Sunday 19th June 2011 Wachtebeke – Lokeren. 19.5 kms 0 locks

Wandering Snail by the old railway liftbridge.
Moervaart

Still very windy, cloudy with a few light showers of rain. Anne had booked a bridge keeper for the 10.00 a.m.  for the run through to Lokeren. (Keepers are available at three different times during the day, but have to be booked in advance at this time of year) A new bloke on a bike turned up that Anne hadn’t seen before. Our keeper shut the barriers across the road then pressed buttons to lift the Llangollen style bridge then we went first, WS following, at 10.10 a.m. I defrosted the ‘fridge and started packing. The next bridge was ready for us ten minutes later and a third at 10.40 a.m. The fourth bridge was an old vertical lift railway bridge, long disused and left in the up position. I remembered photographing it in June 1993. Number five was ready for us as we flew through at eleven. 

Storks, with young almost fully grown.

Lots of bicyclists were waiting at number six at 11.15 a.m. We had another heavy shower of rain as we ran on to bridge 7 at 11.45, Smaaibrug St Nicklaus. The eighth bridge was a swingbridge, Daknambrug, it was 12.20 p.m. The bends became more frequent and tortuous as we neared Lokeren. Mike called me to see a stork’s nest atop a pole with two large youngsters being fed by their parents. We moored next to Ann and Hendrik’s boat Arquamarin at 1.00 p.m. They were there to greet us and help us moor. WS winded and moored next to the tjalk, Wim’s boat, at the beginning of the moorings. It was 1.00 p.m. Mike finished shutting the boat up. After lunch he went to sort out the noise that Anne had noticed on WS, a fan was catching on the alternator drive belt.

Moored temporarily at Lokeren

Anne’s friend Timothy arrived to ferry Mike and Dick back to Oudenaarde, then Dick said he would take Mike via Antoing to collect our car on his way back to Namur. I carried on with the packing. Mike was back around 4.30 p.m. with the car. I carried on packing with the aim of loading as much as possible in the car before it was dark. We disconnected the solar panel and moved it into the cabin, then I moved some of the bags on to the boat next door’s back deck for Mike to load into the car then we collapsed into bed. No time for TV, nor Internet and an early start to catch a ferry back to the UK. 

Bye bye boat, see you soon we hope.