Wednesday 23rd July 2014 Den Bosch to Helmond north. 30.6kms 4 locks.

Little Rival unloading at Den Bosch

19.4°C Hot and sunny all day with a moderate wind blowing. Winded and left at 8.20 am, backing out as we had a cruiser close to our bows and an empty commercial moored tight on to our stern. Two empties were coming down the canal towards the bridge at the end of the moorings. Just beyond the bridge Rival was unloading at the quay, as was Erato. We were overtaken by the first cruiser within the first twenty minutes. An empty was fast catching up as we arrived at the first liftbridge, Dungensebrug, but an empty from the opposite

Reconstruction of the canal at Den Bosch
CLICK HERE to have a look at the photos of the new canal and locks

direction, called Anna from Maasbracht, was at the bridge first so he came through then us and we got out of the way of Erato so he could overtake easily. The widening work on the canal was advancing towards Den Bosch and there was a new high road bridge alongside the canal carrying the busy N279 which follows the canal all the way into Helmond. They’d piled a new edge back from the original and were taking the soil out. The piling continued under the new bridge to our left that’s where the new canal and replacement lock for lock 0 is under construction. The next empty, Albertina,

Pusher pair The-An leaving lock 3 Schijndel

went past heading for Den Bosch at the end of the first long straight, round the left hand bend and Laurein loaded with containers went past heading downhill. We arrived at the first lock, number three Schijndel, at 10.05 am and tied on the waiting area. Two boats came down the lock, loaded boat Leeuw and empty C’est la Vie. Then the gates closed behind them! Mike called on channel 18 but got no reply (found out later that it had changed to channel 20). Two cruisers arrived and went on

In lock 3 Schijndel with Henmar

the quay in front of us, neither crew spoke English. The lock was refilling. A black and red tjalk bashed into the quay behind us and another cruiser arrived. Pusher pair The-An came out of the lock, by which time an empty called Henmar had arrived and went into the empty chamber. It was 10.45 am. The two cruisers in front went in slowly heading for the wall behind the commercial on the right, so we went left and went alongside him on the left wall, the other cruiser came in behind us and the tjalk made no move to enter the lock so the gates closed and we rose 3.6m, swapping the ropes on up the

In lock 4 (nr Veghel) with cruiser

bollards recessed into the concrete walls of the lock chamber. The lock keeper came down from his high cabin and gave us a new map of the Noord-Brabant and Midden-Limburg canals, a very useful basic map with VHF channels, moorings and water tap locations. Great, because we only had a small map in our ten year old ANWB Wateralmanak. Left the top of the lock at 11.05 am. Two loaded boats, Mea Vota and Carmen, were heading for the lock, followed by four

Waterways survey boat creeping along the bank

cruisers and a yacht. At the next new road bridge we met Pia, loaded, headed downhill. A tiny Waterways survey boat was trundling slowly down the canal next to the left bank. An empty called Harja went past. The water had turned chocolate coloured, the colour of disturbed peat. Traffic on the road backed up as a German lorry had stopped, broken down most likely, great queues formed as the busy road is only two lanes wide. The boat we’d locked with, Henmar, winded and went to where some dredging was going on – that explains the colour of the water. Into the new port area of Veghel (pronounced Feckle, rhyming with freckle) and there was a long line of moored boats on the left, factories and

Lock 6 - on our own

silos on both banks. Animo (loaded) was moored by the first bridge, Festina Lente was unloading by the silos. The new container port was on the right bank and a huge warehouse for the supermarket chain Jumbo was on the left. There was a row of moored loaded boats on the left, Anta, Speedy, Salem, Marja; Maurice, Swing and Novalis were moored three abreast - and little Pax (37.45m x6.52m – an odd size, wonder where it was built for?) was moored next to a larger boat called Corma, both were loaded. On the right Memento was unloading and Spessecunda was waiting to unload. Beyond them Emeraldis with a digger on board had paused from doing work on the bank piling up rocks.

