Thursday 10th July 2014 Ketelsluis to KP40 De Hoop. 22kms no locks

Long straight on the Hoge Vaart. Flevo

15.9°C Sunny and hot with hazy cloud cover at times. Set off at 9.35 am heading southwest down the Hoge Vaart. There was a narrow-beamed DB moored in front of us called Trio 4 and as we went past a hand came out of a port hole to wave and a voice said good morning in excellent English with no accent! A cruiser had set off just before us, heading in the same direction and it wasn’t long before there was no sign of him. The first of traffic going the opposite way to us, a small cruiser, went past just before we reached the first road bridge

Wind turbines. Flevo

(carrying the road to Dronten) and the first bend. It was 10.20 am. Passed two more by the new railway bridge. A train went over the bridge as we went underneath it. On either bank there were massive open fields of corn or cabbages. Distant farmhouses were hidden in copses, trees to form windbreaks. The first mooring was called De Nabbert, at one time it had been the fishermen’s landmark spot in the former Zuiderzee. One small cruiser was moored there. A large dead zander was floating in the canal and a bit

Nesting holes in concrete. 

further on a seagull was struggling to carry a fish that must have been at least its own body weight, it dropped it and it sank. Two more cruisers went past as we went under the overhead power lines. On to the long, long straight (10kms) that goes through and beyond Biddinghuizen. We continued through fields of spuds and wheat, more distant farmhouses and rows of wind turbines, turning gently in the light breeze. It was a butterfly day, peacocks and red admirals were the ones that came close enough to identify – and blue darter dragonflies. In a field

Grebe being brave and not diving out of sight.

before Biddinghuizen there was a diving board sticking out over the canal from a small reed bed, noted there was no ladder beside it to assist anyone to get out again - and who would want to swim in water the colour of chocolate? As we came into the outskirts of Biddinghuizen there was a yard on the right with piles of sand and several piles of broken bricks and concrete. At the end of this there was a wall made of concrete slabs with holes in them that a flock of house martins had made nests in. A man in a small open fishing boat went past and waved. There were lots and lots of ducks and coots opposite the silos. Four cruisers were moored on the outside of the offline

Biddinghuizen moorings

marina, which was now almost full of boats; four more cruisers were moored on the wooden staging in a layby in the town. The long piled quay that occupied the rest of the layby remained empty with its “no mooring” signs. Mike said it was just for show! Beyond the town there were trees on both banks for a kilometre plus. A road with busy traffic was screened form the canal by the trees on the right. Open fields again on the left, still with trees along

Moored at KP40 De Hoop

the road on the right. Several brave grebe swam past without diving or flying away. At the end of the 10kms straight there is a kink to the left and another wooden staging for mooring (this one is called De Hoop). One largish cruiser was moored at the far end, so we winded and moored at the other. It was 1.15 pm.

Monday 7th July 2014 Arembergergracht to below Ketelsluis Flevo. 33.1kms 3 lks

Rainbow over Arembergergracht

12.5°C Grey clouds with hot sunny spells. We set off at 9.15 am, winded and ran south down Arembergergracht to the lock Arembergersluis. A cruiser overtook us halfway there. More boats had just gone into the lock so we both had to wait until they’d gone up and the lock emptied again. We couldn’t fit in with the one who’d overtaken us, the lady keeper said he was 11m long and the lock was a touch under 28m long. No problem, it didn’t take long to turn it round. She said she’d seen another narrowboat the previous week, a green one, heading north (later someone else told us it was called The Hustler). Must have missed it while we were out joyriding round the dike roads. We were soon heading for the Zwarte Water where we turned right and followed a cruiser that was also heading towards the Zwarte Meer. The Genemuiden ferry was still carrying bicyclists across the river although the road on the far side (N331) was completely closed for resurfacing. We paused while Mike put the pins in so we could do some washing. At

