Thieu

 

Wednesday 28th August 2024

Not too much exciting to report today, we were up early and left Farthing Common soon after 6am and made our way to Le Shuttle terminal about 15 minutes away.

The train was on time and everything went very smoothly.

First stop was Gravelines for breakfast and water services.

We had a little drama with diesel, there was none at Tesco in Ashford where I'd planned to fill up and driving to and through Gravelines we never passed a filling station.

Now I could have stopped and done a search for one, but I was so sure we'd stumble across a filling station - I didn't, and found ourselves on the motorway with the reserve light on. 

The drama was soon resolved when I came off and found a nearby garage, phew.

Tonight we're at Thieu, just across the border in Belgium and close to Mons.

We've stayed here before in 2019, then the place was packed out with German and Dutch motorhomes and we were lucky to get a place on the back row.

Today there's just five motorhomes here and we got a prime spot in front of the canal with great views.

Nearby is the largest boat lift in the world  with a lift of 240 feet, or it was  until China built the Three Gorges Dam and ship lift.

Closer still is the old boat lift which is much smaller, but I think more interesting.

The destination for our evening walkies.

The canal was comissioned by Napoleon Boneapart in 1888 to help trade and link Charleroi to Mons and then the English Channel.

A barge on the canal at Thieu

The new lift at Thieu

The old lift even has a road through it

Thieu old boat lift

Tonights view at Thieu