Today was the canal equivalent of running downwind in the southern ocean – cold & fast!

This morning we departed the dock just before 0800 and were in our first lock at 0810. By 1000 we had already passed through 4 locks, dropping a total of 32m

We then had a 10nm run until the next set of canals which also happened in quick succession.

At 1415 we entered the 1.5km tunnel La Panneterie where the kids were allowed to go up on the bow with Emilie to enjoy the tunnel.

We then had another 4 locks traveling behind a cargo ship, and finally just on dark we docked next to a freight train bridge (oh the serenity!) at 1730.

A long day with 12 locks covering 58km we barely had a chance to take a photograph. It is awesome to be making the miles again! Paris here we come!

Yesterday started at a very slow pace. The canals were still well behind schedule due to the long weekend and commercial vessels were given priority. Whilst we left the dock in Sains Les Marquion at 0800, were were promptly told there would be a two hour delay until we could join an appropriate ship in the dock. Most of the canal ships are made so two of them can squeeze into the dock, therefore if you have two regular sized ship in a row, or a ship and barge combination we were put to the back of the que until a slightly larger or smaller vessel entered the dock and there was room for a pleasure yacht.

Finally at 1000 a ship of appropriate size came to the lock and we were notified we could enter. Im glad Emilie speaks fluent French as I would not have a hope in communicating with the lock keepers or other captains.

At 1245 we arrived at lock 2 and told there would be at least a two hour wait. Luckily this lock was close to a town with a laundromat and had a fresh water supply close enough for our 40m hose to reach. Emilie went to town to do some washing, I filled the tanks with fresh water and then pulled the engine compartment apart to search for leaks.

I had been finding some mirky liquid in the engine bilge over the past few days and I wanted to know where it was coming from. I found a leak in the Jabsco water pump, and another leak in the engine governor. Both these leaks could not be repaired at the time, however we would take measures to slow the leaks down until we have a few weeks in one place and I can get to a machine shop to get some seals and o-rings for repair.

I had just finished mopping the bilge clean, and checking all the other bilges at the same time when Emilie returned onboard, and we got a call from he lock keeper advising we could enter the lock.. Perfect timing! We entered lock 2, and then carried on to the entrance of lock 3 where we were required to tie up for the night because pleasure vessels can not operate in hours of darkness on the canals.

We awoke to a cold drizzly morning and we were ready to leave the dock at Sunrise (0800!) Again we were told to wait for a suitable boat we could join in the locks. At 1000 we were asked to enter the lock behind a ship called Homer. This ship had a very good captain who used little wash in the locks making it much easier for us to tend the lines and prevent our yacht from being scraped along the lock wall.

We had a good run with Homer for the next three locks, and then followed her into the Ruyaulcourt Tunnel. The Ruyaulcourt Tunnel is 4.6km long, 5m wide, 5m high and passes under raised farmland and a village called Ytres. The tunnel is at 130m above sea level and is the summer of the Nord Canal. It is a once and a life time opportunity to for a family of yachts to sail their 45ft yacht through a 4.6km tunnel! What an experience!

I’m happy to say that I have now seen the light at the end of the tunnel!

This evening we are tied up prior to lock 8 at Moislains ready to enter lock 8 at sunrise (hopefully) and carry on down the Nord Canal towards Paris. We aim to be in Paris in 5 days time.

This morning we back tracked along the peaceful canals of Sensee and turned onto the canal Du Nord so we could avoid the algae bloom up steam on the Sensee

We were making great progress until we came to our first canal of the Nord. We noticed two dozen cargo vessels tied to the banks of the canal. When we switched Chanel on the VHF radio it was chaos.

The afternoon shift lock keeper had missed his shift and a replacement had just been found, the lock had technical CCTV issues, and the lock upstream was also backed up.

We informed the lock keeper of our readiness to transit the lock, we were informed there would be a delay so tied to the canal bank and took a stroll along the canal.

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing games and doing puzzles. I took the opportunity to do some work, pay bills and reply to emails, while Emilie kept a close ear on the VHF so we didn’t miss our spot in the que.

This evening we are still secured to the bank of the canal. We have been informed that we will be in the 0930 lock tomorrow so we can continue down the Norde to Paris.

Yesterday we toured Valenciennes looking for a bakery before heading off shortly before 10am. On arrival at our first lock we found out that locks and canals were all closed for Armistice day. So we turned around snd headed back to the marina at Valenciennes.

I took the “day off” as a good opportunity to wash down the boat deck to hull. Emilie’s father told us we should experience the local beer, so we found a nice pub for lunch. The pub involved a tram ride which was the highlight of Max’s trip!

