While visiting Mons I realised that it is not exactly an exiting place, until I discovered the second largest boat lift in the world.

Not all cities are made for tourism. Mons in Belgium is one of these cities. Nothing is wrong here, it’s just that there is not so much going on. As a Norwegian the most amusing thing is probably that the city is called Bergen in Flemish, the same name as one of the largest cities in Norway.

In an attempt to find something interesting I searched nearby areas. A tiny town named Thieu is located half an hour away by train and (as I discovered) hosts one tourist attraction. Exactly one! This is a canal system, but with one very special detail: it features the second largest boat lift in the world. Until January 2016 it was actually the largest in the world, now surpassed by a new lift in China.

OK, so what is a boat lift? Transporting boats up and down canals is usually done by locks, but if there is a very large elevation difference the locks can become long, slow and expensive. The solution is a boat lift, which is exactly what it sounds like. Boats, and a part of the canal, is lifted up and down; more than 73 meters in this case.

The boat lift is an impressive sight on it’s own, and this is amplified by the fact that it is located in a very quiet town. There are almost no people or cars and all is quiet. But as soon as you climb atop the hilltop of the old canal this vast structure rises above the surroundings. The lift is named Strépy-Thieu boat lift, or L’ascenseur funiculaire de Strépy-Thieu in French.

It is also possible to enter the boat lift building, but when I visited they had closed for the day.

When someone makes the biggest, best or newest of something a few strange facts are always in order.

The boat lift had a price tag of 160 million euros and replaced four locks that were built between 1888 and 1919! The upgrade enabled boats up to 1350 tons to be lifted and the whole elevator weighs 7600 tons on average.

It takes approximately 7 minutes to ride the lift up or down, and if a boat is crashing into the lift it is designed to withstand a 5 km/h impact from a boat weighting up to 2000 tons.

It is possible to ride the lift as a passenger at a price of 5.50 euros. This isn’t particularly useful, but can be an interesting experience to try out. Travelling to Belgium just for the sake of seeing the boat lift is perhaps a bit overkill. It is quite a long travel to Belgium for just a few boats going up or down a canal, but if you find yourself in Belgium already it is a sight worth seeing. Taking the train to Thieu to get here is practical and quite cheap. From the town it’s a 20 minute walk to the boat lift itself, a nice walk along the canal.