Getting Started – 17th May 2020
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At long last we heard that the bridges in the area will begin to open for travelers, although it had been suggested that this was only for day trips and that no locks would be operational for leisure craft in Belgium for the time being, so we thought we’d check it out and have an outing, setting off on Sunday, 17th May. In fact there were only two bridges we could pass through, but after that there was enough of the waterways available to keep us amused for a couple of weeks without encountering any locks.
Our first day started well with the sun shining, and it was lovely and warm as we headed towards our destination of Deinze – a lovely town that we have visited several times before and where we already have a friend or two.
On the way we passed by the lock at Schipdonk, spotting a couple of friends who were already moored up there – we hovered for a quick catch up and they were keen to let us know that earlier they had been stopped by the police and told that they must go back to Bruges as no overnight trips were allowed yet. Nevertheless, we thought we’d continue on to Deinze and hoped for the best.
Happily we arrived in the town around 4pm without any issues. It did get a bit scary as we left the Afleidingskanaal though, where it widens out at the junction – previously we had mistakenly gone into shallow water by keeping to the wrong side of the bouys and I was determined to not make the same mistake again …. to our dismay though, this time there were no bouys at all to guide us in so yet again I managed to find shallow water! It was quite a struggle for a while, but eventually we got onto the river Leie and headed into Deinze.
The Deinze public mooring is right in the centre of town and no other boats were there, so we found the perfect spot to stop and were able to relax. Once established, we sent a message to Keith (who lives nearby) and within a short while he turned up to join us for a drink and catch-up. Not long after, our friends who we had seen earlier at Schipdonk called by – it turned out that after we left them at Schipdonk, a local boater had told them that in fact there was no time restriction on being out and about, and so they decided to follow us to Deinze, finding a mooring a little further back beyond the bridge.
So far everything has been going well, and we will probably hang around for a few days before travelling further on the picturesque River Leie and on to Gent, but meanwhile we’ll spend a few quiet days relaxing in this lovely location and enjoying walks in the almost empty country park nearby. Bliss.
