Road Trip La Rochelle to Bordeaux
After a rolly night on anchor off Île de Ré we sailed the the short 12 nautical miles into La Rochelle. We had chosen the expensive (but much better) option to berth right up in the city basin rather than at the massive yacht marina on the entrance of the bay which is the largest marina for pleasure boats in Europe housing 3,500 boats.
La Rochelle was in full summer celebrations mode with marquees tents and stages set up each direction we looked and a definite holiday and party vibe in the air. It was also warm, even the deck on the boat was too hot to walk on in bare feet, and within minutes of arrival we had the sunshade up over the cockpit and hatches.
La Rochelle is a coastal city in the south/western region of France, a seaport on the Bay of Biscay (part of the Atlantic Ocean). Its been a centre for fishing and trade since the 12th century, a maritime tradition thats reflected in it Vieux Port (old harbour) and huge modern Les Minimes marina (mentioned above). The old town has half timbered medieval houses and Renaissance architecture including passageways covered by 17th century arches.
In 1864 the harbour of La Rochelle “Bassin à flot” a part of which was where Red Roo was berthed was the site for the maiden dive experiments of the first mechanically powered submarine in the world, Plongeur commanded by Marie-Joseph-Camille Doré a native of La Rochelle.
The city beautifully maintains its past architecture making it on of the most picturesque and historically rich cities on the Atlantic coast, this has helped develop a strong tourist industry, which we were witness to with many languages being spoken and many tourists.
We didn’t want to take the boat any further east than La Rochelle as its a long way to beat back out against the wind on either the north or south coast of the Bay of Biscay yet we were keen to explore further, so along with Kris and David from Taipan we hired a car and set of on a road trip to explore the famous french wine area, the countryside and the city of Bordeaux. Learn more about Kris and David (from Western Australia) and their amazing 14 years aboard Taipan and world encompassing journey on their blog site linked here.
We booked two nights in a hosted french B&B villa in the heart of the Medoc wine growing region, home to around 1,500 vineyards producing 38,000,000 bottles of wine per year. Medoc’s fame in the wine industry is linked to the increased amount of gravel and small stones in the soil which allows the heat to be retained, encouraging ripening and extensive root systems. Along with the thousands and thousands of acres of vines every corner we travelled around brought us to another magnificent Chateau, these impressively large castles/estates/homes (oozing wealth) with magnificent landscaped gardens bordering the paddocks of vines – truely breath taking.
Bordeaux is the hub of the famed wine growing region on the Garonne River. Bordeaux wine has been produced in the region sine the 8th century. The historic part of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage list as “an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble” of the 18th century. After Paris, Bordeaux has the highest number of preserved historical buildings of any city in France.
We travelled just over 600 kilometres by car and walked an 8km route in the city of Bordeaux. Those two Captains of ours had it pretty easy for this journey sitting in the back as Kris did a fantastic job in navigating us to see the most we could and avoiding using the same routes twice, and I drove which isn’t so simple in a foreign country driving on the wrong side of the road, with right hand gear stick (when we all know it should be on the left!!).
Upon our return to La Rochelle “FrancoFolies” music festival was in full swing, this is one of the biggest music festivals in France and involves a week of music on multiple stages throughout the city, which we were able to hear very clearly on the boat, and whilst it provided a good atmosphere in the streets, I can’t say the music was much to our tastes (very modern, rap and bass heavy).
We departed La Rochelle to anchor nearby on the afternoon of Bastille Day after having a prime view from the boat of the mornings offical ceremonies.
Our destination is Spain …. across the Bay of Biscay!
Bonjour France – Granville
Finally it feels like we are off again exploring new waters at last, only to arrive in Granville and stop a lot longer than planned…
Firstly a good passage from Jersey to Granville just a short 30 nautical miles, so there was always land in sight either the Channel Islands, the Isles of Chausey or France itself. We departed an hour before low tide in order to get some assistance from the tides and also having to time our arrival into Granville at high-water +/- 3 hours to be able to enter the harbour which has a tidal sil. We averaged between 5-6 knots speed in fairly light winds, the passage was around 5.5 hours.
We sailed the entire passage, despite being over taken by a couple of other yachts (frustrating) but then nice to hear later when we saw them Granville that they actually were motor-sailing with some assistance from the engine – not us, pure wind/sail power.
Granville is a lovely seaside community with all the typical French delights; a wonderful fresh seafood and produce market, grand old churches, a lively seafront, an old walled town up on the hill and of course delightful baguettes!
It didn’t take long for our French dialect to resurface and we haven’t had any trouble finding what we need or speaking with people.
We met Pierre & Isabelle who live locally, friends that Phil has met previously through other Australian friends. Pierre is a a retired man of the sea having an entire life of boating experience, he was a great assistance in directing us to the various mechanics and shops in order to get our repairs sorted.
Repairs included removing and replacing the gear box seal which had a small leak, this job turned into a bigger job than anticipated however it was a relief to be able to repair it as we were (in the water) without having to lift the boat out or lift the engine out of the boat. The delay and frustration came with getting the ‘nut’ off in very tight quarters with no room for tools. Phil spent 4 days bent like a contortionist working with tools using a mirror to see what he was doing before finally getting the nut off, which in the end he had to drill out, then the delay of waiting on a new nut to be shipped. The starter motor solenoid was repaired much simpler, no more tapping with a spanner, the engine is starting first time every time.
During the repairs I (Maree) took a day to visit Mont St Michel. Phil had been previously and although he would love to have gone again cracking the ‘nut’ was much more important at the time.
Mont Saint Michel located on an island (at high tide) 1km off the coast is thought to date back to 708 when the original sanctuary was built. Initially used as a monastery in the 8th century. By the 10th century the Benedictines were settled in the Abbey while a village began to grow below the walls on the base rock of the island. The structural composition of the town exemplifies the the feudal society that constructed it: on top (92 meters above sea level) God, the Abbey and the Monastery below the great halls, then the stores and housing and at the bottom outside the walls houses for fisherman and farmers.
