Wind bound in Braassemermeer

As places go this is not a bad place to be stuck! We had originally booked in for two nights but the wind this morning was verging on a force 5 - with very strong gusts, so we decided to stay put. This gave me chance to do another set of laundry.  I really did pack too much as I am sure there will be clothes we haven't worn at the end of the holiday but as this is the first time we have been on the boat continually for six weeks it is a learning curve.

We had a lovely walk this afternoon after some household chores. Over our evening meal tonight we were discussing the weather - again. The wind hasn't abated, if anything it is stronger, the forecast for tomorrow is worse. It looks as if the wind would be on the nose for the first part of the journey but then as we turn in an Easterly direction on the canals we would have a strong cross wind. Not really what we want so unless there is a dramatic improvement over night it will be another visit to the harbour master in the morning.

Eventually we will get to Gouda.

We spotted this map on our walk. My sister would love this as all the coffee places are clearly marked.

Haarlem to Braassemermeer

Plenty of passage planning before this journey as we had to make a railway bridge that only opens infrequently. Although we can work out mileage and average speed it is always a guestimate when we have lots of bridges to go through. It can work like a charm or we can we waiting ages.

We also had a plan for getting off the mooring - John did the ropes, I steered. Even the wind did it's bit correctly and it was a text book leaving. It's not always like that so we are pleased when something goes to plan well.

The first hurdle was getting out of Haarlem, we were moored between bridges 3 & 4, so only 6 bridges to go through. We slipped our moorings at 8.50 am and were moored up by bridge 4 ready for it opening at 9 am. Luckily it did open at 9 am to let a boat through northbound so we were able to go through southbound. Even better was the makings of a convoy on the other side. (They open bridges more readily to conveys - also if you are not number 1 in the convey you don't have to do all the radioing.)  Now the down side of this was I had the convey song going through my head all day. Not the original you understand but the Jasper Carrot parody - that shows my age!

We were through bridge 8 by 9.30 am so a good run through Haarlem, the final Haarlem bridge is a good way out and we passed through it at 9.50 am.

As usual on this visit there were no red  dusters to be seen. I can count on one hand the number we have seen and spoken to, there seem to be far fewer this year than last. The convey was mainly Dutch boats with a couple of German boats thrown in for good measure. At this stage there were about nine yachts and we  were brining up the rear. This can be tricky if we have to wait at a bridge as there are lots of boats jilling around with not a lot of room, adding wind to the mix it can be very tricky. This was the case at Cruquisburg, we'd been waiting about five minutes when the message came down the line that it would be about 15 minutes before the bridge opened. Rather than sit up on deck being a back seat driver I decided this would be a good time to go below and make a cup of tea and bacon butties.

When we finally go to the railway bridge at Sassenheim (12.28 ) there were more boats than mooring space. Although by this time we were not at the back of the line we needed to moor up to another boat. They were very helpful and were able to give us more upto date timings of the bridge. The bridge was due to open at 13.38 for North bound boats, but if the bridge operator was in a good mood he might also let the South bound boats through. If not we would have to wait until 15.09.

Luckily there weren't many boats North bound and it came over the loud speaker that we could go through. The translation was courtesy of the boat we were rafted up to. They also called instructions as we were passing through as we needed to stay very close to the boat in front.

All in all it was a pleasant if long trip, it was mainly through the country side and there were some beautiful houses to look at. The harbour master, like all the others we have met, was very accommodating - helping with ropes etc. He also presented us with a large jar of gerkins. Braassememeer lake is very picturesque and there are lots of different boats passing by.

It was a boiling hot afternoon andI quickly did a load of towels at the laundrette, the weather was so good they dried quickly on the railings.

I will add the pictures later as the internet is not being very accommodating today and I can't down load the photos. As normal I don't get all the photos I would like, when something interesting is happening we usually need both sets of hands on deck.

