Strong winds on the meer today sailing from Hoorn to Enkhuizen gusting to 25knots so a quick sail and lots of boats out and about (this being the last day of the long weekend).

There is a lock to pass through separating the Markermeer from the IJsselmeer before coming into Enkhuisen and we were last to enter behind a house barge and two other yachts.  Of course, murphy’s law just as the we were all entering the lock the wind came up and started gusting strong and for those of you that don’t know yachts are really quite hard to steer when moving slowly (trying to be accurate), or tight manoeuvres in strong winds, the wind will catch the mast and the sail bags (even with no sail up) or the hull and overpower the direction of steering and pushing the boat with the wind.

Well the barge entered the lock and tied up to starboard, the two yachts in front of us each with crews of 6 people (yes 6 people, that’s 1 person steering, 1 person on each line, forward, centre and stern and a couple of spare people to fend off the wall) entered the lock to tie up on the port side (correctly as you would rather get blown off the lock walls than into them), well both yachts came along side and neither managed to get any lines on (all 3 linemen missing the bollards) before being blown sideways across the lock and into the barge, one of the boats almost turned a full 180 facing back the way he came, the only thing stopping it being the barge as he was now almost wedged between the lock wall and the barge – across the lock.  Phil and I am came in and I got a line on quick smart and we were safe and secure tied along port wall watching the calamity in front.  They eventually got a line on to port and slowly pulled themselves back in.

Meanwhile the second lock running parallel had a boat enter from the north (travelling in the opposite direction to us) and exactly the same happened, a crew of 6 and they hadn’t tied off before being blown across the lock, they managed to then get a stern line on but the bow was turning across the lock.  Damn wind!  We gave them all plenty of space and made sure they were well gone before we pushed off the leave the lock.  So easy for it to become a dogs breakfast and I guess one day it will happen to us, fingers crossed it doesn’t however.  We have a good plan, well practiced after all the locks and bridges we have negotiated in the last 1.5 years.  Phil is good on the tiller and engine and I am good on the lines, we know as long as we get a centre line on we can motor forward or back to control the stern and bow to come along side (rather than drift out to 90 degrees off course) or if berthing I make the leap of faith to shore with a line.  We also know that it’s sometimes just shit with wind pushing you away, or no cleats to tie off to and you have to just have to do your best.

We could see lots and lots of mast in the town quay and the other yachts that we now didn’t entirely trust headed in there so we kept going to the northern marina which also had an anchoring bay in the hope that it had trees to shelter from the wind and we could anchor.  We won on both accounts, being as windy as it was there were only two other boats on anchor and plenty of room of us behind the tree’s where the wind wasn’t reaching.  Anchor is was.

We were anchored in the bay that contains a very well known Dutch Museum, which is actually set up as an actual (functioning) traditional Dutch Village from back in the days before technology, and before the floods.  They have rescued many original houses from that era and relocated them all to this village museum and recreated a genuine village.  It’s amazing.  They have a local rope maker set up in the lane with his wheel and hooks making rope, they have a basketmaker, fishermen and boats, sailmakers, barrel makers, blacksmiths, cheesemakers, sweet shop, dairy, farm, school rooms, chemist, and much more.  I guess it could be similar in many ways to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat Victoria back in Australia.  Anyway we took the dingy across to shore and found ourselves in the middle of the village.  Lots on display, many characters dressed and acting in the trades of the day.  We pretty much spent the whole day wandering and exploring this great set up.  We even lashed out and brought lunch there (as we had inadvertently entered for free by taking the dingy to shore and missing the entry gate and fee).

Nice to be back out onto a meer (big enough to sail in) rather than the canals, and up with sails Red Roo took the breeze with a lovely sail across to Hoorn.

Having spent the majority of the day cycling back and forth to fill gas bottles we didn’t leave Volendam until late and therefore didn’t arrive in Horn until 6ish being one of the last boats in and therefore no wall space left to tie up to.

