Dordrecht to Willemstad

Friday

We decided to spend the day in Dordrecht and we were pleased we did - a totally different place in the dry.

Our first stop was to the church as I wanted to climb the bell tower. The church is just by the marina and the bells remind you that it's there. Joking apart the church is beautiful and is one of the few to not charge admission. Wandering round this beautiful building was enhanced by some practising the organ, it really enhanced the atmosphere. There was also the most wonderful modern stained glass window, I don't think the pictures do it justice.

As John said the bell tower was great as long as you don't have a dicky heart, bad knees and vertigo. (Well I think his heart is okay.) At 1 euro each to go up it was worth it -but 265 steps is a lot of steps to go up. We joked all the way up as it brought back many memories from my days at Monkwood. As part of our annual visit to Whitby we went bell ringing at St Marys Church, which involved climbing the tower and seeing the bells. To all my Monkwood friends, sadly we didn't get to see the bells but we did see a clock at the top! 

All joking apart it was worth the climb as the views were stunning.

 The bend in the river to the left is where we came from - it leads to Rotterdam. On the left is our marina.

Looking the other way. The white structure is the lifting railway bridge. We will be going under that tomorrow en route to Willemstad.

 A better view of the marina, if you squint you can see a bridge in the middle. we are just beyond that bridge and on the left.

 From the bell tower you actually look down on the roof of the nave of the church.

A wind swept selfie.

The clock workings.

Couldn't resist this plaque to some English bell ringers. This is where we always got lost about how many 'changes' there are in peals and how long it takes to ring a peal.

The church and bell tower from the outside.

An  old map of Dordrecht. Dordrecht doesn't have canals but a set of interlinking harbours. We were staying in the new harbour - built in 15 something!



After visiting the church we continued our walk around Dordrecht, it is a very interesting and picturesque town. Full of history and I am so glad we decided to stay an extra day.

Couldn't resist this cat in the window,

John waiting for the water to fill.

Saturday 13th August - moving on to Willemstad.

We always seem to have appointments with bridges. Today was no exception except it was three in one. Initially we had to arrange with the harbour master to open the pedestrian bridge in the harbour in order to get us to the road bridge, then we had to call the bridge control to open the road bridge to let us out of the harbour in order to catch the rail bridge that opens at 12 minutes past the hour. It all worked like a charm. The first bridge opened at 10.55am, several boats were leaving at the 11 m road bridge opening - this meant a lot of boats moving in a very confined space. We were in an orderly queue but boats cant stay still - so it seemed a long five minutes, from there quickly down the river to the rail bridge (there was also a road bridge beyond).

For once I was able to get some photos as we left the harbour.

 Rascal in her berth.

Bridge one - the pedestrian bridge, following other boats out. The church is in the background.

Bridge two - the road bridge leaving the harbour.

Approaching bridges three and four. If you look closely you can make out a train on the railway bridge. The road bridge behind is not visible yet.

A closer look at the train.

First half of the railway bridge lifting.

 Both parts fully raised and the road bridge is now visible.

The road bridge is now opening.

Just as the lights went to green for us to go through this chappy started coming out of a side canal - he was big, but we had to get in front of him or we would have missed the bridge.

The photo doesn't do the view justice but I was rather taken with the bell tower framed within the rail bridge.

It was a cold windy journey down the river, but we did get the genoa up for a while and the engine turned off, but not for long as there was an awful lot of traffic to contend with.  I was wrapped up warm but at least it was dry.

It took just under three hours to arrive and we were moored and eating sandwiches by 14.15 (it's all food in the Gee household). The total mileage was 14.3 miles.

We are in the old town rafted up on the quay, we would have been happy in the municipal marina but this is where we were put. Boats are rafted up four deep all the way along. We are the second boat in our raft. I will get pictures tomorrow. It is a fortified town and we will walk the fortifications tomorrow. As it is a Saturday night and we are on the harbour wall it is very busy. One of the restaurants had live music and although it finished at midnight there are still lots of people wandering around and chatting (at 01.45).

Boaty information.

Prices are creeping up again - 46 euros for 2 nights. You have to pay by card. (Electric, water and showers included)
Nice toilets and showers but a bit of a hike as you have to walk from the town quay to the municipal marina.
Lovely setting but a tad noisy, it will also be fun and games untangling the rafts as folk want to leave in the morning.