Hamburg and Belgium day seven CrosiEurope Cruise

We woke to a dead calm day the water in the junction was like a mill pond. Last night we were supposed to be Oudenaarde with a walking tour around the town this morning, so they had to get a coach pick us up about nine.

On the way we stopped at Braeckman’s distillery for a guided tour. The distillery is run by a father and his 2 sons and only operates for 4 months a year to fulfill their present market. I didn’t know that they use over 15 Lts of water to produce 1Lt of spirits.    
   

	This Hazelnut is very similar to a Baileys Cream but creamier in my opinion. I’ll stick with the Baileys

We were each given 3 tokens to spend at the bar by the owner, but once he started pouring I am not sure he was counting.
We continued our coach journey into town and the coach driver negotiated several back streets to get us to the centre of town by the town hall. The traffic was quite chaotic as they are replacing the main bridge over the canal..

I have seen many strange toilets in mainland Europe but never one as grand as this

The town had a convent but it also had, what we would probably call alms houses for ladies. These were similar to Convents but the residents, unlike Nuns didn’t take an oath and were free to leave at any time, but they were expected to follow the rules and religion played a big part, with both a church and small chapel. The buildings were all round a large courtyard with just a single gate which could be locked at night.

		The small Chapel in the grounds

The town decided to rebuild the church, but after working on it for several year they   changed plans to stop demolishing and instead join the new to the old.

At the back of the church stands the old hospital with the modern one just a very short distance away.

As we were out all morning we did stop for a coffee before returning to the boat for lunch, plenty of cafés to chose from in the square. This one had some interesting “steam punk” models on display. I recognised a few of the bits.

After lunch we were off again, the river reminds me very much of the French canals with the towpath lined with trees.

We cruised through the Pont des Trous at Tournai,named after the nearby lock, this 13 century bridge was part of the town wall and took 50 years to build. It contained a portcullis that could be dropped to close the river off. There are plans to replace it as it limits the size of ships using the river     

We cruised through the city and back out into the countryside passing under yet another lifting bridge . There are several large Lime Kilns along the canal, bigger than any I have seen in England. 

We passed though another large lock and our boat crew’s rope throwing skills were not quite as good as he thought they were. You can’t get it right every time .

As we left the lock some of the passengers got a little bit wet from the dripping guillotine gate.

The Belgians seem to have a great love of painting murals on the walls of their houses, we have seen many times in town but this one was out in the countryside

We turned off the river onto the Scheldt Canal and through one lock where the canal opens onto a large lake known as Grand Large. At the edge of the lake is the Royal Péronnes Yacht Club where we moored to a very short pontoon for the night with half the boat laying outside a cruiser that was already moored there.

After dinner we went for a short walk before turning in for the night.