West Flanders

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