After the pub we returned to the boat and I cleaned out the bilge while Emilie did puzzles with the kids.

This morning we woke up early to try to make up for lost time. There is a superstition that ships should never sail on a Friday… well we had one of those days.

On departure from the marina we had to turn the 45ft yacht with 10ft mast overhang in a 60ft river with 2kts of river current. The boat just did not want to turn, and it took quite a bit of persistence.

As we made our way up the river a cargo ship approached taking up most of the channel, I was forced to starboard and took out a tree branch in the process.

At our first lock Emilie reported to the office with boat papers to get our official VNF waterways pass. Emilie returned snd we passed through the lock. At the next lock however they told us that we left some papers behind do we motored all the way back to the first lock.

The rest of the day followed suit with two steps forward one step back. It was so comical Emilie and I could only laugh about it!

Where the canal split in two the other vessels continued on the Sensee canal and we followed the Escaut. At our next lock Pont Du Bassn Rond we picked up our remote control for opening up the small locks to Paris. The remote looks a bit like a 1980’s roller garage door opener and took a while to get used to.

Throughout the day we were trying to contact the office of the tunnel we plan to enter on Sunday. It took a whole day of calling around, leaving messages and we have still not been successful. It seems everybody is on holidays until the 15th!

We continued along the Escaut to Cambri where we would stop for the night. We were laughing on the way to the marina how our day could not get much worse. As we were parking the boat along the dock, we could almost breathe a sigh of relief. Max was on deck “helping” and put a line over the side. Before we could blink it was wrapped around the prop!

I have dived in cold water in my life, but 4*C with only a short wetsuit is pretty bloody cold! It took me three dives, returning to the marina to warm up my head, but the rope came off easy and we were ready to leave tomorrow. But…. while I was diving Emilie was talking to the men from the boat next door. Emile discussed our route and the shook their heads, informing her the canals are clogged with algae and another boat had recently been stuck fast in the algae ahead for over a week!

We are now re routing our passage to go down the Canal Du Norde to Paris Hopefully tomorrow will not be quite as adventurous as today!

What a chilly morning it was this morning! It was so cold last night we left the diesel heater running. In the morning the thermometer outside read -2*C and the mooring lines were frozen stiff. The trusty Perkins engine didn’t miss a beat when we started it up and motored slowly out of Peruwelz yacht haven.

We motored down steam to Peronnes lock, dropped 10m and then turned briefly to the north to collect fuel and water. It is amazing how much more simple life becomes when locks are emptying out as opposed to filling at the rate of knots.

At Peronnes we took on 117L of diesel to fill up the tank, and a full tank of water. We then started motoring up stream (yes going up hill again) towards France

The sun came out and the kids joined us on deck, making a pretend aeroplane and I was the pilot!

Just after midday we crossed the boarder into France. This presented a slight problem because the VNF pass for France that we were meant to complete online was not working. We proceeded to our first French lock Ecluse De Fresnes where the lock keeper was very helpful and gave us a temporary pass until we could reach an official VNF office.

After passing two more locks and rising up another 20m we reached Port De Plaisance Valescaut. This is our first paid yacht haven of the trip so we took full advantages of washing machines, water and 240V power.

We experienced our chilliest morning so far this trip with outside temperatures below freezing with frost still on the grass and dock around us.9 The heater was switched on as soon as I woke up and then we all huddled in our bed until 0800.

We departed Adeps haven and made our way to Asenseur De Strepu Thieu https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strépy-Thieu_boat_lift. The sun was shining and it was turning out to be a beautiful blue sky day. Issy and Max entertained themselves on deck building cubby houses and pointing out whenever we motored past a duck.

Prior to the boat lift we passed over a canal bridge that spanned an entire valley allowing cargo ships to sail over cars and houses! https://youtu.be/ERxqjASxC48

We parked at the Strepu Thieu, reported in to authorities and took a walk to check out this amazing feat of engineering.
The Strépy-Thieu boat lift (French: L’ascenseur funiculaire de Strépy-Thieu) lies on a branch of the Canal du Centre in the municipality of Le Rœulx, Hainaut, Belgium. With a height difference of 73.15 metres (240.0 ft) between the upstream and downstream reaches, it was the tallest boat lift in the world upon its completion

The structure at Strépy-Thieu consists of two independent counterweighted caissons which travel vertically between the upstream and downstream sections. Because of Archimedes’ Principle, the caissons weigh the same whether they are laden with a boat or simply contain water. In practice, variations in the water level mean that the mass of each caisson varies between 7200 and 8400 tonnes. The caissons have useful dimensions of 112 m × 12 m (367 ft × 39 ft) and a water depth of between 3.35 and 4.15 m (11.0 and 13.6 ft).

