Vertical landscape

Brussels to Manage

It has to be admitted that Brussels does not show its best side to users of the canal. We have been to the centre and know how handsome the city is, but not out here. Industrial docks and quaysides are about all you get to see, though the slogan on this one left us perplexed:

There is a big dock in the heart of the city, mainly dealing with sand, gravel, cement and scrap metal, it seems.

But back to the beginning. It turned out that the Brussels Royal Yacht Club is situated right under the flight path from Brussels International Airport. Flights started at 6.30 and were hard to ignore. So we were up and raring to go, leaving at about 8.30 to catch the first lock at 9. Except that when we got there, the lock-keeper informed us by radio that it didn't open till 10. Boring, but a good exercise in patience. We went in punctually at 10, the doors started to close – and then opened again. Apparently a passenger boat was coming. It eventually did, slowly, and accompanied us through a couple more locks as well, together with another British cruiser. Quite what the day-trippers made of the industrial landscape is hard to imagine.

There was also lots of graffiti, of course.

As we moved out of the city there were things to admire, like this conversion of an old mill into apartments:

As the landscape became more rural, we became increasingly aware of Belgium's love affair with the bicycle. Eddy Merckx has much to answer for. This was a big club.

We pressed on, with only a brief stop for lunch. The locks were very deep, but there was almost no traffic, and they were all ready and waiting for us. As we moved from Flanders to Wallonia (Dutch- to French-speaking), we had to pay a ticket for the facilities – minimum 40 euros for three months. More than enough for our couple of days. But it did include the Ronquieres inclined plane and we arrived just in time, to be told by the lady operator that it was the last ascent of the day and we could go.

Here we are going in behind a sightseeing converted barge, with very few holidaymakers enjoying the experience. The captain said it was definitely a bad year – all the violence, I suppose.

And here we are tied up in the chamber:

The lift has two chambers, but one is currently undergoing maintenance. Boats move into the tub and get hauled up the hill. You get a good idea of how it works from this photo:

Here we are moving uphill, with the counterweights between the tracks sliding down:

After emerging there was a rather bleak quayside, so we decided to keep going, and found a place to spend the night shortly after turning off onto the Canal du Centre, near a village called Manage. Tomorrow we will be heading in the direction of Douai, but won't get there in a single day.