Sunday 29th June 2014 Hoogersmilde to Uffelte. 15.7kms 3 locks

Hoogersmilde TV mast

12.2°C Heavy rain overnight and into the morning caused us to delay setting off until 9.30am. Sunny with light showers. We went through Pieter Hummelbrug liftbridge then stopped on the moorings by the toilet block and filled the water tank. At 1€/100 litres we thought it was expensive. A couple in their seventies came to chat while we filled up. They asked us to have coffee on their cruiser, called Excess, so we took some milk (as they don’t have any as it goes off) and some old photos of the boat in the UK and had a coffee and a naughty cake with them. They come from Groningen area but are out for the summer and are “going where the wind blows them” a nice way of cruising! We set off again at 11.15am. We had a short wait for the keeper at Henrik Oostdraai swingbridge as he was letting two boats through Pieter Hummelbrug, we all went through the manually operated swingbridge and the cruiser overtook us (what 6kph speed limit!) before we got to Veensluis lock at the end of the summit pound on the Drentschehoofdvaart. The boat behind it was

Dieversluis

a tjalk that was too big to fit in the lock with us and it stayed behind us. Veensluis was 26.76m long by 6m wide and our boat just fitted into the lock, overlapping our bows with the cruiser’s rounded stern. Mike checked with the keeper, there was no cill so he could stay as far back as the top end gates. Down 1.4m and the same keeper rode down to the next liftbridge, Geeuwenbrug, on a scooter to work it for us. We moored above Haarsluis at 12.20 pm to wait for the

Veensluis tight fit with a wide cruiser

keeper’s lunch break to finish. Set off again at 1.00 pm and followed the cruiser into Haarlsluis which was full with the top end gates open. No sign of the keeper. A younger man wearing “shades” came from the lock house and said OK when Mike asked if he could close the gate for him. The crew on the cruiser spoke in Dutch to the keeper as he passed them, telling him that we were English and used to working our own locks. He smiled. Down another 2m, this lock was longer at 27.48m and this one had a cill to make sure we kept clear of. A longer pound lead to the next lock and we could see the cruiser, way off in the distance in Diever going through the Dieverbrug liftbridge. When we got there we expected the keeper to be working the lock but

Back pumping station

to our great surprise he was still there. There were several larger DBs moored before the liftbridge, Avontur had its dimensions on the side as 26.95m x 4.5 135 tonnes and looked like it was the size of boat that used to work on these small canals. Beyond the liftbridge there were several cafés and lots of moored boats, including the cruiser we’d been locking with. The lock keeper opened one gate for us and smiled as we came in. Two men from the café came to chat and take photos. Mike had spotted that water was on sale above the lock at half the price we’d

Moored at Uffelte

just paid. Typical! Many more boats were moored below the lock and beyond Olden Dieverbrug liftbridge which was worked for us by the lock keeper from the last lock. Another man on a scooter worked Wittelterbrug liftbridge for us and leaned out the cabin to say he liked the boat and one of the cyclists waiting for the bridge asked what the boat name meant so I told him. The landscape of wide open fields continued, mostly meadows with grazing cows. Saw a buzzard on a post. The moorings on the outskirts of the small town of Uffelte were no good for TV so we went through Uffelte no 1 liftbridge and moored on wooden posts by some houses with no trees. It was 3.15 pm. 

New thatch

Buzzard on a post

Saturday 28th June 2014 Assen to Hoogesmilde. 13.5kms no locks

15.4°C Lots of grey clouds, short sunny spells, heavy but short rain showers. A small cruiser

Bus operated lane blockers

went past heading in the same direction as us around 8.45 am. We set off at 9.10 am after getting all the pins out of the bank. No one around at the first liftbridge, Kloosterbrug at the start of the Drentsche Hoofdvaart, so we thought the keeper must have gone on to the next bridge and slung a bow rope around a log beam by the bridge. It was 9.25 am. After over hour’s wait we were beginning to think we ought to have informed the keeper at the previous bridge (Asserwijk) that we were leaving before we set off. I found a number in the new book and Mike phoned at 10.45 am. They said they would call the keeper. Another half hour went by, so he rang