Modern lock cabin now redundant, all locks remotely operated

The dividing wall that used to be all the way along the port when it was just the left side had now gone as had the old railway lift bridge. The passantenhaven in the old arm into Veghel looked full. Noted that the water point was still there opposite the Campina Dairies at the start of the arm. We arrived at lock 4 at 12.20 pm and threw a line around a stump. Mike called on VHF 20 and was told there was a boat coming down. Marian, a loaded boat, came down the lock and a cruiser called Ferres had caught up. Another tjalk, a white one, had turned into the arm. We locked up 2m with the cruiser behind us. It was 1 pm when we left the top on the 5kms pound so I made some sandwiches for lunch. It was getting hotter and hotter. We “shade chased” along the pound, keeping to

The line of moored boats at Helmond north

the right as far as possible in the shade from the trees. The cruiser sped off into the distance. No sign of him when we reached Erpsebrug so Mike called on VHF. The keeper said there was a boat “coming at us” and we could go up lock 5 with the cruiser! (He’d been kept waiting by a loaded boat called Ostrea coming down). Ferres was right up by the top end gates, we stayed at the back, calmest place to be in a lock that fills at the front through gate paddles. Up another 1.9m. Another 5kms pound, chasing the shade. We could see the boat we’d locked with fast approaching the next liftbridge and three more cruisers coming towards us and a workboat with hydraulic drive also went past heading downhill. Paused for Donksebrug to be lifted. No

Moored next to grassy bank at end of moorings

answer this time on the radio or the intercom. Made a cuppa. Eventually the bridge lifted and lock 6 emptied. A new mooring had been added between the liftbridge and the lock, it was 50m long and was a three day mooring. Half of it was occupied by a Dutch barge. We went up lock 6 on our own, rising another 2.1m. Past a factory for sale next to an ancient crane in Beek en Donk. To our great surprise the cruiser Ferres was moored on the stumps by the very busy road bridge, liftbridge Beeksebrug. The crew had been shopping and they rushed to get on board and untied to follow us as the bridge was lifting as we approached it. The cruiser overtook us as

Moored by the reeds in Helmond north

soon as it could but when it arrived at the crossroads with the Wilhelmina kanaal to the right, straight ahead the dead end of the old canal through Helmond (now used as moorings and where we were headed) they turned left on the new ring canal around Helmond. Great, we thought, they aren’t going to grab the last space on the moorings! Nope, they were already full. What do you expect at 4 pm? We made our own mooring on the end before the wooden staging. A helpful guy off the first boat came to pull on a rope while we moored on pins. Mike chopped down the high herbage with lots of nettles, thistles and brambles. Set up the TV, found no Wi-Fi and then gave him a hand to get the bike off the roof and he went to collect the car from Den Bosch. 

Monday 21st July 2014 Jutphaas to Arkel. 23.7kms 2 locks

Konninginnensluis

18.0°C Dull and overcast, heavy rain later. Winded and set off at 9.30 am noting the the “no mooring” area continued beyond where we’d tied up and went as far as the junction with the Doorslag (which leads to the Hollandse Ijssel). There were just two cruisers left on the “no mooring” area of grassy bank and both were permanent moorers. We turned left, keeping on the Merwede Kanaal, into Nieuwegein. The first liftbridge had ample room for us to pass underneath without taking the mast down, then we had a short wait by the Wiersebrug, by the steel works (used to be British Steel, then Tata, now it’s got a Dutch name.) Passing into the town there were many moored commercials with private boats moored alongside them. A boat club

Mooring charges at Vianen

moorings on the left looked pretty full, might have been a slot for about an 8m long boat. Signs said the moorings on the right were for commercials only and restricted to 14 days, there were quite a few DBs among them and one small cruiser tucked in between the big boys. On the opposite bank there was a line of houseboats stretching all the way down to the lock, Koninginnensluis (12m wide by 120m long) with a liftbridge across the top end gates of the lock. We threw a rope around a bollard and waited while three

Watering up at Vianen,
note 8m length of mooring from water point = 10m overhang!

cruisers came up in the double chambered lock (bottom end chamber, which is hardly ever used, can turn it into a staircase if need be). The liftbridge went up, the cruisers left and we went in, liftbridge down again and a ten minute wait while two more cruisers arrived, liftbridge up again and they came into the chamber and went right to the front, liftbridge down again. We dropped down 15cms (the drop depends on the water levels in the river Lek, a branch of the Rhine) and followed the two cruisers out of the lock – there were three more waiting to go up. We turned left on the Lek – amazed that we saw no commercial traffic, then right into

Wooden staging at Vianen

the continuation of the Merwede Kanaal. The waiting area below the lock had been turned into a passanthaven with boats moored both sides of the passerelle. Mike called the Grote Sluis at Vianen on the radio and had a reply from the keeper. After a short wait the gates opened and an empty péniche called Nova Cura (39mx5.05m) from Tiel came out first and was followed by nine cruisers of various sizes. Just us to go up. The keeper came down on to his lockside to chat as we rose 0.6m. He

