Kerr Barging Blogs

We travelled along River called the Leie in Belgium to cross the unmarked border into France where it is called the Lys. Soon it met the major canal which carries commercial traffic south, but we turned right to continue along the river which now carries only smaller barges. Our first stop was Armentieres, a name vaguely remembered from the World War one popular song "Mademoiselle from Armentieres". Like most towns along the Lys this was part of the front, at some times in German hands and sometimes held by the allies during World War 1. Mostly though it was just behind the Allied lines and was used for billeting, R and R, hospitals and headquarters. We discovered that the British Forces, which of course included those from all the Commonwealth Countries, were responsible for this area while the French fought further to the East. Like every town in this area, Armentieres was massively damaged and had to be almost entirely rebuilt after the war.   

Belfry at ArmentieresThroughout this district there are many Commonwealth Military cemeteries, looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves on land donated by France. They are in immaculate condition and carefully tended but devastating in their message- thousands of young men from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Newfoundland, India, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia are buried here, marked by rows of sobering white crosses. Many have names and dates but there are thousands of unknown dead. Often the dead soldier's nationality and affiliation is known and acknowledged even when his actual name is not matched to the burial, but in some cases the cross simply states "Unknown". We discovered that on the battle field the name tags of the dead were removed to be sent back to relatives, and the bodies quickly buried often non- identified dead are usually displayed on huge monuments in these cemeteries.

We cycled the 11 kilometres to Fromelles, the scene of devastating loss of Australian lives. Each cemetery has an account of the events of this terrible slaughter. In one, Australian Memorial Park, we found a moving sculpture of Sergeant S Fraser who crawled back towards enemy lines to rescue injured comrades. It is called "Cobbers". The local primary school in Fromelles is named "Cobbers School" and proudly displays a kangaroo in its logo.

The newest cemetery, at Pheasant Wood, was established in 2010 after a mass grave of Australian soldiers was found there. With the availability of DNA matching now, a proportion of these men were identified and named. Touchingly, each grave here bore a small wooden cross and poppy inscribed by a student of the Bush School Wahroonga.  

There are many German graves in the area as well. In one town held by Germans for most of the war, German graves are one end, Allied the other, with one Russian grave which we did not find. One German cemetery in this area has 45,000 burials.

Cite Bon Jean, near Armentieres. This and the 2,400 others are tended by over 300 French gardeners
Two of very many unknown soldiers

As we continue through this area we become more and more aware of the horrors of the First World War and sadly find that the same towns were subject to terrible events in the Second World War as well. In a beautiful town called St Vernant the woods were used to house a German rocket launcher, as London is not far away across the channel. The wood was stripped to be used for trenches in WW1 and to barricade the beaches in WWII. There is a memorial to the hostages executed by the Germans in retaliation for some act of defiance, and a very long list of civilian casualties.

"Cobbers"

A significant number of towns had destruction of eighty per cent or more of their houses and especially significant buildings as the belfries and church steeples were good lookout posts and therefore destroyed.
We seem to have been travelling along the WW1 "front line" very often for the last three years and we have finally realised why: that line stretched for 800 kilometres from Switzerland in the East to the Belgian coastline in the West, often along the canals and rivers.

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

Our route from Ghent to Bruges was via the "Ghent- Oostend Canal", built in 1613 as a joint enterprise between Bruges and Ghent to open both cities to the sea at Oostend. It is very well maintained and large enough for sizeable commercial boats carrying containers and other loads from the huge sea port. It's amazing to think that it is celebrating its 400th anniversary. There are very few locks- we went 125 kilometres between locks on this section- but several lifting bridges, carefully operated with a view to minimising the disruption to road traffic balanced with commercial barge traffic.

 Bruges Town Hall and square

As we turned into the old canal which was the Bruges marina we experienced a most amazing lifting footbridge on wires which rolled up around a drum. Bruges is a major tourist destination with very attractive old houses and large impressive squares, several museums and of course churches. It is enhanced by the several waterways running though it, surrounded by well- maintained parks. After experiencing the atmosphere in Ghent's traffic- free inner streets and canals busy with little boats, we thought that Bruges missed an opportunity to make their city even more interesting and attractive.