Each caisson is supported by 112 suspension cables (for counterbalance) and 32 control cables (for lifting/lowering), each of 85 mm (3.3 in) diameter. The structure is massively reinforced to provide rigidity against torsional forces during operation and has a mass of approximately 200,000 tonnes.The vertically moving watertight gates are designed to withstand a 5 km/h (3.1 mph) impact from a 2000-tonne vessel.

It was amazing driving a 15T yacht into this elevator next to a 500T cargo ship and then dropping down 75m, the entire time the water was like a millpond. Adding to my amazement was the ride was included in our €56 one week canal pass! Here is a video of our decent https://youtu.be/j4Ptw52WlDo

After the elevator experience we motored on snd dropped a further 20m in two more very well maintained canals.

This evening we pulled into Peruwelz yacht haven for the night. Forecast for tonight and tomorrow morning has a yellow alert for snow and ice so it should be another chilly night!

We started the day in Sombre parked under a railway bridge and conveniently next to a supermarket. Em took the opportunity to stock up on groceries while Rich and the kids got ready for a big day ahead of 7 locks and 50km of canals.

We departed at 0930 snd turned north along Charleroi Brussels canal. It was slow going as the commercial boats ahead were taking their time.

The locks in this part of the river had large rises of 7-10m and were quite rough and built for commercial boats, so bollards were spaced a long way apart. The lock masters did not hesitate in filling them fast, creating lots of turbulent water do we needed to stay focused at all times.

After a very slow passage we arrived at our final lock Viesville where we had to tie up before entering the lock. Issy was delighted to find fairy houses (mushrooms) along the jetty so we wrote notes to them and pinned them to the dock.

Once through the dock we had about an hour of motoring. Rich took the opportunity to investigate the water heater wiring again, before it began to get dark. We arrived at Adeps Haven and turned into a narrow, shallow and dark inlet to tie up for the night.

Tomorrow we should start to finally head West, and we have a big surprise awaiting us!

We started our day in Namur finding low water pressure when Emilie filled the kettle. After dipping water and fuel tanks we found we were unexpectedly low on both (the joys of learning our née boat), so our mission for the morning was to top up on fuel and water. This is not as easy as one would think on a river!

After a brief search up the Mueuse to unsuccessfully find water at the yacht haven we back tracked and got back on course turning up the Sambre river. At our first lock we found a water fill point with great pressure and filled up our water tanks in 15 minutes.

I located a service station over the road from the river at the next bend, so we pulled alongside the river bank and carted two 20L jerry cans over the road.

Now we’ll snd truly topped up with furl and water we continued up the Sambre past two more locks and stopped at Sambreville.

The afternoon was spent briefly exploring this new town that had little to offer within walking distance so returned to the boat. Back at the boat Emilie did some school work with Issy and Max and I spent the afternoon getting to know the boats switchboard while wiring in the 240V Hot water cylinder.

Tomorrow we have a big day and over 10 locks with nowhere to stop so it was good to enjoy a relaxed Sunday.

This morning we woke to the serenity of Huy and as the sun rose over the nuclear power station we let go lines to continue up the Meuse.

Today we entered two very large locks. The first with two big cargo ships, the second we were alone. The bollards in the big locks are about 20m apart making it difficult to tie up a 14m boat.

We stopped in Namur just after lunch and took a walk around the city, visiting a laundromat along the way to do the weekly wash. While we walked we noticed signs advertising a circus was in town.

The circus was up on top of a big fortified hull, so we wandered through the fort snd castle making our way to the circus. We passed some wonderful scriptures along the way and the views were amazing

We all loved Festival Du Circue Namur. Nobody could choose the best acts from the acrobats, pony’s, trampolines, tight rope walkers jumping through fire hoops, the amazing acts just kept coming!

This morning we woke to a rising barometer and blue sky. It was noticeably warmer and we didn’t even need the heater for the morning routine. We departed Rekem with all hatches open to dry out the boat.

Our first lock was Neerhaem with where we rntered alone and rose 8.8m. This canal was followed an hour later at Lanaken where we rose 8.5m

We then continued onto the Albert Canal where we saw numerous tunnels into the side of the canal, apparently used during the second world war to store ordinance but now used to grow mushrooms.

We planned to stop in Liege, Belgium’s third biggest city but it seemed very busy and industrial do we continued to Neuville canal. It was a very tight squeeze in Neuville lock with us and one cargo ship.

Waiting for Neuville canal with nuclear power plant in backdrop

We have stopped for the night in Huy marina which is very nice, adjacent to a beautiful town snd has a wonderful view of a nuclear power station. Dinner at the yacht club was fantastic!