A lockful of boats turning into the arm for water

wanted to know where we were going. Surprised we were going all the way to Arkel and not going up the river Linge (another contender for the prettiest river in the Netherlands, but no moorings convenient for us and everywhere else on the river had no mooring signs when we went up it and back many years ago). We told him we could exit the lock without lifting the Julianabrug. He had to lift it shortly after as there were four more cruisers heading for the lock. On the mooring areas both sides of the canal above the lock, there was only one commercial moored, called Boreas (it looked about 67m), probably its crew were on their

Chaos reigns as they all get in the way of one another
all wanting water!

holidays and everybody else was missing as they were working! Usually it’s quite crowded. We turned right into the arm where there are moorings in Vianen and paused while we took on water. The last 8m of the long wooden landing stage was reserved for the water point and a cruiser was moored immediately at the end of that. I put a side rope on and Mike threw a stern rope to the bank which he went and attached to a lamp post as 10m of the boat had no staging to lie against. A sign said the charges from 1^st April until 31^st October were 1,35€/m per night, pay at the machine. This included (we presumed) water and electricity. As we finished topping up the tank a cruiser, called Cpt

Bolgerijensebrug swingbridge

Haddock, was reversing down the moorings – he wanted to water up – we backed out and winded as another lockful came out of the Grote Sluis and all five of them went into the arm as another one was leaving, all getting in the way of one another as they all wanted water! It was 11.45 am as we pushed on along the Merwede Kanaal. Just one small cruiser from the last locking was following us, not long before it caught up and went past. Six more cruisers went past heading for Vianen. We had to wait at the first bridge, a swingbridge called Bolgerijensebrug, we couldn’t keep up with the

Senang at Zwanskuikenbrug

cruiser, had no intention of wasting diesel trying, so he had continued and we had to wait. I threw a rope around the wooden stumps and made some lunch while we waited for the next lot of cruisers to arrive, one more caught us up – we went through first - the wind was blowing from the right so it blew us off the stumps as I took the rope off.  Seven more cruisers had arrived and went through from the other side, two more were catching us up, but the bridge went down to let the road traffic cross so the two cruisers going the same way as us had to wait. It started to pour with rain. At Zwanskuikenbrug liftbridge an empty commercial called Senang came through towards us, followed by two cruisers. The two fast cruisers that had been kept

Zwanskuikenbrug

waiting at the previous bridge were racing hard to catch up, they followed us through the bridge and overtook at high speed. They got through Meerkerksebrug liftbridge, which shut after them and, as we were a long way behind, we had to wait again until another bunch of cruisers came from the opposite direction. As we were motoring on past the moorings in Meerkerk, a large cruiser cut right across in front of our bows heading for the only gap in the moorings at the end nearest the windmill. Mike gave a loud hoot on the horn and asked him what he thought he was playing at! I was making a cuppa so I shouted at him too from our side doors as he went past close, down the “wrong”

Grassy bank moorings at Arkel. River Linge

side. And after all that the mooring was too short for him. We think he was trying to beat us into the mooring – except we weren’t stopping! There were several more moorings available further on the way we were going, a long one by the café (noisy) and one by the road junction (also noisy). An empty called Tempore overtook us and we followed him through Bazelbrug liftbridge, whoopee no waiting! More heavy rain. Next wait was for the swinging railway bridge where two trains went past before the bridge swung open for us. A cruiser had caught up and had been hovering mid-canal as we were on the wooden stumps – he overtook and went for the stumps by the next liftbridge, Schotdeurnsebrug, on the start of the verbindingskanaal leading to the river Linge. He hadn’t got a rope round a stump before the lights changed to red and green and the bridge lifted. We followed him through the liftbridge and through the floodlock then he was off like a whippet to get himself a mooring in Arkel before we got there! There was bags of space. A British-flagged tjalk was moored at the nearest end of the long grassy bank moorings and there were about half a dozen cruisers with big gaps between them. We went right to the far end, winded and tied up in the rain. It was 4 pm. The trip timer recorded 6 hours 20 minutes, but moving time was only four hours – two hours twenty minutes hanging about time! Knocking pins into the rocky bank was exhausting. Being sodden as well didn’t help. Finally got inside and dried out.