Boaty information.
18 euros per night (but free mooring on the canal if you want it - we are enjoying creature comforts)
electricity - 50 cents  (We only need it for charging the lap top, charging the Dyson and the emersion -day three and we are still on our second 50 cents. Our wind generator and solar panels are doing the trick.)
Showers 50cents
Washing machine 4 Euros  Tumble drier 4 Euros.
Restaurant on site (superb prawns in garlic)
Supermarket - well stocked DIRK, 5 minutes walk maximum

Haarlem

2nd August 2016

En route to Haarlem we went back on ourselves very slightly (0.86 nm), as we needed a new gas cylinder and the harbour master at Haarlmsche had located a marina that sold camping gas, this is not widely available in the Netherlands.

This was a very short journey today (3.08 miles in total). We set off at 8.50 am and were moored up in Haarlem by 10.20 am. Once again the harbour master's office were very helpful. We got a nice spot on the new quay close to the mill and a very short walk from the centre but not on the road side of the canal so it was quieter. Initially we booked for 2 nights but the weather wasn't at it's best so on the Thursday we elected to stay an additional night - the wind would have made getting off the quay a tad awkward. Also its was the start of the culinary festival on the Thursday night so it would have been rude not to stay!

Haarlem is a lovely old town and once again we spent hours mooching around. We also spent a good hour in the apple shop trying to get John's new iPhone to speak to the ipad. The young man was brilliant and to say he was working in a second language, he was very patient with us indeed.

Sadly we didn't get pictures of the square as we failed to take any on the Sunday and then they were setting up for the food festival after that. However we did go into the church on the Sunday and it was free admission - the rest of the week you had to pay.

We liked this old warehouse as we were coming into Haarlem.

Rascal on the new Quay at Haarlem.

Boat information:
18 euros per night including electricity and water. If you don't stay in Haarlem you have to pay a fee (18 euros) to travel through all the bridges.
Toilets and showers literately 30 secs walk. Downside the loo is in the shower so if someone is have a shower you wait. Also only one male and one female shower - so you can wait. Showers say 50 cents but the orange light was usually on so we only paid once.
Loads of supermarkets in walking distance.

Amsterdam to Haarlemsche Jacht Club

31st July 2016


Making the most of our last day in Amsterdam we just walked around the canals following our noses. We enjoyed seeing all the different buildings and for once we weren't dodging rain showers,

Waiting for the ferry -very black clouds.

This submarine was by where we caught the ferry into Amsterdam.

Coming back to the boat after our last tramp round Amsterdam we were amazed by how full the ferry was and how young (late teens early twenties) were. It turned out that there was a 'rave' very near to the ferry terminal. I had seen the signs advertising 'Craft' all week and had assumed it was a craft fair!
the DJ and music were in full thump thump mode, but we couldn't hear it on the boat.



We had one final visit into Amsterdam and that was to eat at the Sea Palace. It was a very nice meal but not cheap. Interesting conversation with the waiter about sculpture. We were able to tell him about the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

The next morning was an early alarm call as we had to meet a motorway bridge between 8.30 and 9.30 am. The books were a bit vague so we thought we ought to aim for the 8.30 opening. Walking to the shower block at 5,30 am we were amazed to see the most enormous cruise ship gliding past. She was all lit up and we knew exactly where she was aiming for. Obviously they timed her arrival this early as when she arrived at her mooring point she would have to do a three point turn - this would not have been easy on the busy North Sea Canal during the day.

Slipping our ropes and we were away by 6.05am - on our way up the North Sea Canal we went past a smaller most probably illegal rave on the shores. The music was still going, some were still dancing, but many were just sat by the side. we got lots of waves as we went past.

It was quite a quick journey to the off shoot canal we needed and we quickly moored up as there was a road bridge to go under. However, I could not raise the bridge control on VHF and as time passed I was beginning to get worried as it was a Sunday the motorway bridge only opened twice and if we missed the first opening the next one would not happen till early evening. After half an hour I had the bright idea of calling them up on the main radio rather than the hand held VHF - success! The bridge opened within five minutes.

We got to the motorway by 8.15am and then discovered that the opening time was actually 9.30 am. never mind - John occupied himself with Angry Birds and I got the Dyson out and did my domestic goddess bit. Had we realised this we could have had an extra hour in bed, but then we would have missed the cruise ship.

