Weeks 28 - 31 Away

Tides

public transport

data use

Rotterdam in general

Ben & Paul

Janny at dinner

Trip Home

first night Gouda 4 deep!

2nd night Uithoorn - battling to get a spot

I totally lost the plot in keeping up with my weekly update - remember, mostly my way of keeping up to date with my kids (and a handful of dear friends). So again, I have relied on the dates of my photos...

I think it is now 4 weeks...

Part 1 the trip to Rotterdam - a bit of a challenge and done with delightful company - Ron and Nettie on Houtrib and Frank and Pam on Jacoba.

Part 2. In Rotterdam for the World Police and Fire Games 2022

Part 3. The trip back to Heerenveen - quality time spent with Paul

Part 4. Back Home - a few more days with Paul and trying to get back to "normal".

We have a new bird nesting near the front of the house

Grekraagd Roodstaat (Common Redstart)

On Tuesday 12 July, we did business as usual and then headed to the boat so that we could move it next to the diesel pump to be ready to fill up and get away on Wednesday morning.

Ron and Annette were there already and preparing to leave with us on Wednesday - after a last minute new battery installation.

Janny picked up Frank and Pam from the train station and we all sat at the "international" picnic table...

An extra couple from England and a Canadian couple also came along to have a chat. One half of the English couple was born in the Netherlands so no real Brexit issues...the Canadian couple have a house in Mexico (with residency permit) and have made an appointment to get some sort of residency over here as well.

The Route

About 210 kilometres and 34 hours motoring time.

Heerenveen

Blokzijl

Biddinghuizen

Almere Haven

Weesp

Uithoorn

Gouda

Rotterdam

Day 1 Wednesday 13 July

Heerenveen to Blokzijl

Several bridges to be opened and 2 locks - the last at Blokzijl itself.

It's been a couple of years since Jacoba has visited Blokzijl, but it remains one of our favorite destinations.

The white sheets help when it gets a bit warm...

This used to be the gates to the sea, before the advent of the reclaimed land. Now our departure gate for Day 2...

Day 2 Blokzijl to "somewhere in the polder".

Near Biddinghuizen as it turned out.

This photo was about 0600hrs as I went for my walk...

We had a pretty good barbecue...Ron and Nettie's charcoal burner

Day 3 Biddinghuizen to Almere Haven

A 5 hour day to finish off the last of the polder - comparatively boring except that I am always reminded of the effort that must have been required to have the vision AND do the work.

There is a monument near where we stopped - commemorating a surveying post where a lot of the calculations were made.

This is a "keersluis" - a lock barrier to be lowered in times of flood - it makes up part of a dyke crossing the land at this point.

This photo shows us going back the wrong way! I had only half read the yellow notice - and it slowly dawned on me that it had said "Beperkt Doorvaart" - limited passage - so I had to go back and read it slowly and properly, just in case there was some restriction in front of us.

It turned out to be "possible 15 minute delays" later in the week because of a rowing competition.

So, back we went, along a stretch with low bridges and a few houseboats, leading to the lock at Almere Haven.

Out of the lock, straight to a mooring in the harbour...

Pretty good Indian food for our first "eat out" meal.

Day 4 Almere Haven to Weesp

Across the Gooimeer and Ijmeer (a bit of rough going with Beaufort 3) and into Muiden via a double lock - very busy.

Handy to keep an eye on the clearance...this is 4 metres - we can get under 2.5 metres, with the mast down.

We stopped early in Weesp - just as well we did! - the boats were head to tail for just about the whole length of the canal - it meant that we had a 1km walk to the showers, but it was a good spot for shopping and an icecream for dessert.

We even had some musical entertainment for a couple of hours...

Did a bit of planning for Sunday...

Heading to Oudekerk aan de Amstel by lunchtime and then see how far we can get - and find a good mooring for Sunday night.

Along the way yesterday, I saw a few signs referring to vaarweginformatie.nl

Total engine hours so far: 21

Now a week later...trying to catch up!

Day 5 Weesp to Uithoorn

After Weesp we stopped at Uithoorn. A fairly new shorefront marina called Aeme Stelle. It had a new Havenmeester's Office and facilities. The wifi was fibre optics but they can't yet get the equipment needed to extend it to the moorings (because of the Global shortages).

Day 6 Uithoorn to Gouda (pronounced Gow da)

From there we went to Gouda, with a few big ships on the way. It happened to be the week of the 750 Years as a City Celebrations. The tourist brochures boast "more than 200 moorings for boats". But, one of the shower/toilet facilities had been closed since I was last there in 2018. This left 2 small portable shower blocks with one shower and one toilet in each...and one of those was out of order! At the newer moorings there were no more electricity outlets, so we opted to stay at the older moorings which at least had free electricity.

(We had a pretty good time in Gouda - but I couldn't help thinking that after 750 years, they might have been able to provide decent toilet facilities for boaties - I wasn't going to say anything about it - but at other places we had such outstanding facilities - Uithoorn, Blokzijl - that I felt it worthy of a mention. If might relieve the pressure (?) on the holding tanks of some boats and maybe the temptation to empty them in open water. I have yet to see any boat using the all-to-rare pumpout stations. - this in a time of heightened awareness of environmental issues...).

This sign says that "farmers have to clean up but the boats keep going" -

There was also ONE "automatic" toilet block in the City Square - swipe the bank card to get in for 50 cents. Upon departure the unit went through a self-cleaning cycle in preparation for the next user.

This mooring was unavailable for some reason...