Friday 18th July 2014 Oud-Zijlen to Jutphaas. 11.2kms 3 locks

Rodebrug. Utrecht

16.1°C Very hot and sunny with a little breeze. Set off 9.00 am winded and carried on along the Vecht into Utrecht. The line of houseboats started just around the next bend and ran most of the way into the city, up to and beyond the red light district (a long row of wooden houseboats with their backs to the river, picture windows on the other side where the “ladies” sit waiting for business) and beyond. Mast, flag and sunshade down and handlebar on the moped turned to get under the first liftbridge, Rodebrug (2.2m), then a high concrete road bridge

Trip boat leaving Weerdsluis Utrecht

with ample headroom. A Nun went past riding a bike, dressed in an all-white habit – she said hello as we passed. The next liftbridge was a modern one but also low, David Van Mollembrug, we got underneath with everything lowered. We had a short wait below Weerdsluis as it was full and boats were arriving to go down. After almost half an hour the lock started emptying. First out was a tripper, another refugee from Amsterdam, followed by a string of cruisers, a small replica tjalk and a Locaboat – a dozen boats in all. It is a huge lock,

Keeper winding capstan, manually operated Weerdsluis

dimensions say it is 82.5m long and 8.1m wide, I think the latter is the width of the big set of gates as the chamber must be getting on for 15m wide. Just us to go up at 10.30 am. Three lock keepers to work it as it is all manual except for the footbridge across the top end of the chamber. 10.50 am we left the top. It was beautifully quiet going through the city centre down below the basements of the houses and shops bordering the narrow channel. Most of the basements have been turned into shops, cafés and bars, most of which hadn’t opened yet. A few people were sitting out

Into the old city centre

having coffee and reading the paper. One small cruiser went past and a canoeist. A pedalo appeared in front of us, meandering nonchalantly along and oblivious to the boat that was catching them up. Mike gave a blip on our hooter, not wanting to disturb the peace – they didn’t hear it. I had an air klaxon with me on the front deck and gave them a double burst on that – they looked round and pedalled for the right bank, looking shocked! Sorry, but you didn’t really want us to shove you out of the way?? Out of the narrow confines of the city and into a big basin where there is a watery crossroads

Bridges on tight turns in the centre of Utrecht

with the alternative route around the city and the dead-end Singel Gracht where there are moorings. We carried straight on along the Vaartse Rijn heading out of the city. Access to the first liftbridge, Vondelbrug, was restricted by building works (a new railway bridge) and access to the press button to request the bridge opening was very awkward. Mike swung the bows across and I pressed the button, twice. Then I had a reply to say move up to the bridge as we got a red/green light. Not easy as we

A boat making a delivery to a city centre shop.

had to do an S-manoeuvre in a very restricted area with new building work covered with scaffolding on our right (where the button was) which meant sharp left to get round it and then sharp right to get through the lifted bridge. Well wriggled, sir! Just a short wait for the next bridge Oranjebrug, then an open motor boat overtook us as we arrived at Zuiderbrug as we waited for three cruisers to come through the open bridge from the other side, then the speedboat tied up! There were new signs everywhere saying no mooring except for permit holders and the banks were lined with small open boats and

Looking back at junc of Merwede kanal and Vaartse-Rijn

cruisers. A new very modern building had been completed next to the shell of a demolished factory, it had a very fancy new quay with chess pawn type bollards all along it. We saw no signs that said you could or could not moor there, so we guessed it was just for show. Mike dropped our mast to go under the new vertical liftbridge while it was closed but an armada of boats was milling on the far side, two came under the bridge deck but four had to wait so we did likewise and Mike put the mast back up. We went into the open chamber of the Nordersluis (where all the

New flats with decorative quay frontage

ew flatsNboats had just come from) and chatted with the keeper while we waited for a cruiser to arrive. We dropped down about a metre and then followed the cruiser across the busy ARK, a big boat went past in either direction then we went across with four bearing down fast from our right, all overtaking one another. It was very sploshy as we went into Zuidersluis where another open motor boat had just come down and one had gone in, we followed the cruiser in and bounced about until the keeper got the gates closed behind us. We were now on the northern

New vertical liftbridge. Merwede kanal

section of the Merwede Kanal. Rose about a metre then followed the cruiser to the first liftbridge, Blauwebrug, which was open and a load of boats came through heading for the lock. The bridge stayed up but we didn’t get a green light, so we didn’t continue, neither did the cruiser. After five minutes the bridge came down and the queue of road traffic crossing it was impressive. Five minutes later it lifted again and this time we got a green light. The next bridge, Rijnhuizerbrug, was an unusual double lifting deck, we followed the cruiser through it and it carried on. The mooring

View to our right as we crossed the Amsterdam-Rijn-Kanal

in Jutphaas that we’d decided to stay on for the weekend was more or less full – and there were lots of youths swimming from the quay, noisy. We motored on. Beyond the posh quay was a nice grassy bank where a couple of cruisers and a Locaboat were moored. Mike had spotted a three-day mooring before the last bridge and we were going to go back to it when I spied a man on the end cruiser so Mike asked if mooring was OK there (there was a no mooring sign at the end of the quay) and he said yes, if the quay was full then it

Moored at Jutphaas

was OK to moor here. There was a big solid baulk of horizontal timber fendering along the piled edge so Mike dropped ropes around that and we settled down for the weekend. It was 1.15 pm.

