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.
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Time for the oil and filter change before we go out
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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.
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| Mother's Day Dinner, thanks kids |
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| They even have a special glass for the water |
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| 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. |
Free stop, no facilities at Fintele
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| Nice to be about to relax with a safe arrival drink |
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| Stop for the night |
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| Sharing the canal with the cows |
A lovely marina about a 700 meter walk to the market square.
Marina Facilites:
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.
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| Love Belgium chocolate |
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| Court House |
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| Menin Gate from the top of the hill |
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| Menin Gate - Australian soldiers names are on these walls |
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| Menin Gate from the front |
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| Toronto Police band after they did the last post |
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The Ramparts is a system of fortification that
surrounds the city, consisting of a moat, walls, and cannons
used to defend against invaders. |
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.
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.
Staying in Portus Dixmuda, Harbour 2. Harbour 2 is closer to the center of town. Last year we stayed in Harbour 3 which is an extra 500 meters to walk to get into town but there is less traffic noise.
Marina Facilites:
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| Sun Chi on hard stand |
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| Moving Sun Chi under the lift |
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| Sun Chi heading to the water |
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| Sun Chi in Portus Dixmuda, Harbour 2 for the next week |
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| After cleaning the deck |
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| Before cleaning deck |
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| Plenty of leftover magnet and steel strips to neaten up the original flyscreens that were using Velcro |
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| The flyscreen installed on the front hatch |
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| Kit used to make the flyscreens |
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| Walking to the Market square every morning we saw the Golden statue 't Manneke uit de Mane, which symbolizes West Flemish humor. It is a statue of a little man holding up a book in front of the moon. That booklet is the Flemish almanac 't Manneke uit de Mane that has been published since 1881 and is full of funny stories. There is also an association with 'knights' attached to it that receives the latest edition every year. In the background is the town hall and behind that is the Church's bell tower. |
Time to catch you up on today. Belinda will finish off the issues we had in St Jean de Losne but this post is about the travelling we did today.
This is the high-level view I get for todays travel. You can see that it is pretty much a straight line for today leaving St Jean de Losne and we're now about halfway to Dijon.
The yellow is our start and finish for the day.
The red circle is the bridge clearance. So long as it's more that 3.30m we're good. If it's less than that we need to fold the mast down. One day I'll show that.
The 2,705 in blue type (in the green circle) shows the distance in meters between the two locks. In this case it's 2.7kms.
Circled in purple is a PK number. This is a km marker in the canal. Sometimes they count up, sometimes they count down.
Circled in blue is 72, La Bietre (2,47)
This means that it is Lock (Ecluse) 72 at La Bietre and the height difference is 2.47m. The green dot means that it is manually operated.
Friday 3rd May 2024 - We arrived at the marina before lunch to find the Sun Chi already in the water. Now the work begins, checking engines, unpacking and finding a place for all the new stuff we just had to bring and cleaning 7 months worth of dust and grime.
Sunday 5th May 2024 - Moved the boat to the marina berth going through our first lock (Ecluse 76 S de Saint-Jean-de-Losne)
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| First Lock of the season. |
Monday 6th May, we returned the hire car, we then caught the train back to Saint Jean de Losne and walked the 1.2 kilometers back to the boat in the rain, let the fun begin.
Tuesday 5th May, Time for the engine maintenance.
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| Replaced |
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| Prop Shaft Boot is our first job to be done next winter. |
Wednesday 8th May 2024 - today is a public holiday, Victory in Europe Day. It makes the official end of World War II in Europe in the Eastern Front.
Link to Video of VE Day in Saint Jean de Losne - Hope the video works
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| Boys removing the weed. |
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| Fishing Lure in the shape of a frog. |