During the hundred year war the island and fortress made a natural stronghold and despite multiple attempts England were unable to seize it.
Following the the dissolution of the religious community during the Revolution and up until 1863 it was used as a prison.
In 1874 is was classified as a historic monument and major restoration work followed, it is now a top tourist location with over 3 million visitors a year.
Whilst Phil was working away on the repairs I kept myself occupied and productive creating various bags and such using the fabric from our old main sail which we replaced this year. I had been scrounging various spinnaker scraps (light weight coloured material) for some time and added various embellishments to the bag with it. The old main sail had sailed us safely to 14 countries in the last two and a half years, so these creations come with a real history, each mark being a chapter in our story, it is fantastic to be able to up-cylce and keep using it.
We did have a day out exploring together later in the week to Villedieu les Poeles, or as I like to call it – Bell Town. Only one of three bell foundry’s in France and one of eight in Europe, that really isn’t many considering how many bells and churches there are in Europe. The bell foundry produces bronze bells and memorial monuments and send the all over the world. Wonderful to see craftsmen and craftswomen working on real commissions, it is an absolute art!
Finally after almost three weeks we have the repairs finished and Red Roo is in tip top shape ready to continue south along the coast.
2018 Begins – United Kingdom to the Channel Islands
Saturday 5th May and finally we are away again, let the 2018 adventures begin!
It was a lovely farewell from our marina family in Ipswich, with crews from Trimilia, Navigare & Phoenix all turning out on J Pontoon to wave us off. Many goodbyes, lots of pictures, videos and the wonderful sound Trimilia’s horn as we departed.
The initial journey was only a very short one, 10 nautical miles down the Orwell to Harwich (where the Orwell River meets the sea), we overnighted and then took the tide out the next morning destination at that time unknown, maybe Ramsgate, maybe direct to the Channel Islands it was all to depend on how Red Roo performed after being stopped for so long.
And of course as one would expect, half and hour after we decided all was well and we would go direct to the Channel Islands we had a minor hick up with the engine, we had a gear box oil leak, so into Ramsgate we went. Turns out that the leak is only very minor but it did give us a fright. We will need to monitor it closely, keep the old girl topped up with oil and then of course plan a full repair, which could be quite the task IF we have to remove the entire engine to get to the suspected leaking seal, fingers crossed lets hope not. Also on the list already is the starter motor solenoid which is playing up and needs some attention, but at the moment it is getting a very specific tap with a spanner when it plays up.
Anyway with the very light winds we were having to motor sail, which obviously isn’t really the way we prefer to travel, so the decision to stop at Ramsgate check the engine over then just do day trips down the coast using the tide and current to give us a boost was an easy one. From Ramsgate we did a couple of short days and anchored off the beach at Sandgate and then Eastbourne for a night each in calm waters.
We then learnt of friends who were currently in Brighton whom we last saw in Cherbourg, France in 2015 when John and Jan actually ate Christmas lunch with us on board Red Roo. We needed no further excuse to stop and it was great to catch up with them especially as they are in the process of moving off their 1938 Hillyard 14 ton wooden sloop sailing boat “Winfrith” and onto their new boat/home “Eilean Dubh” a narrow boat on the English inland waterways.
From Brighton we finally had some decent winds and sailed with our new main sail down to the Solent and anchored just inside Chichester Harbour. We took the dingy further in upstream to catch up and share a bottle of wine with Rob and Jo on Cyclone of Langstone whom we spent a lot of time with in the Baltic last year. They have taken a morning buoy in the harbour for the year, although that may change as it turns out on low tide they are on the mud and on a considerable lean of 15 degrees.
We then looked to set ourselves up to cross to the Channel Islands, so we headed to the western end of the Solent and anchored in Newtown River for the night. Again only a small trip but with a LOT more yachts on the water than we are used to. That’s the Solent for you, the home of yachting in the UK, Chichester Harbour alone is home to over 10,000 boats, thats not counting any in Portsmouth or on the Isle of Wight in Cowes etc. We motor sailed for about half the journey then joined in the fun and tacked back and forth, back and forth across the solent to make our way into Newtown River.
We had a great day on the water sailing from Newtown River to Alderney Channel Islands. Averaging 6-7 knots speed most of the way in 16 – 20 knot winds. We took the tide out of the “Needles” (the rocks at the end of the Isle of Wight) at 10:30 am and was on the water all day arriving into Alderney after dark around 10pm that night (73 nautical miles). We had been to Alderney before so despite the fact we don’t like entering harbours at night it was one we were familiar with. Despite this, it was very off putting to find one of the leading lights coming into the harbour wasn’t working, very pleased we had electronic charts and were able to use them to get in safely. We picked up a buoy behind the breakwater wall only to be up again at 5am in the morning and moving further into the bay on anchor as the rolling motion on the buoy was terrible and uncomfortable for us both, the anchor closer to shore was much better.
We spent the day on Alderney walking and enjoying the sunshine and catching up with young locals Jake and Lucy whom we had meet on our last visit in 2016 when they were working towards sailing away. It was very exciting to hear that they were finally departing, indeed in the coming few days on their adventure exploring Spain and Portugal for the remainder of the year.
Our last leg from Alderney to Jersey was again in sunshine and mostly fair winds. The wind did increase as the day progressed and the swell started to build a little which was unfortunate for one yacht also on passage as they caught themselves foul on some fishing tackle (suspected pots on the bottom of the ocean), the buoy was below the surface and the current strong keeping it under. We heard their pan pan call go out and could see them so changed course to check and assist. We got to them and although we couldn’t assist to get them off the fouling we offered to stand by until help arrived, in the end it wasn’t required as the lifeboat was dispatched and helped them get clear.
Next stop France!
Waiting out Winter
Well it certainly isn’t all beaches and bikini’s living on a yacht, certainly not this far north thats for sure. It has been a long, cold, wet, white and expensive off season for us.
