We’d heard that little harbour in Herentals had fallen into disrepair, and the had become a hangout for a certain kind of person involved in anti-social if not illicit activity, the kind some would describe as “undesirables”. We’d also heard that new management had done wondrous things to the harbour and its surrounds.
Since it is barely an hour’s from Geel, even with the late weekend opening of the locks, we were there well before lunch and received a very warm welcome from Dirk, the harbour master and for want of a better word lessee, whose enthusiasm for the port and boats in general was palpable.
In just a few short months under his guidance, the port has been transformed, “orphaned” and abandoned boats already on their way to China to be turned into cars and refrigerators, the disruptive element moved on, and everything cleaned and weeded to within an inch of its life.
Located barely two kilometres from the village centre, it’s just far enough away from things to feel that it’s “in the Pampas” as Jürgen would say, the perfect place to spend a relaxing Sunday evening, even if it was Saturday, watching the wind turbines gently doing their thing, and the Carp fishermen sending their drones aloft to spot likely game, follwoed by their robot boats dropping their burley and lines precisely above the fish.
We did take a small excursion into the centre of town, but it was pretty much in the very late stages of preparation for the grand finale concert of it’s annual three day Festival, loosely based on cycling events and other outdoor activities. What a concert that turned out to be too.
On this, the first day of the Olympics competition, hometown hero Wout van Aert had won a medal in the Individual Time Trial (Cycling) and it was as though the town had expected nothing less!
We didn’t stay, preferring to listen to the music from the (relative) tranquility of two kilometres distance. It seems there’s a different rhythm to life itself at Festival time as not everyone in other places in the world would would accept that being able to hear actual lyrics in a song performed two kilometres away is a good thing.
Let alone at three in the morning!
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