Tug pushing a pan of dredgings. Sheepvaartgat

the start of the Zwartediep we turned left into the Sheepvaartgat, a narrow, shallow channel along the southern edge of the shallow, reedy Zwarte Meer. We were surprised to see the bows of a commercial coming towards us and a cruiser catching us up fast. The commercial turned out to be a full dredging pan pushed by a small tug - the dredger was working just around the sharp left corner in the wider channel called the Groot. We passed a cruiser on the bend which was followed by a large LeBoat hire boat with student Australians on board. Had to slow off for the dredger which was listing over well with the grab

Dredging in the Groot.

out as far as it would reach. Mike took the mast down and the flagstaff off to go under the only liftbridge on the navigation, called Mandjeswaardbrug, which was remotely operated and lifted as we approached it with perfect timing. Mike put the mast and flag back up. I changed wash loads. There were cruisers everywhere going upriver into Kampen on the Ganzendiep, two were overtaking us as traffic was coming towards us. Big sweeping bends of the river were lined with holiday bungalows, each with its own boat, or two, of all shapes and sizes. The Ganzensluis was closed for lunch when we arrived. Tied on the wooden stumps with a cruiser behind us. Within

Garden ornament or a real radar speed trap for boats??

five minutes another lady keeper pressed buttons to lift the guillotine gate and we went in, followed by the cruiser. We rose a matter of 2cms and the top end guillotine went up. A crowd of cruisers were waiting on the other side for the lock, some were milling about as there were not enough stumps for all of them. Down a short channel and we turned right heading downstream on the Ijssel in Kampen. The far bank was lined with old buildings and old sailing boats. A fast open speedboat went tearing past us on the wrong side, then stopped to fish! The river was very busy with pleasure

Waterfront. Kampen on the banks of the Ijssel

boat traffic in both directions, including another very large LeBoat hireboat. An empty commercial overtook us, just before the junction with the Katerdiep off to our right; Nawa 9 (80mx8.8m 920T) from Szczecin, was the first Polish boat we’d seen in the Netherlands. We carried on, following him straight on down the Keteldiep towards the Ketelmeer. A large wedge-shaped German cruiser was fast catching up but he eased off to go past. In a lull in the traffic we drifted for a few minutes while Mike disengaged the Markon drive. Soon after a small empty coaster, called Klagarie, went past heading upriver. A cruiser following it went up on the plane after he’d passed us. A loaded boat called Takana (70mx7.20m 853T) from

Kilometre marker 1000 - from upper Rhine?

Rotterdam went past heading upstream as we reached the lake. I’d forgotten how many swans live in the shallow lake, hundreds and hundreds of them, tails in the air dredging the plant life off the bottom. We went across the corner of the Ketelmeer to wait above Ketelsluis at Ketelhaven behind another cruiser, which had also just arrived. We could see there were now cameras surrounding the lock and the couple on the boat in front said they had rung the keeper (who resides in an office in Lelystadt and works everything on the island from there) and the lock would be ready soon. Ah! No lock keeper means no drinking water at the lock now,

Motorway bridge with lifting span

so we decide to shove across to the yacht haven opposite and get some water. As we moved off the lock gates opened and the cruiser went in. A very pleasant young woman with two small boys who were playing by their boat told us where the tap was. There was no coin in the slot but she said the harbour master would be back in about an hour. We’ll still be here, it wasn’t a fast tap. We had just finished refilling when he arrived and he had a chat with Mike. No charge! That was very nice of them. While we were filling up, a Waterways boat came past with masthead light and full navigation lights on – Mike was on his soapbox – “you’re the first boat we’ve seen this year travelling with lights on in full sunshine!” – they waved. (We’re used to a big percentage of the Dutch driving their cars around with lights on in daylight, so it was only a

Waterways boat - all lights on!