We arrived back in the UK on December 19, having crossed the North Sea from The Netherlands to Ipswich, up the River Orwell in Suffolk. A good crossing considering the season and time of the year. It was later than we had planned on returning but had been waiting for a good weather window to cross. Luckily we arrived just in time for the annual (our second) “J” Pontoon Christmas Party on Trimilia with great friends from the Marina (having stayed in contact all year) who even managed to keep our exact berth on J pontoon free for us to fill for the winter. Great to be back amongst friends!
After sobering up from the party, doing some much needed domestic duties cleaning up inside and outside of Red Roo, including quite a few loads of washing, a trip to the supermarket and working some magic in the galley to contribute to the festive feast we were ready for Christmas.
It was absolutely fantastic to be able to spend another Christmas and then Easter with Phil’s Suffolk family, consisting of Pat (Auntie) and cousins Sam, Clare & Andy, Alex and all the children (more like young adults) Oliver, Annabel, William, Christopher, Melissa, Katie. A huge thanks to the Youngman/Anderson family including Edward, Alice & David and also once again to Pat for hosting and housing us over the Christmas period (yes it took 2 official Christmas celebrations to get around everyone – no complaints from us, a very merry Christmas was had twice). Not sure we will ever be able to repay the hospitably that has been bestowed upon us both last year and this year when we have stopped in Suffolk.
Pat, Clare and families have been so very kind, inclusive and accomodating. Indeed we wouldn’t have been able to travel as easily as we have for the last 2.5 years without having our home base here and an address at Hollesley. Thank You Pat xx
Things came to a grinding halt for us after returning to the boat on the eve of new years eve feeling utterly exhausted and then woke the next morning with the symptoms of the dreaded “Aussie Flu”. We went down hill from there quickly, we ached like we have never ached before, we coughed up lungs and other vile fluid, we wheezed and rattled and we had temperatures followed by cold shivers – but we survived. It took us well over a week to be able to function normally and another two weeks before we were really back to normal.
It seemed January was well underway by the time we started really getting into some of the many boat jobs planned for the winter, and as soon as we got right into them it was time for Phil to take off on a 10 day jaunt to France to catch up with Richard a mate from Australia. A good time was had by all (including myself who had 10 days of peace and space on the boat to knock over a lot of my jobs). Richard and Phil were looked after fantastically by friends of Richard & Heather namely Roseline & Andre in Elbeuf as well as Pierre & Isabel in Granville who gave them a bed, many delicious french meals and loads of liquid hospitality, including many afternoon aperitifs (which may have become a bit of a habit he is still trying to break).
Winter has put in an especially good season this year, with continual wet and cold days which even led to a significant snow event named “the beast from the east” which hit with force leaving a white blanket over everything in site as well as upsetting most of the country with cancelled transports from buses, train and planes. We have had two white outs, one lasting 4 days the other only 2. And news from friends in the Netherlands reported to us that the canals we were sailing on two months ago, were now iced over and locals were skating on them!
With the weather not suitable for outside jobs, and travel even locally at a stand still we realised many of the marina residents were sick of being boat bound and we therefore put on a bit of an impromptu pub quiz night at the yacht club building. It was a great success with almost 30 people turning up and 5 teams battling it out for bragging rights on the night. It was heaps of fun, a big thanks to all who turned up and made it a great night. Some late night shenanigans afterwards resulting in a ripper snowball fight!
We have certainly had a very social winter catching up with everyone from last winter in marina and with new friends Kris and David (Aussies on Taipan) and John, Kara & Dean (American’s on Sentijn) all being here in the harbour together, we have traded tools, shared many meals (and quite a few drinks – both hot and cold), loads of story’s and many, many good times. One of the highlights being Dean’s 1st birthday with a party which we celebrated in the yacht club. He was the only attendee under age and the only one to go home sober!
Anyone interested in a great book to read should check our Johns book, a real life adventure story of John & Kara’s world circumnavigation in their 20’s in a boat with no previous sailing experience, a fantastic read (and not just for sailors). It is available on Amazon and Kindle. Link Here.
We also got away for a few days mid March to travel down south to visit Wendy and Mike (Phil’s cousins) at St Meryn – Cornwall. Knowing when we depart the UK this time (if all goes to plan) we won’t be back in the boat so we wanted to see them again before departing. We have previously taken the boat to Cornwall and Padstow in May 2016 so it was great to spend time with the Cornwall cousins again. We spent a day in Padstow (Red Roo’s registered home port) which is currently closed while they replace the harbour gates. Michael and Wendy were again so very generous with their time and wonderful hosts. We had a day out to Plymouth to visit Karen, a meal with Mark, Carolyn and Victoria as well as another day trip to Cape Cornwall and Penzance where we ate lunch overlooking St Michaels Mount – but all we could see was white waves and swell with torrential rain and low visibility the mount wasn’t on display that day.
On the return journey we stopped at the “sticky out point” (Phil’s description) which is actually Portland the island off Weymouth to pick up our Jordan Series Drogue. A significant investment in survival gear that we hope to never use. We also visited Rob, Jo & Alexa at Hayling Island near Portsmouth. Having met Rob and Jo on their boat Cyclone of Langstone during the year in the Baltic it was great to see them again and we had a fantastic (sunny) day exploring their patch of the world. However when we woke up to snow it was a sign to return to home to the boat (seems to be a common theme this year).
It hasn’t been all snow days and holidays however we have managed to knock over a few big jobs and spend a lot of cash setting up for the bigger voyages planned in the next year or so.
Jobs to name a few included a full service of the head (a nice word for the boat toilet), find and repair a leak in the fridge circuit, sand back and varnish the head (bathroom/shower) wooden floor, design and arrange a custom manufacture of transom mounts for the storm drogue (which we never hope to use), advertising and selling 2 years worth of charts and pilot books that we have collected so far covering 11 of the countries we have already visited (so we can buy the the next lot we need for waters south of here), design and build a fuel polishing circuit for the 2 x fuel tanks, repair a crack in the boom where is connects to the boom-vang, investigate our battery charge issue which ended up with replacing the batteries, cleaning of all the lines (ropes) many of which had turned green with mould in the winter conditions, a couple of scrubs of the boat, inside and out (after each snow event), scrub the hull and water line, clean, detail and resewing seams of the canvas work on the boat (dodgers, spray hood & sail bag cover), including the recovery of the dodger from the bottom of the harbour when it blew in and sunk 7 meters down!
