The Back of Our Minds

It took a little longer than we'd hoped, but our electrical issues were finally resolved on Tuesday morning (July 5) and we were able to get a couple of hours of cruising in after departing Maastricht in the early afternoon.

A small lock off the Juliana Canal to access our overnight port
of choice wasn't working, so we ended up tucking into a side channel
with concrete quays and bollards designed for commercial barges.
No one seemed to be monitoring the moorings and no one made us leave. 

Last year I expressed that I felt a bit of culture shock when entering the Netherlands after months in France and Belgium. Well, consider us "culture-shocked" again after our move from the Netherlands into Belgium. It continues to astonish us how significantly things can change within just a few kilometers. Disappearance of bike culture--check. Disappearance of English-speaking lock-keepers--check. Loss of ability to get a restaurant dinner at 5 or 5:30 p.m.--mostly check. Disappearance of pristine small towns--mostly check (the Belgian small towns we've seen are, shall we say, more eclectic in their layout and architecture.) Disappearance of a mostly flat landscape--check.

After passing through the Lanaye Lock we entered the Albert Canal
in Belgium. It was busy with commercial barges, and somehow we
often managed to concurrently meet, and be overtaken by, commercials.

A short 2-hour cruise on Wednesday brought us to Liege, the 3rd largest city in Belgium. Last year, in our anxiousness to reach Maasbracht, we bypassed Liege, but felt it was worth at least a short stop this year. Liege has long been an industrial and commercial hub, so the outskirts of town have a somewhat "gritty" aspect, but the old city center has retained both charm and history. However, it is also a city very much of the present.

Among the new:

The Liege-Guillemins railway station is a confection of
steel and glass

Streets everywhere in the old part of town were a construction
zone, making cycling even more difficult than normal. It's
all part of a light rail/tram project

Among the old:

The 12th century baptismal font found in Saint Bartholomew's
Collegiate Church, a masterpiece of the goldsmithing craft,
and often said to be one of the seven wonders of Belgium

Saint Bartholomew's Collegiate Church, a Romanesque
church originating in the 11th and 12th centuries. 

And a fun bit of the "old" are the Bueren Stairs (Montagne de Bueren), built in the late 19th century to directly link the barracks at the fortifications above the city to the lower parts of the city. 374 steps from bottom to top, it's outdoor exercise extraordinaire and was a touristic challenge that we couldn't refuse.

374 steps up a relatively steep incline in groupings
of 9-10 steps, separated by small landings

"Thank you for visiting without screaming" reminds everyone that
people live in homes adjoining the stairway, and that it is a 
designated quiet zone. I doubt most people have enough breath
left to scream while climbing

374 steps up and the prospect of the same going down
wasn't enough. We added another 60 up (and down) to
get to a war memorial to Belgians executed by Germans
in the citadel during WWI and WWII. (Birds-eye view of Liège at 
the top of the photo)

Some remains of the Liege citadel

What goes up must come down. As Lon begins the 374 steps to return to the
 lower town center, I suspect he was wondering how he let me talk him
into the climb 

Our mooring spot in Liege was on a quay at the point of
an island in the Meuse, in view of river traffic, but
out of the wash

As we moved south of Liege on Thursday and Friday, the industrial aspects of the river were gradually replaced with more natural scenery.

One of the "Ghosts of Industry Past." This was not the only huge
complex that was abandoned. It was actively being torn down

We whistled past this boat graveyard--it's actually labelled on
the boating charts as a "bateaux cimitiere" (boat cemetery)

A huge lock reconstruction project was underway at
Ampsin-Neuville

The Chateau de Chokier has a commanding presence over the
Meuse. This is an 18th century rebuild of an earlier medieval 
fortress (its circular tower on the backside is a remnant of
the Middle Ages.) The fortress chateau was one of the strongholds
of Liege in the Middle Ages, and can boast of a "Napoleon was
here" moment in 1811. An electrical fire in 2017 badly damaged one wing

Thursday, July 7, was our wedding anniversary. That evening we were moored just outside the small town of Amay. The weather had been grey and cool all day, with intermittent mist. We went on a brief stroll through town in the afternoon and couldn't generate the enthusiasm to brave the elements for a return trip in the evening for dinner at one of the local restaurants. The honeymoon is, indeed, over. It was nice to stay in and promise ourselves that we would have that anniversary dinner later.

We arrived on Friday at the marina in Beez, just a few kilometers shy of the city of Namur. It's peaceful and quiet here, the port captain speaks English pretty well, and we were able to cycle into Namur yesterday for a brief trip down memory lane (we'd stayed in Namur last year) and that deferred anniversary meal.

The confluence of the Meuse (to the left) and Sambre (to the right) rivers in Namur. The glass
building in the center contains a restaurant where we had a relaxing early dinner. The Namur
Citadel is on the hill, but difficult to see in this photo

Dinner was casual, but the food was good and the setting wonderful

So, four good cruising days and a wonderful dinner. Life is good . . . and then "the other shoe dropped." 

Something we always have to be aware of with our cruise planning are those issues and concerns that occupy "the back of our minds." One of those issues for some weeks now has been concern about the dry weather that France has been experiencing since the winter. Dry weather spells potential problems for the canals in the form of weeds and low water, which can lead to canal closures. In June, France began to implement drought mitigation measures on some of the canals that we planned to use on our way to our winter mooring site in Toul, France. Our thinking was that if we kept up a steady--but not killer--pace in July we would arrive in Toul before the worst of the summer heat and possible August canal closures. We were, therefore, rather surprised (and dismayed) to read an advisory last evening from the VNF (the French waterways authority) announcing the closure of navigation beginning July 13 on a section in the southernmost part of the Canal de la Meuse. The reason is "lack of water resources", and if the current long-range weather forecasts are accurate, there isn't much hope for a reprieve in the near future. The canal closure blocks the route we were intending to take to Toul.

We had originally intended to continue our cruise down the Meuse today, but this is a significant upheaval of our plans and we have stayed in Beez one more day to give us time to consider our various options and do a little research. At the moment, it's likely we will turn onto the Sambre River when we get to Namur and head toward the southwest. Options from that point include an attempt to get to Toul by an alternate route, or a decision to stay more westerly and to locate an alternate winter mooring. It's all relatively short-term decision making at this point. 

But life is still good . . . .