Waiting for Kloosterbrug

them again. The keeper arrived shortly after, the same guy who had worked the first lock for us the day before, full of apologies. He said that he was stationed at the next bridge and his colleague at Asserwijk rings him when boats set off from his bridge, but he hadn’t seen us leave. Lesson learnt. It was 11.25am when we headed for Norgerbrug. The heavens opened and we had a five minute deluge. Brolly up quick. The keeper came out of the cabin to say it’s English weather! Yes, not just for the TT races but it’s the Glastonbury Festival today too. Pop concerts in the UK have to have mud! A very large cruiser came towards us

Kloosterbrug

through the next bridge, Van Liersbrug, and the deck lowered behind it. A young lady was working it and it was all manually operated, both barriers and wind the bridge up and down. She opened it again for us. We were stuck for an hour at the next, Mr Sickensbrug as it was lunchtime, 12.00 - 1.00 pm. I checked for Wi-Fi and found one! Managed to do two replies to e-mails, but it was very slow. Lunch then set off again at 1.00 pm. A cruiser had caught up and had moored behind us during lunchtime. It followed us through the bridge and overtook us immediately afterwards. We followed it through Grietmansbrug but it must have been doing twice the 6kph speed limit as that was (almost) the last we saw of it. Through

Floating water weed - first we've seen here in NL

Jonkersbrug and into the town of Smilde, strung out along the banks of the canal. Next bridge was Polakkenbrug, then we had another very heavy shower as we approached the next bridge, which was a manually operated swingbridge pedestrian bridge, Koopbakkersdraai. A man came out from one of the houses by the bridge and opened it just as the wind caught us as we were reversing and shoved us left against the high quay wall before the bridge. I had to go and push the fore end off the wall. We could see in the distance the cruiser in front had just gone through Veenhoopsbrug. Once through that bridge we passed the junction (on the right) with

Canal side art

the Turf route, the Witte Wijk leading to the Compagnonsvaart. A bridge keeper was stationed at the first bridge on to the Turf Route (on the busy N371 which follows the canal all the way to Meppel) and he also controls the next swingbridge. Tentingerdraai, on the Hoofdvaart. He waved. We went through Leerbrug, operated by a young man on a bike who shuttles back and forth with the next bridge. We told him we were stopping as he cycled on to Spiersbrug, however, the mooring next to an old quay didn’t work as Mike couldn’t get our mooring pins in the brick paved top (and we didn’t want to damage them!) The keeper went past

Moored at Hoogersmilde

again on his bike and said there was a mooring beyond the next bridge. We went through Spiersbrug and moored by a farmhouse where there was a small gap in the trees to get satellite TV through. Set the TV up so Mum could watch Wimbledon and Mike did a quick look at Wi-Fi and found nothing. Gave him a hand to unload the bike and he went to check the mooring further down by the bridge. Yes, it would have been OK and there was only one boat so there was plenty of space and a good access for the TV. Oh well. Never have we seen so many bikers on the move, all afternoon they were going past in their hundreds, with lots of police bikes among them. People were sitting outside their houses all along the N371, just watching all the bikes

A few of the 100's of bikers going home after the TT

going past, some of who were revving up as if to do wheelies when the police weren’t about. When Mike returned with the car at 6pm there were still hundreds going past. We wondered if all the bikes in the Netherlands (and Belgium and Germany!) had been there.