As well as buying the drogue we have boosted the UK economy by investing in a bigger new 33kg Rocna anchor (we will certainly stick to the bottom with this baby), a new main sail and also had 5 other sails serviced (inspected, cleaned, repaired & reinforced), purchased a portable industrial sewing machine (so we can do more work ourselves and Phil also plans on pimping out me and my machine to make a bit of money) and finally we are also in the market for a new life raft before we leave. My pocket hurts just thinking about it all.
After all that it is almost time to leave again for new exciting shores. This is the longest we have ever stopped and although it is hard saying farewell to our UK family and friends the sea is calling us.
We must go down to the seas again, lets escape this bloody place,
Where at night we’re advised: you should carry a can of mace;
And the rain falls, and the sleet falls, and the snow is black with soot
And the nearest grocery store is a long wet haul on foot!
We must go down to the seas again, the New Cuts grown quite old,
For the boat’s quite thoroughly infested with mould;
And the pipes freeze while laundry costs four quid a token
And the internet is slow, whenever it’s not completely broken!
We must go down to the sea again, from this wretched town we’ll fly
What’s kept us sane was the LIDL box and a piece of Maree’s fish pie:
And on “K” dock on the icy nights we hear a plaintiff wailing
And a frantic call and a desperate call – Taipan’s Dutch heater is failing!
We must go down to the seas again, to greener pastures we’ll sail,
To cheaper booze and warmer climes, where there’s no chance of hail;
But what we’ll treasure are the times with each laughing fellow rover,
Because after a dozen gallons of wine, the Ipswich winters finally over!
Based on Sea Fever by John Masefield, adapted for Sentijn, Taipan and Red Roo in Ipswich by John & Kara
2017 Red Roo Wrap Up
- 3283 nautical miles travelled
- 287 days (departing UK on March 8th returning December 19th)
- 126 Stops across 9 countries (The Netherlands and Germany visited twice)
Countries visited:
- The Netherlands
- Germany
- Poland
- Lithuania
- Latvia
- Estonia
- Finland
- Sweden
- Denmark
We spent an average of 2.2 days at each location, and our journey distance averages out to just 26 nm per passage. The shortest was just 4 nautical miles from Alglo Island to Rodja Algo Island in Finland and the longest being 131 nautical miles from Lauwersoog in The Netherlands to Brunsbuttel – Germany.
We (again) met some really lovely people along the way, saw some amazingly beautiful scenery, explored countries and cultures that were previously unknown to us.
Some spectacular memories were made exploring the nature islands in Finland (in the sun no less) as well as Sweden (the free washing machines at the marinas and their scrumptious food).
It was a real treat sailing in the Baltic Sea without having to worry about tides and such and also to enjoy so much daylight during the summer (never getting dark).
Some things such as tricky box moorings (whilst conquered without incident) will definitely not be missed.
Red Roo as always looked after us well, keeping us afloat, safe and comfortable – we can’t ask for anymore than that.
Thank you to those of you who followed our adventures during this year via these blog posts. I know at times they can be quite sporadic (depending on internet availability) as well as long (and probably quite tedious for you to read), but I hope you have enjoyed them, or at least the photos. It is really a very lovely feeling to have you all care enough and show interest to follow us on our adventure.
Thank You and we wish you and your families a
Very Merry Christmas and a Safe, Happy and Healthy 2018
Another Night on the North Sea – The Last Passage for 2017.
We had actually started to think we would be spending Christmas in Holland, and had left our run to the UK too late BUT finally, after two weeks in Vlissingen waiting for suitable weather to cross the North Sea to Ipswich (for winter) an appropriate window appeared (and for once remained and came through for us).
We set off just before change of tide just after lunch on Monday 18th passing out of the canal lock into the Westerschelde before pushing through a bit of confused water from current, tide and wind (being change of spring tide) into the North Sea with a full main sail and head sail making good speed.
We sailed well on a beam reach until midnight when we arrived at the shipping channel and to cross it at 90 degrees as required meant turning into the wind and it was then right on the nose so on with the motor it was and we motored slowly into a sloppy North sea swell for a few hours only once having to alter course slightly too avoid a large ship southbound.
It was a clear night with the stars shining bright – lovely, and the great news was it wasn’t even that cold. Don’t get me wrong we were dressed warm with thermals and full sailing foul weather gear but we were comfortable and didn’t even turn the heater on inside. It was dark by 17:00 that evening and it became light again the next morning around 8am.
We also encountered less traffic than previous North Sea crossings, which was a relief as at night it can be harder than one expects to keep a track of all the wind farm lights, ship lights, small traffic (yachts) as well as those dreaded fishing vessels that are just plain frustrating as they change direction constantly and have random lights (usually a flood light that negates the navigations lights) and are often unmanned at the helm.
It can also never be a straight line crossing the North Sea even when one does have a great angle on the wind (sigh) this is due to shipping channels, traffic separation zones as well as the wind farms and shallow sand bars.
So overall we were very happy with the last journey for the year, and I will admit I was rather dreading it as we had to wait out some pretty horrible weather to make the passage and I had visions of terrible rough seas or fog or having to motor the entire journey, and was extremely happy to be wrong on all counts. Although I had managed to work myself into quite a state about it before we departed and left with a real knot in my stomach which I couldn’t be sure was from stress, seasickness or hunger (as I hadn’t eaten due to worrying about being sick if it was rough).
The total journey was 110 nautical miles and we did 50 nm under sail, 25 nm motor-sailing and the 35 nm under motor (including the 10 nm up the River Orwell from the coast).
