It was an early start for our cruise today as we would have a variety of locks, bridges and waterways to negotiate on our 40 mile passage across the border into Belgium. As the Spijkerbrug into the inner haven at Middelburg does not open until 8.30am we prepared for the trip by moving to the shopping pontoon in the outer basin. This meant we could make a quick getaway and form the first southgoing convoy on the Kanaal door Walcheren at 0641. This leaves from the Stationsbrug and the rest of the bridges opened smoothly in sequence. Even so it was 8am by the time we had locked through at Vlissingen and could make our way out into the tidal Westerschelde. We had managed to time our passage to coincide with the flood tide and enjoyed two knots of following current and light winds as we followed the buoyed channel to the Pas van Terneuzen.

We had planned to make our way into the Oostbuitenhaven for access to the Terneuzen-Gent canal via the Oostsluis but on arrival we were hailed by the lock-keeper to go through the Middensluis with three waiting barges. The Terneuzen-Gent canal is much maligned in the pilot guides as being a featureless commercial waterway. However, it makes a useful quick route to the Gent Ringvaart and the more attractive inland waterways. Once over the Belgian border we had hoped to refuel with legal-again red diesel and eventually tracked down the Bunkerboot at the junction with the Ringvaart. Unfortunately we arrived at 12.30pm which was just late enough to miss his midday closing time and we were advised that we couldn't be served until Monday morning.

After several seven metre bridges on the Ringvaart we arrived at the Evergem lock which we were surprised to learn would be closed the following day for renovations. As our first interaction with the Belgian authorities we had to register here and once inside the lock made our way to the lock office to buy a waterways license. There was quite a delay whilst they processed everyone's details and we felt rather guilty about keeping the barges waiting. However, this does seem to be the accepted procedure and the lock-keepers seemed unconcerned. We continued to the south side of the Ringvaart to its junction with the River Leie where we turned towards the city centre and made our way under a series of four metre bridges, for which everyone had to lower their radar arch. Our destination was the Lindelei moorings, close to the town centre just south of the Ketelvaart. We managed to get the last two box moorings and rafted two boats alongside and were pleased we hadn't arrived any later as other boats went away disappointed.

We celebrated our arrival in Belgium with a round of Belgian beers on board TimChris and from our previous visit here we remembered Georges Seafood Restaurant in the Donkersteeg, where we enjoyed their platter of grilled crustaceans in a surprisingly French ambience.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 40 nm

Total to date: 1508 nm

Avg Speed: 5.7 knots

Duration: 9:00 hours

Diesel: 40 litres

Mooring: €11/night

Electricity: €1 meter

Water: €1 meter

Locks

Vlissingen

Terneuzen Midden

Evergem

K2 Keersluis (open)

Bridges

Stations (lift)
Schroe (lift)
Souburg (lift)
Sloe (lift)
Keersluis (lift)
Sluiskil (6.8m)
Sas van Gent (6.8m)
Zelzate (open for repair)
Everstein road (7m)
Everstein rail (7m)
R4 Industrie (7m)
Waal road (7m)
Heinakker rail (7m)
Nieuwekale (7m)
Spey (6.5m)
R4 (6.5m)
Beekstraat (6.5m)
Drongen (6.5m)
Blaarmeersen rail (7m)
Snepdijk (6.5m)
Leie rail (6.5m)
Snep (6.5m)
Europa (4m)
Albert (5.9m)
Jan Palfijn (4.4m)
Verlorenkost (4.7m)

Charts

1803.8

1803.2

1803.6

1803.7

Navicarte 23

Geocart 1 & 4