St. Jacobskapelle to Diksmuide

0 locks 3.1 miles 1 hour

We pulled pins mid morning as we were in no rush and the cruise into Diksmuide was just a short hop.

Graham had radioed ahead for some space on the town mooring, but got a rather less than warm welcome with disapproval mutterances about the length of our boats.  Accordingly Graham left it at that.  Being the first on the way past we were hollered at from the moorings by a wildly gesticulating harbour master. At the time I had no knowledge of the conversation with Graham and the harbour master so was somewhat bemused.  It turned out he had moved some boats about to make room for us and was not best pleased that his efforts were waste.

Oh well, lesson to him is don’t moan about or to your potential customers. 2 boats 36 euros a night for 3 nights.  His loss.

Having Google Earthed the town I had decided we were going to wild moor just past the marina. 

Diksmuide like all the towns in this are has it's own tale to tell of WW1.  Here there are several monuments dotted here and there, but by far the main one is the 85m IJzer Tower

I made a visit on Thursday afternoon. The views form the top are to the horizon as the land is as flat as a snooker table.

 

Our boats moored

 
And on max zoom

Diksmuide waterfront

We are moored behind the trees on the left

Here is the space made for us by the harbour master

Outside there are some really interesting sculptures made from metal relics pressed into blocks

 

Once again we need a rope to negotiate the bank.  I suppose its the price we pay for wild mooring, however it’s better than 1 euro a meter a night.

Moored against a very minor road


Benefits are easy dog walking

Herbie sound asleep (RARE!)

The Diksmuide old fish market.  I’ve pulled

Another monument here is the Trench of Death.  I was pretty disappointed.  It’s too well preserved. It was free admission and was correctly priced.

For more scenes of the local town and some different perspective see Jill & Debs blogs on my blog list.

Tomorrow we are setting off for Brugge where we aim to be on Monday.