As land came into sight we tuned the FM radio into BBC Suffolk and heard our first English broadcast since departing in March, which took us a few minutes to process and realise we could understand the words as we listen to the radio everyday! The BBC radio weather reports were broadcasting thick fog and although visibility did drop a little around Felixstowe it was a great relief to not encounter fog at all.
The sun joined us for our trip up the lovely River Orwell, with frost on the rolling green hills and a very still water with no wind. It was quite exciting to be able to pronounce the Ipswich lock’s name without issue over the VHF announcing our arrival as we passed under the Orwell Bridge, although I very nearly brought myself undone by thanking the lock keeper in Dutch rather than English (just habit after the 201 Dutch bridges & locks we have spoken to). We timed it extremely well as it was high tide when we reached the Ipswich lock so passed through it on free-flow (bonus), making our arrival 11:30am exactly 24 hours after leaving The Netherlands.
We were both felt like we were coming home as we entering Ipswich Haven Marina (having spent an enjoyable 3 months here last winter). We tied ourselves up in the exact same berth we had last year and within moments were welcomed back by our neighbours on J pontoon – big smiles all around!
The next day we got right into the festive season and rigged up Red Roo in her Christmas lights to join in the wonderful display that is J Pontoon, with all the live-aboards boats lit up. Last year we won the best dressed boat competition, however this year we were extremely pleased for our good neighbours on Trimilia who took out the top prize, and we were surprised yet very happy to receive a bottle of bubbly from the marina team for our efforts on Red Roo.
We are now looking forward to spending Christmas and New Years with some of Phil’s family (Auntie and Cousins) who live close by, catching up with sea faring friends we have met over the last few years who live around the region and even taking a trip south to Cornwall to see cousins down that end of the country.
Then there is no delaying it . . . we have a rather long and significant list of jobs both large and small, some requiring quite a bit of cash, other requiring a lot of plain hard work and elbow grease that all need to be done before we think about taking off again (hopefully around March) for our 2018 adventures.
Birthday in Belgium – Exploring Antwerp
During the last couple of weeks we had made new friends (virtually through the wonders of email and Facebook) with Kris and David two fellow Aussies (hailing from Albany WA) sailing SV Taipan who were currently berthed in Antwerp Belguim.
They had been told of Red Roo when they stopped in Ipswich Haven Marina recently (our favourite place to stop over winter) and when Kris made contact an instant friendship developed (maybe it was the Aussie humour, or the fact that we are sharing the same time zone and were able to chat easily without the big time difference) anyway they very kindly invited us to visit them in Antwerp if we had time prior to going back to the UK.
And it turned out we did have time, once we arrived in Vlissingen (our departure point for the UK) the weather looked unsuitable for a passage for at least the next 4 days so we put ourselves on a train and 1.5 hours and €20 later we arrived in Belgium (we just love how easy and cheap it is to travel within Europe – if only they would let us stay longer and sort out the Schengen Visa restrictions!!!)
Considering the very poor sailing forecast Antwerp certainly turned on a couple of great days weather for our visit (the forecasted rain didn’t develop) and Kris and David were excellent hosts and company – we hit it off immediately, so much so we ended up staying with them longer than originally planned.
SV Taipan (50 foot GRP cutter) is a wonderful boat and home and has certainly done some sea miles. Having lived onboard since 2004 and circumnavigated Australia (more than once), including Tasmania (bonus points for that), then sailed extensively in Asia, before crossing to South Africa, then America and now Northern Europe. I am very jealous of both the sea miles countries and adventures and of your lovely boat (all that space including a washing machine – what a dream!). We are so very glad to have met and to call you friends (I am sure it’s not the last wine we will share together).
Antwerp is a beautiful city with amazing architecture and we really enjoyed wandering around and were really drawn to some of the amazing historic buildings.
The gothic style Cathedral of Our Lady built 1501 – 1518 is easily the centrepiece of the city no one could visit Antwerp and not be drawn to it, it stands tall and proud above the city with the spire reaching 123 meters tall.
We spied a magnificent brick building down an alley with an usual and appealing brick design and colour and went to explore finding it to be the old Butchers Guild Hall (dating back to 1504), very grand for a butchers shop. When the French abolished Guild halls as part of the revolution the building was used to store wine – you could fit a whole lot of wine in there!!
Antwerp’s oldest building dating back to the 9th century is the Fortress Gatehouse which sits on the riverfront, although it has been chopped and changed and modified heavily at the back over the years the front is still and impressive site.
It was also the launch of the Christmas Festival in Antwerp meaning the city was transformed into a winter wonderland full of Christmas markets and magic. There was a ferris wheel on the river front and in the town square there was a mistletoe marquee, pop up wooden christmas stalls, ice-skating rink, lots of gluhwein (mulled wine) and fairy lights everywhere.
It was really great timing as the visit included Maree’s birthday on the 8th and Kris’s on the 9th December so we didn’t need any excuses for drinks, delicious food and fun times (David and Phil didn’t stand a chance with two birthday girls over the 4 day visit!). Kris and David had already made birthday dinner reservations so we increased the booking to a table for 4 … more commonly known as gate crashing 🙂 and what an experience it was. We ate at LUX an amazing Michelin star restaurant right on the waterfront near the marina. We had an amazing three course meal with the starters and deserts being presented as art on a plate rather than food. The flavours were exactly as ordered but the food was presented in amazing shapes and textures looking nothing like the food ordered – and all accompanied by great wine.
Following our fine dining experience we walked to the town square and watched the christmas light & music show which was projected onto the amazing town hall building. It was spectacular – no other way to describe it (and I am not including pictures of the show as they simply don’t do it justice).
David had been hoping for snow all during our stay and on our last morning we awoke to snow, both settled on the ground and falling from the sky. It made for a really pretty morning at the marina and really made it feel like Christmas. Very different from home for these 4 Australian’s who are used to hot summer Christmas’s.
