Week 211: Back on Clair de Lune

I know it's been busy when I have to go back to the photos to even recall what we were doing this time last week! We went to Brugge (or Bruges if you're French-speaking, or Brugges if you're me and just get confused between the Flemish and the French so hedge your bets).

Brugge is a remarkable city, similar to Gent and in some ways marginally more picturesque, but in others, not as lively as Gent either. We are becoming Gent snobs... after all, just last week it was in the Top 10 small cities in the world to live in! But Brugge is almost exclusively driven by tourism, it's a little bit of Disneyland that shuts down after dark. None of which makes it any less stunning to visit. We had a fantastic time.

We're learning the tricks from the locals. Always take the double-decker train carriages. They are newer and the AC works. We didn't. We hopped into the old single-decker one, on a 33C day, the last day off school, where everyone was heading from Brussels to the beach. By the time we reached Brugge, both Karina and I were almost wiped from the heat in the carriage.

Fortunately, once we were there things improved quickly. One immediate difference we noticed between Brugge and Gent is that the central rail station is more accessible and has a lovely pedestrian pathway into the heart of the old town. We found a small market and sat down for a local beer (in its custom glass, of course). Then we wandered the streets.

We both love discovery – we didn't have an agenda, other than "market research", after all, Brugge will be on the route for our barge. So we followed our noses and had a delightful time uncovering the city. Mostly lots of chocolate tastings, but we had an ice cream and a margarita-flavoured chocolate. We also saw the relic containing the blood of Christ (I think, I didn't read Flemish). That's a lot for an afternoon!

Then it was home again and relaxing after the busy day. This time we did a better job on the train (found the double-decker), actually got a seat, and even managed to catch our bus heading in the RIGHT direction this time to make it home.

Monday morning we had a big day of admin ahead of us. Karina said to me as I walked out the door in the morning "Got everything? We're not back until after 5 pm." Oh. I wasn't focused on the plans, but that's okay, it's a reason we are a good team!

The first appointment was to sort out residency permits. Now, this is an involved process. In my case, I applied for the permit, which gave me a paper that allowed me to apply for more papers so that I could return and then apply for a temporary permit while I'm assessed to see if I am allowed to get a proper residency permit. If I'm allowed, I can return to apply with my temporary permit for a proper permit and they will mail me when I can return, to collect the proper permit from the town hall. Easy, and all 100% true. My "orange" permit (the temporary permit while they sort out if I'm allowed to apply for a permanent permit) was approved and I am a step closer to proper residency here.

Karina has a different flow from me, she was able now to apply for the residency permit and she submitted her fingerprints, and that went off to Brussels for approval. Her card was printed this week and when I arrived back at the flat today (Saturday), it was ready for collection at the town hall now!

The branch of the town hall we visited had a faulty printer for the orange cards, so we were sent to the main town hall in the city and waited for another appointment. All this, and still only 11.30.

From there it was off to Proximus (the big Belgian Telco) to sort out our permanent phone numbers. We waited thirty minutes, but no one was free so we gave up (for now).

We had an expensive lunch (tourist prices) and then caught the tram out to the northwest of Gent to look for a chandlery.

The chandler there is located right on the major canal. A pain to get to from the city, but very convenient for boats. He was very helpful and we crossed off a lot of safety items for Clair de Lune in one go. We bought so much stuff, that we told him we needed to come collect it all the next day (Tuesday) with the rental car (I'll come back to why).

Then a trek back into the city and off to the bank. There we collected the credit card for our company account, and then realized that we didn't have debit cards for that account (we'll occasionally need petty cash for markets, etc.) So we applied for those as well and also a credit card for me. All very smooth and simple (just lots of simple steps).

After that, back to Proximus, who were now free and we sorted out our phone numbers through the company. We are officially on Belgian numbers now.

From there, we headed to our favorite cafe in Gent (or favorite cinnamon scroll place anyway) Ma's Bakery! We got to know Michelle, the lovely owner, and chatted about running businesses in Belgium and how involved the process is (7 weeks and counting, and we finally have everything in place I think now... although we're still waiting on the accountants for the books to be properly setup and the admin process to start).

On Tuesday morning (yes, it's only Tuesday!) we had a call about health insurance and signed up, which completes our residency obligations now! It's good value–about €20 a month for "dual-room" hospitalization cover.

