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.

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.

Flat Water

Three Barges

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. 

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;

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:

# 83.  Amsterdam  The Netherlands 12/04/2017

Hindeloopen, Stavoren, Enkhuizen & Volendam.

After 3 nights in Harlingen we departed the canal through the sea lock and into the North Sea for a short passage before passing through the Lorentzsluizen (lock) to bring us back into the IJsselmeer.  The IJsselmeer being a controlled waterbody keeping The Netherlands from being swallowed by the sea – again.

16 nautical miles, two sea locks and one lifting bridge later we arrived in picturesque village of Hindeloopen (population 875).

We secured ourselves on the harbour/quay wall rather than enter the massive marina (the IJsselmeer being a very popular sailing ground has many large marina’s).  This turned out to be a very good decision as the wall is free (now being out of sailing season, ie: winter) where as you still have to pay to use the marina, the strange part being we could use the marina toilets, showers & would you believe it pool (all for free) and their laundry whilst we were there?  What a great deal, no complaints from us!  Even better there was also power on the wall that we could connect to . . . did I mention that it is out of season (winter) and starting to get very cold? The electric heater is now our almost constant companion when the power is free or included in our berthing rates.

We both loved Hindeloopen it is a small village on the edge of the Meer (lake) and is very much a traditional Dutch village with little, if any sign of progress or modern ugliness, even the lock into the small town canals is operated by good old fashioned man power, turning wheels and using chain rather than modernised (Note only very small local boats can go through the lock due to the canals width and depth, too small, narrow and shallow for us).

It was very easy to spend a couple of days here wandering the village cobblestone streets, alley’s and canals.

A very short 5 nautical miles further on (half the journey under sail the other half under engine which was basically getting out of Hindeloopen and into Stavoren) we arrived at Stavoren.  Why such a short journey?  Well we were able to stop here and catch up with our friend Robert whom we met earlier in the year in Lemmer and Sloten when we were heading north through Holland to the Baltic.  Robert and Ria have kept in touch since and it was great to be able to spend some more time together.  Robert told us some fabulous stories about his homeland, traditions of the Dutch, his life, his travels, his family and business.  Thank you Robert for taking the time to meet with us again and for your messages throughout the year and for the lovely apple pie!

Stavroen is another adoringly beautiful village (population 950) and a very friendly one at that, not only did we catch up with Robert but we made further friends in the village firstly with Peter and Carla whom we met when we berthed Red Roo in front of their home on the waterfront, they came on board for afternoon tea during our stay and we learnt of their wonderful journey living on board their yacht and travelling to many countries over many years. They now have a smaller yacht “Odulphus” and continue to sail but live back on land these days.

We also met the very kind Yvonne who is the Captain of a traditional wooden Dutch sailing barge.  Phil assisted Yvonne in folding up her sails as she was packing up the boat for winter.  Yvonne is affectionately call a Witch by the locals as she knits woollen garments under the name “Witch Craft”.  Yvonne was very generous and gave us both a hand knitted beanie when we left, which we have both worn a lot since then, so much softer than commercially produced beanies.

The reference to a Witch also has a lot of history in the town of Stavoren as per the story below;

The Legend of “The Lady of Stavoren” 

Stavoren is the oldest and was at one time the largest and richest city of Friesland (Friesland being a state of Holland).  It was a town of traders and sailors and even the Frisian Kings resided here.  In its heyday they spoke of the spoilt children of Stavoren. 

From the thirteenth century on wealth began to diminish.  The North Sea had broken through the coastal lands, creating the ‘Zuidertzee’ (IJsselmeer).  These floods destroyed much of the old Stavoren including the renowned monastery of Saint Odulf.  To this downfall of medieval glory the following legend is linked.

At one time Stavoren was a rich town with many merchant ships owned by the lady of Stavroen.  One day she ordered one of her captains: “Bring me the finest treasure in the world”.  The crew set to sea and searched everywhere.  Finally they found what they were looking for.  When the ship arrived in Stavoren there were many people on the quay; together with the Lady of Stavoren.  The Captain said: “After a long search we found and loaded the finest treasure in the world”.  He pointed proudly to the open hatch at his feet.  Everyone leaned forward to look, and mouths fell open in amazement.  No one had ever seen such beautiful grain, transformed into pure gold in the midday sun!

The Lady of Stavoren was shocked.  With a voice as sharp and as hoarse as a seagull she said:  “On which side did you load it?”  The Captain answered: “Port side milady.”  “In on the port side, out then to starboard!!” she ordered.  The captains face became white and taut and he looked at the poor people of Stavoren.  The Lady forced him to discharge the grain into the sea.