So a HUGE THANKS to Kris and David for inviting us and hosting us in your home, you were very generous and made exploring Antwerp really fun as well as a great way to spend my birthday, I will remember it for many years to come and we are already looking forward to the next catch up.
St Nicholas Day in Veere & Ready to Launch from Vlissingen
This blogs journey.
The fog finally lifted enough for us to leave so we made passage from Bruinisse to Veere (25 nautical miles). We had perhaps 3 nautical miles visibility at most during passage with at times down to 1.5 n m, but clear and safe enough. Funnily we only saw one other sailing boat out on the water other than the working barges, and to give credit where credit is due he was sailing in really light winds, tacking from one side of the channel to the other (making it a long slow cold slog to get any decent miles), we chose to do the passage under motor. We didn’t get wet but my word it was cold, it was half hour shifts on the helm with the heater going down below to warm up in between. Just the one lock to pass through to leave the Oosterschelde and enter the smaller river, but we had to “hover” for 45 minutes before we could enter it as there wasn’t any suitable mornings (just huge pylons for barges).
We arrived mid afternoon in the lovely Veere. Such a beautiful town, we visited on a day trip riding our bikes there from Middleburg earlier in the year so was nice to bring the boat here and enjoy it once again.
On a whim we decided to visit the yacht club for “one drink” (maybe we were hoping again for the fantastic cheap bar prices we found in IJsellmonde), anyway we were expecting to perhaps meet a couple of locals at the Yachtsmen only (not open to the public) bar to have a yarn with, being a Sunday we were certainly not expecting the big night it turned into.
We met some lovely locals (one whom was celebrating her birthday) and that one drink turned into a few too many drinks as well as a lovely meal with our new friends (who were very generous and insisted on buying our dinner). After dinner we went to the bar again for a nightcap (or 4 . . . maybe more) which turned into quite the sing-along. Now neither Phil or I can speak fluent Dutch but it seems after enough drinks we can sing it with the best of them!! Phil rang the bar bell more than once to buy our new friends a round, it was a really great evening, so thanks to our Veere friends.
We were also in Veere for St. Nicholas Day (which technically is on the 6th December, the presents are delivered overnight arriving on the morning of the 6th) but the major celebrations are held on the 5th December (the day we were there) which involved Sinterklaas arriving to the town on a boat, then taking a horse carriage to the town hall and lots of Dutch seasonal carol songs. You may remember my post in Amsterdam when we saw the big Sinterklaas parade, well in a small town like Veere to be there on the actual day amongst locals was pretty special. As previously written this is seperate to Christmas for the Dutch refer here for a brief understanding: https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/holland.shtml
The Local Children Dressed as Black Pete for Sinterklaas on Dec 5th
After the Sinterklaas celebrations we got organised and made our final inland passage for the Netherlands from Veere to Vlissingen a mere 13 nautical miles, however with 1 lock and 5 bridges the journey took 5 and a half hours. We had long waits at each of the bridges by far the longest of any in the entire country, at least they were our last. It was a little confusing for a while at one particular bridge as the lights turned Red/Green (indicating for us to go close and get ready for the bridge to open), then the car and pedestrian barricades went down (all very good), but then the barricades came back up and our red/green lights turn red … this happened over 5 times in about half an hour before the actual bridge opened. Some sort of malfunction, but nothing huge in the scheme of things considering the amount of bridges we have passed through this year.
To sum it up for our Netherlands adventures the bridge pictured below is the last of 171 bridges that we had opened and passed through (76 going North in Mar/April on our way to the Baltic Sea and 95 returning South in Nov/Dec). That leaves just 1 more lock (which will be lock number 31) before we pop back out into the North Sea to cross the North Sea back to England (for winter in Suffolk).
Speaking of crossing back to England we have been here for a week now with still no set date to cross. (Yes, sorry, I was a little behind in the blogs, and in that time we did nip over to Belguim by train for a few days but I will write another post dedicated to that fantastic little trip) The weather has been pretty ordinary either blowing Gales or thick Fog and when it finally gets to an in-between state the wind is from the wrong direction.
Neither of us want a nasty last sail for the year but chances are that it isn’t going to be one of the nicest that is for sure, and it will be guaranteed to be cold. We have had a couple of days with snow settled on the ground, but the high winds and rain have now cleared it away.
We have been keeping warm and dry and are comfortable here, and have been filling in the days with puzzles and also a little train ride to Middelburg to the Markets but are both very keen to make the passage (but not so keen on getting beat up in the North Sea) and actually arriving at out final designation for the year and having a real break before getting stuck into the many, many, many jobs on our list to complete before we launch for our 2018 adventures.
1995 Beer Prices and The Big Muscle
Amsterdam, Haarlem, Oudewetering, Waddinxveen, IJsselmonde (Rotterdam), Willemstad, Bruinisse
Amsterdam to Haarlem a mere 13 nautical miles but due to a fuel stop and bridges it took us almost 6 hours to get there under engine (it isn’t appropriate to sail in the channels with the barges and ships) The good news being it was on the verge of raining all day however it actually never quite did so we avoided getting wet – very happy about that.
Why so long for such little milage well let me explain further. Firstly we needed to get fuel and secondly we had to book one of the bridges to open 24 hours in advance so we left early in plenty of time to allow for the fuel and to ensure we got to the bridge well before the scheduled opening we had booked which was VERY lucky as we ended up taking over an hour to get fuel! Well not to actually get the fuel, that only took about 15 minutes for 180 litres but the first issue arose when paying and the EFTPOS machine rejected all our cards (we tried 6 between us), this isn’t uncommon in the Netherlands and a lot of shops don’t accept credit cards however our debit cards were not working either. It turns out it wasn’t the first time this had happened for the fuel barge operator and he was on the phone to the bank trying to sort it out however time was ticking away for the bridge opening so they kindly drove Phil to an ATM to get cash out to pay for the fuel. Great, away we go … well not quite, full of fuel we turned the key to start Red Roo and got no response ? ? ? Very strange as we had been travelling for an hour before stopping for fuel so the battery should have been fine (plus we had been plugged into shore power for our stay in Amsterdam), perhaps the wires to the ignition, nope they seem to be ok, hmmmm the starter motor maybe . . . who knows, the result was that it ended up starting about 20 minutes later after much swearing and head scratching and to be honest we really don’t know what the issue was ? ? ?