From there, I headed out to collect the rental car. As we mentioned last week, the plan was to go to France and Clair de Lune. We had a lot of stuff to bring with us now, especially after the chandlers visit. With a decent Citroen C4 in hand, we drove out and picked up 150 meters of ropes, life jackets, and a range of other assorted necessities. By the time we'd packed all the other supplies we had delivered to the house or had come from Matilda, the car was PACKED to the brim. No room at all.

When I got home on Tuesday afternoon, I was delighted that my ICC arrived! So I should now be good to pilot Clair de Lune in France. Karina is rightfully annoyed as hers hasn't appeared yet.

Wednesday morning it was up early, into the car, and off to Clair de Lune. We made good time and by about 2 pm had arrived. Just unpacking everything, starting the generator, charging the batteries, and getting some shopping done was exhausting and we crashed into bed Wednesday night.

Thursday we were on a mission. Our big challenge with Clair is three things:

1. Fire extinguishers. They were all out of cert and very old. We needed new ones, but we also needed them certified as well (so not just from the local hardware store).
2. Setup. Food, and lots of it! We're more or less now living on Clair de Lune, so we needed to stock up. The architects are coming on Monday night, we want to have beds, bedrooms, and food for them. And of course, we're going to start the big move north soon (end of next week).
3. Diesel. We needed some diesel – we were running the generator and also the tanks were quite low. We need enough to get us to the first fuel stop to properly fill up.

We achieved most of this on Thursday and found a place to go for the fire extinguishers on Friday morning. I lugged three rounds of jerry cans (so 120 liters - 2 twenty-liter containers at a time) to the boat and filled the tanks a bit. It's enough to get us where we need to go.

The engine mechanic returned to us (after August, finally people are back from holidays and work is starting again). They will be on the boat on Thursday next week.

Friday was focused on disposing of old furniture. Some furniture was broken up, other bits given away and dumpsters full of stuff offloaded from Clair de Lune. It feels never-ending.

The neighbor came to visit and asked why we weren't using his power (the answer is because the last time we were here, it got removed on us, so we stuck to the generator), which we gratefully accepted. Shore power means we are silent again and not using the fuel. It's interesting how in a small village like Bonnand, EVERYONE knows exactly what we are doing. We've never met this man, but when we said "We're taking the barge to Belgium" in my broken French, he simply replied, "I know".

We dug out the proper covers for the wheelhouse and tried to fit those for the first time in what's probably been 10+ years. And we also received more information about the history of Clair de Lune.

I changed the water filters (which probably hadn't been done in a few years), they were filthy, so that was a satisfying task.

With the architects coming down on Monday and the need to return the car, along with waiting on some deliveries in Gent, I left Karina aboard Clair de Lune and drove back to Belgium. Here I've been running a few errands. Today I'll prep the house for being idle for a month or so, and then Monday morning, I take a one-way trip back to Clair de Lune. From Monday we will officially be aboard full-time (for the next month or so).

It's been another very busy, yet very productive week. We're almost into the next phase of the project – relocation, and planning for the remodel.

We've also continued to gather more information with the help of local museums here about the history of Clair de Lune. For a very long time, she was based in Lokeren, only 40 km from Gent.

We now know that she used to carry stone, coal, cement, and spreit (brown coal) to Lokeren. And we know the origins of her name Albert-Simone.

After the First World War, A.S. 270 was acquired (or perhaps returned) to an A. Callebout of Lokeren in 1922.

Arthur Alfonse Callebout was born in Lokerren in 1889 and died in Gent in 1943. He was a shipper and became the owner of the boat in 1922. He had two children, Albert, born 1915 and Simonne, born 1919.

Arthur Callebout named his new ship the Albert-Simonne or Albert-Simone (both are in the register).

His son Albert followed in his father's footsteps and according to the quay records in Lokeren, both Arthur and Albert (and sometimes just an A. Callebout) were Ship masters delivering various goods on the Albert-Simone.

Karina suggested we name the two guest cabins Albert and Simonne which I love as I'd had similar thoughts after learning the backstory. We love the tie back to her history and are excited to unlock more of Claire de Lune's story.

Until next time

Tim & Karina