Canal du Centre: Seneffe junction - Mons north/Nimy (27 km)

Canal du Centre eastern section
The upper, broken route east of Thieu is the new alignment opened in August 2002
source Route 66

This route, part of RAVeL 1, includes much farmland, industrial archaeology, Victorian towns, and what may be the largest elevator (lift) in the world. The park section along the old lifts is delightful, and likely to be crowded with pedestrians on weekends with good weather.

Proposals for the construction of a canal to connect the upper Escaut and Meuse valleys were made at least as early as 1774, but construction did not start until 1882. The route was to connect the Haine river/canal by Mons with the Charleroi canal. Lift 1 was inaugurated in 1888, but various difficulties (particularly water supply) delayed completion until World War One. The German occupiers decided that the canal would be useful for moving military supplies and it was opened in August 1917.

From Seneffe junction on the Brussels - Charleroi canal you ride west. Either side is fine until you reach the first bridge. At that point you should continue on the north bank. The path on the south side is mostly accessible for some distance, but you are required to make a 4 km detour on a side canal/harbor, there is nearly one kilometer of very rough pavement, and finally you are blocked at a steel mill.

porte de garde on new section of Canal du Centre
sourcre: Karel Roose

Riding west on the north bank you pass a chemical plant and are then in countryside with an occasional industry. The first short section has tree root damage. 1.7 km east of the junction you reach a little marina with a "camping" - an area to park caravans. (At many camps the caravans are never moved. People leave them, and return to the same place for most or all vacations.) This is just before the first bridge over the Centre, the Pont Marie Ghislain. The pavement is now old cement not rough enough to slow you down.

4.7 km from the start you pass under the E42 bridge (stub canal/harbor on the south side) and then reach the junction with the newest section of the canal. (That is the upper loop on the map above, which has a gap.) You are forced to turn north on the new canal. Over one km takes you to a bridge and 500m further to a porte de garde. Continue for 100m where you can turn back to cross the bridge and return down the west side of the new canal to the old canal to continue west.

The new section of the Canal du Centre goes OVER a road
source: Alex Carr May 2006

Or, you can also go straight on the new canal towpath for around 4 km and then take a new bike path which takes you down beside the barge lift. Paul Hellings September 2002)

Back on the main canal, as you ride west there is a steel mill on the south bank. It may be now used only for recycling scrap metal, which is present in great quantities both in barges in the stub harbor on the south bank and in piles with great one-legged cranes for transportation. In less than 2 km you reach the first of the four Victorian lifts (elevators). These ingenious structures each contain two large tanks on large shafts. The shafts are pistons in columns of water, with the columns linked. To move them up and down, a foot (30 cm) of water is added to the upper tank and the connecting valve opened. The extra weight of the upper tank pushes it down and the other tank up. While in theory this should operate with no additional power, in reality the system is slightly inefficient and there are pumps that help push up the raising piston. The four lifts have heights of 15 to 17 m.

Hydraulic barge lift

This section of the canal is now a park about 8 km long. The lifts will be preserved after the new section of canal opens to the north. Between lift 1 and lift 2 is a museum of canal life (closed for an indefinite time as of August 2000), with several old barges. The landscape is partly farmland, partly urban. Hopefully the towpath through the park will be repaved - it shows many signs of wear and tear.

In early September 2003 lifts 1, 2 and 3 were all closed for heavy maintenance. In at least some cases the end doors of the tanks are being replaced. (Karel Roose) I had noticed years ago that the operators had periodic problems, so with a detour available the lifts are likely undergoing a long-overdue major overhaul. Lift 1 was also damaged on 17 January 2002 by a mechanical failure. You can see a report on the incident at Inland Waterways International.

Bridges at Bracquegnes

It is 3 km from lift 1 to lift 2, which is followed in 700 m by lift 3. There is then 3.5 km of flat running to lift 4. In the middle of this section is the town of Bracquegnes, which has an old lift bridge accompanied by an elevated pedestrian bridge. If it is time to eat, cross the bridge and continue straight south for about 100 m to Pizzeria da Graziella. Good pizza and other Italian foods.