Friday 27th June 2014 De Punt to Assen. 17.3kms 3 locks

De Punt liftbridge

11.8°C Overcast with lots of light showers coming up from the south. Set off at 9.30 am heading south on the Nord Willemskanaal. A short wait while two boats went up De Punt lock (they’d come through the liftbridge behind us just before we got ready to move) then one boat came down. The lock had a liftbridge over the tail end that was just a bit too low so we kept the mast up, but the keeper had lifted in anyway for the cruiser to come out. The lock walls were covered in tiny freshwater mussels that crunched as our fenders came up the three metres as we looped our ropes, fore and aft, up

Thundery sky

three sets of bollards inset into the wall. The keeper, who spoke good English came down from his cabin to give us a booklet on Drenthe canals (only in Dutch, sorry, he said – beautiful pictures and loads of info) and had a chat. Asked him where we could get water, Assen or Smilde was the reply and he showed us on the chart. He put our rubbish in his lockside bin for us and said he would tell the next keeper we were coming. The canal is wide and deep as it had been modernised many years ago to take boats up to 7.5m wide and 65m long, sadly working boats

Beautiful house

have got much bigger than that now and so we only expected to see pleasure boats. Above the lock there was a new build DB moored, called EssDeeAy, British-flagged but no one around. Three kilometres to the next lock with a busy road on the right, fields on our left. De Vries lock was a repeat of De Punt, the keeper leaned out of his cabin and shouted hello. Up another 3m. A couple of kms to Vriesebrug liftbridge. The keeper leaned out of the cabin window and shouted something in Dutch, sounded like appreciation of the boat maybe – or was it the fact we were eating double chocolate muffins and drinking coffee? A cruiser went past heading downhill. A very smart large (30m plus) Dutch Barge was moored in the layby just beyond the liftbridge. We met the next downhill boat by the A28 motorway bridge. A

Blow Peelo lock

fisherman by the bridge had that stunned look (what is THAT??) as we passed by. The sky got busy for a while with several small aircraft flying out of Groningen airport. Tied up by Oudemolensebrug at 11.50 am as there was no keeper there (his lunch break is 12.00 until 1.00) Another smart DB was moored opposite and a small cruiser arrived just after us making us bounce up and down when its wash caught up. Lunch. Back en route at 1.00 pm. The small cruiser overtook us after the bridge and was soon a dot in the distance – what speed limit? (The keeper at De Punt had told us the speed limit on the canal was 12kph but drops to 6kph after Assen, but nobody takes any notice!) There were two keepers at the bridge, one in a car and one on a scooter.

Waterways launch moored abv Peelo

The one on the scooter let us through Taarlosebrug – the cruiser was long gone. Into Assen, or rather around it as the old canal went into the middle and is now a dead end. A very large Pedro cruiser went past heading downhill just after we’d gone past a passentenhaven (offline basin mooring) which had high sloping quay walls and was overlooked by houses all around it, there were only two boats in it. The next mooring on a wooden landing was full, one cruiser and another smart DB Ijsselstroom from Utrecht. The next wooden staging had also got a moored DB. Had a sudden, determined horsefly attack; killed it easily thankfully. The small cruiser was going up in Peelo lock, so we slung ropes round some very high stumps and

Moored at Assen

waited. Another cruiser came down then we went in. This lock was slightly deeper at 3.8m and there were steel tubes to tie ropes round and slide up, but the bollards were better placed for us fore and aft. The keeper and the two bridge keepers were chatting on the lockside while a young man of reduced stature was leaning on the railings by the lock cabin, also chatting. The keeper asked if we were going to stay for the TT. Uh? Mike said he’d seen a poster that said TT was on 28th June and didn’t make the connection – of course, Assen is the home of Dutch motorbike racing and it’s the Dutch TT race tomorrow! He said he’d rather watch it on TV! There were lots of cyclists on the path along the left as we ran down to Montesoribrug and Asserwijk liftbridges, very close together. There were lots of moored boats. Once we were through the bridges we tied up on pins next to a grassy bank among boats that looked permanent. It was 3.10 pm. Helped Mike get the bike off and he went to collect the car from De Punt. Noise of motorbikes in the distance was loud, must be doing a practise session. 

