We left our comfortable berth under the shadow of the modernistic MAS museum – which we had failed to visit despite being moored so close:
We caught the 10 a.m. lifting of the bridge and then came to a very large and slow lock, which dropped us and half a dozen others about two metres down into the tidal Scheld River. Fortunately the tide was coming in, so we cruised effortlessly upstream at about 13 kph. There were good views of the city from the river as we left:
After that, though, it was mainly industrial docks – mostly handling things like coal, cement, oil, sand and gravel, and, of course, the ubiquitous containers. After a couple of hours, we turned off onto the smaller, but still tidal, Rupel River and reached our second lock of the day, rather smaller than the first. Again the timing was good, because the lock only operates three hours either side of high water, and we had just 10 minutes to wait. We liked this couple on the quayside:
After pausing for a quick lunch, we moved onto the commercial canal linking the Scheld to Brussels, which is, to put it mildly, not very photogenic. Here's a sample view:
The back door to Brussels is very industrial too, and a bit run down. As indeed, is the Brussels Royal Yacht Club, where we're tied up for the night. I wondered whether we should hide our British flag, but decided on balance to brazen it out. At least we have electricity and a good WiFi connection. Three years ago we visited the city centre, taking the tram that crosses the bridge just past the port. So this time we'll press on. Not sure where we'll get to tomorrow, but I hope we'll pass the inclined-plane boat lift at Ronquieres. This is often a bottle-neck, but it should be easier on Sunday without the commercial barges.
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