Tournai to Leers-Noord via Spierebrug and with Antoing thrown in.

Sunday 25^th and Monday 26^th October 2015

The Springboks went down to the All Blacks by two points! So we decided, over a rather unmemorable meal at La Villa Bellini, an Italian restaurant next to the pub,

Salad and hot snails in cream sauce do not go!

that we would leave for a wild mooring at the mouth of the Canal Espierres the next morning so that a commercial-traffic free day's cruising on the big Haut Escaut could be enjoyed.

But first we cycled through the Tournai city outskirts, past pretty parks and old forts

 and along the stark, cement factory lined road to the nearby town of Antoing to visit the castle which we had seen from the canal. A pretty little hilltop town which tumbles toward the canal, dominated by the 12^th Century fortress – a real gem and well worth visiting.

The circle on entering Antoing - four 'grafittiesque' panels.

What a good idea it turned out to be to travel on a Sunday! As we left the mooring we radioed ahead and were told we could proceed downstream – the big light turned green and we were on our solitary way,

through the huge 125m x 15m lock which was emptied just for us, and leisurely on down the Haut Escaut to a small jetty 100 meters from the town of Spierebrug, strange in that although it is just inside the Flemish border and all the place names are in Dutch, the people we spoke to all spoke French.

Flower boxes at the pontoon.

A quick beer at the nearby pub, a braai back on board and an early night after a great day.

Monday morning at 09h00 we called the lock service and agreed to meet the lockie at 10h00 about 1,500 meters upstream from our mooring. The Canal Espierres is really beautiful and it was a spoil to see it in such perfect weather.

Crystal clear!

On arrival at the Leers-Noord lock we were informed that the one door was jamming and that we could go no further; luckily, there is another pontoon below the lock with free electricity and water and only 100 meters from the restaurant Maison de Canal, the object of our return and where we enjoyed a hearty steak at the bustling little venue.

Looking upstream, Ecluse Leers-Nord (after repair) with Maison de Canal on left.

Delicious!

After lunch we cycled into Leers to stock up on the much cheaper wine in France. We found a huge shopping centre and a plentiful supply of Lynn’s ‘Grand Sud Merlot’ at nearly €2 per bottle cheaper that what we had paid in Belgium. And I dropped my bike keys in the crowded aisles, didn’t I? Back at the firmly locked bikes Lynn returned to the store and very luckily someone had handed the keys in at security so with bags laden, it was back to Elle. And later, just to have enough wine to last the remainder of this trip, we went back again!

Another lovely day!