Wednesday 25th June 2014 W of Oldehove to below De Punt lock. 38.7kms 1 lock

Entrance to Niezijlsterdiep from Van Starkenborgh kanaal

10.4°C Lots of clouds, bits of blue sky, a few spots of rain first thing, sunny spells later. Set off at 9.05am heading south on the Kommerzilsterrijte, sheltered from the morning breezes by the high banks. A deer on the edge of a cornfield, lifted its head, stared at the boat then leapt in the air and took off like a rocket through the corn! Magic. Through the little town of Kommerzijl where a few boats were moored, then back into fields at window height. The name of the navigation changed to Kommerzijlsterdiep. Passed a tethered workboat piled high with new wooden posts and old wooden planking, with a small open tugboat to push it. Into

Calcit 6 in Ooostersluis

Niezijl, (another name change - Niezijlsterdiep) where we moored once with Rosy in the narrow channel next to a mellow old brick-paved quay, then under a two arched road bridge with traffic only allowed through the left arch. Under trees for a short while then back into open fields and a farmhouse with a pile of shrink-wrapped bales of hay, stacked high. Paused at the end of the canal while Mike connected the Markon so I could do some more washing whilst travelling down the wide deep (5m+) Van Starkenborghkanaal. An empty commercial went past, Noorderkroon, followed by a cruiser on the main line. It didn’t move the boat much

Eemskanaal at Groningen

even though we weren’t tied to anything. Turned left heading east on the Van Starkenborgh, as a cruiser went past heading west and we were soon overtaken by another that had just come out of the Hoendiep. A bunkership called Klaas de Boer from Urk, was fast catching us up as we were approaching a bend with a railway bridge going into Zuidhorn, so Mike did a 360°about turn to follow him through the bridge. Two cruisers heading west passed us on the far side of Zuidhorn, where they were building a new high concrete bridge. A smart new Dutch Barge called Florence IV went past also heading for Friesland, its crew waving; it was British flagged and had its dimensions on the stern (about 26m x 4m) and construction

Junction Eeemskanaal at Groningen

date of 2005. A loaded barge called Shalimar (110mx11.45m 3007T) went past just before the crossroads with the Aduarderdiep. Crossed the Reitdiep with a lock on our right. The washing machine finished just in time for us to slow down for Paderpoelsterbrug swingbridge. Calcite 4 went through heading west, then we nipped through as loaded commercial Dorinta followed us. Hung on the waiting posts while Mike extracted the drive pins and just had time to fling the rope off as Calcite 6 came through the bridge and overtook us. An 86m empty went past and a couple of cruisers overtook us as we went into the suburbs of the city of Gronignen. Passed the end of the Boterdiep, lined on one bank with moored houseboats. A quay next to

Amazing building in Groningen

the Boterdiep had a tap with instructions on calling channel 68 to get it activated, we hadn’t got time to stop as we went under the next liftbridge with a headroom of 2.4m, Korrewegbrug had a swingbridge and bascule pedestrian/cycle paths either side. We followed the two cruisers that had overtaken us earlier into Oostersluis alongside loaded boats Dorinta and Calcite 6. The crew of three men on the latter boat were very chatty and asked all the usual questions. I asked what they were carrying, calcium carbonate for paper-whitening, which they were taking on the Eemskanaal, then up the Ems in Germany to a paperworks  somewhere on the Rhine. The lock filled slowly by just over a metre. Dorinta left first, followed by the two cruisers which turned right on the Eemskanaal and we followed them, Calcite 6 followed us out of the

Van Hallburg liftbridge. Nord Willemskanaal

chamber and turned left on the Eemskanaal. The German cruiser that had been in front of us in the lock was sitting in the middle right in front of the first liftbridge, Oosterhavenbrug, which was high enough at 3.8m for us to get under easily. Mike hooted but he didn’t shift but the bridge opened so we followed him through and then he moored just after the bridge in the Oosterhaven. We carried on down the Zuiderhaven verbindungskanaal, passing under all of the lifting bridges; Trompbrug 3m, Oosterbrug 3.2m, Herebrug 3.8m and Emmabrug 3.2m. When we came to the crossroads we turned left for Eelderbrug at the start of the Nord Willemskanaal; two Dutch cruisers were coming from our right as we turned left, the wind was blowing us around to our right as Mike called the bridge control on channel 9 and the lights changed, then Mike just managed to swing the bows round into the bridge as it l