We also had a lock to go through - for the first time we had to pay to go through the lock. It was 3.50 Euros.

It was a very short journey today just over 9 miles and we were moored up by 10.40 am. A lovely little yacht club and very helpful harbour master. The cost was amazing 14.30 Euros a night - up to press we had been in expensive marinas. The yacht club is on a lake and is only  short cycle ride from Haarlem. The yacht club loans  bikes free of charge. So we took the opportunity to cycle into Haarlem that afternoon.

'I saw three ships....'

Bicycle, windmill and canal - can't get much more of a stereotype than that!

I have been working on this page of the blog ever since Haarlemsche. The internet there kept dropping out and we had no internet on the boat in Haarlem. Never again will I wonder why some of my favourite blogs take ages to appear. I have a weeks worth of blogs to do. but I will try to catch up. this one is being problematic as it won't load up all the photos. I might publish and add photos later.

Boat information.

14.30 euros per night with free drinking water

electricity 1.60 euros a day

washing machine 2 euros a load (no tumble drier)

good supermarket 10 min bike ride away
free bile loan

Amsterdam continued

Saturday 30th July 2016

Still in Amsterdam

It's been a busy few days in Amsterdam and each day John (and therefore I), have done double his steps target. You always get a good boost to the step count each day as here it's about 500 steps to the 'facilities'!

Joking apart we have walked miles around Amsterdam, we got an Iam card so we could make the most of museums - however we had to make sure we had got our money's worth so you cram more into a shorter period of time. It makes me realise how lucky we are in the UK that our museums and art galleries are free.

Anyhow we have enjoyed Amsterdam despite the weather - heavy showers throughout - but generally we dodged the showers.

Some snaps of where we've been. Though I've not taken as many - my favourite point and shoot camera was left at home and we've not taken the 35mm out with us.

The Maritime Museum - we can never resist. Beautiful building we spent hours in here.

Don't think I will be changing our bunk for this!

 Although the hammock was very comfy, it was a real Mrs Doyle moment trying to get out of it. Not one of my most dignified moments.

 Squinting at the sun, but thought I needed to put a selfie of both of us in. The other one actually has John smiling but we I cut off most of our heads.

Arty shot!

Slightly bigger than Rascal's wheel.

 We pass this submarine everyday on the ferry we take to go into Amsterdam. The ferry is free and runs to the Central Station every half an hour.

Obviously you can't go to Amsterdam without a canal trip. It was good and I found out the origins of the word flea market.


It was great to have a visit from Lorna (a colleague) and her husband. They happened to be here the same week as us so popped over to  Rascal for a drink.

Boaty information.

27.50 Euros per night including water and electricity.
Free efficient WIFI
Nice showers but you have to queue at busy times - not a lot for the number of boats in the marina.
Free ferry every half an hour into Amsterdam.
Little supermarket round the corner - but it's limited. Okay for bread milk etc. There is a bigger one 10 mins walk away but we've not explored that yet.

Wednesday 27th July 2016

Playing around I found a photo of the marina at Ijmuiden - the green track marks our track in and the red x is roughly where we were moored.

Yesterday we left Ijmuiden and travelled along the North Sea Canal to Amsterdam. Not a very long journey but as we missed one locking in (it was full) we had to moor up and wait for the next which turned out to be an hour later.

We had done a walking reccy on our travels a couple of days before, just to check the lay of the land.

This is the lock we would be going through, to the left is a slightly bigger one and further to the left are two even bigger ones where ships go through.

Although we were the first boat to be waiting for the lock I think we were the sixth to go in. All in all there were about 18 boats in the lock. We could see some were turned away because the lock was full.

The only snag with sailing two handed is you don't always get time to take photos. I try to have the point and shoot camera ready, but we don't often have time to get the 'good' camera out. Whilst in the lock there was great excitement as what I can only describe as a super yacht went into the lock next door. It's mast was enormous but as we were in the lock we couldn't see the rest of it.

If you look carefully at this picture you will see two small horizontal lines. The one on the left shows the top of the mast of the super yacht and the one on the right shows the top of the mast of a normal yacht which is next to it in the lock. Huge difference.