Barge lift at Strépy-Thieu source: Alex Carr May 2006

Machine room at top of barge lift

Two km past the Bracquegnes bridges is lift 4. As you approach it the canal is on an increasing elevation. To the right (north) appears the enormous structure of the new lift at Strépy-Thieu. This is the other end of the new canal that starts 9 km to the east. It was decided in the 1960's that the Canal du Centre should be upgraded to 1,350 tons. Studies showed that simply widening the section with the hydraulic lifts would be extremely expensive, in part because of the large number of buildings that would have to be demolished. Hence a new canal was built to the north of the old. The largest engineering works are the aqueduct (above) and the barge lift. It replaces the four old lifts and one lock with one 73 m (between 121 m above Mean Sea Level [MSL] at the top and 48 m at the bottom) ride in a suspended tub. Each of the tubs weighs over 5,000 tons. The new canal and lift were opened in August 2002. There is an information center in the top of the lift building, with a movie of the project (in English, Dutch, French and German), a view of one of the machine rooms that operate the lifts, and a snack bar with great views over the countryside. Open from about Easter to the end of October, 09:30 - 18:30.

Canal du Centre western section
The old channel is below the new from Theiu to Havre
source Route 66

Take the steep path down to the bottom of lift 4. At this point, if you are in a hurry or have a bike with narrow tires cross the bridge across the new canal, then turn left through the park and onto the towpath along the new canal. You now have a straight shot along the canal until you reach Mons north/Nimy. The paving is cement - something which never provides a perfect ride. The first 3 km are through a large cut - very sterile with nothing but grass in view.

Alternately and for a prettier route follow the old canal, do not cross the bridge over the new canal. Stay on the south side of the new canal (on a road) as you continue west after lift 4. After you pass a fence around the lock which now connects the old canal with the new canal, cut left across the grass to the north towpath of the old canal. It is paved. Across the way is a defunct industrial installation which may have produced prefab cement products. In a short distance you reach lock 1 of the original canal, now decommissioned. The landscape is new growth probably covering old industrial sites, with a railway paralleling the canal to the south. (Actually the railway was probably there first.)

One km brings you to lock 2 and the end of pavement. The towpath from here west is gravel that is well packed. A reasonable ride. In 500 m you reach a bridge. At this point you can either continue on the north bank gravel for less than a km to a connection with the towpath of the new canal, or cross the bridge and ride a paved path on the south bank. In 400 m there is another bridge and the new canal approaches the old canal. In a short distance the new and old canals are running close together, with the old partially filled. At this point the south towpath of the old canal has become a clay road. Move up to the cement towpath of the new canal.

Whichever way you go, 5.5 km west of lift 4 you reach a modern lock at Havre. Continue west on the north bank. In August 2000 the south was blocked for cable laying, and in any case the riding is not very good along a cement plant.

One (of several) Obourg Cement quarries, with covered conveyor to right of picture

Just past the Havre lock and bridge an odd structure appears along the north bank of the canal. It is a conveyor belt, carrying limestone from a quarry just north of the Havre lock to a cement factory 2 km away! You can see the quarry by following the road to the west from the lock for a short distance to a truck entrance. The quarry is highly automated, with a digger that slowly moves along the edge of the hole and dumps the limestone on a conveyor. There are other large and now unused quarries in the neighborhood, and the Obourg Cement factory has obviously changed over time. It would appear that there has been some such operation here for at least 100 years.

Past the cement complex you are again in farmland and woods. The next lock and bridge (3.5 km from Havre) is called Obourg. At this point, if you plan on continuing west along the canal stay on the north bank. If you plan on going into Mons, or exploring the Haine river/canal, cross to the south bank to continue west. In either case you have fairly good cement pavement.

Under the Mons-Nimy rail bridge, south end

Soon you enter an urban area, Mons. 2.5 km west of the Obourg lock is the Nimy road bridge, followed in another 500 m by a rail bridge. On the south side of the Mons/Nimy road bridge, and under the railway bridge to the west, are memorials for the Battle of Mons on 23 August 1914. This was apparently the first major contact between British forces and the Germans. (August 2000) (Seneffe - Nimy by new and old canals reviewed by Karel Roose 29 July 2003)

Access: Mons north/Nimy exit (the one you use for Chièvres) on the E19. At the traffic light, turn left and then left as you approach the canal. There is a parking area in about 200 m. Or follow the road as it curves to the right for another parking area.

Nimy - Blaton - Péronnes Canal: Nimy - Hollain (Escaut River) (43 km)

Nimy - Blaton canal (top), Haine River (bottom), Pommmeroeul branch, and former Blaton - Haine River canal
source Route 66

This canal flows through pleasant, flat countryside, with an occasional village or industry.

The Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 was a turning point for the coal industry in the Mons area. Part of the Condé area (southern Hainaut) was ceded to France. (Louis XIV continued pushing his borders north until 1678, when the current southern Belgian border was settled.) The water route from Mons to the Escaut and north was no longer in the hands of one government as it had been since the formation of the Burgundian state in 1433. Condé levied a high toll on each boat arriving in its area from Mons.

People started demanding a canal that avoided France, but they had to wait nearly two centuries. In 1815 a canal connecting the Schelde at Antoing with the Haine river/canal at Pommeroeul was authorized, and it was opened to traffic on 26 June 1826.

Some time after 1923, a direct Blaton - Grand Large (Mons) link (21.1 km) was dug and the Blaton - Pommeroeul section decommissioned. The western end of the Blaton - Antoing received a new channel running WSW from Péronnes to Hollain 3.5 km), replacing that running NW to Antoing. (The old route now seems to be a road.) From 1955 to 1968 the entire canal was modernized and expanded to allow 1,350 tons. Once again a new western end was created, a whole new alignment about 8 miles long from Callenelle WNW to a meeting with the Escaut just south of where the second channel reaches the river. The old section, except the Large at Péronnes which is connected to the new channel, has been decommissioned for boats but still provides water drainage.

Grand Large
source www.mons.be

From the Mons north/Nimy bridge continue west on the north side of the canal. Once you pass under the rail bridge, you are on new (1996) cement pavement. Soon on your left is Le Grand Large - the harbor of Mons. (Large in a canal context apparently means a wider section to allow barges to turn around.) Just past the Large you pass under the E19/E42 and a pedestrian bridge. There is a safety lock, which appears to incorporate half of a full lock built with the original canal.

As you ride west there is quite a lot of industry, some dead, along the canal, and three side harbors. At the first, ride around the harbor. At the second, take your choice of the bridge or riding around. (The bridge is best.) The third (15 km from Nimy) gives you no choice - you have to use the bridge over the harbor entrance. (August 2000)

At that bridge the new pavement ends. You alternate between older and slightly rough cement and asphalt patches, now mostly through farmland.

4.6 km of that brings you to the junction with the Pommeroeul branch canal. One km later there is a place where you can turn off the canal onto a road. If you want to ride the Pommeroeul branch, take that road up to the next bridge (Harchies - about 600 m from the point you turned off the canal) and cross.

Porte de garde de Blaton
such emergency gates are found where locks are far apart, to allow water to be kept in one part of the canal when the other side has a problem or needs to be drained

Otherwise stay on the north bank for another 3.4 km until you reach the Porte de garde de Blaton (a drop gate to separate the sections of the canal if necessary). For the Blaton - Ath canal continue straight and along the branch canal to the right into Blaton. (Note March 2001: construction of a new bridge over the Blaton - Ath where it meets the Nimy - Péronnes canal has closed the towpath. At the porte de garde, turn away from the canal to the road, then turn left and follow the road to a bridge across the B-A.)

To continue west on the Nimy - Péronnes Canal, cross the bridge at the porte de garde. The north bank towpath is a mess for the next several km - you want the south side. (March 2001)

On the south side of the porte de garde bridge is a lock and the former Blaton-Pommeroeul canal section. You can follow the old canal for 3.7 km to the SE but then it disappears into a nature preserve. (June 1998)

Old (upper) and new canals from Callenelle to the Escaut
source Route 66

New canal east of Péronnes

To complete the Nimy - Blaton - Péronnes you can continue west on the south bank through pleasant countryside for about 19 km to the end of the canal near Péronnes (or Hollain), where it joins the Schelde/Escaut not far from the French border. However, this route is practically boring, particularly in the cuts with uniform vegetation. You don't see anything really interesting until you approach the west end and reach Péronnes lock 1, with a lift of 12.5 m. Parallel to the canal on the north side is a cascade for carrying excess water from the upper canal level to the lower. Just about 2 km later there is Péronnes lock 2, of the same slide gate design but with a lift of only 5.6 m. In a further 600 m you reach the Escaut river. (March 2001)

Péronnes lock 1

For a little variety, cross to the north bank at the Pont de Grosmont (8.5 km west of Blaton junction). (Note that the bridges west of Blaton have name signs visible from the towpath.) From that bridge, ride west on the north bank for 800 m (passing under a rail bridge on the way) to the junction between the old and new canals. Your have to turn onto the old canal. At the weir/bridge over the old canal (300 m) continue straight on the northeast bank of the old canal for 500 m. The canal then goes underground, under a highway. Turn left to the highway, cross and follow the road on the other side (Rue des Grands-Pres in the direction Callenelle). In less than 200 m the old canal appears again on your right. Follow the road (which cannot ever be very busy) for 700 m to a T junction. Turn right and cross the canal, turning left on the paved road along the canal before the road goes under a railroad..

