Plassendale - 14th May and 15th May 2025

Free stop, no facilities not even a bakery or pub near by

Heading to Brugge today, that is what we thought anyway. 3 bridges and 2 locks later we were told the Stalhillebrug is under repair and will be fixed by tonight.

Stopped at Plassendale until tomorrow, again didn't go as planned, there was an incident at the bridge that has held up the repairs. Staying another night.

 Park for 2 nights

Beautiful, old double lock system on the edge of Ostend. Consisting of 4 upper and 4 lower gates. approx. 90m long, 6m wide. The lock was built around the middle of the seventeenth century.

The Spanish Toll House, ships had to pay a toll to the Spanish to use the lock.

Plenty of parking space

Oostende - 13th May 2025

We stayed at the Oostende North Sea Yacht Club

€38,25 for a 9.99-meter boat, includes everything, electricity, water, showers.

2 hours at sea, I was looking forward to traveling by sea again, then it all came back, the swell, the boat rocking, not been able to make a cuppa incase the boat rocked and you have tea all over the place.

North Sea

Oostende - entering the channel 

Hello Oostende 

Our way in

The city is a seaside resort but also has ports for industry and fishing. 

Ostend, also known as "City by the sea" is the 16th largest city in Belgium in 2022, with 72,000 inhabitants, in the summer, the number of inhabitants increases fivefold to around 400,000. This large number can be explained by the many campsites, hotels and apartments of tourists who come to the sea during the holidays.

Home for the next 2 nights at high tide

Low tide

Casino by the sea

Old with the new, big red thing on the left is art

Walk by the beach

Bins in the sand they are not going anywhere once you know what they look like out of the sand

Bins when not in the sand

Saving the front of the building

What it will look like once finished

Not moving anywhere

One big fender

Nieuwpoort - 12th May 2025

We stayed at Koninklijke Yacht Club (KYCN) we could stay on the visitors dock as it wasn't the busy summer season and we are only here for one day.

€28,80 for a 9.99-meter boat, includes everything, electricity, water, showers.

Time for the oil and filter change before we go out

There always something that needs to be done

Leaving Nieuwpoort

Vleteren - 10th May to 11th May2025

EUR12 for a 9.99-meter boat
Showers (when he's open) are EUR2
Electricity is EUR3 / day

Veurne suffered some damage during World War II, mainly from Allied bombing but also from the strategic flooding that engulfed the whole area.

Mother's Day Dinner, thanks kids

They even have a special glass for the water

New garbage system, recycling is free and for general rubbish you need to scan the QR code they will take €10 from your account, weigh your rubbish then refund you what is over. Great system.

Lo-Reninge - 9th May 2025

 Free stop, no facilities at Fintele

Nice to be about to relax with a safe arrival drink

Stop for the night

Sharing the canal with the cows

Ypres - Tuesday 6th May to Thursday 8th May 2025

A lovely marina about a 700 meter walk to the market square.

Marina Facilites:

Berth: 10 meter boat 12:00 euros
Electricity: 4 euros unlimited for the day
Water: 2 Euros for about 200 litres

Shower: 2 Euro for 8minutes

Key Card: 20 Euro deposit 

Markets on Saturday in the Market square

Ypres may have a difficult and dark past, but today it's a beautiful city that is worth a visit.

Ypres has a lot of WWI history, located on the front line of the war the city was completely destroyed during WWI. After the war, the city was rebuilt in the original medieval and renaissance style. Menin Gate, the 'In Flanders Field' Museum and the Tyne Cot Memorial are places you will want to see.

Not war related is the Yper Museum, walking the ramparts and the De Kazematten Brewery and the brewery underground tunnels. The opening hours for most are everyday all day but the De Kazematten, their hours are Tours on Saturday at 3:00pm, 4:00pm and 5:00pm, Additional tours on Friday at 5:00pm (April-November) and Thursday at 5:00pm (July-August) must book beforehand. We missed out but we will make sure we are in town on the right days next time. 

Love Belgium chocolate

Court House

Menin Gate from the top of the hill

Menin Gate at road level, one of 2 arches

Menin Gate - Australian soldiers names are on these walls

Menin Gate from the front

Toronto Police band after they did the last post 

The Ramparts is a system of fortification that surrounds the city, consisting of a moat, walls, and cannons used to defend against invaders. 

Diksmuide, Belgium - Sunday 3rd May & Monday 5th May 2025

Saturday, back at the marina in Diksmuide, met a lovely couple, David from Canada and Katherine from Fance, drinks on their boat then dinner out.

Sunday, great day to stay inside after our walk for a croissant. Very windy with a cold bite to it. Hoping it's the last bit of cold weather before the warm days stay around. 

Between Diksmuide and Fintele, Ijzerdijk 22 - Friday 2nd May 2025

Today is our first day of our 2025 Season, first week and a bit was not counted, it was all about cleaning and preparing.

We set off to Ypres (Ieper) about 20 kilometers from Diksmuide. Like the saying goes "Best laid plans". About 5 kilometers into the trip, Martin noticed the electric engine was starting to heat up. Keeping an eye on it, the decision was to turn around and wait for the part in Diksmuide.

(We had noticed as soon as we went into the water that the water pump for the electric motor wasn't working correctly. On Wednesday we had worked out the bit that needed replacing and were waiting for it to arrive. To be fair, the manual says we don't need to run the electrical system cooling when we are running on diesel. Not so!)

We stopped on the way to Ieper because the electric motor was getting to 40 degrees. The stop was a new dock in front of De Fot'oeil a Farm/Cafe/Museum. Have been told it has a beautiful and very large collection of photographic equipment.

Free with no facilities, also found out it's a very new dock and they were having an opening celebration on the 4th May and the dock was built for the kayaks. The cafe was booked for a private function, so we didn't get to see the museum. The function turned out to be for the opening of the dock we were on. A councilman came and talked to us, he explained the money for the dock, ferry dock and walking track in the center of Diksmuide was raised from different areas. The dock was designed for kayaks and small electric hire boats. He asked if the dock was strong enough for our boat, which it was. He then explained they are doing signs for the dock and will think about letting larger boats on the dock. Sun Chi was the first and maybe the only boat to stay here for a night.