We had an uneventful trip down the North Sea Canal, it was amazing to see the size of various cargo ships, barges etc on this waterway. The South Yorkshire Navigation it certainly isn't. It was only 12nm and only took about two and a half hours, it was very hot throughout the journey as being made dogs or Englishmen it was mainly in the midday sun.

The Marina came on us rather quickly and we had to swiftly get to the other side of the canal - John saw a gap and went for it. The next interesting bit was getting into the correct bit. As we had pre booked, I phoned through and they gave us our berth number - it was just finding how to get there. We went past this restaurant, it looked rather nice so needless to say we ate there last night. Excellent food and excellent service. 

These rather sweet cygnets came to see us as soon as we moored up.

Everyone who comes to this marina must take a picture of the bath. Not only is an actual bath a novelty but it's the situation of this bath and the window.

Luckily there is a button you can press to make the window opaque - which I did as you wouldn't want to frighten the locals!

However once in the bath - making sure nothing of me was visible I flicked the switch again to take a photo from the bath looking out.

The bath in the other room actually overlooks the restaurant tables you can see on the bottom right. That could put someone off their meal. 

Today we took the free ferry into Amsterdam and mooched round - we did our 'steps'. We will return tomorrow and do a few museums etc. Tonight we will have a quiet night and eat in. We might even start watching one of the box sets we bought for the trip. As yet we don't seem to have had time to watch anything tonight. The weather has turned rather windy and rainy so we are pleased we are not on the move.

Summer 2016 - Holland

21st July 2016 - Ipswich to Lowestoft

After much deliberation we decided that our shake down cruise would be from Ipswich to Lowestoft from there we would go straight across to Ijmuiden. This meant going out and buying two new charts as our North Sea Chart doesn't go up as far as Ijmuiden and we haven't a chart to Lowestoft. But that's sailing for you - always something to spend your money on. Thanks to our friends Carole and Chris from Yacht Seduction we did not need to buy charts for the Dutch Waterways as they kindly lent us theirs.

Taking this route meant that we would go to Amsterdam and work our way down slowly. Our original plan had been to come in at Roompot and work our way up and back down. This way we will have longer at different places.

I think the smile says it all as we head down the River Orwell. However, the orange top doesn't exactly go with the red life jacket.

Felixstowe

Although smiling broadly there was also a touch of apprehension, which we always have before we set sail. We knew that the passage had been well planned and the tides would be with us all up the coast. Lowestoft Haven Marina is part of the ABP group, therefore we were entitled to up to seven nights free berthing.  We had decided that we would stay in the Hamilton Dock as this would mean we did not have to go through the bridge, which has set opening times.

The journey to Lowestoft was generally uneventful. However the genoa did stick a couple of times, when we tried to bring it in, which was a bit of a worry, but we managed to sort it out. We are pleased with the new sails and do feel they have made a difference.

The new nav sytem was also working well but will take a bit of getting used to. I knew I would need to 'play around' with it when we reached Lowestoft as I couldn't find all the features we needed but generally the course I had plotted on it worked well - although I was also double checking on the chart.

We always have to have a picture of a Thames Barge.

From Languard Point to mooring up in Lowestoft took  6 hours 35mins. The tide was with us all the way but it did get a bit lumpy the last couple of hours so we were pleased to arrive.  Reading the pilot books can put the fear of God into you as it constantly reminds you about the shifting sands, changing buoyage and not to cut any corners. To add to that you have to radio in to get permission to enter the harbour as there are loads of rig support vessels in the harbour plus a helicopter landing pad. Luckily for us there were no helicopters arriving at the same time as us.

Obviously Hamilton Dock is very much a working dock and not really pretty but I was impressed by the shower block - immaculately clean and nice showers. Even more impressive was the laundrette set up there - all the tokens were left in a plastic box and a honesty box system operated.

Rascal at Hamilton Dock, Lowestoft.

It was time to check our passage plan again before bed.