climbing the gentle grade north of Callenelle

This is actually not a towpath, which is unpaved on both banks of the canal, but a parallel paved path. The canal enters a substantial cut and the paved path climbs gently for 1.5 km, where there is a gentle down grade for 900 m to the end of the cut at Pont Royal in Maubry. From there you are on actual paved towpath or occasionally service road. Just past the Pont Royal is the first former lock and bridge, and 700 m later another. You then join a service road, and the canal makes a left turn. The original canal continued straight at this point.

Just past the turn is another former lock and bridge. From here there are paved paths on both banks of the canal, and on both sides lift gates to keep out cars. The gates are not locked - lift and go through, closing the bar behind you. The next former lock has a sign on the old lock keepers house with the kind of information that would have been painted on all the (very similar) keepers' houses: Lock #9, 2.515 km to the Escaut, 267 m to lock #10 (to the west), 589 m to lock #8 (to the east), and 22.653 km to the Mons-Condé canal.

Fishermen at work. Note the traditional long poles. No fancy casting here, or any place on inland waters in Belgium.

Just past this lock is a section apparently "owned" by a fishermen's club. Another km and you finally see boats again, a lake connected to the new canal. There is a harbor for pleasure craft and a yard for barges. The boated area ends in 600 m at another former lock. In front of you is the rectangular Large. The Large is about 500 m long. Another blocked lock (now converted to a ramp for launching boats) connects the Large to the Escaut river. Go right to continue north on the right (east) bank, or left to loop along the new canal which meets the Escaut a few meters to the south. (March 2001) (Reviewed by Karel Roose 26 July 2003)

Access: A16/E42 exit 27, turn south towards Bernissart, cross the canal, turn left and park by road. Or exit 29, south towards Péruwelz, park on side road across from Renault dealer just before the canal bridge. If you have a bit of time, follow the signs to the Iguanadon Museum in Bernissart. Several complete skeletons were found in a nearby coal mine at a level of over 300 m underground. In March 2001 it was announced that the possibility of reopening the mine to search for more fossils was being actively studied.

Or exit 23 bis (the one you take for Chièvres - Nimy/Ath) from the E40/42. Turn left at the light. As that road reaches the canal, you can turn left to a parking area or curve right to another.

La Haine river/canal: Nimy/Mons - French border (25 km)

This is not a very pleasant ride. The river is now a large cement drainage ditch and open sewer, much along the noise of the E19/E42. In the middle of the route you have to ride on roads for a couple of km. This route has nothing to recommend it unless you are trying to do all waterways.

The Haine was used for transportation from a very early time. It was used by the Romans from at least Pommerouel (see below), and possibly as far upstream as Mons where they had at least a military outpost. When coal was discovered in the Mons area in the 13th century, it was carried to the river by men and then placed in small boats for shipment down river to Condé and the Escaut (Schelde) river. The first organized improvements were made in 1379. In the early 16th century canalization work began, with locks constructed at Jemappes, Saint-Ghislain and Boussu. Barges capable of navigating up the Escaut came into use.

In 1807 a major improvement, in fact a whole new canal, was authorized. It would replace the old route of the Haine with a nearly straight line from Mons to Condé. Work was finished in 1818. Its length was 26.2 km. The original course of the river has faded into the fields.

Today the section in Belgium has been decommissioned. The five locks have become weirs. Near the border the new Pommeroeul branch from the Nimy - Blaton - Péronnes Canal approaches from the north. From the border west the river/canal is abandoned - drained except for the small flow from the Haine.

From the south end of Nimy bridge ride west along the canal. In 500 m you reach the rail bridge (see monument) and in another 100 m or so a large barge basin. It is named le Grand Large. Now students of French will know immediate that does not mean the BIG BIG. It means the BIG WIDE, a wide being an extra broad section in a canal where barges can turn around. Follow the road along the Large to the SE corner - 1.8 km from the bridge. Turn left by the sand and brick yard on "Rive Droite du Canal du Centre." 2.5 km along the road brings you to an old railway bridge across the canal and a TEC bus depot - here you pick up a nice, paved path along the right bank of the river. 2.7 km later you approach the R5 bridge and cut across the canal and make a short detour to the railway before continuing on the left (south) bank of the river. 3.5 km of straight running (with the noise of the autoroute/snelweg on the other side of the canal) brings you to a pedestrian bridge over the canal and E19/E42. Here you have two options, neither very good, for a few km.

