Leuven to Ghent
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Now on the last stretch towards Leuven, we found that the locks are a bit of an odd shape with a double recess, which seemed to make mooring in the locks a bit more of a challenge. Another feature is that heading upstream there is a very strong flow of water into the lock so it did not pay to get too close to the gates. The weather was starting to turn a bit today and you can see that Nicki is loving the glamorous lifestyle out in the rain.
Still, we made it to Leuven in good time and paid our dues to stay in the harbour for the next eight nights. I can’t say that the harbour was particularly pleasant as there was was major construction work taking place all around it, and we were right next to one of the main building sites – work generally kicked off at 6am and finished around 9pm each day, although we did have one bank holiday and a Sunday where no work took place, so that just left six uncomfortable days.
On the plus side, this was a convenient spot to start exploring the local area, and was also conveniently located just 10 to 15 minutes walk away from the train station, where we could hop on a train for the 25 minute train journey to Brussels.
We had already planned to meet up one evening with friends in Brussels it was also convenient for Lucy, who was meeting up with us for a weeks stay on board, so she was able to catch the Eurostar to Brussels and then a quick half hour train trip direct to Leuven.
Leuven itself though was a beautiful city with some stunning buildings, markets and activities. The Town Hall is incredibly ornate and I could not help admire the forward planning – built in the 15th Century, a large number of recesses had been included to allow for statues to be added when finances permitted and some 400 years later the town decided to add the statues!! Luckily for Leuven the two world wars saw little damage to this remarkable building. We were also lucky as work to clean the building had only been completed a couple of months ago.
Because there was obviously so much history and such a lot to see in the town hall, we took a guided tour of the building.
Some of the rooms were just beautiful, with magnificent paintings and furnishings, and combined with the beautiful exterior and the brief history ‘lesson’, it was something not to be missed.
We also did a tour which covered the highlights of Leuven, which was very interesting too.
Close to our mooring was the Stella Artois brewery, and so, on the Sunday, we took a tour around the complex – interesting to say the least, although not so much of a tour as a tutorial! Still, we left the brewery after an obligatory beer/lager tasting session, each carrying four complimentary cans of various beers. Definitely worth the money!
As mentioned above, Nicki and I had a pre-arranged visit to Brussels – we had been invited to spend an evening in Brussels with Janos, Rachel and their family for his retirement meal. (Janos did not know that Nicki and I would be there, so was (happily, I hope) surprised to see us there.) On getting off the train in Brussels we realised we were a little tight on time so picked up a taxi to get to the hotel where we first caught up with Rachel before meeting her sons and their partners partners, and then Janos arrived followed shortly by his two crew members. After a drink, we all left the hotel for a stroll through the town until we found a restaurant, and after a lovely meal we all moved onto a local bar for a couple of drinks. Sadly Nicki and I had to get back to the boat (we had left the dogs there … as it turned out, for several hours) so we ducked out of the ‘party’ to get the train back. It was so nice to have been invited and we had a great evening – good food, drink and company. Brussels seemed like a different city in the evening, much more vibrant and lively than when we had visited last during the day.
The next day I decided it was probably about time that I recovered our car from Namur – I had had to leave it there as the factory where we were storing it had closed for a three week break. I duly caught a train to Namur, and on the way I had arranged to meet a friend, Tim, there for a drink and a chat. We then walked off to collect the car which Nicki and I had left in a quiet location but …. no car! So off to the police station to report its disappearance, only to discover it had been towed away by the police. Apparently this quiet location had a regular local market and we were in the way – no signs to say when there was one or that one was due, although it does seem to be a feature of Belgium that markets can spring up in some quite random places. With no choice, I paid the E195 fine and then had the excitement (?) of a journey in the back of a police van to collect it. Not how I was expecting my day to go, but hey, shit happens. Eventually I got back to Leuven, just a couple of hours later than expected and parked the car nearby our mooring, fingers crossed that we were parked in a ‘good’ location this time. It was only going to be parked there for a day or so, and happily, it seemed to be ok.
On the Tuesday, Lucy arrived stay with us for a week or so, and we met her at the local train station and walked back to the boat via the town centre, stopping for a bite to eat on the way. Wednesday we again collected the car and took it back to its storage location, after which we stopped off in Bruges so that she could have a look round for a few hours.
Then it was time to return to our noisy mooring (sorry Lucy) for our last night in Leuven, before heading off back down the canal, stopping at Mechelen for a much-needed quiet night’s sleep and being greeted by people we had previously encountered.
Not too much stress for Lucy!
The following day was a big challenge as we had to get back onto the tidal Schelt and make our way to Ghent. Due to the tides it was a reasonably early departure (for us) of about 7am. Part-way there we decided to leave the tidal stretches, enter the Dender canal and moor up for the night just by Dendermonde, and once we had tied up we walked into Dendermonde only to find that there was a food and drink festival going on. Of course, we had to have a look-see at what was going on and and stopped for the obligatory drink by the canal before returning to the boat. Later that evening we were somewhat startled by a noise outside the barge, and on putting my head out of the door found a bunch of youngsters messing around, throwing what looked like cereal over the pontoon and the boat – I had a few words with them, and they all cleared off, so Lucy, Nicki and I spent a few minutes clearing up some of the mess before we could settle down again. Thankfully that was all we heard from them – mind you, it did start to pour with rain shortly after, so it was unlikely that anyone would have come back at all.
During that evening (interruptions aside) I had spent quite a bit of time working out tide times, etc. and planning our onward route to Ghent; the tide times were not desperately in our favour which meant that we had a bit of tidal flow and river current to contend with for much of the day, and we 
eventually arrived in Ghent at about 6pm. Panic set in a little when it seemed as though we had missed the opening times for the last lock and might not get through that evening – according to the books and Navigo, the final lock closed at 5pm and wouldn’t re-open until Monday morning, and the phone number on the lock was out of service. Fortunately, whilst we were trying to figure out what we were going to do, a lock keeper appeared. He sorted us out and opened up the next bridge, and also informed us that, despite what we had read, the lock was actually open until 7pm. Good to know. So we made it into Ghent, and arrived at Portus Gandus where we were directed to a suitable mooring spot. At last we could relax for a few days, get some good night’s sleep, and enjoy the rest of the time with Lucy.
