratebrug which had been closed on our last visit. But silly us - we forgot to book and of course it was fully booked and packed to boot! So back aboard we had a delightful cold meat and cheese lunch but eventually made it back to the ‘Eetkaffee Steenstraete’ for dinner where Lynn enjoyed a ravioli dish and I had varkenswangetjes (pigs cheeks) - with chips of course.

The ninth of November, a day I had been dreading, finally arrived to herald our last day of cruising. With strong winds forecast for later in the day we made an early start and, with the only incident being a convoy of boats heading up the Ieper to take part in the Sinteklaas festival there, forcing us into the bushes on the bank because they refused to give us our right of way (downstream vessel), we had a lovely cruise in sunshine and only a ripple of wind , through the Knokkebrug which was open in anticipation of our arrival, to ‘home’ - which Diksmuide seems to feel like.

We were greeted at Ijzervaarders Diksmuide by the on-duty harbour master Gilbert and, after topping up the tanks with a further 250 litres of anti-bug treated diesel at €1.18 per litre, we were shown to a berth on the Le Boat quay behind the gorgeous Iron Lady owned by Australians Roger and Alison Brown - “Iron Lady was built in the Czech Republic in 2013 and sailed to Berlin from Prague in October of that year. In 2014 we cruised from Berlin through Holland, Belgium and down to Paris returning to Diksmuide in Belgium via the Meuse for the winter of 2014/15”. Just a pity we never got to see her from the inside.

That evening the wind really came up and it poured!