Mooring below De Punt lock. Nord Willemskanaal

ifted. (As the bridge started working and the barriers came down a lad on a cycle went hurtling across – he’d gone through red lights - and the lowering barriers nearly hit him on the head even though he was hunkered down as low as he could get!) As soon as we were through the bridge the two cruisers overtook us on the 300m to the next low bridge Eendrachtsbrug, it opened within minutes and we followed them to the next, about another 300m, another low bridge Abel Tasmanbrug, then Van Halbrug before the railway bridge, a longer distance to Parkbrug and followed them through it when it opened, we noticed they were through when the lights were red/green and didn’t wait for the green. Another boat was waiting on the far side of Parkbrug to come through. The two cruisers had tied up to wait for the A7 motorway bridge when we arrived, but we could get under it without having it lifted so we kept going and Mike called the bridge control and asked them to lift the footbridge

Glass plane on traffic island by local airport

Muntinghbrug, which they did - but left the red lights on! We carried on through the two bridges. Two more bridges, Van Iddekingebrug and Van Ketwich-Vverschuurbrug lifted as we approached them like magic. Between all the bridges in the city there had been rows of moored Dutch barge houseboats, mostly well cared for but a few looked abandoned. As we cleared the city the noisy A28 motorway followed the canal on the left bank. One small cruiser went past and we were overtaken by a rowing skiff with six young ladies working hard and a prone cox at the bow who looked asleep! Noted that access to the Hornsemeer was restricted in width (probably just for canoes) as were the other access channels for the lakes. A large group of cruisers were moored by the lake (invisible from the canal through the trees). The lady rowers turned back at Meerwegbrug which also lifted as we arrived – this one was worked by a lady keeper who waved and shouted hello. Took a photo of De Witte Molen (the white mill) and shortly after signs announced that we had left Groningen and were now in Drenthe Province. There were some moorings by a swingbridge called Oesterbroeksebrug and we would have stopped there but the bridge lights were on red/green so we continued. A man worked the bridge from a control cabin on the left, he waved as we went past. We stopped below the first lock, De Punt, as there were mooring posts on both banks. We threw lines around the posts on the sloping grassy bank on the left bank. The guy on the cruiser in front was painting his boat. It was 4.20 pm and the sun was shining.

Tuesday 24th June 2014 Onderdendam to W of Oldehove.

  

Moorings at Onderdendam

11.9°C Grey, overcast and damp, sunny spells until mid-afternoon when the forecast deluge arrived. We set off at 9.10 am with the washing machine and generator running, heading west along the Winsumerdiep. By the drainage ditch called De Weer there was a boatyard with a nice tug and a cruiser moored plus a row of boats still out on the bank. A large, wide, low cruiser went past, heading east. As we were getting nearer to Winsum a group of schoolkids in orange canoes went paddling past. In the town there were new offshoot arms of the river

Winsum on the Winsumerdiep

surrounding islands of new houses where the river widened out. Under the railway bridge and the river narrowed as we went into the town centre where it became very narrow. Out beyond the houses there were bigger boats moored, including a 40m masted klipper, the biggest private boat we’d seen in a long, long time. Mike overshot the junction with the Messingeweerster Loopdiep and had to reverse before turning sharp right under a low fixed bridge. The navigation was much narrower (about UK canal sized, but without the towpath) with trees on both

