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.

Gouda to Dordrecht

Gouda

We ended up being in a raft of three boats, but there was a raft to the front and the rear. This meant that we would have to wait for others to leave the next morning but we were in no rush.

As you can see we where quite hemmed in. Luckily in the morning the boats in front of us left as did the boat rafted on to us. There was only the three boat raft to our rear to contend with - however that was the way we needed to go. John decided the best way was to go forward a bit, make a bit of space and reverse out. It was quite a long reverse but it went well. I can say that as I was supervising!

Soon we were back on the main canal and straight away we had to go under a bridge - they have one side for the  working boats and another side for 'sport'. We only had a 15 minute wait for this bridge, as the river wasn't in flood the lock was on free flow.

Looking at the size of these I was pleased they have the two separate sides.

Again a journey where I could have a nose at some lovely gardens and houses and of course the windmills.

This windmill was very near the marina in Gouda.

Today's journey would take us on to the outskirts of Rotterdam, one of the busiest waterways in the world. We had junctions we needed to turn on, crossing from one side to the other, you just need to keep your wits about you, eyes peeled and go for it. Needless to say careful passage planning had taken place so we knew where we  were going. An industrial part of the journey but very interesting.

When we passed this, we wondered if the Dutch knew something we didn't!

All was going well for the journey, the second bridge was half an hour wait so once again I took the opportunity to make lunch so we could eat in comfort down below rather than on the go. The snag came at the last road bridge. When I radioed ahead I was clearly told it would open at 15.40.  ( a forty minute wait) Now whether he thought I was at some other bridge I don't know, but the upshot was it didn't open until 16.25. Normally this is not a problem but there was nowhere to moor up. We with another boat managed to get into an old port area. The Dutch boat tried to moor against the wall, but there were huge bolts on the wall and it was very windy. He indicated once he had moored he would be happy for us to raft up. For various reasons we thanked him and declined. It was the right choice as he could not get a safe/comfortable mooring. John spent the time doing figure of eights in the old port and then I did figure of eights - we could have done this indefinitely but about ten to four several other boats joined us. It was not easy or comfortable milling around as the wind was getting up and space was limited. Eventually the bridge opened and we  got through.

Once through I followed the instructions in the cruising guide which was stick to the East side of the island - the other 6 boats shot down the West side. When we got to the end of the island they popped out slightly in front of us. Local knowledge!

Dordrecht is one of the oldest towns in the Netherlands and the old town is basically an island where three rivers meet. It looked very interesting, we located the entrance to our marina and shoot across the river. We were lucky as a boat was waiting on the pontoon and the bridge was about to open. We hung back and waiting for them to go in first. It was very crowded, we were given instructions to where to go, which meant a lot of manoeuvring in tight spaces. As John was doing his bit, I watched the boat in front of us having some difficulty with the boat they were mooring up to and the lady on the boat shouting at them. As I obviously couldn't understand it all I watched as they aborted and imagine my feelings when we were told to raft up to in the exact same spot. However, the lady couldn't have been nicer and all went well. The down side of this was we were the third boat out and clambering over the guard rails has given me my sailor legs - covered in bruises.

Speaking to the harbour master he said that as people left tomorrow there would be room for us to have a berth. As we wanted to do as little climbing as possible we eat out that night and found a really good restraint on the front - Steak and Chardonnay. Not only was the steak excellent but John felt he had 'hit pay dirt' with the starter - lobster soup.

We liked what we saw that evening and knew we would enjoy looking round the town properly.

The next morning brought torrential rain so it was an indoors sort of day. We had moved to a quieter berth but the wifi was intermittent here, which was a pain - so no chance to do the blog, but I did get the laundry done. The rain died off a bit in the afternoon and we had a stroll round. We liked what we saw and as the forecast was better for the next day we decided to stay a third night.

Boaty information

Electric and water included - 19.95 euros per night
Showers 50 cents
Washer token - 4 euros  1 euro for the drier
Good security - however if you are under the bridge you have to wall along the road to the facilties once you come out of the gate.
Wifi hit and miss
Quite a long walk to the Albert Hein.
Gouda to Dordrect 19.8 miles  (remember some of this was going round and round for nearly an hour waiting for the bridge.