question of time before we saw the first boat doing it!) We moved over to the waiting area for the lock. Mike called on VHF Ch18 and got no reply; he called the number on a notice board - no reply to that either; there was a button to press – he tried that and got no response. Then another cruiser arrived whose skipper spoke a little English and told us that all the VHF radio on Flevo was on CH1. The guy said the controller was probably busy, just as a loaded 40m commercial called Voorwaarts arrived – looked like he’d been sand dredging as he had a hold completely full of wet sand. Strange to see such a small boat still working in the Netherlands. It wasn’t in a very good state of repair and Mike said to me if you want to know what gearbox whine sounds like listen to that as the skipper put it in reverse when his bows were almost in the lock gates. I made a cuppa as it was going to be a long wait. Eventually the lock refilled and we dropped down 5m. Moored among the cruisers next to a wooden landing stage with square wooden mooring stumps. It was

Moored below Ketelsluis - 5m below sea level

4.50 pm. Unloaded the moped off the roof and Mike went to get the car – a long way round as the N331 was still closed and the best and most direct route would have been across the Ijssel on the ferry at Genemuiden to the N331. 

Ketelsluis - 5m up to the Ketelmeer

Wednesday 2nd July 2014 A day out in the car to see the Afsluitdijk, etc

Sailing boat out on the Waddensee

Sunny spells and breezy. I made some sandwiches and we went out for a ride in the car, north to Sneek on to the A7 motorway across the Afsluitdijk, pausing to have a look at the Waddensee and the islands plus all the sailing ships, then again to photograph the statue of Dr Cornelius Lely (1854-1929), the engineer who introduced the plan to create the Afsluitdijk. On via Medemblik to the Markerwaarddijk, a causeway across to Flevoland at Lelystadt, then a short diversion to see if we could see anyone in clogs and traditional dress at Urk. No chance. The place was heaving

Dr Cornelius Lely

with tourists and it seemed that they’d changed the place a lot. I was sure that in the past we’d been along a small quay where there were just fishing boats and old men in traditional working clothes, black baggy trousers, black shirts and clogs. Now there were just a few fishing boats at one end of a long quay where many yachts, cruisers and DBs were moored. We drove through the village which is on a small hill which was once an island that towered 30 feet above what was then the Zuiderzee.

Click here to see what Wiki says about Urk

The Afsluitdijk -  on the left Waddensee on the right Ijsselmeer

Fishing boats at Urk

Killer whale and moored yacht in Urk

Lighthouse in Urk

 

Monument in Urk

Monday 30th June 2014 Uffelte to Arembergersgracht. 26.8kms 4 locks

Below Paradijssluis

10°C Grey clouds, sunny spells and heavy showers. Breezy. Mike went by car to get some bread from Albert Heijn in Havelte before we set off. Unusually for NL, the keeper for the next bridge came up on his scooter to ask what time we were leaving. Mike told him 15 minutes and we set off at 9.25 am. It was just a short distance to Uffelterbrug, which the guy on a scooter worked for us. On into Uffeltersluis which was worked for us by an older man who spoke excellent English and told us his daughter lived in Bury-St-Edmonds. Down another 1.9m and the young

Lokbrug swingbridge

man off the scooter helped open the gates. Below the lock the tjalk that was following us a couple of days ago was moored, no name on it.  A cruiser heading uphill passed us as the rain started again. As we came around the bend in the canal and could see the bridge in the distance we saw that there was another cruiser coming through Havelterbrug that had just come up Haveltersluis. Again there was a keeper to do the bridge and another to do the lock. Mike asked if he could close the gate for the keeper and he said OK but he was not at all happy about us going out through one gate and started shouting (the second person to do that in 21 years Continental

Three limekilns (now attached to a restaurant)

boating!) Why we have no idea, regulations probably. There was a beautiful dog on the lockside running up and down like sheep dogs do, it had a grey/blue coat and a white tail so I asked the keeper if his dog was an Australian sheepdog – he just said “it’s not my dog” so maybe he was having a bad day. Two cruisers were waiting below to go up, hope he was pleasanter with them. A short distance to Boschkampsbrug, where the busy N371 road crosses the canal right to left. It was a double swingbridge, cycle path and road deck, and was operated by a keeper in a cabin. In the few minutes it took to open it, us to pass through and then close it we had a queue of fourteen cars, lorries and vans. Just beyond the bridge there were lots of boats moored by a toilet block, many of them braving the showers with washing hanging out to dry on their side and bow rails. Not far to Lokbrug, another swingbridge where a minor road joined the N371. An older man pressed buttons on a panel by the bridge, this time just two mopeds had stopped by the bridge. The canal passed through lots of open meadows