An old fisherman stepped forward and said: “Milady…for this you will be punished.  The time will come when you shall beg for a handful of wheat!”  She laughed shrilly.  “Do you see this ring?  The sea will sooner give me back this ring than I will beg for a handful of wheat!”  In a wide arc the golden ring flow over the heads of the silent people into the sea.

A short period after this event the maid of the Lady of Stavoren found the ring inside a haddock.  She showed the ring to her mistress.  The lady was horrified when she recognised the ring to be hers.  The sea had returned it!  The lady ran out of her big house.  On the quay she met the old fisherman.  He lifted his cap and said: “Milady … two of your ships sank just outside of the harbour.  It was as if the sea didn’t want to let them in here any longer”

And so it happened that the Lady of Stavoren turned into a beggar woman.  Where the beautiful grain had been thrown into the sea a sandbank was formed (where her  ships sank).  This area is now known as Vrouwenzand (the Lady’s sand).  The story goes that on this bank once grew a plant forming ears of corn in which never any grains were found!

We sailed the entire 12 nautical miles from Stavoren to Enkhuizen downwind (our favourite kind of sailing) however winds were very very light so it was a slow sail at around 2.5 knots but very pleasant and peaceful.  It was a grey old day with reduced visibility to around 2 nautical miles, but we didn’t get wet so for that we are thankful.

We visited Enkhuizen on our way north earlier in the year when we stopped here on anchor for a few days and explored the city and the outdoor living museum (which was great).  This time we berthed in the town harbour, being winter it was free berthing (well there was no harbour master, all the facilities were shut and nobody approached us for berthing fee’s) we just had to pay for electricity . . . we love Winter rates!

It was a pretty cold and wet few days in Enkhuizen so we didn’t get up to much but did do a day trip 45 km west via train to visit the town of Alkmaar.  We took the umbrella and managed to stay relatively dry during the couple of downpours despite the fact that we really struggle to share an umbrella, it usually ends in one of us just giving up (the one not holding the brolly, after being poked in the head, or having the run off continually drizzle down the back of our neck) and braving the rain with just a cap or beanie whilst the other enjoys the shelter of the brolly. And we are supposed to be Adults – huh 🙂 !!

Alkmaar a 45km train ride west from Enkhuizen

We stayed an extra day in Enkhuizen rather than sail in the rain on the day we were going to leave, well it was free after all . . .  its not just that we are getting soft!

The following day arrived without rain forecast so we set off for Volendam 16 nautical miles south.  Immediately south of Enkhuizen the IJsselmeer ends and a large lock will bring you into the Markermeer.  (When passing this lock in April several yachts got into a bit of trouble getting blown around, I will link the post at the end of this blog).

Turns out we sacrificed the correct winds by not going in the rain, so we ended up doing half the journey under motor – sigh!  However the half we were able to sail was quite good as we managed to get a small angle on the wind and get 4 knots speed over ground just using the head sail so we were sailing and we were dry, cold but dry.

Again we had visited Volendam in April on our way north so were familiar with the town and area and knew what we were in for.  It was a slightly different Volendam however as it had been quite busy with boats being the Easter weekend and the start of the sailing season on our last visit and this time we were only one of two boats in the harbour.  The tourists were still there everyday, bus loads of them!  Being on 30km from Amsterdam by road it is very popular on the tourist bus route, as it has all the tourist shops, a waterfront community, a clog making shop, a cheese factory and a windmill – what more would one want!

We spent an easy few days watching the tourists stand in front of Red Roo and get their picture taken, and on more than one occasion banged on the window or yelled as they attempted to actually hop on board for a picture!  If only we could have a Renminbi for every picture taken, we could buy property in China.

We rode our bikes to nearby Edam to visit the cheese shops and taste the free samples, as well as visiting the Volendam Cheese Factory each day for a free taste (morning or afternoon tea).

The grey mist really set in whilst in Volendam and viability was reduced to less than a mile most days, so we stayed for 5 nights, leaving on the first day that the sun actually appeared to provide a cracker of a day bright as a button (note, all pictures were taken on this day!).

As you may be able to tell, we are really taking our time going back through Holland, taking very small legs and staying a while at each place we are in no hurry at all in-fact whilst we keep happening across the free berths we are likely to be longer than even we expect.  Our current plan is to head back to East Coast of England for the worst of Winter.  Spending that time near family and doing winter jobs on the boat ready to head out again as soon as possible.  We aim to cross back to England around the second week in December or there abouts depending on the weather of course.  So we are almost relaxing at present, trying to stay warm and dry and building up our reserves to again tackle the North Sea in winter.

However our immediate next stop is Amsterdam, one never really knows what to expect in that city, but no doubt we will find a story or two to share with you.