We made it to the bridge half an hour before it was booked to open for us, we were very glad we had allowed plenty of time to get there and needless to say we didn’t turn the engine off whilst waiting! Anyway 8 bridges and 1 lock later we arrived in Haarlem without further issue.
We stayed two days in Haarlem whilst the rain and wind did its thing, really no hurry for us and we certainly would prefer to motor when the wind is light rather than strong and against us, especially when having to wait (tread water) around the bridges whilst we wait for them to open as trying to do that in strong winds is a recipe for disaster.
Whilst in Haarlem Phil got on his bike and visited the nearby Cruquius Museum just a short ride down the canal. The Cruquius houses the worlds largest steam engine used for pumping water out to reclaim land in the Netherlands: its main cylinder has a diameter of 3.66 meters and the engine can drain up to 320,000 litres of water per minute (that’s an Olympic swimming pool every 8 minutes).
The reclamation of the Haarlemmermeer by means of steam power marked the breakthrough of the Industrial Revolution in the Netherlands. “De Cruquius”, was commissioned in 1849, and pumped Lake Haarlem dry in three years and three months, together with two identical steam-pumping stations. The Cruquius remains untouched since 1849 and still works today (although no longer used for water control), it is a miracle of Victorian technology.
The museum houses models of windmills, steam engines and various pumps, polder models, old maps and prints in de former boiler rooms provide an excellent overview of the struggle against the water. There is also a water model, which shows what the Netherlands would look like without dikes and what damage a storm flood can cause.
Haarlem to Oudewetering is 15 nautical miles with 14 bridges to get opened and pass through. The first four bridges were all part of the Haarlem city bridges and we had the one bridge controller who opened each of them for us, riding his scooter in-between the bridges.
Again we had one bridge in the passage that had to be booked in advance to arrange the opening (this was a highway and rail bridge) and we were running very ahead of time so we ended up stopping in Lisse for and hour and half along the way and took a walk around before continuing on. We still arrived at the bridge almost an hour before the arranged opening but better to be early than not make it.
We have learnt that I (Maree) get a better response on the VHF radio requesting bridge openings than Phil. I have to be honest and say its most definitely NOT that my dutch pronunciation is better than his (I am embarrassed by how bad it is) but it must be a case of the bridge keepers enjoying a conversation with a foreign female as opposed to a male! Oh well, whatever it takes to get the bridges opened quickly we will run with it.
We overnighted along the canal at Oudewetering where we had stayed earlier in the year, you can stay here for up to 24 hours for free.
Oudewetering to Waddinxveen is only 11 nautical miles with 9 bridges (and none that required advance bookings to pass), therefore without time constraints and to make a day out of the passage we planned to stop about a third of the way to visit a market town which was running it’s weekly Saturday market. We spent a lovely three hours at Alphen aan de Rijn enjoying the market with all its fruit and vegetable stands, nuts, and of course lots of kaas (cheese), we pretty much ate our lunch from the free samples at all the stands! We also restocked with 2 crates of beer (beer is very very cheap in Holland compared to the UK) and as the canal is in the very centre of the town Red Roo was parked almost right out the front of the supermarket – making it a rare short walk (with such valuable cargo).
We parked up at Waddinxveen at another vacant “free” canal side berth (funnily enough no other boats around at this time of year) originally were were staying for 2 nights as the bridges don’t open on a Sunday this time of year however ended up staying for a third as Monday it rained cats and dogs and there was no desire from either of us to helm in the rain and the mooring was free, so the decision to wait an extra day was a given really.
It wasn’t quite a day off for Phil however as he got serious about fault finding the engine starting issue we had out of Amsterdam and came up with a possible voltage issue, which seems to be an intermittent fault so hard to find the actual issue and solve – I will leave him with that one, I helped by staying out of the way when he had tools from one end of the boat to the other (inspecting the electrical system), checking each of the batteries which of course are buried deep in batches in not one but three different locations on board meaning we have to pull out heaps of stored items to get to them!
Clear skies awaited us the next day so off we travelled from Waddinxveen – IJsselmonde (Rotterdam) again only a very small journey of 12 nautical miles with 5 bridges and 1 lock to negotiate and with only the one bridge that we had to wait an hour before it opened we we arrived not long after lunch.
Considerations were given to keep going onto Dordrecht but the timing for the next bridge (between us and Dordrecht) was a few hours away and didn’t then allow time to make it into Dordrecht during their reduced winter opening times for the town bridge into the marina, so IJsselmonde it was.
This was also a decision point for us as there is a option here to exit the canals at Rotterdam out into the North Sea and cross to England but the weather forecast didn’t show anything promising for the next week to allow us to cross so we decided to keep travelling south in the canals to Vlissingen where we will eventually cross from when the weather allows.
The IJsselmonde marina is a members ran marina meaning the members own and operate and put all profits back into the club and you can really tell, it is by far one of the best places we have stayed. The care and maintenance is second to none, everything is well looked after, clean, working and loved. Everyone is happy to help you and the absolute best thing is the bar prices don’t seemed to have increased since 1995. Beers cost €1.10 and a glass of wine is €1.15 meaning between us we had 3 beers and 2 wines at the clubhouse bar for €5.60. It’s a good thing that we didn’t go to the bar for a drink and discover this when we stopped here heading North earlier in the year or we may never had made it to the Baltic.
Rotterdam – Willemstad was 21 nautical miles and had just two bridges to pass through, but both these bridges have reduced and designated opening times this time of year. The first was Alblasserdam bridge which was broken when we came north earlier in the year resulting in us doing an extra 35 miles to get around past it via another route. It was a relief to find this time it was working and opened on time, although from the looks of it it is the oldest bridge we have come across in the Netherlands and by far the slowest to open and close. It is no wonder it only opens a couple of times a day, it takes forever and holds up a major highway traffic in the process.