This was formerly the Town Hall in the middle of the very large City Square

We used all of Ron and Netties FIVE bikes to go for a ride through a VERY exclusive residential area with some very nice waterfront houses. The crew went swimming...and I resolved to NEVER even consider having a fold-up bike on the boat!

There were about 50 of these "cheese lady" statues dotted around town.

Normal Market Day and on Thursday the Cheese Market before we left.

Day 9 Gouda to Rotterdam

It rained on Thursday as we left. The lock keeper reminded us that we were entering a tidal river - the Hollandse Ijssel, as we headed for Rotterdam.

The Ijsselmonde Haven turned out to be an inspired choice (by Frank) - I rang the havenmeester as we arrived - a dash from the Hollandse Ijssel over the Maas/Lek and in to safety - the havenmeester had to help us with mooring - they have a system to cope with the tides - we had to put our lines through their loops on the poles aft and secure to the floating dock fore. It was especially difficult to get on and off the boat - so I asked if we could moor alongside - "to make it easier for our nearly 80 year olds". Yeah, no worries - he said they hadn't realised the "form" of our boat and he could see the difficulties. They have to deal with it all the time...

...using this ladder to get on and off - usually at the stern.

On Friday 22nd of July we attended the Opening Ceremony of the World Police and Fire Games, Rotterdam 2022.

A lot of Dutchies, of course...

Saturday, 23 July

We had dinner with Ron and Nettie as they were preparing to push on with their travels in Houtrib - it was an enjoyable evening with the bonus of pretty good food - World Traveller Pam even said "that was as good a steak as I've had in a while".

With this as the outlook and only about 600 metres from the boat...

Early in the morning, keeping up with my daily walking...

Sunday 24 July

A visit to the Kinderdijk...

A group of 18 windmills with the sole purpose of pumping out the water from a particular area - Listed as a Unesco World Heritage site. Two of the windmills are now operating as museums.

Ron, getting a different view...

Paul arrived at the marina at about 2230hrs on Sunday night , after getting off the tram too early and having to walk about 3 kilometres. He got into his yoga routine pretty quickly.

Monday, 25 July

I was really pleased that Ron and Annette had the chance to meet Paul before they headed off on their further travels - to Delft, Leiden, Haarlem and beyond.

Farewells and an evening that included a round or two of Bananagrams! ...it was fun

Pam was able to keep up with her work for the whole trip - sometimes at 0200hrs! because of the time difference with Australia.

The best wifi connection was outside the clubhouse.

Tuesday, 26 July

And then suddenly, it was time for Frank's rowing event.

One of the officials had to tell Frank to "stop rowing"!

And a silver medal, no less! (with old boss Alan Richards doing the medal presentation). All rather special after the trip from Australia to France, France to Heerenveen, Heerenveen to Rotterdam (in the boat).

Wednesday 27 July

...and then some sightseeing. Ben also came up from Amsterdam. We had thought of squeezing him in the boat to sleep but he opted for a few nights at one of his employers' hotels - at a really cheap rate

The Cube House

Waiting for the Nr. 23 tram

The Markthal

The "Pencil" by the same designer as the Cube House

Paul was not feeling 100% and so he did a Covid Test - and came up POSITIVE!

Oh no, what a disappointment that he would not be able to attend the official dinner or compete in his Cross Country Run on the Thursday.

Thursday 28 July

Janny drove down and picked us up from the boat to take us to the SS Rotterdam. (Which is very BIG). Janny's Mum thinks that some of her family emigrated to America on this ship.

The Grand Dinner.

We were so caught up in the moment that we completely forgot to take photos of us all in our "after five" attire. Bit of a change from our "boatie" attire!

Friday 29 July

Janny had to drive home again.

Frank and Pam had booked another hotel because Paul and I had to prepare to take the boat back to Friesland.

We had to wait for the high tide at around 1700hrs, which left us only a 2 hour trip to Gouda.

There was a "traditional ships" display in Gouda so there were no moorings available - we had to tie up 4 deep!. At Paul's suggestion, we bought the people a bottle of Australian wine - to say" thanks for letting us tie up to your ship". They were quite OK about it because it is the "done thing" both to ask and to say yes. One of the other boat owners said that we also looked like an "historical ship", so we fitted in...just a little bit smaller!

We were invited on board one of the larger ships - it also operates as a restaurant of sorts - at least "koffie met gebak" - coffee with cake -

At the bottom of the entrance stairway, there is the old motor (steam?) now as a feature display (and ballast).

We headed off on Saturday, through a lock used by large shipping...

We wanted to stop at Aeme Stelle in Uithoorn, but it was full as we went past. I moored at an unlikely spot about a kilometre further on -

- and walked back to ask the havenmeester if there was any likelihood of a spot later on? He looked and said "can you squeeze in there?" Gulp, I think so - so he suggested that Paul stay and guard the spot and I bring the boat back - so I did... but Paul said that everyone just ignored him! As I approached, the havenmeester intervened and directed me to a better spot ...and kept the other boats away as I went in! All very helpful...

...but I did need a beer, or two...

Sunday 31 July

On to Weesp

We had dinner in a church building that has been converted into a brewery..

Monday 1 August

From Weesp, we headed to Almere Haven, again having to cross a patch of open water. We stopped for lunch and then headed into the polder

After a very long day, we came to Biddinghuizen again, but all the moorings were full - so we stopped at a business/factory mooring - Paul went inside to ask if we could stay there - it was not normally allowed but it was late in a long day so they said OK.