Previous Posts from this area:

#84. Volendam (14/04/2017)

#86. Enkhuizen (19/04/2017)

Back into the wonderful country of Holland, or to be politically correct The Netherlands.  We really enjoyed our time here earlier in the year (March – April) and are quite happy to be back.

Motoring on the inland canals is really quite special and surprisingly diverse.

One minute there is nothing but green 360 degrees all around you, pristine rural fields accompanied by those unique rural smells (cow poo, lots of dairy’s for all the wonderful cheese they make), the next minute you are passing through a village consisting of 20 houses all with their front doors opening onto the canal, basically like walking through their front porches, and of course each of these villages has the required traditional windmill.  Our favourites being those windmills that are used to power sawmills.

I think I will let the pictures do the talking in this blog as they convey the wonderful scenery so much better than any words I could use.

Our first leg was Delfzijl to Groningen, which despite the overcast wet day was exciting for us as we didn’t travel this way on our way to the Baltic so it was all new.

By the time we reached Groningen later that day we had passed through 1 lock and 7 opening bridges.  All with wonderful dutch names for me to get tongue tied with over the VHF such as Driebondsbrug & Berlagebrug, and they were the short easy ones the longer ones are even too hard to type let alone pronounce.  What the dutch do to vowels when speaking I am yet to master and understand but regardless I did succeed in getting each bridge to open, with much amusement to the bridge keepers on the other end of the radio I am sure.

In villages and towns of a decent size there are usually multiple bridges and the bridge keeper opens them all one after the other by cycling between them along the edge of the canal beside you!  The most we counted for one individual bridge/bike man was 6 bridges that he opened for us. So its important to go slow between those bridges to give them a chance to reopen the bridge then cycle to the next, we are often a lot quicker between.

Groningen is a reasonably large city and we explored the city centre that afternoon and were ready to move on the next morning following the standing mast route for “sports boats” (yachts) which takes you right through the city passing through 10 opening bridges, mostly pedestrian and bike traffic bridges, some were vehicle bridges and most only a couple of hundred meters in-between each other.

By the time we stopped that evening on the edge of the canal at Dokkumer Djip (which was actually just three posts to tie to along near the edge of the canal, not connected to land), we had completed for the day 2 locks and a whopping 24 bridges.  Some of those being quite challenging holding Red Roo still (treading water) in the strong cross winds whilst waiting for the bridges to open.  We confess to doing one 360 during the day, but there were no witnesses as it was a remote controlled bridge that took AGES to open.  Refer to a previous post linked at the bottom of page for more detail on last time we did this – embarrassing!

We were now back in familiar canals, we had travelled along this route before.  We enjoyed a little sleep in the next day (whilst we waited for daylight to arrive which is now closer to 9am than 8am – but daylight savings is coming soon to fix that) and leisurely cruised into and through Dokkum before the bridges shut for lunch at midday.

We stopped at the far end of Dokkum where there is a supermarket almost right on the canal (so close as compared to our usual long walks carrying shopping) so we shopped and ate lunch before continuing on (timing it so by the time we kept going the bridges would be working again after their lunch break).

We arrived in Leeuwarden by 3pm that afternoon and tied up in the same spot we took earlier in the year along with canal walls in the park/gardens.  The day had totalled 12 opening bridges, with three of those being ones that you have to pay to pass through.

The process of paying involves the bridge keeper with a bamboo pole with a string which is attached to a wooden clog (shoe).  They swing it out for you to put your fee into as you pass – it’s actually quite fun.

We stayed 3 nights in Leeuwarden waiting out a blow that was strong enough to bring several large tree branches down in the gardens, one crushing a light pole and breaking a statue.

From Leeuwarden to Harlingen was again new territory as we were taking new routes where possible to see more of the Netherlands, and also we were unable to take our previous route due to a broken bridge that wasn’t able to open.

15 nautical miles (about 28km) brought us to Harlingen with a total of 10 bridges to pass through.  The names continued to be challenging, such as the following two can demonstrate “Ritsumasyl Beweegbare Brug” & “Kiesterzijl Draaibrug”.  I know I am not meant to pronounce every letter written but I just can’t help it that was how I was taught back in little old Tasmania!!

Harlingen opens out into the North Sea and has a lot of old big wooden dutch sailing boats and tall ships parked around the city, it’s easy to wander around and find the day gone.

Previously blogs relating to this area:  Click the following link to read (a short post) about the time we were not able to hold Red Roo straight whilst waiting for a bridge to open and did a very embarrassing 30 point turn completing a 360 in front of the bridge keeper (doh!)  #91. Dokkum & Lauwersoog (April 27, 2017)

Denmark Photos:  For those of you following along in our journey I have compiled a slideshow of our favourite pictures from Denmark.  You can click here to view or navigate to “Our Photos” page to see them plus more from other countries.  Enjoy.