The second bridge was the big highway and railway bridge at Dordrecht which evokes horrid feelings in us both from our experience at this bridge earlier in the year when we nearly got cleaned up by a ship at this bridge. Blog Post # 77 Dordrecht 31/03/2017
It didn’t help when we communicated with the bridge and got a similar message to last time, that being, you will pass through the bridge first travelling south then a container ship is coming through from the south second. We could see the container ship and as we began to head thru the bridge he pulled out and sat plumb in the middle on the other side and due to “perspective” it really looked like he was coming thru and there was no gap for us to exit out and trust me there isn’t room for both of us. However we had a green light and once we were almost through we could see he was actually waiting for us to pass but due to the sides of the bridge it really did look like we would meet in the middle. Phew!
Willemstad to Bruinisse was 16 nautical miles with 2 locks to pass through. They say there is no such thing as bad weather just inappropriate clothing well we dressed ready to face the weather which reached a top of 3 degrees. It was definitely a thermals + long sleeve top + flannelette shirt + jumper + puffa jacket kind of day.
Whilst waiting to enter the first lock a thick fog crept up from behind, we watched it approach and overtake us, settling in and making the red, green lights on the lock entrance 100 meters in front of us almost impossible to see. We passed through the lock and under the bridge (with just 0.8 meters clearance over our mast) and pulled up directly on the other side at the waiting pontoon for about an hour and a half waiting for the fog to clear. Yachts are not permitted to travel when visibility is less than one thousand meters on the canals, it would be very dangerous with the barges and other traffic. We were grateful that it cleared so quickly and allowed us to continue on and arrive at our destination as planned.
Speaking of just zero point eight meters clearance over the mast passing under this bridge at the lock, whilst we were waiting for the lock we witnessed a strange sight. The lock gates opened to let out the north travelling vessels and out came a yacht backwards! Very strange and made us wonder what went on in there for him to come out backwards, did he perhaps get blown around and turns 180 degrees, did a barge hit it and turn it around?? Nope turns out he was actually to tall to get under the bridge so had to wait for the lock to do 2 cycles and come back out backwards! He then went and passed via the large ships lock with a lifting bridge rather than the sporting (smaller) lock.
Bruinisse is the home of the Big Muscle pictured below on the right (obviously), and strangely enough also the “big shovel” not sure of the story associated with the big shovel. Our appetites were rather excited about the opportunity to get a good feed of muscles whilst in town yet it was harder than we imagined to actually find some to buy, but get some we did! A local muscle farmer was telling us how hard a business it is to make a life out of as it costs him €1 a kilogram to farm them yet the big name supermarkets in his country only buy them for .80 cents a kilo. They make their money early in the season when the overseas markets are muscle hungry and pay top dollar, then just have to suck it up for the remainder of the year locally with what ever price they can get.
Fog kept us in Buinisse an extra day, not much use setting out in this, visibility of less than 100 meters. The highlight of the day was the top temperature, it reached a whopping 1 degree with the days low being -1. Daylight was 08:50am and Dark was 16:05. The fender lines iced up thick and the water droplets on the guard rails were frozen.
Dutch Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet
Firstly the sailing (well motoring) part – Volendam to Amsterdam is again another short hop of 15 nautical miles with one lifting bridge and one lock to navigate and pass through as you leave the Markermeer and enter the Noordzeekanal (basically the waterbody/river from Amsterdam to the North Sea Locks on the coast).
With the wind on the nose in the Markermeer we had to motor, and once in the Noordzeecanal it really isn’t practical to sail due to the shipping and it isn’t that far to Sixhaven marina either, so the motor stayed on.
Sixhaven Marina was almost full with only a couple of berths free, it is full of boats all tucked up for winter in the water with thick dock lines criss crossing the water and pontoons like a spiderweb. Sixhaven is on the north side of the river and a free ferry takes you across to central station and into the city, these ferries run every two and a half minutes, (there are two of them) running back and forth constantly 24 hours a day (so many people!!) but it is amazing it only takes us about 10 minutes to get into the city from the boat including the ferry ride.
This visit we took a free walking tour of the city . . . by free it means payment by tips, which in a small group like we had leaves a bit of pressure to be generous, especially when at least half of the two and half hour tour was done in the rain and our guide was the only person without a rain coat or an umbrella!!
We learnt a couple of interesting bits of new information; we always stare in awe of the buildings that are never square always leaning and looking like they are going to fall over, well it turns out that yes, the sideways leaning is all accidental (or from age) but the leaning forward is indeed part of the design, this is for the pully/hoist on the top level of these tall skinny buildings so when hoisting loads (back in the day stores from boats, these days furniture for housing) don’t hit the building and damage either the load or the building.
We were also taken to “Begijnhof” an inner city compound or gated housing community with a amazingly green courtyard and garden dating back to the 14th century which was built for members of a Catholic Sisterhood, the women lived like Nun’s however were under no actual vows. They did have to be unmarried, to make a vow of chastity and to promise obedience to the parish priest, but since they were not expected to make a vow of poverty, they were free have their own possessions. They could renounce their vows at any moment and leave the Beguinage, for instance to get married.
The Legend of Sinterklaas.
Sinterklaas The Traditions – Lay your shoe & sing songs with the family!
The Big Day;
Origins;
Santa Claus – concocted from a mixed bag of Sinterklaas, Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas and made his debut after anglican colonisation of the Dutch by the Americans
Appearance;
Ride;
Homelife;
Terms and Conditions;
Diet;
So in short the Dutch are fiercely proud of their Sinterklaas and the tradition is very much alive and well (despite the awkwardness around Piet). We are further assured that the Dutch do also participate in Christmas Day and all that comes with that as well . . . well who wouldn’t want to do Christmas twice!!!
Links to our previous visit to Amsterdam with Red Roo in April 2017:
Red Roo 
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