July 28, 2020November 1, 2020 Andrew

Ninove to Denderleeuw and back again (17/07-01/08)

Shensi travels

17th July – We spent a great five days in Ninove, moored up outside the park in front of Dreamer, which was replaced a day or so later by Unique (Tony and Heidi, Olly (their gorgeous German Shepherd) and their friend, Annita), where at last I managed to wash the boat down – but only on one side, I’m hoping to do the rest when we make the return journey.

Although there is free electric, only one of the meters was working so we shared it with the other boats using a splitter; for a few days it seemed as though the water wasn’t working until Tony spoke to the lockkeeper who then turned it on for us all. So, free water and electricity. Great.

Nicki found some very good walking areas with Casper, and the town was very nearby, so we were able to get out and about quite easily.

22nd July – Moving on today, we cruised further along the Dender, stopping at Denderleeuw between the Schiptrekkersbrug (which turned out to be quite a busy rail line, even at night) and a passerelle, with a canoe club alongside us. The weather was now extremely hot, but tempting as it was, we just sat on the stern deck watching the canoeists and didn’t join in!

During our stay we wandered into the town, passing along a quaint little street by the church and coming out in the main area, which consisted of a few bars and cafes, a supermarket and a very interesting shop selling some fabulous lighting ideas.

We had been talking about getting a nice lamp for the boat at some point so popped in to browse their fabulous selection, and after much to-ing and fro-ing we ended up buying the perfect much-sought after Tiffany-style lamp for the saloon.

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Feeling very pleased with ourselves we headed back to the boat, and on the way we had a call from our friend, Keith, who was out and about in his campervan reasonably nearby, and was on his way over to us. We all met up in a local bar before heading back to Shensi for food and more drinks, and had a lovely unexpected evening to round off the day. Keith stayed the night in his campervan which was parked fairly closeby, and was already up and at his next destination before we’d even got up.

23rd July – When we eventually surfaced, Nicki and I had a nice walk along the tow/cycle path to the next lock to check that we could get through to Aalst as we had heard rumours that there were obstructions along the way, but the lock keeper was happy for us to continue, so next day we were on our way again back to Denderleeuw.

24th July – The train track overnight maintenance at Schippstrekkerbrug (Denderleeuw) got a bit much so we decided to go back up the river Dender and stop again in Ninove. I had previously arranged with one of the barges moored there to let us know when they vacated one of the two available slots and as promised they contacted us later the next day (although we were already underway by then) so we were hopeful that we’d be able to spend a few days in Ninove once more – as we approached the last bridge into Ninove the bridge operator was able to confirm that the spot was free but then literally as the pontoon came in sight a cruiser from the opposite direction moored up there!!! We were a little disappointed, but carried on along the river until we came across a stretch of pontoon not to far along at Pollare and decided to overnight there.