Most yachts were rafted 3 deep, the problem being that those that were not three deep were a lot smaller than us and therefore unstable to tie (raft) onto, we spotted a very large motor boat with a slightly smaller motorboat rafted to it that was similar size to us and flying a english flag (English Boat, therefore a good chance they will speak english also, but you never know) so came along side and tied up.   “Welcome to Hoorn, do you like wine?” said Martin and Robbie from the boat Liz, great question, and yes we do like wine . . . we went on to enjoy (more than one bottle) of wine with the guys aboard Liz that evening.  They keep their boat in Holland and use it as often as possible, being easy to get to and from it from London.  They had to leave the next morning as the long weekend was drawing to a close but we sincerely hope to catch them for another evening on our way back from the Baltic later in the year.

We did the self guided walking tour of Hoorn – superbly commentated by the captain and all his bullshit facts before raising the sails and moving north ourselves.  It has come to our attention that the year is flying by and we are still in Holland, we really should get a shuffle on and get to the Baltic, or at least to the next country – Germany.

Easter weekend and the Easter Bunny visited Red Roo TWICE!  Saturday morning the captain awoke to find some chocolates left by fore mentioned bunny which apparently was a day early and therefore the captain voiced his expectation that he would also come again Sunday morning, on the correct day with a fresh supply of chocolate – and yes that is what happened.   As predicted we are now seeing more yachts on the water as well as stink boats (motor or power boats, they smell cause they burn fuel).

Volendam was a busy village, being Easter long weekend and also it being a tourist town was packed full of visitors all strolling really really slowly in a long line blocking across the streets and footpaths (making it impossible for others to pass), all eating fritz (chips) or ice creams.  The weather although windy was warm and pleasant, fingers crossed it stays this way, although one can’t complain we have had it pretty good since leaving the UK, still wearing jackets as the wind can be cold but bright sunshine being the norm.

We got the bikes out and assembled and went exploring, 20 km around via a man made spit is Marken a traditional fishing village now transformed for tourists and includes a clog making shop and museum.  With all those annoying tourists I just spoke of (they caught a ferry over from Volendam) we watch the clog making demonstration – they put some wood in the machine and a press of the magic the button equals one clog shaped piece of wood, transfer to the other machine and press the button and it gets hollowed out, there you have it a clog!  Easy!  Lucky it was a free demonstration.

On our return cycle back, we also visited Edam the other cheesy place!  We found a really good genuine cheese shop which still houses the cheese scales from back in the day when it used to be a cheese market and warehouse.  This time we were given a much better explanations of the difference in the cheeses from Holland, and the real difference between Gouda and Edam is the shape of the finished cheese (or I guess more correctly the mould used to shape the cheese)!  Traditional Edam being a round waxed ball shape and Gouda being roundish but flat top and bottom much easier for stacking and carting in ships and the like – hence Edam really went out of flavour or shape as the case may be once the Gouda shape was created as it was much more practical and remains so today.

We also had a bit of a win in Volendam in regards to gas for the boat (which is the fuel used for the oven and hot plates).  As always Phil asked around about gas and the caravan park told him there was a refilling station a short bike ride away.  Phil went to suss it out with success, although it wasn’t a short bike ride (actually closer to 15km one way) he was told they were able to refill both English and French gas bottles.  Ripper! So on with the backpacks with gas bottles inside and off we went riding into a super strong headwind to the filling station.  Once arrived it was quite disappointing to find that despite the earlier visit and inquiry they could only actually fill our English bottles (not having an adaptor that fitted the french) but some is better than none so we filled our one empty English bottle then did another trip (another 30km round effort with the wind against us one way) to go and get our other English bottle (1/4 empty) that was currently in use.  The french bottle we had carried from the boat had a nice bike ride but remains empty.  Overall a good day, our two English bottles now full (that will be good for a minimum of two months or more) and a lot of good exercise for our legs, lungs, backs and arms (carrying the bottles) also thrown in.  We do so many kilometres walking or on the bikes to get the basics these days, so different from the old life when we would always drive to the shops.