Railway swingbridge by A32

with herds of grazing cows and horses as we went down the long straight to Pijlebrug swingbridge just before the A32 motorway where our busy road disappeared off to the left. Five cars and a double-decker coach stopped by the bridge this time. The next bridge was a swinging railway bridge and worked at set times. A train had just gone across it as we stopped by the wooden stumps, Mike spotted the big red button which was above the notice that said call here, 2m above the water. Glad he could reach it, I couldn’t! I checked on an old railway bridge opening times chart that we had, and we were in one of its

Contrasting cloud formations

times for opening – before I could ring the number on the board it swung open for us. On down to Paradijssluis. There were lots of boats moored by the lock and we had to tie up and wait as the lock was empty with both bottom end gates open. The keeper spotted us and refilled it. No problems with him when we went in through one gate. He was beaming smiles as we went into the lock. Down another 2m and out through one gate. There were two boats waiting to come up so he had to walk round and open the other gate, wishing us a good journey as he did so. It

Houseboat. Mepperlerdiep

was 11.55 am as we left his lock, the last on the canal. Now we were on to the river that runs through Meppel called the Meppelerdiep. There were islands in the river and a long row of houseboats behind them. The first commercial we saw was Wendelien (85mx9.5m) that was moored by the dry dock as we came into Meppel. It was almost 12.15pm as we tied on the quay wall by Galgenkampbrug liftbridge. The notice said it opens on the hour and half-hour. I made some lunch and Mike gave the keeper a call just before 12.30pm on VNF channel 22, the reply came back immediately that he would open the bridge, which he did. We waved as we went 

Arembergersluis

through the next bridge, Kaapbrug – a footbridge - where his control cabin was situated. On to the next Eshuisbrug which lifted as we got near to it. There was a row of pans (and a tug) which were being loaded at the silos and Vogue (110mx11m) was loaded with containers at the next quay. Meppel was bustling as usual, boats everywhere. Several huge marinas were full of boats of all shapes and sizes. A tug went upriver pushing a pan with tubular legs that lower to anchor it to the bottom. On down the Meppelerdiep and out of the town back into open windswept countryside. Three large cruisers came out of the Hoogeveenschevaart, two went upriver

Barn for storing cut reeds for thatch

and one down. More cruisers were coming upriver as a big black cloud started dropping a lot of rain on us. An empty called Lukkelie (85mx9m 1300T) overtook us as we went past the town of Baarlo as three large cruisers came out of Beukergracht on our right and sped off downriver. Into the town of Zwartsluis, many more moored boats and a slipway with big boats out for docking. It looked like they were making a bigger cabin for maybe a new bigger swingbridge to the left of the current one, there was lots of building work going on so maybe a new flood lock too. Under the deck of the

Just one of the many beautiful houses
and gardens 

liftbridge with ample headroom for us without having it raised and out on to Zwartwater, turning right, more moored boats and another huge marina full of boats. Round the left hand bend and turned right under a low bridge (3.3m) with our mast down and into the little harbour before the Arembergersluis. A short wait while a cruiser came up in the lock and we went down in the little lock, worked for us by a white-bearded keeper; he gave us a new chart of waterways of the northwest Overijssel region. Mike’s Mum loved the houses and gardens below the lock and the barn full of cut reeds for

Moored at Arembergersgracht

thatch. A reed boat towing an empty boat came out of Oosterlijke Wetering, a narrow channel through the reed beds on the right to the gracht, then left into another narrow channel. A deer started to swim across but saw us and turned back before I could grab the camera. There were about a dozen boats moored so plenty of space for us to choose a mooring. Tied to the wooden stumps and almost sank into the boggy grass along the moorings! Three hungry ducks came to beg for bread before we’d finished tying up. It was 3.15pm.

Reflected clouds. Arembergersgracht

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.