Winsum

banks, but still 2m deep. There were short glimpses of the fields between the trees as we neared the town that gave its name to the canal, Messingeweer. There was a workboat with scaffolding on it and a gennie tethered close to the bridge, so Mike had to slow down to go past it and I had to turn the washing machine off. The next bridge was lower than the minimum height stated on the board at the end of the canal, it had said 3m and the bridge had girders supporting it which reduced the headroom to 2.8m. I started the machine again (trouble with the new machines with electronic controls it didn’t start where it stopped like the old one and I had to do “rinse plus spin” to finish off the load). Out into open countryside, between fields of spuds

Bridge at Messingeweer

that were on a level with our windows. Past the junction with the Messingeweer-Baflo kanaal on our right then came to another stop when faced with a lock that wasn’t on our chart, Abelstok, at the junction with the Kromme Racken. Stopped the machine again. Pressed the panel with a hand symbol on it below the new chamber and the lock gates opened, we went in and I pressed a similar panel among the wooden stumps. Nothing happened so we read the board and went to look for a reset button by the top gates. It didn’t work. We chatted with a young man who was in charge of a group of kids who were getting ready to get into canoes and kayaks by the pumping station. He got one of the kids to paddle over to the top end waiting area and press

Abelstok lock

the panel, nope all lights were still on red. Nothing for it but to ring the telephone number. Mike asked the young man to talk to the waterways man on the phone as yesterday’s lot didn’t speak any English. He did and within ten minutes three waterways vans arrived, two did some surveying and the third was the mobile keeper who fetched a long keb and removed branches from behind the bottom end gates, which hadn’t opened fully. The lock worked OK after that and we went up about 10cms. (Maybe the guy we were chatting to yesterday evening was right about the land sinking and that’s why they’d added this new lock – watch out for earthquakes!) We turned left on the Kromme Racken and paused on the mooring stumps

Canoe portage at Abelstok

while I spun the clothes in the washing machine. Once that had finished Mike took the pins out to disconnect the Markon drive, I made a cuppa and a then we set off again. The new navigation was wider and more open with taller reed edges and wheat fields beyond. The horseflies were about again. A waterways weedcutter boat went past heading back to base as we were passing a huge field of potatoes. The bends in the river went through all points of the compass as it did S bends and W bends, heading generally south. Through the old bridge at Schowerzijl and flood gates (not a lock, just a set of gates) with ancient brickwork to keep the Reitdiep out at times of flooding. At 12.40 pm we turned right on the Reitdiep, a much wider navigation and over 3.5m deep, but still edged with reeds and running between arable land, with big looping bends heading westwards towards the sea estuary that was blocked off many years ago (there is still access via a lock). Paused at Roode Haan for the swingbridge which is remotely operated. As we pressed the button on the

Chalets with grass roofs on Reitdiep

wooden stumps a yacht arrived and went straight up to the bridge which swung open as it got there. We followed it through and it was soon out of sight round the bends in the river. An armada of boats came past heading upriver at KP27, five cruisers and two yachts (one of them under sail, but had his black cone up to say he was running his engine too). Through fields of golden ripe barley with oystercatchers winging their way overhead. We carried on to the Kommerzijlsterrijte where the Reitdiep went through Lammerburen flood lock to the right. Under a road bridge and passed Electra on our right, where the Snails spent

Our overnight mooring in the rain.

last winter, and on up the river. It started to pour with rain as we reached the mooring we were heading for, a row of wooden stumps a couple of metres out from the bank in the middle of nowhere. We got wet tying up. Mike set the TV up for his Mum to watch Wimbledon. 

Monday 23rd June 2014 Garrelsweer to Onderdendam.