We are not in Roxby Downs anymore . . . talk about an eye opener for the innocent Tasmanian (Phil having visited before in his youth – a much more exciting visit for him then I am sure!).

Such a mix of pace, people, scenery, culture, entertainment & beauty.

We tied Red Roo up at Six Haven Marina on the north shore of the river which conveniently is a two minute walk to the ferry dock taking you across to Amsterdam Central Station right in the city centre, with the ferry’s being free and running continuously departing every 5 minutes (and choc-o-block full every time) it was a great location.   But before I ramble on too much, here are some pictures taken during our passage from Haarlem to Amsterdam.

I guess the first thing that hits you (besides the people – so many people – tourists – ha! . . . note we consider ourselves travellers not tourists) is the feel of a modern city in a very old setting.  And I am not 100% sure it works?  Looking at the marvellous setting and the classic old style buildings set on cobblestone streets or beside the canals with modern shopfront displays and bright lights seems wrong and out of place and make it all a little tacky.  But never fear these are pretty limited to the immediate city centre and as we walked out of the city to the surrounds and older areas which are not commercialised it transformed and really is a beautiful city and setting once off the beaten track.  The canals, water, cobbled streets (more bikes than cars), old buildings, wonky buildings, brickworks, steps, window ledge box gardens, trees on the canals, quiet, relaxed – beautiful.

In the city centre and the tourist strip area’s there are the required souvenir shops, cheese shops (where incidentally the staff do not know the difference between Gouda and Edam cheese, as when we asked we were told it was the region the cows grazed and produced the cheese, and that they (that particular shop) make both kinds from the company farm on the edge of Amsterdam . . . being no where near either Edam or Gouda???) This is incorrect full stop!  The difference is the shape of the finished cheese Edam being a round ball and Gouda being round but flat disc.

Also you will find flavours that excite some with hundreds of shops selling green leaf (of the weed variety) flavoured into cookies, cakes, ice-cream and lollipops, as well as shops that sell seeds, and of course cafe’s where you can just by the grass (we presume in the form of a cigarette).  Yes you smell the cannabis (marijuana) quite often walking down the street, it’s as normal to this community as seeing someone drinking a bottle of water, all perfectly legal so not a big deal at all – except for the giggly tourists (and my camera taking pictures).  The other famous product available to buy in Amsterdam is of course sex, and believe me no matter what your “thing” is – you can buy it, or pay someone to do it in Amsterdam.  A visit to the museum of prostitution answered many of my questions and yours too I am sure;

• There are 351 red light windows in central Amsterdam
• Average visit to a window girl lasts from 6 – 15 minutes
• Prices for a window girl start at €50 for a short visit
• Prostitutes pay €150 to rent a window for an 8 hour shift
• In a successful shift a prostitute will have over 16 customers
• Over 4,000 men visit a window prostitute each day in Amsterdam city
• An average prostitute will use over 2,000 condoms a year
• There are no male prostitutes, but purple windows are transgender drag queens and service mainly men

Phil found the Maritime Museum much more interesting spending half a day exploring their displays and ships.  Easter is almost upon us and we expecting to see a lot more boats (yachts) out and about from now on as we head north and into Germany then the Baltic Sea our summer destination.

We also have a new edition to the boat, after months of research (anyone who knows Phil well will appreciate what that means) we invested in a Cobb.  Having met a sailor in Loch Boisdale – Scotland last year who had one and swore by it, we (Phil) finally decided it was a good thing for us, and furthermore found a shop (after miles of walking) selling one for the same price as the best online price we could find.  Yippee!!  We had been looking to buy one for a couple of months but could never find anyone in a shop who would match the online price and not having a fixed address constantly being on the move making us unable to buy it online.  The 20 euro we saved is a case of beer you know!!  Anyway I am sure you are actually wondering what a Cobb is, well it is a small portable BBQ that is uniquely cold to touch on the outside, meaning you can cook it in the cockpit sitting on the deck without any heat on the outside or near your deck, also the top of the range model is stainless steel, perfect for a boat as its resistant to sea water and rust  – marvellous!  It also uses briquettes, wood or charcoal (in other words, not gas which we are continually struggling to find places that will fill our bottles, every country having their own unique bottles).  It has a lid and hotplate and can be used as a grill or oven.  We do already have a bbq on the boat that attaches to the rails, but it runs on gas (issues in refilling) and also gets hot and can create a mess dripping fat either on the deck or into the ocean, and is a real effort to set up and pack up as it gets in the way when sailing.  Hence we welcome Cobb aboard.  I am also pleased to inform you our first meal was a success, the unique shape which must contribute to the fact it’s cold on the outside (you can hold it whilst cooking if you wanted to) is a circle pretty much like a moat around the hot plate and is just perfect to roast potatoes or cook foil potatoes in whilst the meat is cooking on top, it has also been suggested to us that some people put a little water in the moat and steam/cook their greens and veg as well as cooking meat on the grill.  Anyway, keen to have you all over for a BBQ anytime your in the neighbourhood!

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Talk about excitement . . we were coming through the lifting bridges into the city (about 6 of them), and no doubt keeping all the locals entertained with my very Aussie/Western accent getting tongue tied trying to pronounce the bridge names over the VHF radio to get them opened as we arrived, and once in the centre basin we did a double take and looked again to be sure, but yes, it was an Aussie Flag flying from the stern of a massive yacht (meaning the boat registered in Australia).

What’s even more exciting was that it was a stunning wooden schooner (BIG Schooner) called Windjammer.

It is only the second Aussie boat we have seen – we are a UK boat in case you are wondering, having registered her in UK whilst in Europe making things a lot easier for moving around.  As we were tying up behind her a couple popped their heads up and gave a wave to be met with us yelling “G’Day” and then lots of babbling on about how we were Aussie, where each of us were from etc.  Was great to meet the Windjammers and swap stories they have had an exciting 5 years away from home (Queensland) exploring the world including the extremities such as Antarctica, Capetown, Patagonia, The Pacific, Alaska, US West Coast, Mexico, Galapagos, Easter Island, Carribbean, Nova Scotia – yes we are very, very jealous.  A great adventure and a magnificent vessel.

Feeling very fresh and floral thanks to the Royal Flora Market we were keen to stop at Lisse and visit Keukenhof – Hollands other amazing flora spectacular, in-fact one of the worlds largest flower gardens (also sometimes called the Garden of Europe).  According to the official website for the Keukenhof Park, approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted annually in the park, which covers an area of 32 hectares (79 acres).  Again MASSIVE and the most beautiful garden I have ever seen, area after area planted out with spectacular bulbs into amazing displays as well as large gardens including trees shrubs ponds and much much more.  One could easily spend two days here and still not have seen it all.  A fantastic place to explore or a truely beautiful place to bring a rug and picnic and sit and relax, smell, listen (to the birds) and enjoy the greenery and of course be dazzled by the colour also.  The gardens are only open from March to May each year with them being worked on for the remainder of the year to create the annual visual spectacular that it delivers.

We had an island to ourselves again 🙂 we could sure get used to this.

Very shallow water (down to 1.2m at times) in the Westeinderplassen, so shallow in-fact that we eventually caved in and turned off the instruments, namely the depth gauge and reason being this is factory set (and unable to be changed) to let out an ear piercing beep every 2 seconds once the water beneath the boat is 3m or less.  Now, normally this is a fantastic thing but when travelling in Hollands canals that annoyingly all seem to be 2.9m deep this beep gets very irritating very quickly and I personally don’t know many people who could put up with the continuous beep for hours on end.  Anyway, I digress, this water body (meer) is a unique set up with many many small islands or body’s of land in the shallows many of them being privately owned and holiday locations.  There is a handful that have a dwelling on them but not many (I imagine these are quite old and no longer allowed) the majority of them have stunning and well maintained gardens and green lawns with a wee little garden shed and are used by families for summer days on the meer.  Others obviously a little (or a lot) overgrown and returning to nature.  All only accessible via boat, very popular and we imagine very expensive.  We stopped on a public reserve island, which has room for boats (about 6) to moor alongside the retaining wall of the island and are allowed to stay for 48 hours – we had it to ourselves again.

The other highlight of being here is that is was close to the Royal Flora Holland, the largest flower market in the world!!

• €9.6 million euro turnover per day (4.4 billion annually)
• 20,000 flower varieties
• 34.5 million flowers sold per day (12.5 billion annually)
• 38 auction clocks
• 3,500 employees
• 1,300,000m2 in size (that’s 220 soccer fields)
• Includes a 15km conveyor belt train to deliver flowers to trucks and sheds (some across the other side of a highway)

WOW……It was huge, flowers as far as the eye could see, all moving constantly, the trolleys were towed by staff on small motored carts who were dropping off the flowers to bay’s according to whom had brought the flowers (wholesalers). This itself looked like the whacky races, with the carts zooming along and seemingly cutting each other off (but when we looked really carefully there were small, very small hand signals going on).  The bigger trolleys at the wholesales areas were then pushed into a hook and chain rail type set up in the ground which then took the cages (like train carriages) and sent them out of of the building (to the wholesalers trucks or to their warehouses over the overside of the highway).  The whole set up was just MASSIVE.

We had been planning to join the well known night convoy from here to Amsterdam, knowing several people who have done it and loved it, telling us fantastic tales about the massive number of boats all rushing through the bridges (up to a 100 in the convoy) and how the lights along the canals from the houses and city are spectacular.  This involves a shorter route almost directly to the big city however the route is only available at night due to the bridges and traffic disruption having less impact at night.  The convoy takes off from the end of the Westeinderplassen where you have be at the first bridge and registered by 11:30pm ready for a 1am opening, then through all the bridges arriving into Amsterdam around 4am where you then wait for the final traffic/rail bridge to open at a more civilised time around 8/9am.  Anyhow it wasn’t available for us again due to scheduled maintenance (timed just before things start to get busy on the water).  So we had no choice but to take the other standing mast route that goes Westerly through Harleem then coming out in the North Sea Canal (with the big ships) before travelling along to Amsterdam.

After the many hours motoring in the canals recently it was lovely to be able to sail on the Brassmermeer.  Being a Sunday there were lots of people on the water, small sailing dingy’s with kids out in them as well as small powerful motor boats all with HUGE Netherlands flags (most of them so big they drag in the water), it seems the smaller and lower to the water your boat the bigger your flag should be.

Oudewetering is at the Northern end of the meer (where it forms back into the canal) has free 48 hour canal side berthing (popular on weekends – people packing up as we were arriving).  Great place for us to stop overnight.  Also place to learn a valuable lesson – one (well two of us) must remember to look up for obstructions when berthing yacht with tall mast (we normally focus on things in the water and shore that would damage the hull), as the beautiful big tree’s proving shade and picture perfect berths can also (and did) hit the mast spreaders.  Lucky they were very small ends of the branches but they were full of seeds which then proceeded to fall and cover the decks and get inside every open window and hatch which were all open making the most of the sunshine.

Oudewetering bridge opening in the canal.

So as mentioned in the previous post we had to take the long way around via Rotterdam to reach Gouda and on the way passed some interesting sites!  A boat named Abel Tasman (memories from home and the old Bass Straight Boat), another boat called Kevin (seems a popular boat name in Holland!), we also passed a new build of Noahs Ark as well as a huge cruise ship, with fancy private balcony infinity pools that were not so private as we could see straight into them!