 The Belfry in Bruges

We could have brought Anja to the end of the Canal at Oostende, on the North Sea. but our books suggested that there were few places to stop and we would not have gone through the last sea lock anyhow. Instead we caught the train from Bruges to the end of the canal, the western- most point on our trip in Belgium, Oostende. We really enjoyed the buzz of this important seaside city, with yachts sailing in and out of the harbour, the giant car ferry which goes to Ramsgate, the beaches stretching South along Belgium's 70 kilometres of coast. We topped it off by checking out the boats in the marina and buying some very fresh and cheap fish at the fish market just behind the docks. We old sailors felt right at home! Having visited three major Belgian cities (Ghent, Brussels and Bruges) as well as several smaller ones (Lier, Leuven and Oostende) all within the space of 9 days, we were looking for some time off touring to attend to the many little tasks that build up on a boat. We had reached the Northwestern point of our intended trip in Belgium so it was time to turn back towards the French border.

 Boardwalk at Oostende

Over the next few days we travelled along the Ghent Oostende Canal and turned onto the Leie River. This river originates in France where it is called "La Lys" and runs to Ghent, so we were travelling against the mild current. It is a busy commercial waterway, with very few locks, used for commercial traffic since the middle ages, modernised in the 19th century. All bridges on the main river allow free passage for large craft. After a stop at Deinze we visited Menen, a real border town, between France and Belgium, and within Belgium between Wallonia and Flanders. David rode across the bridge to Halluin which is in France to get bread and a patisserie each. Tomorrow we will be back in France! (Well, actually, because this is a little delayed, we ARE back in France already).

 You can tell you are back in France when you can buy THESE (by riding across the Belgian border)

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

You can click  any of the photos below for a larger image:

Beaches and coastline- Oostende	A LONG bike!	Yachts entering Oostende
Marina and Tall Ship, Oostende	Bike parking, Oostende Station	Large and Small at Deinze

Summer has arrived in Belgium and for the last three weeks we have had fine and sunny days with the temperature gradually increasing up to the mid- 30s. There's been no rain so the mown edges of the canals are getting very dry. Many people are out and about enjoying their summer break in such perfect conditions. There are many Belgian pleasure boats on the canals and rivers. There are also many Dutch but very few of other European nationalities, no French and one German in a hired boat. We have seen no British on the move, have run into three Australians (one of whom moved to Belgium in 1972 because of the Vietnam war, so he hardly counts) and saw one American boat. This is very different from our usual multinational experience.

We thoroughly enjoyed our few days in Ghent. It was a relief to get off the busy Zeeschelde onto the "Ringvaart", a ring canal around Ghent which enables the commercial boats to bypass it, but also gives excellent access for pleasure boat people like us. Ghent has through the ages been very important, located as it is on two rivers, the Leie which flows North to South and the Schelde, flowing West to East.

Our mooring in Ghent

The trip into Ghent was a great introduction to its charms. The narrow rivers and canals are lined with buildings and gardens. We came in at lunch time and passed many restaurant diners enjoying the fantastic weather. There are many bridges, all of them low. After this entrance we tied up in an approved spot along a narrow canal, metres away from the back of the opera house and concert hall. Well into the evening we had tourist boats with their commentary and private craft often with a picnic basket and bottles of wine, enjoying the city from the water. Several cities have been compared with Venice but so far, for us, this city comes closest in the number of criss- crossing and navigable waterways, the attractive and beautifully decorated bridges and the buildings straight on to the water.