Option 1: go straight. Note the elevated pipeline. It ends at a plant marked Idea Geothermal where there is an outfall with a strong sewer gas smell. The elevated pipe is either a sewage collector or a heating pipe. (Mar 1998)

In 1.3 km the river turns a little right and under the E19/E42. There is no provision for bicycles or pedestrians to follow the river. Follow the path as it curves away from the freeway and then joins a back road before reaching a highway (N548) in 1.3 km. Turn right along the road (broad shoulder) - it becomes a bridge over the river and E19/E42. After the bridge the road curves to the left and you can cross the grass to the service road on the south side of the river. At the first bridge cross to the north bank to get somewhat away from the traffic noise.

Option 2: Cross the pedestrian bridge. At the far end turn left through the village. In 500 m you reach a junction and turn left on the road. In just over 1 km, after crossing a disused railway line, turn left on the road with the bike lane. 500 m brings you to another (or the same) disused railway. 200 m past that, turn left on a path/road into a nature preserve. This is actually a former rail line that is now a hard packed path. 1.8 km brings you to the Haine where you turn right.

You now have an uneventful run to the end of the canal by the French border. Most of the way you can ride either side, but the north is a bit better. At the E42 the river goes under, and the pedestrian tunnel is on the north side of the canal.

As you approach the border the Pommeroeul branch canal approaches from the right. (May 1998) (Reviewed - with option 1 - by Karel Roose on 26 July 2003)

Pommeroeul branch (7 km) - a dead end

Source: Route 66

The Belgian maps show a canal leading from Pommeroeul to Condé in France, there connecting to the French canal network. The reality is a short modern branch with two locks that ends in a muddy stream at the French border. (There seems to have been some misunderstanding here, as press reports indicate that France has no intention of modernizing the section on its side of the border.) Both sides are pleasant riding. Opportunities to cross are limited to the bridge at the north lock and the bridge near the south lock.

Roman flatboat found during excavation of Pommeroeul branch in 1975

From the Harchies bridge across the Pommeroeul - Péronnes Canal (A16/E42 exit 27), ride east along the south side of the canal about 1 km to the canal junction, then turn south along the branch. The lock is a marvelous structure with a lift of 13.5 m - only used by pleasure boats. Past the lock the canal widens into a lake - a pleasure boat area. As the canal starts to curve to the right you pass a wooded area - nature reserve - on the right (west) and the alignment of the former Blaton - Pommeroeul canal. The squat tower on the other side of the canal once stood near the south bank of the old canal. It is at this point that a Roman flat boat was found in 1975 while the new canal was being dug. In Roman times the Haine river flowed through here, and there was a town. The boat is now on display in the Gallo-Roman gallery in Ath.

It is difficult to believe, but this quiet area was bustling with activity 50 years ago. There were two coal loading ports, one near the last bridge on the branch before you reach the end and one on the old canal to Blaton. There appear to have been two deep mines producing quality hard (anthracite) coal. It seems that coal was mined in this area for about 1,000 years. It took the industrial revolution to create the machinery necessary for deep mines, which in this area went as far down as 700 m. However the veins were narrow and it was not possible to introduce large scale mechanization after WW2. It became cheaper to import coal from Wyoming and elsewhere, and the mines seem to have finally closed in 1978. Most evidence of the mines has disappeared, although there is a small mine museum (Museum de la Mine) on the south edge of Harchies. (Open May through September, Saturdays and Sundays 15:00 - 19:00. It is well worth a visit, if only for the elevator used to take horses down to the working areas. The shafts were too narrow for a standing horse, so they had to be bundled up. See the painting.)

Pommeroeul branch, before and past the border

The cement towpath along the east and north bank of the canal is fine until just past the second lock. At the border the cement pavement becomes hard packed gravel, and 200 m later plain dirt. If you want to ride into France, and the mud is not too deep, continue along the embankment for a few hundred meters. Across the first bridge is the French village of St-Aybert. Or better, approach on the opposite side of the canal (there are gates to keep you from crossing at the lock), cross the Haine River by the lock, and continue to St-Aybert. That provides a better ride into France. (September 2000) (Reviewed by Karel Roose 26 July 2003

Last updated 26 July 2006

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