22nd July 2016  Lowestoft to Ijmuiden

A double check of the passage plan meant a slightly later leaving time and we slipped our ropes at 08.23, ready to cross over to Ijmuiden again there was slight apprehension. I can't say I totally enjoy long sails as I get bored at times but they are a means to an end and once we've done it we see some fabulous places.  The route we were taking wasn't in the North Sea Passage book so it was a bit of some and a bit of our passage planning.

As always on the route over to Holland the wind isn't  always in the right direction so we knew a lot of motor sailing would be involved. To spend as little time as possible in the galley I had made up  a dozen bread rolls to keep us going - we would have a selection of pork, ham or chicken but as always we don't tend to eat a lot on longer passages.  This Christmas my nephew had bought us two new mugs that stay put. This was a novelty as one they didn't slide all over the work surface when I was making tea and two I managed the whole crossing without a mug being knocked over and me losing all my tea.

The wind did pick up and was in the right direction so it meant we could turn the engine off. We were creaming along. The disadvantage to making good time was arriving at the Ijmuiden Geul/approach area. (For my none sailing friends imagine an invisible motorway intersection in the sea - this is for all the big ships and we have to obey specific rules) in the dark - I thought I had timed it for dawn. This was for me a hairy bit as working out ships lights etc can be difficult. Several things unnerved me

• At the same time a large cargo ship was passing on our starboard side a message came over the radio for a sailing yacht (we didn't hear the coordinates the first time) warning it it was in peril on its port side and it must change it's course. As there was no other sailing yacht in sight and being a natural worrier I assumed it was us. I immediately wrote down our coordinates and kept double checking the chart- no peril in sight. When the message was retransmitted I knew that the coordinates were definitely not us. It later transpired, following later radio transmissions, that a sailing yacht was far too near to a gas rig.
• Whilst trying to work out what ships were what and which direction they were all travelling one started flashing us - ie gave us a warning. I swear blind we weren't on a collision course and it hadn't flashed up on AIS, but John changed course and all was well. This big ships move pretty speedily in comparison to us. Even when we feel we are making a good speed we are like tortoises compared with them.
• The navigation station showed something different to a paper chart and that did freak me out a bit - John was off watch trying to catch up with some well earned zzzzzzzzzzs. In retrospect I should have gone with the passage plan I had prepared. But to cut a long story (sail) short I decided to go round a wind farm rather than up the side of it. This most probably added one if not two hours to our journey. But what the heck always better safe than sorry.

Once all this excitement was over and dawn had broken it seemed to take ages to sail the last 10 miles or so and actually reach Imjuiden. Matters were not helped by the fact that a fog/mist came down and we couldn't see any of the lights we should have been following. Thank goodness for the new nav system - we feel it was worth the money spent on it.

Eventually the harbour was in sight - reflections on our journey. Neither of us are keen on night sailing but it has to be done.  We had tried to time it so that it would be light for the tricky bits but because we made good time this wasn't the case. On the plus side I was sailed the boat in the night as opposed to motor sailing. So I was quite proud of myself. We did more sailing as opposed to motor sailing which is always good and the new sails are brilliant.

Getting into the Mariana at Ijmuiden was fine - they have a brilliant system where you head for 'M' pontoon and any berth that is empty and marked green you can enter. We were tied up by 06.40 BST. We are a long way from the marina office and facilities but the walk will do us good and we  couldn't be bothered moving. Initially we paid for two nights but there has been a change in the weather so have stayed for a third - why move when you don't have to?

Rascal at Ijmuiden showing not only her courtesy flag but also the European Flag and of course our Yorkshire Rose.

The facilities here are very good -lots of showers and toilets which thoroughly cleaned twice a day. The laundry room is excellent with comfy chairs to sit in - I got loads of reading done whilst waiting for my washing.

Despite being opposite TATA steel - which is still going strong here- there are lots of lovely beach walks and a nature reserve.

Notes for other people thinking about using the marina - at 29.10 Euros a night its not a cheap marina, but it does warn you in the various books. However it is lovely to have a marina which is efficient and easy to get into  after a long voyage.

Passage time -22hours 27 minutes
113 NM
Engine hours 14.4