View from the old castle

From about 1000 to 1550, Ghent was one of the most important cities in Europe, bigger than London, second only to Paris in size. It went downhill then until the 19th century when it flourished as the first major industrial city in Europe. It now has about 250,000 inhapbitants. Spared significant damage during the two World Wars, most of its built heritage has survived. The city is a good size to explore on foot, especially for lucky people like us who are parked right in the centre of town. Private vehicles are excluded from 35 hectares in the centre. It even has a castle in the middle of town, with dungeons and ramparts, the latter providing a wonderful view.

Getting ready for the festival!

Ghent has our number one rating for tourist assistance and welcome. The tourist office seems to be quite new and has been planned by people who know what will be helpful to tourists. There are walls lined with exactly the brochures we needed to find out what to see and where to find it; there is a huge two- level table in which is embedded many interactive keyboards on which you can choose your language and search for whatever you want such as post office, banks, tourist sites or transport. And if all that fails, or if you want to buy a museum card or make a booking, there is a desk manned by very helpful multilingual staff. In Brussels we were charged even for a simple, and not very helpful map of the city (which depicts but does not even list tourist attractions) so Ghent shone by comparison.

One of Ghent's Canals

Our good feelings about Ghent became even more positive when we found a nearby bakery with very fresh and delicious bread.

Where does all the beer end up? (See yellow pipe bottom right!)

We arrived a few days before Ghent's major annual festival, celebrating its 170th year.  offering Hundreds of free events are held around the city, including music events, puppet shows and a huge parade. It is expected to attract 1.7 million visitors over the ten days. Barriers, stands and marquees were being erected in every square in the city, rubbish was being collected by hand and gardens trimmed. As we walked along the main street into town we noticed several newly- placed urinal stands (four people at a time) with hoses leading straight into the drains. Except that there were no doors, they looked like portaloos. We looked closely at the signs on the side and realised that they were urinals, confirmed when we saw a man zipping up as he walked away. Maybe this would be an answer to Manly's Saturday night woes! We left the day before the festival started. While it would be a a great buzz, the crowds would be daunting. With the weather perfect it lookes like being a great success.

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

 Bicycles are well catered for

When we were in the shipyard, waiting for the flooded river to abate, we noticed an old wooden-planked boat. The owner of the shipyard (Simon) is an extremely keen collector of old wooden lifeboats and has been for over 20 years. He has many craft in various condition between old-dilapidated and shiny new-looking. He repairs and restores the lifeboats in his spare time. He is very well known in the lifeboat community, particularly in England, even though he has lived in France for over 25 years.

This particular lifeboat is a type of lifeboat with an intriguing history. In itself, it is apparently one of only a few left in the world. In the second world war, these lifeboats were designed to be carried underneath a bomber aircraft (instead of bombs) and then dropped into the sea in locations where other bombers had crashed. The normal crew of a bomber was 10 and so, the lifeboats were equipped to support 10 people. The liferaft was designed to fit snugly under the aircraft as otherwise the rush of air would tear it off.

Uffa Fox Mk-IIA Lifeboat from WW2

They were equipped with a motor/fuel, mast/sails, rations, charts, fishing gear, centre-board and a variety of other equipment. Even the cushions were multi-functioned. One side was camouflaged for hiding under if there were enemy aircraft around and the other sides were coloured to attract attention.

I understand that crew of the aircraft ferrying the lifeboat could go inside it shortly before dropping and update the charts to the correct position. This does not sound like a pleasant job, but had to be done! This update was presumably performed when people were spotted in the water. The range of the lifeboats was in excess of 2,000Km though everything would depend upon whether the 10 days of rations could be supplemented by fish and also how much sailing could be done. There were even instructions on how to sail as this was probably not a skill of many aircrew.

When the lifeboat was dropped, it descended under several parachutes and a rocket blew them away when it hit water. If it was upside down, it was designed to right itself automatically. Other rockets sent out a drogue (underwater parachute) and long line. These kept the boat aligned with the wind and therefore hopefully at right angles to the waves and provided a 100metre line which survivors could grap and pull themselves into the boat. Of course, all these automated gadgets did not always function correctly.

