9. Calais to Bruge via Lille, Kortrijk, Deinze, Diksmuide. 26th July to 18th September 2025

26th July Calais to Watten Lock (34kms, 1 lock and 5 lifting bridges in 4½hrs)

Canal de Calais - AA - Aa Grand Gabarit

We had agreed a time with the VNF chap to get to the first lifting bridge for 10.30am. It all went well. When we arrived at Watten lock - which was where we had planned to moor for the night - it was already quite busy with moored up commercial barges, but Ayhan found a perfect little spot, tucked in behind a commercial, it was safe and being near to a lock, the traffic was slow, so no problems with any wake. All was good with the world and we had a lovely, relaxing evening.

27th July Watten Lock to Fort-Gassion Lock on La Lys ( 28.5kms, 2 locks in 3hrs & 50mins) Aa Grand Gabarit - Canal de Neuffosse.

Another lovely, quiet cruise. We had the locks all to ourselves. Getting used to these large locks now.

We are getting much more bold with our mooring and decided to nip off the Canal de Neuffose for a few meters and enter the first lock on La Lys ,and moor up the other side of the lock, so as to avoid any swell from the passing traffic on the main canal. Whilst it wasn't the easiest to moor up to, it was safe and very scenic.

28th July - 1st Aug Fort-Gassion Lock to La Bassee (35kms, 2 locks in 3½hrs) Canal de Neuffosse - Canal d'Aire a La Bassee.

We had to wait for the VNF guy to come the next morning to let us back through the lock, and then back out onto the Canal de Neuffosse, we had agreed a time with him the night before. he was a young guy, and very helpful. We had another hassle free cruise and arrived at the pontoon at La Bassee. We know this town quite well now. Ayhan topped up the diesel and I did a grocery shop as the supermarket is very close. Had a quiet evening.

29th July La Bassee to Lille (25.2kms 1 lock in 3hrs 10 mins) Canal d'Aire a La Bassee - Canal La Deule.

We had wanted to get to somewhere nice for my birthday on 31st. We had been in Lille last year for my 60th, so it seemed like a good place to head back to. We were lucky this time as not many boats about and we got a nice mooring spot. Last year when we were here we had a heatwave, this time it rained most of the time. On my birthday we walked round Lille and for lunch we decided to try a local dish called Welsh, which is a cross between welsh rarebit & croque madame. It was served with chips and it was extremely rich, so much so that we couldn't even finish a shared portion! That evening we stayed on the boat and had some Champagne and nibbles to celebrate my birthday as it was raining and we were still full after our lunch.

1st - 4th August Lille to Kortrijk (44.3kms, 4 locks in 6hrs & 10mins) Canal La Deule - La Lys.

A bit of a long cruise today, but all went well. We had to share three of the locks with commercial traffic, but it all went like clockwork, and I quite enjoy sharing with the commercials, it is just such an interesting activity to be a part of. The river was wide too, so no passing issues. I had pre-booked our mooring online, so we knew we had a place and it was all quite straight forward. Kortrijk was a pleasant surprise. It had some quite Gothic architecture and it wasn't too touristy. We spent a very nice couple of days here.

4th - 7th August Kortrijk to Dienze (27.4kms, 4 locks in 3¾hrs) (La Lys) Leie

A good cruise, sharing the locks again with commercials.

Mooring at Deinze town was a challenge as it was curved and had ladders at intervals, so it was hard to find a gap straight enough and long enough without a ladder in the way, but Ayhan did a grand job. There was another Piper boat here - 'Archangel', owners being Tony & Niki - so we popped along and said hello and introduced ourselves and after a couple of days we invited them to our boat for drinks. A lovely couple, who will also be moored at Bruge for the winter.

Deinze is nice, quite spread out, but we managed to find a Turkish shop, Turkish restaurant and Turkish bakery as well as a lovely supermarket called Delhaize, which is like a Waitrose. We spent most of our time exploring. The last evening we were there, Dany and Hilde - the harbour master and wife from Bruge - arrived on their boat, they had just started their holiday. It was great to see them and we invited them over for drinks.

7th - 9th August Dienze to Bruge (46.1kms, 1 open lock & 7 moveable bridges in 5¾hrs) Leie - Leie Diversion Canal - Gent-Oostende Canal.

The start of the journey was good and then we got stuck behind two slow commercials, all the way through to our Bruge mooring. It didn't really matter as we had reserved our spot. We were moored up behind the other harbour master and his wife - Steve and Helen - who are also delightful. They take it in turns with Dany and Hilde, two months on and two months off. Whilst here this time, we decided to do a recce for returning home from Bruge in the Autumn. The train station is about a 20 -25 mins walk and the national bus company Flix, departs from there too, so it is all quite convenient. The marina was very busy, so we didn't stay too long, as we didn't want to hog the mooring.

9th - 11th August Bruge to VV Westhoek Marina (39.6kms, 3 locks & 15 moveable bridges). Gent-Oostende Canal - Passendale-Nieuwport - Yser.

We wanted to get out of the marina first if we could, to beat the rush. The first lock we come to is the round lock and can be a bit awkward to tie up to. We had a great spot and I noticed there was a water pipe, so filled up with water, it took only a few minutes as it was a large pipe. We let the other motor boats go out first, but they were going quite fast and it became quite difficult to keep up with them, but we wanted to, because of all the lifting bridges, we didn't want the operators of the bridges to have to keep lifting the bridges for one boat. When we got to the second round lock, we stayed in the middle, which meant we were out first, so we could then control the speed of the convoy this time. 😊 It was quite a windy day too, so every now and again the gust would play havoc with us.

We arrived at our usual pontoon at Nieuwpoort marina and decided to stay 2 nights. We ate at their summer restaurant, which is ran by the two harbour masters that are husband and wife. We had a good meal and a nice evening.

11th August - 13th September V V Westhoek Marina - Diksmuide (16.7kms, 1 lifting bridge in 2 hrs) Yser.

I had pre-booked a month's mooring with a most helpful person at the marina, a chap called Hilaire. Luckily he was working the day that we arrived and guided us to our wonderful mooring place for the month, with great views. We really like the team that work here, and most of them are volunteers.

We had a week before we returned to the uk for a couple of weeks. We invited David and Cathy - the couple we meet here last time - over for dinner one evening to catch up with them. We also bought varnish etc.. in readiness for getting the outside woodwork done on our return. We did a recce to the train station from the boat, which wasn't too far, so all good.

When we came back from the UK , we were lucky with the weather, in fact we had another mini heatwave, so not the best conditions for working out in, or for varnishing, but by the time Ayhan had prepared the wood, the temperature cooled down enough for it to be perfect conditions. We were lucky and he did a grand job!

13th September Diksmuide - Nieuwpoort (16.7kms,1 lifting bridge, 1hr & 50mins)Yser.

A wet day spent at Nieuwpoort, but the rain is very much needed, so no complaints.

14th -18th September - Nieuwpoort - Bruge (39.6kms, 3 locks, 15 moveable bridges in 6hrs) Yser - - Passendale-Nieuwport - Gent-Oostende Canal

We left at 7.20am. We love to be able to get onto the river early sometimes, it is such a nice time of day and so peaceful. We had a great journey, and were lucky with the weather, it started to get windy and cloudy just as we arrived at Bruge.

Dany had put our boat name on the pontoon, and we had to make sure we moored in exactly the right place, which we were more than happy to do. We had some jobs to get done in preparation for getting the boat 'winter ready' for when we returned to the UK on the 18th September. We had a last walk around Bruge, before heading home. We will be back for Christmas and New Year, can't wait.