October 28 to 31 - Brugge

Our friends from England Susie, Harry and Ellie (Diana's goddaughter) came for the weekend.  We enjoyed Brugge and had far too much chocolate and chips!  Managed to remedy some of the damage by getting out on the bikes.

Ready for a bike ride                          Thank you for a great weekend

October 21 - Brugge

Back in Brugge to meet our Kiwi cousin Lucy and her boyfriend Tim for a few days stay.  Enjoyed discovering Brugge together and some serious sightseeing and shopping took place.  How they will get those packages home to NZ is a mystery!

Sightseeing with family                        Overburdened by shopping!

October 18 to 20 - Kortrijk to Brugge

Not wishing to retrace our route up the twisty Leie we took the short cut  from Deinze up the Afleidingskanaal

Avoid the big boys ....                        Gent Oostende Kanaal

October 11 to 18 - Kortrijk

Kortrijk is a lovely city where we spend a week.

Kortrijk                                       Sunset at the town mooring

October 9 to 11 - Deinze

We arrived late on a Friday in Deinze and took the only mooring we could find, opposite the grain factory, where huge commercials were unloading. Actually it was quite a pleasant spot (and free) so we stayed the weekend.

Deinze - moored near the grain factory         Big renovations on Deinze waterfront

October 8 - Schipdonk to Deinze

Schipdonk to Gent is not too far and having decided to visit Gent properly another time we took the Ringvaart to the junction of the Old Leie. The right hand cut looked more like a ditch so we backed out and thought the entrance must be further down. A couple of minutes later it was clear that we had in fact missed it so, about turn and back into a very narrow and twisty river entrance. The entry sign said 'Max 100 tons' so that seemd OK.  A little further on the bends began to get sharper and narrower.  'I think this may be a mistake' said the skipper but we pressed on, unable to turn round anyway.  It was a pretty stressful experience negotiating the hairpin bends and moored cruisers but what a lovely waterway!  Probably more suitable for <15m boats but we are so glad we persevered.

The Old Leie is very narrow but pretty         Serious affluence....

October 7 - Schipdonk

Schipdonk provides a good overnight stop between Brugge and Gent but you need to tie up well as the commercials carry on all night. The mooring is at the crossing of the Gent-Oostende Kanaal, the Afleidingskanaal van de Leie (a shortcut for big commercials to Deinze) and the old Eeklo Kanaal which is only used by small pleasure boats.

'Hold on Hilda' as a commercial shoots past!   Fab sunset in the middle of nowhere

October 5 to 7 - Brugge

Our arrival in Brugge and first cruise around the ring canal was an absolute delight - in spite of being preoccupied with all the bridges - and in perfect weather!

Our winter mooring is booked from 1st November to the end of March so we called in to say hello to the Flandria Yachthaven team and check out our mooring spot. We had a quick look around Brugge and met up again with barge friends on "Hilde" and "Rival" who are in the Coupure Harbour.  There will be plenty of time to get to know this beautiful city when we return in a couple of weeks. The temperature is dropping and the first feelings of winter are here.

Brugge near the Begijnhof                      Brugge, Markt

October 4 - Leffinge to Brugge

Having just called the bridge to request. opening, who should arrive behind us but our Dutch friends from Veurne, Jaap and Frieda in their beautiful cruiser Lenie Anna  so we cruised together to Brugge. They kindly took some of these photos of us.

Leaving Leffinge                               Leaving Plassendalesluis 

Lenie Anna                                    Lift bridge with a difference

Coming into Brugge                             Kruispoortbruggen, Brugge

Nieuwe Dammepoortsluis                         Approaching Brugge - Windmill

Our mooring at Flandria Yachthaven, Brugge

October 2 to 4 - Leffinge

After the end of September there is no bridge service on a Sunday so we decided to stay in Leffinge for the weekend. Only a small town where the whole high street had been dug up to lay new services and pavements constructed from millions of hand laid granite block in beautiful radial arcs. Such a refreshing change from UK in that you could walk straight through the chaos and fall into any of the drains and trenches without any thought of health and safety. People use their brains over here instead of being controlled by the nanny state. 

October 1 - Diksmuide to Leffinge

We left Diksmuide to work our way to Brugge.

St Joris Sluice                               Leffinge - mooring near the lift bridge