Travels with Forty Roses: May 2017

The beautiful city of Bruges was a highlight this past week. We stayed at a lovely little marina within the city called Flandria. We also explored another possible over-wintering location, called the Coupure. Both locations are in the city with easy access to the busy and interesting life of Bruges. Most important is the access to an excellent train system that would allow us options during the winter. The daylight hours are wonderfully long here right now and that makes the evenings most enjoyable. Before you know it, the clock is reading 10PM. The street life is lively with residents and building summer tourism. But, despite the weekend crowds the city is accessible and beautiful and thankfully a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. And if you love chocolate, the place to visit!

Companionship of sailors on the seas was a large part of our sailing enjoyment. The same we are finding is true of barging. Fellow bargers are friendly and helpful and always willing to provide tips and pointers to newbies such as ourselves. We have survived many locks, sluis and now écluse; some automatic, some manned. Now that we are in France, the little VNF truck can be seen flying alongside the canal after providing us passage through our last écluse, heading to the next one. We have found little traffic here compared to the Dutch rivers and canals. We met possibly 3 boats on both the Canal de Bourbourg and the Canal de Calais. We did join up with Adrianna, a Dutch barge from Lisse, the land of the tulips. Dirk and Elsa have lived aboard for 28 years and raised their family on the boat. Elsa laughs when she relates her daughter's complaint as a school girl to her mates. " My room is too small," she would say to her friends, who were envious of her boat-life. Now she lives and works aboard a sea sailing ship of 50 metres that takes paying passengers and shares a tiny cabin for 4 staff with bunk beds. Now she says" Whose sock is this? " and never complains.

We arrived in Calais and parted from Adrianna, as they were turning back and heading south; the route we will take eventually toward Lille. They had been checking out the canal depths for their son who is a commercial Boat Master between the Netherlands and Belgium but wants to move his barge between Belgium and Calais. We said au revoir, but know that somewhere, someday our barge paths will cross again.

Now we prepare for the Channel crossing. We have a weather window for Sunday, May 21, and plan to take it. We have as an insurance requirement a professional skipper Chris along with John and our friend Hans. I will retire to a lovely little hotel here and enjoy Calais and its magnificent history and of course. . .worry until their safe return.

One of Europes most famous artworks. Adoration of the Mystic Lamb

Painted by the Van Eyck brothers in the early 1400's

Located in St. Baafskathedraal in Ghent

Cyclist among innumerable cyclists

Cat behind dirty glass

Enjoying some company

Flanders Poppy

Fields just coming into bloom

Contented Belgium Cows

On the way to Bruges

Minnewater Park Bruges

Spires and bridge in Minnewater

Lovely gothic structure now a restaurant

Bruges is thankfully a UNESCO World Heritage Site

A tranquil and beautiful park

Belgium Bobbin Lace in every imaginable design. Lessons are available.

Belgium tapestry in every imaginable design . . .along with cats!

Belgium pastry.....of course we never tried one!

Needlework a big deal in Bruges...this is a cross-stich, knitting and embroidery shop. Some beautiful examples for those who love this work.

Bruges is full of canals and twistying streets

Michaelangelo's celebrated Madonna and Child, sculpted in white marble, in 1504, the treasure of the Church of Our Lady in Bruges

Peaceful Protest for protection of sea creatures in the busy Market Square dominated by the Belfry of Bruges. 83 metres tall with a carillon of 47 silver-toned bells that play every hour. Yes, it leans. . . 87cm to the east.

Several windmills line the ring canal in Bruge this one is called s Coelweymolen, built around 1765.

The Kruispoort

Last bridge lift of the day

End of Day in Wulpen

A comfortable fishing spot in all weather

Bluebird Sky

Our travel mates, Dirk and Elsa aboard Adrianna, a 26 metre barge . They have lived onboard for 28 years, raising two children. We had wonderful help and advice from these good, experienced bargers.

We both tied up along a green embankment and spent a quiet evening enjoying the peacefulness and significant birdlife.

