Tournai to Peruwelz (pronounced Pierewe???)

Thursday 8 October 2015

With better weather prospects ahead, we had a slow start and then went provisioning at the nearby (huge) Carre Four, said goodbye to Mike and Rosaleen who had arrived the previous evening after having had starting problems caused by a defunct battery; while Rosaleen went shopping Mike went off to catch a train to Diksmuide to collect their car, buy a new battery and get the whole system working before the imminent arrival of friends.

Finally at about 11h00 we cast off into the busy waterway and headed up the Haut-Escaut , past the busy commercial harbour, obviously the source and destination of most of the big commercial traffic,

past the pretty medieval town of Antoing (we did not notice any mooring options which is a great pity asit is the perfect tourist town boaters would like to explore [and spend money in…])

Antoing

and into the pretty Canal Nimy-Blaton-Peronnes (named from upstream town to downstream towns but we were traveling upstream from Peronnes to Blaton).

Here there are two locks right at the start: The 5.6 meter rise/fall Peronnes 2 and the 12 meter Peronnes 1.

At Peronnes 2 and speaking only French, we eventually understood the lockkeeper to say we must wait for the green light as there was a commercial coming down. Sure enough, some time later, a liquid fuel laden, small commercial exited and we took his place and up we went. The lock gates opened and I used the bow thruster to edge us off the wall – and the infernal machine jammed open spinning us 90 degrees across the 12 meter wide lock where we, at 13 meters, were jammed bow and stern – and then it went back to the ‘off’ position. Gulp!

But soon enough we were on our way, leaving behind a Thank You smear of paint,

Peronnes 2 on the left seen from the top of the rise. Peronnes Yacht Club center

before entering the 12 meter rise of the Peronnes 1 lock which was negotiated without difficulty.

A short and enjoyable cruise later we arrived at our mooring at the Port de Plaisance just outside the town of Peruwelz. After confirming that the lockkeepers would be working on Saturday morning, we decided to stay two nights in the lovely little marina where, despite an absence of fencing, we felt completely safe to the extent that we even forgot to lock the bikes on deck overnight.

We booked a table at the restaurant in the marina, the Sam Suffit, and shared a dozen delicious snails as entrée followed by Carbonnade Flammande and Magret de Canard, both served with a huge pile of chips – to my mind, not an appropriate accompaniment to duck but this is the Belgian way. And the free salad bar was a saving grace.

Well contented with the day we retired to Elle for a nightcap and bed.

Péruwelz is pronounced [peʀwe] or [pɛʀwe]; in Picard (the Western Hainaut's dialect), the city's name is "Piérwé", and is pronounced [pieʀwe] or [piɛʀwe]. Wikipedia