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Four Historic Boat Lifts and Strepy Thieu (Wallonia - Belgium)

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Pic Courtesy: Francois_Xavier Allard of Visit Hainaut

So, you saw the fabulous pre-historic site of Neolithic Flint Mines of Spiennes. Another UNESCO site in the surrounding of Mons is a collective of 4 sites called The Four Lifts on the Canal du Centre and their Environs, La Louvière and Le Roeulx (Hainaut). Well, Hainaut is the province where Mons is located.
Pic Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

To begin with, like Spiennes, this too isn't exactly within Mons, but in the outskirts. Well, to understand this place, a look into the maps is necessary. There are 2 rivers - Scheldt (aka Escaut) and Meuse in the eastern and western sides of Brussels. These 2 are in different altitudes. During industrial revolution, coal mines were huge in Belgium and the coal was transported to various places to be used in various industries through those 2 rivers. To enable that, a canal was made between the 2 rivers. 

However, since the 2 rivers were in 2 different altitudes, sometimes the boats had to go upstream. The usual way to transporting boats upstream was using 'locks', which required a lot more water and energy. The new innovation at that time was Boat Lifts developed in England. 4 boat lifts were built throughout this distance to enable the boats move upstream. These were hydraulic powered lifts and required much less water and energy. This canal can accommodate boats upto 300 tonne weight. 

These lifts were built in 1884-1917. In the distance of 7km, 4 lifts were built, each of which lifted the boats to a height of 15-16m. There were also 2 bridges that lift/swing along the canal. Beside these lifts were the operating rooms of those as well as the housing for the operators. Around that time, 8 such boat lifts were made  of which only these 4 continue to operate. How big really are these lifts? Spot Mr.V and Atyudarini in the pic above????? They are in bottom left!!!!!

However with the increasing sizes and weights of boats of late, these 4 have been retired for commercial purposes now and a new modern boat lift has been constructed. However still boat trips are still being organized in the canal to go across the 4 historic boat lifts, new boat lift and 2 swing bridges. Till date, the functionality of the 4 historical boat lifts can be seen. Here I am flanked by Francois_Xavier and Laeticia of Hainaut Tourism.

The operating rooms of the historical boat lifts can be accessed today too. It was an interesting reminder of the physics I studied in school days (I'm an arts student in university!). The older lifts operate using high pressure water, stored in cisterns with counter weights on it to create the hydraulic force. This is the operating room of Historical Lift no:4.

The new boat lift is an uber-modern structure that is Europe's biggest lift (it was world's biggest till recently when China built a bigger one). To accommodate such a huge boatlift, and the larger and heavier boats, a new canal was built parallel to the old canal. Now, this boat lift can accommodate boats that weigh upto 2000 tonnes and can lift boats to a height of 240ft (73m). The whole thing weighs 16,800 tons which succeeds in completing the lifting process in just 6 minutes! Btw, very close to Historical Lift no:1, is a point from where both that & Strepy Thieu are visible.

From atop of the new boat lift, tourists can have a look at the cables up & close as well as a panoramic view from where the Belfry of Mons is visible on a clear day! However this is yet to be open for public and will be open soon in Spring 2019.

To Stay:
Hotels and B&Bs at all price points are available in Mons Town Centre.
Here’s my review of Hotel Dream where I stayed.

To Get There:
To Strepy Theiu from Mons: 23 km on E42
Pic Courtesy: I, Finnrind via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Accessing all 4 historical lifts (1-4 in above pic) and Strepy Theiu (A in the above pic) by public transport is possible but not feasible. While buses are available, they aren't frequent and walking between them is about 7km from Lift 1 to 4. Boating is available through which all 4 historical lifts and Strepy can be seen which lasts 2:30 hrs. 

Entry Ticket & Timings:
Strepy Theiu: €7.50 (opening to public in Spring 2019)
Seeing the 4 Historical Lifts from outside: Free & open 24 hrs.
Boating from Canal du Centre Historique: €15
This is available at 10AM & 2PM (Tue-Sun) during April to October and can be pre-booked by phone: +32(0)78 059 059. 

My complete Mons travelogue: Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes, Grand Hornu, Bois du Luc, The 4 boat lifts on Canal Theiu and Strepy Theiu, Mons Belfry & Mundaneum, Churches of Mons 

P.S: I was invited by Visit Mons and Wallonia Tourism to experience the city for review purposes, however the opinions are my own and this post does not to advertise the product/service.

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