Overall, these boats saved thousands of lives in the war. The one shown here was a "Mark IIA" version designed and built by Uffa Fox who came up with the original design, testing and construction. The engines were typically second hand and gathered from all parts of England (I think from rental boats). This particular model was dropped from Vickers-Warwick aircraft and had to be designed not to slow down the aircraft or make it unsafe to fly.

The engine from the Mk-IIA Lifeboat

As is often the case with great ideas (such as this one), much of the battle was in convincing those in power of the worth and that the concept was workable.

Best Regards,

Dave

Once we had left the Leuven Canal we joined the major commercial routes to head West along major tidal rivers, the Rupel then the Sea Scheldt. We are close to the North Sea and the Rivers have fast flowing currents and tidal variations of about 6 metres. The minimum depth is ample at 2.5 metres but it is at times difficult to be sure how far the main channel extends. Regular ferries cross from one side to the other.

Why is this large aircraft sitting next to the river 20km outside Gent? We don't know!
We have experienced tidal conditions quite often in a sailing boat, but here there are additional restrictions such as tidal locks, bridges and intersecting rivers to say nothing of huge cargo barges moving very quickly where there are no speed limits. There are no locks on these river stretches, so we travelled a record distance of 108 kilometres (over two days) without any locks slowing us down. No wonder there are so many commercial boats using it.

Huge tiday lock gates which need to face two directions rather than the usual one
There is one tidal lock at the sea- end of each waterway. The "tidal" locks need to be two - way, so that they rise or fall dependent on the state of the tide. Some can only operate at certain times during a tidal period, otherwise the drop is too great. We turned up to one lock which seemed to operate at any time, but the keeper told us that he would only open it for us at high tide, an hour later, because that is when he thought it safe for us to continue our journey. These are the experts and they are very helpful (as well as speaking at least three languages) so we don't argue with their wisdom. Our documentation suggested that we wanted to go through the lock before high tide so that we would reach a certain difficult bridge at slack water, instead of which we got there an hour after high tide. Fortunately all was well and we made it through the surging water and angled narrow bridge in safety. the lock keeper was also thinking of our time at the next lock, which may well have been closed if we had turned up too early.  
On a tidal river there are extra difficulties to contend with. First was a bridge which had only 1.4 metres clearance at high tide, 2 metres too low for us. As it was a railway bridge we decided we would plan to pass under it when the level was more suitable rather than ask for it to be opened. We had already put people out enough that day with ten other bridge openings. We made really good time down that river, the Rupel, with the current on the falling tide then we arrived at the junction where the next river,the Sea Scheldt which was running the other way, so that we were fighting the rising tide. At that point we called it a day, to start early the next morning on the falling tide on that river. Finding a suitable place to stop is also a difficulty as they are few and far between on these fast flowing wide rivers.

Low Tide- the rocky bottom
To add to our challenges we have found that the charts and guide books for Belgium are far from perfect. Our Inland Waterways book lacks mileage information so we are left to guess exactly how many kilometres we need to travel between points. The chart we carry is a bit more informative but far from 100% accurate: it showed one distance as 2 kilometres when it was clearly over 20. At times David has had to resort to his phone GPS guidance system to be sure where we are and which way the rivers bend. He was especially pleased to have it when, an hour after we set off, a fog descended, significantly reducing visibility. There was no way of pulling over and stopping, so we had to hope that any of the large craft using the tide as we were would see us on their radar. Fortunately the fog lifted quite quickly.

4,000 tonne pusher and barge just overtook us
The tidal information is also poor: we have good programmes to show what time tides are at the major points on the coast but our guide book is quite inaccurate in giving the adjustments for places further inland. This makes it hard to know when the tide will turn so for planning on our final tidal stretch we resorted to eye- balls and twigs to judge when to leave the next morning. We cast off just after the turn of the tide and as hoped travelled with the tide for the next 50 kilometres to reach the last tidal lock. We were reassured about our calculations when two large commercials passed us just as we were leaving.

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave