Monday 15 May
Tuesday 16 May
Wednesday 17 May
Thursday 18 May
Friday 19 May
Saturday 20 May
Sunday 21 May
Middelburg to Zandkreekplaat, Veerse Meer
Veerse Meer to Willemstad
Willemstad to Gouda
Gouda
Gouda
Gouda to Brassemermeer
Brassemermeer to Kager Plassen
returns to top of this page
The watersportwinkel came up with the necessary part to re-attach the GPS antenna - albeit on a temporary basis - to a grab rail. This will do until we get back home and I can search for an adjustable bracket with the same mounting hole centres as the one that broke. Don't want to drill unnecessary holes in the steelwork! At the time I thought €12 Euro for the bracket a little steep, but the exact same item in a mail order catalogue I have with me, goes for £12 back home. In the mean time the glue job from yesterday was still holding so there is no urgency to do the fix.
Maureen had gone into town to get some bread and milk. No problem with the bread which was very good. But there was no milk to be had even at 10:00. Apart from the bakers, all the shops were closed until 11:00, and the town was deserted. Interestingly, we have noticed that there is much less milk on display at the supermarkets and other shops compared to home. In the big supermarket in Middelburg there was less than a quarter of the milk on display compared to a British supermarket. It was just on the dairy shelves in amongst the yoghurt and cream. We have come to the conclusion that the Dutch diet demands far less milk. No milk for tea; probably no cereal for breakfast.
On the way out of Middelburg we topped up the diesel tank at €1.04 a litre - she took 68 litres to get to Middelburg from Ramsgate. No more duty free diesel from now on.
The journey up the rest of the Kanaal door Walcheren took less than an hour, and we were at the Veere Sluis. We had to wait a while as they were in the process of locking up a boat. Once we were in the lock we were presented with a variety of means of hanging on. Ropes looped along the wall, bollards set into the wall, bars set into the wall, bollards on the lock side. We chose the inset bollards. The descent was very slow and gentle.
A short way from the lock and we were in the Veerse Meer. It is a salt water, non-tidal "lake", having been blocked off at the sea end as an estuary to simplify the sea defenses. It is very tranquil and a boating paradise. There are lots of islands and on most of them there are pontoons or staging to which you can moor. We had checked at the tourist office in Middelburg where we were told that the use of these mooring facilities was free. So that is where we are now. - a small island in Veerse Meer, amongst the oyster catchers, geese, and gulls.
We took the dinghy out for a little run this afternoon to explore our local chain of islands, but since then the wind has increased and we have had a few short sharp showers. The sun is shining again now. And the GPS is fixed on its new bracket.
Locking down into Veerse Meer
Islands in the Veerse Meer
Our spot for tonight
After being bumped around in the night by the wind and waves slapping on the hull, we still managed to get ourselves up by 7:30 and were on our way by 09:00.
Along the mud banks of the Veerse Meer were all sorts of aquatic birds to keep Maureen oohing and aahing. We saw avocets, curlews, lots of oyster catchers and to our surprise several spoonbills.
The wind was still quite strong by the time we got to the Zandkreeksluis, which made mooring up on the pilings quite tricky. After a 20 minute wait, we were locked into a commercial sized lock and were gently lowered about a meter to the level of the Oosterschelde. As we came out of the lock we could see that this was a big estuary with a lot of shipping. The strong wind was agitating the surface and to start with it was a bumpy ride, but as we headed further down towards the Volkerak, the wind subsided. This was a very busy stretch, as there were all sorts of large junctions, islands and so on with huge barges moving a lot faster than us. Most of the barges look in immaculate condition, and almost every one has a car on the back, some two cars, and the record so far is three! One chap had the bonnet up on one of his two cars and was doing some "home??" maintenance.
Eventually we arrived at the Krammer Sluizen, which was a very gentle rise of about two feet in a dedicated "sport" lock. This lock took a long time and at one point we went down slightly before going up again. We discovered afterwards that this was because they flush out the salt water that comes into the lock from the Oosterschelde to stop any getting into the Volkerak, which is fresh water.
The Volkerak was rather dull, but again very busy with another canal joining from the Antwerp direction with masses of traffic. At one time we had 15 barges in view. We shared the Volkerak Sluizen with another five leisure boats. When the gates opened there was a mad dash from behind as the boats at the back tried (and succeeded) to overtake the slower ones in front. Us well trained Thames folk had just politely followed in line waiting for the open water before making our move. But clearly Thames Rules don't apply here!
Just a mile from the Volkerak Sluizen is the entrance to Willemstad harbour. As we motored in we were greeted by the harbour master who asked us if we wanted the new marina or old inner harbour. We plumped for the latter which is where we are moored up now - see picture.
We arrived here at 16:30, just in time to do a bit of food shopping. We found a little supermarket and collected up our fruit and veg. The snag came when we had to weigh our produce as there were no pictures on the buttons on the scales, just the written name of the item. Most were obvious, but what is the Dutch for leek? Maureen resorted to asking another shopper who very kindly explained that Leek is Prei, as well as giving a full demonstration of the system for weighing and printing the price sticker.
As I write, a bunch of blokes in a rather snazzy day boat have rafted up to us while they have a few beers in a local bar.
Waiting for "green" at Zandkreeksluis
Being overtakenView
from our mooring
Starry Night at Willemstad inner harbour
In the morning we settled our dues at the harbour office - €15:20 for the night. The harbour master spoke perfect English and told us that at this time of year he got rather board by the low levels of activity. It was much more interesting in the summer when there were 200 or 300 boats in and out each day and they were rafted up eight deep everywhere! Fun???
The trip down Hollandsdiep was in rather murky weather - plenty of industry and lots of barge traffic. Quite quickly we got to the junction with the Dordtse Kil where we had to turn left, but were of course on the right hand side of the river, just outside the eastbound shipping lane. Because we are slower than the commercial traffic it is quite a tricky manoeuvre. We decided to follow the example of several other boats like ours, and make the turn in two stages. First across the eastbound and westbound lanes of Hollandsdiep so we were on the correct side of the river for the turn, but outside the shipping lanes. This meant picking a moment when nothing was too near in either direction. Then when we got to Dordtse Kil we had to repeat the process, first crossing the southbound lane, then merging with and crossing the northbound lane. With various other commercial craft making the turn Northwards from both directions it was a nerve wracking fifteen minutes while we sorted it all out. The chap in the picture was actually going slower than us - we met him on the turn but it took a while to realise that we could pull in front of him.
After about 8 km we turned right onto the Oude Maas past Zwijndrecht and before we knew it we were in Dordrecht. We were given a good assist by the river flow and were doing 12kph. As we passed by the various harbours we eyeballed the entrances as we plan to stop here on the way back.
Another few kilometres and we turned left onto the Noord, past Ridderkerk on the left, and then yet another left hand turn at another busy junction where the Lek joined from the right to form the Nieuwe Maas. We were now in the outskirts of Rotterdam and in places the river was very choppy. Just a few more km and we made a right turn onto the Hollandse IJssel, which is a much more minor river with smaller barges. After the magnificent storm surge barrier at Krimpen aan den IJssel, things calmed down. And the sun came out. Just the occasional barge and leisure boater, and a lot more rural. This stretch is still tidal and there are no leisure moorings so we ate lunch on the hoof as it were.
By 14:30 we were waiting at the Mallegatsluis to get into the canal network in Gouda. We moored up at the pilings by the entrance on the left hand side, and then realised that the push button to alert the lock keeper was on the other side! We relocated and pressed the button, which immediately launched the process of locking us through. The lock keeper spoke impeccable English, collected the lock fee of €3:35 and handed us a guide to the harbour. He also recommended where to more. This involved passing through two more bridges, which were manned and opened for us promptly.
So here we are in Gouda. Plugged into free electricity at €12.15 for 3 nights for the mooring. No-one has been round yet to collect the fee. It's market day tomorrow which should be good. We made a quick rece on foot and it looks a really interesting old town.
Might is right!
Railway bridge at Dordrecht
Storm surge barrier at Krimpen aan den IJssel
Our berth - Kattensingel, Gouda
Gouda back street
Various other bits and bobs were acquired for the boat, and an Orange phone shop yielded the magic English language phone number to obtain the remaining pay as you go credit (1244, option 5 for those who may need it!!).
After carting our booty back to the boat we returned to visit the Sint Janskerk (St John's Church), which is famous for its 16th century stained glass windows. We spent nearly two hours here. The windows were magnificent. According to the guide book there are seventy windows.
This was followed by lunch in the market square, thankfully sheltered from the wind. Uitsmjiters all round - slices of bread with large amounts of roast beef, ham or cheese draped on top, and three fried eggs on top of that. mmmmm!!
We were going to finish off with an appelgebak but after seeing another couple served these while we ate, we decided that it would be necessary to starve ourselves before tackling one, so, another time.
If the weather is OK tomorrow we will head on. We have a rough plan which is to arrive in Edam by Friday the 26th May. We reckon this is about four days of cruising and we have eight days to do it in, so we can take our time.