Before we got to Gouda we were passed by yacht just prior to the lock and we commented to each other how it looked like a brand new yacht, very flash, very white and shiny, new square shaped windows, brand new black fenders (with the plastic still on them), a vase of tulips on the cockpit table, sail bag looked as if it hadn’t been opened.  On it were a young couple, who looked picture perfect in their brand named clothes, wooden jumper over the shoulders, good looking – just like a magazine picture.  They gave us a wave and hello and headed into the lock and tied up.  The lock had heavy ridged metal sides (yuk) but also had a floating plank on the water line, we had encountered these before and as tempting as it is to have your fenders high on the ridges of the side of the lock it actually works better to have them on the water line and it keeps you entirely off the wall.  The young couple in the NEW yacht had their fenders high and were continuously moving them and pushing themselves off the metal ridges on the wall.  It all went terribly wrong and was very hard to watch when the lock began to open and the light turned green for them to move out.  The girl was on the helm while her man was letting the lines off, she put a lot of power on and turned the wheel hard to the centre away from the wall BUT her partner hadn’t yet released the stern line (weather he had forgotten or it was caught we are not sure) but it was horrifying to watch as the boat snatched and came back hard against the wall hitting the centre of the boat and then bouncing again and again against the wall from the centre to the stern as the line began to split and fray (thank goodness it was a new and thin line), he eventually got it off bit by bit as each time the boat hit the wall the line was a little slack, it had all but frayed and snapped anyway, but in the mean time the girl on the wheel had really panicked and put more power on and kept turning the wheel away from the wall (I guess trying to stay off it, not that it worked) and when the line finally came away the boat went so quick and hard away from the wall it was so very very close to hitting the other side of the lock and the gates as it passed.  Our hearts sunk as all we could do from behind was watch.  Our hearts went out to them and it just proves how easy it can go wrong.  We turned off at the next junction but could see them stopped a little further up the canal with the guy on the lying on the bank looking at the damage on the side.  We are sure they would have had a hole or at least tearing through the casing  in the hull  with the only very small consolation being that it would be above the waterline.  Devastating.

Gouda . . . Cheese, cheese, cheese oh wonderful Dutch cheese.  Spent the weekend in Gouda so were able to catch the town market, the stalls being pretty familiar now having seen them in Middleburg and Dordrecht, you get your cheese stalls, fruit and veggies, seafood, grill worst (really liking that, it is like hot “german” or hot “bung fritz” depending on where you grew up as to what you call it, but with cheese in it also and served warm) and then a surprisingly large amount of material and haberdashery stalls.  Phil prefers the older mature cheeses almost to the parmesan sharpness stage where as I like the softer types and really like it with nettles or truffle infused in, so of course we got one of each.  Lunches have been cheese and baguettes for the last few weeks (and for the foreseeable future) reminding us a bit of France (however the cheese is better but the baguettes are not as good).

What a picturesque old city, just beautiful, Dordrecht is the oldest city in Holland and has a rich history and culture as well as many, many, many old monuments to visit in the city – we certainly ticked off quite a few of them.

We stayed in the small basin attached to the local Yacht Club (entrance via a small lifting bridge – video at the end of post) and again being early in the season without other boats around were given a prime berth.  The friendly locals at the yacht club (via hand signals and mixed english/dutch from both them and us) invited us to the club house for a meal and band later that night and it was a great night with a great club (and a great price too).  They served up home made dutch fare (a few different types of casseroles mainly with worst (sausages) in them as well as our share of drinks for under €20 all up – bargain.  We were put on the table with the band, yes they had a 8 piece band playing music and although we didn’t know all the songs the music was great and we did get to sing along to a few sea shanty songs that were in english.