Liftbridge at Garrelsweer. Damsterdiep

11.9°C Grey clouds, rare glimpses of sunshine but dry. We set off early at 8.55am as we didn’t know if they were still doing convoys at specific times on the next canal as we didn’t buy a new Almanak. Round a couple of bends to the first liftbridge, a wooden footpath bridge, manually operated using the key to unlock a barrier and then unlock the windlass to wind the bridge. On round a couple more bends and we arrived at a nice modern swingbridge with a road, Munterdraai, in Winneweer. Just two buttons to press to work the bridge, but the barriers were manually operated. Mike did the far one for me. Two cars and a lady with two dogs were waiting by the time the barriers went back up. The next bridge was a road bridge

Vertical liftbridge Ten Post

with about 3.6m air clearance, there were lots of fast flying sand martins up and down through the bridge catching flies. We could see the white painted capmill in Ten Post in the distance across the fields. In no time we were there and I hopped off to work the vertical liftbridge, which was all automatic – just two buttons to work it and the barriers. This time there were five cars, two vans and a man on a bike waiting. A couple of kilometres through windswept fields and we went under another road bridge, just 2.7m high this time, and turned left on to the Westerwijtwerder-maar. Here we needed a mobile keeper and rang

Oostdijkshornerverlaat

a number on a notice board, Mike said the guy who answered didn’t speak English (which is fairly unusual). Under an even lower road bridge across the start of the next canal and we waited by the liftbridge and lock at Oosterdijkshornerverlaat. It was 10.35 am, he arrived in a waterways flatbed van about fifteen minutes later. He pressed the buttons in the cabin to wind up the bottom end guillotine gate on the lock and then wound the manually operated liftbridge. Mike shouted OK when he’d wound it high enough for us to get under (he’d already taken the flagstaff off). Into the sloping brick-sided lock and I slung the

Can you see the hares?

centre rope around one of the row of new square wooden stumps (just like the ones they installed on a lot of UK locksides). When he started the top end gate lifting the water level in the lock rose by about 7cms. While it was slowly working Mike took him a pot of baby amaryllises to say thank you. He told Mike, in Dutch, that he had several bridges to work for us and would see us later. Mike told him we would only be doing about 5 kph on the narrow shallow canal. Out of the lock past many ash trees, then wide open fields on either side that were higher than the canal, a navigable drainage channel. In the distance

Beehives in a colza field

there was a very tall red crane lifting girders, etc, to build a new barn alongside two others. Two hares were galloping wildly across one field until I picked up the camera (Mike was in the cabin showing his Mum some tourist leaflets that the keeper had given us) and then both of the hares lay down flat to hide in the grass – I think I got a picture of their ears. Some of the bends were very tight and all the bridges were low, the lowest around 2m. Oystercatchers went yodelling overhead and we watched a buzzard soaring. Terns occasionally dived into the canal searching for fish. We ducked under the N46 road bridge and on the far side was a huge field of colza with rows of beehives around the edges. A long straight section lead to a railway

Bowhauler. Onderdendam

bridge – managed to get a photo of an elderly two car diesel train crossing the bridge. The bridge was 3m high. Our keeper was by the bridge waiting for us, he set off to wind the next bridge, waving as he did so. The last but one bridge on the canal was an old style swingbridge operated by turning a handle in the middle of the deck, it was open as we approached it, timed to perfection. Under the last bridge in the village of Westerwijtwerd, then sharp left on to the Winsumerdiep. Our man with a van had the next bridge open for us (another swingbridge with a handle in the middle) and he wished us a good journey as that was his last bridge. The next liftbridge provided access only to some factories but was now permanently open. On to the junction with the Boterdiep (a dead end which terminates at Uithuizen) and we saw no sign of a waiting mooring by the next liftbridge, Fraamklap on the Winsumerdiep.