The town hall and market square
Sint Janskerk
We decided to stay put as it would be a nightmare controlling Starry Night in this wind, particularly while waiting for bridges to open. The forecast is for more of the same tomorrow and then less wind but still wet. The outlook for next week looks quite grim too. But we will see. If it clears up at all we will set off.
So today we have stooged around, read our books, painted, done some more route planning and explored a bit more of Gouda.
How do you exit the driver's door without falling in?
Plaque over the Lazarus Gate
Raindrops pounding the roof just beat the alarm this morning, but at leasts no howling wind this time. By 9:30 it was showing signs of brightening up, with the occasional spell without rain, so we made the decision to go. First we visited the water pontoon and filled the tanks. We used the opportunity to hose down the superstructure, which was covered in debris from the trees alongside our mooring for the last three nights. Must keep up appearances when flying the red ensign in foreign parts!
We then headed down to the Pottersbrug and Rabatbrug which were promptly opened and gave us access to the Ir De Kock van Leeuensluis (not a name you want to have to use on the VHF!). We are still in awe of the efficiency with which the bridges are operated. (And the power of stopping all that traffic!) Lets hope that we aren't disappointed too soon. The Ir De Kock van Leeuensluis (hereafter referred to as "the lock") was an interesting contraption dealing with no apparent change in level. At each end of the lock there was one sliding gate. This was suspended from a beam along which it rolled. To open the lock, first the gate was retracted along the beam like a sideways guillotine, hauled by cables; then the beam itself was retracted, hauled by more cables. The process was reversed to close the lock gate.
We headed out of Gouda down the Nieuwe Gouwe until we reached the Gouwe Kanaal, where we headed North in the direction of Amsterdam. The occasional shower kept our wet weather gear suitably damp. We then arrived at the vertical lift bridge at Waddinxveen (just like the one at Boskoop in the picture). There was no-one in the command post and the Wateralmanak advised (in Dutch) that contact should be made on VHF 18 (up to now this has not been necessary at any of the bridges we have passed) . So Mike made a radio call to the central bridge control following which an unintelligible reply came back in Dutch ..... but the light changed to red over green which was what was wanted! And low and behold, the barriers came down on the road, and the bridge opened. We chugged on and came to the bridge at Boskoop which opened without ado. The third was slightly higher and we fitted under without it being raised. By now we had blue sky.
More bridges and we were coming into Alphen a/d Rijn. At the next bridge where radio contact was required we decided to announce ourselves in Dutch as "One English Boat" and got the reply "I make open"!
We stopped just outside Alphen a/d Rijn at some moorings marked on the map, and it dutifully rained while we had our lunch. Then the sun came out again and we headed on up the four miles of Heimans-wetering to Brassemermeer. This is a lake about one mile wide by one and a half miles long, with various lagoons and boating facilities. We plumped for the lagoons at the South end, which looked from the map to offer shelter from the South Westerly wind which was now blowing good and proper (gales are forecast for later). A perfect spot was found where the water was flat calm and some bushes provided a small degree of shelter. We have a very pleasant outlook form the boat. Apparently someone will come round later for mooring fees.
Hefbrug (vertical lift bridge) at Boskoop
Alphense Brug (Alphen a/d Rijn)
Our mooring at
BrassemermeerYesterday's rain and wind eventually subsided. The morning was calmer but very grey. Occasional extra dark clouds came past and rained on us. Eventually a clear spell gave hope and we set off.
By the time we had emerged from the shelter of our mooring we could see (and feel) that it was still quite windy. There were lots of sailing boats on the Brassermermeer. We left the lake along Ouder Wetering, and turned West along the Ringvaart van de Haarlemmermeerpolder. As its name implies, this a circular canal round the Haarlemmermeerpolder on which Schiphol Airport sits at one end.
Just a couple of miles and a few bridges later we turned South into Kager Plassen which is a series of small lakes joined together. Again we have found a nice sheltered mooring (again the wind is blowing quite strongly). Luckily Schiphol Airport is at the opposite end of the polder. Nevertheless, planes are still relatively low here. A bit like Windsor from that point of view (but without the castle!).
As we arrived at our mooring the sun came out and we were treated to a couple of hours of glorious weather. We actually had our lunch outside. From our mooring we look down onto a polder where cows are grazing, and all sorts of wetland birds are visible. We have identified lapwings and black tailed godwits as well as more common birds. A number of them defy identification as always!
Brassemermeer
Windmills by Karger Plassen
Copyright © 2006-2009 Mike Hawkridge