I am leaving for Mons and want to see the famous Strepy-Thieu boat lift. I follow a road on Google Maps via my iphone and end up on a dirt road. Via a detour I still get to the ship lift, it is raining softly. From above I have a super view over the landscape, the difference between the upper and lower channel is incredible, about 70 meters!
I cycle along the canal to Mons and continue on to Grand Hornu, where I have an appointment with Filip Depuydt. Occasionally I have to take shelter from thunderstorms and rain, and arrive around half past three. I explore the museum, see a nice exhibition of Fiona Tan and report to Filip at half past five. We cycle together to Frameries, view a mining building that Jean Nouvel rebuilt on the way and have a nice meal at a pizzeria, also in a former mining building. Because of the rain we are driven inside, when it clears up I go to the hotel. Again I am overwhelmed by showers, the streets are white here and there. At a viaduct I fall into a slip and fall. My injuries seem not too bad, and I cycle on to the hotel and recover. After that I sleep very badly, later it appears that I have sustained bruised ribs and a bruised shoulder. Thursday morning I decide to stop for the time being and make the further trip to Lens in September.