Braassamermeer to Gouda

Well we had a really windy night Sunday night. You know things are bad when you get up in the night to add more ropes and fenders. However the extra rope made the boat much more steady and we had a good sleep after that. Although before we went to bed we had made the decision to stay at Braassamermeer the wind had dropped bit so we thought we would go for it. Getting ready to leave was military precision ( remembering the 5 ps). On this occasion we sprung off the front sending the back out and John would then reverse out of the marina. It would have been more hassle to have done a three point turn. I'm pleased to say it went perfectly though it was really windy once on the lake.

Today's journey was one of many bridges - thirteen in all. The last one was vital to arrive on time as it was a railway bridge that opened at 14.27 - if we missed that we would have to wait till 1912. We went through many different bridges - bascule, lifting, swing and drawbridge to name but four. On this journey we also learnt why you never try to jump the light and only go on green. We were at a big bridge that once we were through, the canal did a T junction. I went to the front to check nothing was coming - the lights were still on red and green ( be prepared) and John was inching forward - as many do. Then I spied the bow  of the most enormous barge every peeping around the corner and about to come though the bridge. Reverse was my immediate instruction and reverse John did - quickly. All was well but it was a scary moment.

Waiting at the bridge - the signpost amused me. At least it confirmed we were going in the right direction.

The barge after we had backed up and it had rounded the corner.

Trying to show the size of the barges - they carry their cars and boats on the back!

I am pleased to say my throwing skills have improved immensely. By each bridge we have to moore up whilst waiting for the bridge to open. It was far to windy to jill around. My job is to throw the ropes over a little bollard and make fast. (We aren't being sexist, John behind the wheel, but I prefer not manoeuvring the boat at close quarters.) Anyhow with all the practise I'm getting I usual achieve the lassoing at first throw.

At one bridge lack of available mooring meant we had to raft up with a Dutch boat. We learn some interesting information from him, the most important being when we went under a lifting bridge let them know how high out mast is. Apparently a yacht had gone through a bridge that hadn't lifted high enough, there was some discussion about whose responsibility it was - so I now double check each time.

The whole journey was super especially if you are nosey like me, Although we went through a lot of countryside, when we went through the small towns and villages a lot of the houses and gardens backed onto the canal. I loved seeing all the different gardens and the different style of houses. Lots of people were sat out on their patios so we got lots of waves. The biggest wave of the day was when we went past an old peoples home.

I don't think I would have chosen to eat here!

We arrived at the last railway bridge with an hour to spare so I was able to make lunch while we waited. It was also time for us to decided whether to go right into the centre of Gouda or go to a marina on the out skirts. We really couldn't be bothered doing another three bridges and a lock so the marina it was.

Although it is a very basic marina and we were rafted up as it is not deep enough for us at the sides it is very pleasant and only a twenty minute walk into town.


The following are pictures show one of the lift bridges we passed underneath today. Going up!

Gouda is another lovely old town with a fantastic market square. Sadly we will miss the cheese market as that is held on Thursdays. Once again we enjoyed mooching around but will visit again Tuesday as we are staying for two nights. However, our walk confirmed that we did the right thing staying where we were. There is not a marina in town but allocated places where you could stay. In fact we could see only three free berths - one of which was not suitable for a yacht as it was too near trees. It would have been so frustrating to go all that way into town only to find there was no room.

We were amazed how full the marina got after the railway bridge opening for the last time at 21.00hrs. Some boats were rafted four deep - the harbour master is very busy running up and down making sure everyone is in the right place.

Boaty notes

Shallow depth - at 1.7m we cannot get into the side and need to raft alongside
Very secure
Free wifi - quite good wifi as well.
13.80 euros per night
We didn't elect to have electricity but you can - pump out also available.
20 minutes max walk to town.
Aldi - 10 mins walk.
Basic showers and toilets.

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