Zilvermeer

We left Lier in the morning with destination Zilvermeer. The route leads us through the Netekanaal, Albertkanaal and Kanaal Bocholt-Herentals. Seven locks are waiting for us on this tour.

The Netekanaal is a quiet waterway with nice trees at both sides. Life got busier when we arrived at the lock Viersel which connects the Netekanaal and the Albertkanaal. During our trip through Flanders we already got a good idea why long ropes are mandatory in Belgium. Viersel lock has a rise of 5 m, and when we went into the lock the lock master sent us a hook where we could fit our rope. She moored us at a bollard 5 m above us and Fiona hang in the lock like a fish at the fishing-rod.

Albertkanaal is a busy large waterway with lots of commercial boats and industry around us. Luckily we only have a short distance on Albertkanaal before we take the lock in Herentals to the Kanaal Bocholt-Herentals. This lock has a rise of 7.50 m, but with ladders for the ropes. Much better, but the dirty ladder made quite a mess on our rope...

In the course of the Kanaal Bocholt-Herentals we have to pass one lock after the other, sometimes we have to phone instead of using our VHF radio, sometimes we have to wait for some time.

Mooring in the lock

Locks, and locks, ...

In one lock construction works were ahead so that one side of the lock disappeared below the waterline. Unfortunately, also all the bollards disappeared with rising water level so that the rope got loose. In the end, Frank had to keep Fiona still by motor until the lock opened.

Not enough of adventure, we had to share our last lock for the day with a passenger boat. The lock master took our rope and moored us some distance behind the passenger boat, but under an open bridge he then went to close. We needed some good ideas and fast reaction to bring the boat away from the bridge so that our canopy was safe. The passengers had an interesting show, though. 

and locks...

Sharing the lock with a passenger ship

We found that seven locks, some of them quite delicate, were enough for this day, and turned into the lake Zilvermeer where we moored in Zilvermeerhaven Port Aventura. This is a great place to stay! A modern yacht harbour with all facilities and a nice restaurant, and a fantastic lake around us! The weather was wonderful, so that we decided to stay here for two nights.

Relaxing at Zilvermeer

The rest of our trip through Flanders lead us through another 8 locks. We went from the Kanaal Bocholt-Herentals into the Zuid-Willemsvaart and finally into the Kanaal Wessem-Nederweert.

Due to the warm and sunny weather during these days the water level in the waterways was low. The first lock on this last day took us more than one hour because a commercial boat got stuck between two locks. The water level was raised with the help of the locks, but this took some time. 

Waiting for lock 18

Panheel lock with a commercial ship

The lock 18 to the Zuid-Willemsvaart gave us even more delay due to low water level. So we ended up at the lock in Panheel, our last lock for these trip, shortly before sunset. This lock again took us more than the usual time because we had to wait for a commercial ship. So we left the lock almost in darkness, but luckily we were not far away from Fionas new home berth, and we had been there before several times so that we knew the way. Finally, we brought Fiona to her new home, after having a lot of fun and adventure with her on our trip through Flanders.

View from our berth at the Marina Boschmolenplas at our arrival. For the next day we had reserved a table in the restaurant.

Mechelen and Lier

Mechelen welcomed us with a couple of surprises. After a 90 km tour we arrived in Mechelen in the early evening. We decided to moor at the Jachthaven Dijlestreek. This little harbour offers not more than fresh water and electricity, but is nicely located and very close to the center.
The part of the Dijle which can be navigated by sportsboats ends in the center of Mechelen, and the moorings are just in front of a low bridge. We could see the bridge in a distance of about 150 m and decided to take one of the moorings directly at the head of the little harbour. We were just sitting for dinner when another boat crew came and one of them fussed at us that we would moor in the wrong place - our place would be for members of the yacht club. He even called us criminal since we took electricity! 
We went along the moorings to check the situation, and indeed, a couple of meters away from the bridge, well hidden behind another ship mooring there, we found a litlle sign which explained for visitors how and where to moor. No chance to see it from the water... Obviously the harbour master expects new visitors to have second sight.

Restrictive orders for Mechelen visitors

We wondered about the strict orders, but decided not to be annoyed about that too much but rather to go and enjoy the city.
And Mechelen indeed is well worth to be seen. Although much smaller than Bruges or Ghent, it has several wonderful places with over 300 historic buildings which are nicely illuminated at night, and wonderful bars and restaurants.

Center of Mechelen

Vismarkt

Bars and restaurants at Vismarkt

Historical buildings in Mechelen

We had to pass the tidal lock again to leave Mechelen, and so we left Mechelen in the afternoon for a short trip to Lier where we had our next overnight stop. Close to Lier there were some new moorings at the Netekanaal, but we were afraid of swell from the commercial barges, and so we decided to moor at Jachtclub Emblem were we were nicely welcomed. We had electricity and fresh water there, and also some funny sanitary equipment in an old ship. The WC room was smaller than ours in Fiona!

Entrance of Jachtclub Emblem close to Lier

Center of Lier

Night Life in Lier

We did not really plan to visit Lier, since Emblem is some kilometers apart from the center, but then we decided to make a nice evening walk and ended up in Lier for some icecream. Again, we were surprised about all the pretty buildings which can be found in almost every city that we visited.

A bath in the morning

We planned to go through the tidal river Boven-Zeeschelde non-stop because the jetties there were not the way we like it - right in the middle of tidal current and with commercial barges around us. This meant an almost 90 km tour on one day.
The evening before, Harbourmaster Rocco checked the tidal table for us and advised us to start before 6 in the morning with the falling tide. So we had to stand up pretty early and started in darkness - a luck that the marina was lighted. Next to the marina we had to pass a tidal lock which was also nicely illuminated.

Merelbeke lock, Ringvaart to Boven-Zeeschelde

Locks always take time, and when we passed it morning had come.
What shall I say - shit happens... When we left the lock Frank found that the boat went much slower than before, and the machine began to stop when cruising slowly. Of course we decided not to start the trip, but moored next to the lock to check the propeller. We had the slight hope to reach it from the bathing platform, but in the end Frank had to take a bath in the Schelde and removed a large piece of plastic from the propeller! He was the hero of the day for the rest of the crew!

Trouble for our duoprop

Boven-Zeeschelde at low tide

At low tide the river had a very special atmoshpere, kind of awesome and surreal. We were not unhappy when tide began to be high again.
At Temse we stopped for Diesel the first time with Fiona and were happy about her low consumption of about 3 liters per hour! In Temse we also found one of the most beautiful marina building.

Finally we reached the tidal lock in Mechelen on time and could enjoy comfortable locking with swimming bollards.

Mechelen lock