Wheels Around Europe . . . . . . . : From Home to Thieu

Saturday, 1 June 2019

From Home to Thieu

Today has been quite a long drive by my standards and quite tiring.

We left home at 0500 and after stopping for breakfast at Cobham services and we arrived at our destination of Thieu in the Hainaut region of Belgium at about 1500 and after 375 miles of driving.

The journey was mostly uneventful except for two incidents, someone in a caravan waving frantically at me and pointing to the roof, our roof as they went past !

I was at a loss to know what they were pointing at or trying to alert me to. After some consideration I decided that if there was something loose I'd be able to hear it flapping and if it was something like a roof light I'd be able to hear it blowing.

I decided to stick my head in the sand and carry on. Only when we got to Cobham did I realise one of the roof lights was slightly open and probably flapping !

Doh, another lesson learnt. Some have lost their roof lights on motorways when they forget to close them and the wind gets underneath !

I was still very surprised we couldn't hear it when driving though.

The other event on the M40 was a bird strike, not just any bird but a kestral I think.

I didn't get a good look but I'm pretty sure it was.

It just came out of some trees at 90' to the motorway and struck the top of the van, nothing I could do to avoid it.

It really bothered me that I'd just killed a such beautiful bird of prey.

Ah well, on the upside, I suppose some local field mice prey will have enjoyed a better day than they expected as a result of the premature demise of their hunter.

The tunnel crossing was quick and without any delay, straight on the train as soon as we got there and an on time departure.

We're parked up this evening on the dedicated motorhome Aire (GPS 50.47133 4.09005) in the village of Thieu, adjacent to the Canal du Central in the Hainaut region of Belgium, close to Mons.

Thieu is famous as having the second highest boatlift in the world.

It was constructed in the 1990's along with a new stretch of canal next to the old canal where there is a smaller boat lift that works on a balance system – one side lifts and the other drops.

The village of Thieu which surrounded the old boat lift had 250 houses and the town hall demolished back in 1990`s to make way for the new canal, which takes boats up to the new big lift.

There are no services here, just convenient safe free parking.

Fortunately we not in need of any services as we have plenty of water on board and the sun is doing a good job of helping the solar panels charge the batteries.

After tea I went for a walk up to see the boat lifts and below are some photographs.

There is some great cycling around here on the tow paths.

Oh yes, I spoke to two people within 10 minutes of arriving here, I Belgium and a Dutch man. Each separately said " Ahh, you English, you here in Europe while you still can eh? while they still let you come"

Bloody hell, can`t escape Brexit anywhere !