Ever since April 20, the day we gained possession of our boat, life has been a whirlwind. Our first destination was BootService on the Waal, in Beneden-Leeuwen, the chandlery where we had originally ordered our lines and bumpers. The proprietor, Ramon Noij, is an extraordinary young man and he was instrumental in facilitating a temporary ballast solution and many other necessary adjustments and additions, in order that we could get underway. We were moored off his huge water boat, which contains his home and shop, and safely tucked between a workboat and a tug. Ramon was a constant source of help, advice and laughter, and knows everyone knowledgeable and useful to boats and boat owners in the Netherlands. We have many people to thank; Uge Deen spent his Sunday crawling about our boat with John into every nook and cranny going through the systems. (as this was not done by the builder). Uge, a former sea captain and nautical engineer assessed the ballast situation and he and John calculated a temporary fix until we can haul the boat into dry dock and do a permanent correction of the ballast and fuel tank issues. The ballast we placed is insufficient, but there is no room to add more without the great expense of lead (which will come later) and it gets those pesky stern and bow thrusters into the water! We had Kai and Kelly and all kinds of helpers with ballast heavy lifting. Each container held 25 Kg to be wheeled down from the delivery point on the dike, lifted down to the workboat, up to the wheelhouse, down the steps, into the bilges and tightly fitted and safely secured for no shifting. Working in a tiny space, Kai was on board early and late to help us complete all this very necessary work, as well as correcting a very hot engine room to much cooler temperatures. Our hats are off to him. He has skill , professional workmanship, diligence and good humour too. A quiet guy, a boxer and a delight to have on board. Joop, another man called upon by Ramon, did a magnificent job on our new gangplank and some other items that required attention. And of course, there is Isabelle, a wonderful young girl who cleaned the bilges and scrubbed them beautifully, cleaned the exterior, joined us for dinner while providing Dutch lessons and laughing at our pronunciations. And the orchestrator of all this was Ramon with chief adviser Uge. Right down to giving us good routes and advice for our truly inaugural trip and recommendations and contacts for events we have yet to face. It was hard to wave goodbye to all these good people, but it was time to move on.

But we were not alone, as my sister Sharon and brother-in law Jim joined us on Saturday April 29 and have lived through boat works and the disorder of tools everywhere, workers on and off and finally a canal trip. . .not of scenic France! They were terrific and pitched in at every turn to help. We accomplished some sightseeing between work events and they certainly got to see a different side of things from a normal vacation tour! Our wonderful Dutch friends joined us for a final dinner aboard on Netherlands Remembrance Day and we all watched the televised event from Amsterdam, a truly moving ceremony. As Sharon and Jim had just completed a tour of World War I and II commemorative sites and were steeped in the history, it was a meaningful experience. From tug boat rides to lamp purchasing expeditions( and other stories, to be revealed in good time) they were the most flexible guests ever. They deserve the Best Guest Award.

We even managed to get to those tulip fields as Sharon and I escaped the industry aboard one day, and journeyed to Lisse and the Keukenhof Gardens where the tulips were in full blossom. But we hankered for more, and found our way to the fields where the bulbs bloom in wondrous colour strips. It was a day just for us as we are both tulip mad…a day I’ll never forget. From childhood, we always were intrigued by the fact the Dutch Royal Family took refuge in Canada during the Second Word War and Princess Margriet was born there. The hospital room at Ottawa Civic was declared Dutch territory thereby allowing her citizenship to be determined by her mother’s. To recognize the birth the Dutch flag flew over the Peace Tower, the only time a foreign flag has flown over the Canadian parliament building. As a result, The Netherlands, or Holland as we knew it then, has given Canada tulips every year, in appreciation. That is how the Tulip Festival in Ottawa originated and continues.

We saw them off on the train to Schiphol yesterday and we miss their good company. And yes, Sharon and Jim, we are eyeing some more bumpers. We have decided to stay longer so we shall not be home until mid-June as there is much to accomplish before we get on that flight to Toronto. From what we hear Spring is a bit late so maybe there will be a few plants still left in nurseries to fill my planters at the lake?