South Netherlands/Belgium coast and waterways

[Alicatt]

On this page you can find online versions of the Flemish Pleasure Cruising Federation publications, the yearly gazetteer (Vademecum) listing the clubs, havens, sluizen, en zo, also the quarterly magazine they put out to members Kanaal 77
Kanaal77&Vademecum | Vlaamse Pleziervaart Federatie

 

[Newbroom]

That’s interesting. Bruges and Ghent are on my list to visit and I was wondering about Nieuwpoort as a stop to leave the boat for a week while we go home for a family wedding. It’s also within cycling distance of Du Panne where we want to visit someone. Its then only a short hop to Dunkerque where we were originally going to start our a French trip.

If you lock through to the inland waters side of Nieuwpoort. VVW WesstHoeke i avry safe and very reasonable cost to leave it for a week. You can then either depending on the weather stay inthe canal system to Bruges or go back out to Ostend and lock through again.
Though the Nieuwpoort to Passendal canal is slow it probably not a lot longer than getting through Ostend. The bridges are all operated from Ostend and one phone call sees them all opening as you approach,

 

[[199490]]

If you lock through to the inland waters side of Nieuwpoort. VVW WesstHoeke i avry safe and very reasonable cost to leave it for a week. You can then either depending on the weather stay inthe canal system to Bruges or go back out to Ostend and lock through again.
Though the Nieuwpoort to Passendal canal is slow it probably not a lot longer than getting through Ostend. The bridges are all operated from Ostend and one phone call sees them all opening as you approach,

Thank you, Weesthooke looks ideal and very reasonably priced. I’ll actually be coming the other way, from Bruges or somewhere east, then moving on to Dunkerque. I need to decide whether to do that by sea or along the canal to Veurne and on to Dunkerque.

 

[Newbroom]

That’s interesting. Bruges and Ghent are on my list to visit and I was wondering about Nieuwpoort as a stop to leave the boat for a week while we go home for a family wedding. It’s also within cycling distance of Du Panne where we want to visit someone. Its then only a short hop to Dunkerque where we were originally going to start our a French trip.

 

[mainshiptom]

We berthed our boat in Nieuwpoort in Belgium for one year after a 5 week trip around Belgium and Holland, I highly recommend Namur and Bisbosch .

We loved every minute and every day was an adventure, enjoy

 

[Alicatt]

Varen met Plezier's youtube channel has some info about cruising on the Belgian waterways, mostly in Flemish language
He did put this one up in English though

 

[Alicatt]

The App Waterkaarten is well worth paying for. It gives you all the info about inland waters you need such as marinas, locks, bridges ( air heights, opening times, vhf channels, tel nos) etc as well of course as the charts. Basically everything you need to know. It also does autorouting which is really useful and tracks you. I think you can try it free for a week. It covers the Netherlands & Belgium and Germany, France and the UK. I haven't downloaded it for the latter 3 so can't comment on that. It also has a copy of that unintelligible document for us Non Dutch speakers that you need to have.

Ah, according to the Waterkaarten ceo even though the Water Almanac is included in the app it may not be strictly legal, in that the water police will be looking for a physical copy and will depend on how the police are feeling that day! He said he included it in the app as he got a control by the police and never had a copy of the Almanac onboard, he has been subsequently stopped and the police and they still wanted a physical copy.
May webinar in Dutch by the CEO of Waterkaarten:

There are English videos on their channel too.

 

[[199490]]

Well, thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread and the prior one asking for advice on boats.
We are now officially on our journey having moved from the berth where we were being outfitted near Dordrecht, a great deal poorer but comfortable, and at out first stop at what I keep referring to as Bishbashbosh but is more properly called Nationaal Park de Biesbosch. And very pretty it is too!
Going to spend three days here before heading towards Tilburg, where we have friends and on to Belgium

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[Alicatt]

Enjoy your stay in Benelux, Slanté!

Make sure you are up to date with the regs the water police are doing a concentrated spot check campaign in Belgium this summer, just got an email from the Flemish Pleasure Boat Federation today about it, it is concentrated mainly on the sea, but most of us in the club have been stopped in the past few weeks to make sure everything is up to date, mine was a week ago Sunday.

Inspectiecampagne pleziervaart zomer 2024:

FOD Mobiliteit en Vervoer / DG Scheepvaart aan het woord: We organiseren voor deze zomer een inspectiecampagne rond de volgende aandachtspunten: het dragen van een reddingsvest op zee - de registratie van vaartuigen - de uitrusting - het brevet (indien verplicht). Veel mensen zijn reeds in regel, sommigen jammer genoeg niet en deze zullen we ertoe moeten aanzetten zich in orde te stellen, a.d.h.v. deze inspectiecampagne en het uitschrijven van Pv’s en Pv’s van waarschuwing.
Doel is niet zoveel mogelijk pv’s schrijven, maar pv’s zullen wel nodig zijn om te zorgen dat iedereen zich in regel stelt.

"Recreational boating inspection campaign summer 2024:

FPS Mobility and Transport / DG Shipping say: We are organizing an inspection campaign for this summer around the following points of interest: wearing a life jacket at sea - the registration of vessels - the equipment - the license (if mandatory). Many people are already in compliance, some unfortunately are not and we will have to encourage them to comply, by means of: this inspection campaign and the issuing of Reports and Reports of Warning.
The aim is not to write as many reports as possible, but reports will be necessary to ensure that everyone complies."