Moored at Onderdendam

Mike reversed into the Boterdiep where there was a tiny wooden landing for the bridge and I slung our centre rope round a wooden post. Mike went to look for phone numbers etc. He came back with the news that the bridge only opens three times a day at 9.40am 12.40am and 15.40pm. It was 1.15pm so we went indoors to wait. Tried looking for Wi-Fi, found none. The keeper turned up on time and let us through the Fraamklap and we carried on along the Winsumerdiep into Winsum and came to a stop again by the Zijlvesterbrug liftbridge where we tied up again to wait for the next opening time for that bridge – 18.05pm. Another long wait. When the keeper arrived and let us through we moved on to the end of the moorings in the town opposite the waterways maintenance yard and tied to the wooden stumps next to notices that said they were pay moorings (nobody came to collect any money). No choice, the next moorings were far too far away. Helped Mike unload the moped and he went off to recover the car from Garrelsweer. When Mike returned I helped get the bike back on board. He said the Dutch were cerebrating as they’d just won a World Cup match. A passing cyclist stopped to chat. He confirmed that the Dutch team had won and said one member of the Dutch football team was born less than 4kms from Onderdendam, he also told us that the land was sinking hereabouts due to the extraction of natural gas and they now regularly have earthquakes! Amazing!

Friday 20th June 2014 Appingedam to Garrelsweer. 7.69kms no locks

New route through Appingedam. Damsterdiep

12.1°C Grey skies, wet and windy until we tied up, then the sun came out! Mike and I went in the Co-op for a few odds and ends, mainly bread. The rain had stopped when we got back on the boat so we set off at 9.50 am, winding (just about enough width in the canal) then turned sharp left before the last liftbridge to go through the town on the old route, as advised by the bridge keeper. He was right, lots of old houses and boats, overhanging balconies (kitchens), many different types of low bridges as we passed behind the shops and cafés. There

Start of old route through Appingedam. Damsterdiep

was also a long line of houseboats all the way to the junction with the new route by an old bottle kiln, where we’d been before. The next bridge, Tjamsweersterbrug, was worked by the keeper. Moored by the wooden posts and I went up the steps to the road deck to find the box with a slot for the key (turn it then take it out and close the box and the keeper is summoned!) It was hidden in the ivy alongside a house by the bridge. Mike gave the keeper a pot of baby Amaryllises to say thank you. He beamed – the Dutch love their plants and

Backs of houses, old route through Appingedam. Damsterdiep

he said he knew Amaryllis. Made a cuppa as we carried on “up” river – well we’re going away from the sea lock at Delfzijl, but there is rarely a flow one way or the other. The first DIY bridge was a modern swingbridge in Wirdum, Eekweerderbrug, with just two buttons – open and close – all worked by pressing and holding the buttons. Wirdumerdraaibrug was the next, a Llangollen-style liftbridge and the box had just two buttons, but the barriers were manually operated. I

New houses on old route through Appingedam. Damsterdiep

couldn’t get the far one to slot into the hole, so I swung it back to let the traffic go then had another go with it and leaned, heavily, on it – then it locked and I could press the buttons to work the bridge. Mike got off on the far side to help unlock the far barrier. He walked up the bridge deck (like we used to on the Welsh canal to help the bridge go down) much to the amusement of several young ladies on bikes! On up the twisting course of the river, with reed fringed banks edged with white and yellow water lilies, to the next swingbridge at Garrelsweer, called Loppersumerbrug, and I got off on to a wooden landing covered in duck pooh to swing the bridge. Auto again with just two buttons to press. Mike came to help close the barriers and said hurry as the wind was blowing the bows across the canal (the stern was tied to one of the stumps. We went around the next bend and saw a fine quay alongside a minor road and moored there at 12.15 pm. Glad to be out of the wind. Typical – the sun came out! Note: we've still seen no other boats moving on the little canals!

Appingedam is a very interesting town - click here to read more via Wikipedia

Have made all the pictures smaller as there are lots of them today - left click on a picture to get a bigger image, then click the back button to get back to the blog.

Beautiful old house in Appingedam

Old bottle kiln in Appingedam

Don't need to work this one
we can get underneath it!

Tjamsweersterbrug. Find the box, turn the key
and the keeper will come to work the bridge.

What is that in the ivy by the house?

There's the box!

Eekwerderbrug swingbridge.
Just two buttons to work this one

This shows how short the landings are.
getting back on at Loppersum liftbridge

Moored at Garrelsweer. Damsterdiep