We got the bikes out and off we set to explore Kinderdijk.  This is a group of 19 windmills and was built around 1740 to drain the polder (paddocks and low lying ground). This group of mills is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands.  They have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997 and is listed as one of the top tourist sites in the country.  The story behind the name is sweet and one you may of heard of; the name Kinderdijk is Dutch for “Children dike”.  During the Saint Elizabeth flood of 1421, the Grote Hollandse Waard flooded, but the Alblasserwaard polder stayed unflooded. It is said that when the terrible storm had subsided, someone went to the dike between these two areas to see what could be saved. In the distance he saw a wooden cradle floating on the water. As it came nearer, some movement was detected. A cat was seen in the cradle trying to keep it balanced by jumping back and forth so that no water could get into it. As the cradle eventually came close enough to the dike for a bystander to pick up the cradle, he saw that a baby was quietly sleeping inside it, nice and dry. The cat had kept the cradle balanced and afloat. This folktale and legend has been published as “The Cat and the Cradle” in English.

As we began to plan our next passage north to Gouda we became aware of the Alblasserdam bridge wasn’t functioning.  This delayed us by a day, so we headed out for a day on the bikes to visit the national park.  As previously mentioned Holland is very flat and bicycles are everywhere, and I mean everywhere and ridden by everyone.  Infact it can be a little daunting and quite dangerous walking the streets as the bikes are thick and fast, any way the highlight of this day was the look on Phil’s face not once but twice when he was overtaken on his bike by grannies!  The first was a tiny little old lady who overtook him peddling along a flat piece of road, his face was priceless and my giggling didn’t help his pride either.  The second old lady later in the day did have the help of an engine or battery as she was on a motorised scooter (you know the ones the old people get around in the buggies with their walking sticks etc) well she overtook us on the bike path going really quite fast but we got her back as her battery started to drain and slow we passed her and kept going leaving her a long way behind.

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That night we phoned to check on the bridge status to be told all was ok, great, we got organised to depart the next day.  Depart we did, however only to make it to the bridge to discover it actually wasn’t repaired (or had broken again – not quite sure which) and they couldn’t tell us when it would be fixed, we found a nearby little side stream off the main river and rafted on an old “fix-er-upper” fishing boat that looked like it hadn’t moved in years for the day ringing every hour for an update with the words “bridge big problem and we have meetings about fixing it” being communicated back to us.  We stayed the night against the old boat and with the bridge still out of action the next morning we made the decision to yet again take the long way around, adding an additional 35 miles (about 8 hours and 4 extra lifting bridges) via Rotterdam and the main shipping channels to get to the other side of the bridge which should have only been 8 miles from Dordrecht.

Back to the big lifting highway and train bridges at Dordrecht we went knowing we needed to get through in the 9:30 am lifting to enable us to get past Rotterdam that day (the bridge only opening 3 times a day) and that’s the start of what could have been a very devastating incident for us.  We arrived at the bridge at 09:00 plenty of time knowing it didn’t open until half past.  We did the right thing and phoned the bridge master to advise him we wanted to pass (as there is also a lot of commercial traffic and large ships that pass through also).  The bridge keeper said “no problem, there are two other ships going through also, please get as close to the bridge as possible as you will go through first”   We had been told this a lot, to get close to the bridges and be ready as this minimises the time it needs to be open and less disruption to the trains and cars waiting.  So get close to the bridge we did.  The bridge began to open and the lights on our side of the bridge remained red, which was concerning but we followed the instructions we were given and remained close thinking they would change soon . . . they didn’t change and next thing there was a large container ship bearing down on us in a very small opening leaving us no where to go, we threw her into reverse and fighting a bit of a current pushed back as hard as we could (without a lot of control) and thankfully into a small gap between two large barges tied to the side of the river.  With a large ship honking us as he passed by.  Close call it was, by far the closest we have come to an accident.  To say Phil was mad was an understatement he was really upset and he got straight on the VHF radio and was answered in Dutch, so he phoned back the bridge who told us we were going first and to get close to the bridge only for them to say, “you must follow the traffic lights”, yes, yes, yes we know the rules and we follow the rules, we were not is a rush, we didn’t mind if we were last BUT we were told to go as close to the bridge as possible because we were going first – which we did, and that meant when the light stayed red and the ship came gave us no where to go!!  It took us the whole day to calm down and there was a lot of head shaking.

Below is our exit out of the Dordrecht Marina through the lifting bridge.