CLICK HERE To see what De Hinnik Wagen is all about.

Just after we tied up this beautiful wagon went past - see link.

Thursday 17th July 2014 Nederhorst to Oud-Zijlen. 26.3kms no locks

If I HAD to go back to living on land I'd like a house like this,
but somewhere MUCH quieter than the Vecht!

13.3°C Sunny with hazy clouds, hot and muggy later. Clouding over by mid-afternoon then brightening up again and getting very hot. Set off at 9.20 am heading on up the Vecht. As we passed close by the Amsterdam-Rijn-Kanal (ARK) we could see the top of an empty tanker called Gemini, 110m long and travelling much faster than us. Above us air traffic from Schipol was heading off for foreign parts and we felt a light shower of rain spots but couldn’t see any dark clouds above which made us wonder... Nah, they empty the aircraft toilet tanks when the land nowadays, don’t they? On one

Loaded with dredgings, met on a bend.

of the bends before we got to Overmeer, as I was taking a photo of a windmill, the bows of a loaded commercial called Siementa appeared coming round the right hand bend. There was just room after a row of houseboats to tuck into the outside of the bend out of his way! The campsite before Overmeer on the left hand bank was now offering luxury chalets for sale with their own grounds. Moorings all along the bank by their other caravans were pay moorings, even on the opposite bank there were signs

Trip boat River Cloud

that said “liggeld perflichtig” – mooring charges apply, 4€ per night on the far bank. Right at the end of the moorings was a stretch of three day mooring for free. Guess which had boats moored and which were empty? Past another dredger. We were going to go around the back of an island on the right but decided not to, good job as there was more dredging and another commercial was moored at the other end of the island waiting for a load of dredgings. Passed the entrance to the Hilversum canal where several small cruisers were waiting to access the lock on to it. A small pusher tug went past and

Windmill before Overmeer

there was a load of oil on the surface of the water. Past another dredger which was in the middle with signs to say pass on its left. The dredgings were coming out black and foul-smelling. Around 10.30 am cruisers started appearing on the river to add to the open motor boats that were already cruising up and down. Into Vreeland where there was a windmill with a cutout shape of a stork attached to one of its sails. Under the bascule liftbridge, Van Leerbrug, with our mast lying flat on the roof and carefully through the next one as it had hanging red and white painted bars under the lifting deck (2.1m air clearance) but we got through OK. On the other side there was a British replica Dutch barge, called Lucie, tying up to wait for the bridge. Its skipper shouted “you’re a long way from home!” I replied that we were at home, to which he added “So are we!” Into Loenen with more cruisers overtaking, ignoring the 6kph speed limit, we were doing 6kph! Signs on the bank announced police speed

Stereschans, very palatial

checks! Caught them up at the next bascule bridge, which we couldn’t get under as it was too low, we waited with the queue and an old chap worked it for us and came out to say he liked our boat. Past a small palace with ornate gardens and a moored tjalk, called Utrecht, to which had been added loads of decorative painted wooden carvings and a stern cabin to imitate a galleon. More moorings had been added by the water tap, all of which were now charged for. The next bridge was a modern bascule bridge, we waited again with the two cruisers although we

Varnished launch next to lawns at Stereschans

could have gone under the deck there was too much traffic about to do that – loads of open motor boats went under the side arches. There was a line of houseboats, the floating wooden chalet type, all along the left bank. Mike tried speeding up to keep up with the cruisers, we did 8kph but didn’t catch up, so we reckoned they were doing around 10kph. Futile to try and catch them. However, they were waiting at the next bridge at Nieuwersluis, where there was a lock chamber open at both ends before the liftbridge, we waited a short while before

Nijenrode castle, south of Breukelen

the liftbridge opened. Another branch to the right connected with the ARK. Beyond the bridge the river water was very muddy. A Locaboat hireboat went past as we were going past a row of small palatial residences, I took a photo of one called Stereschans and next to its manicured lawns was a beautifully varnished launch. Past more very expensive houses and then one of the tiny entrances (low bridge and a short lock) on to the Loosdrechtseplassen, a series of polder lakes now used for recreation by many small boats. Yet another dredger, this one

Sign crazy - all restrictions

wasn’t working until we got level with it, then the dredger driver started his prop turning blowing our bows towards the right bank, a quick twiddle and we were heading back to the middle of the river. The banks were lined with fields for a short distance before the start of the houses on the outskirts of Breukelen (pronounced like the region of New York, Brooklyn). The mooring quay was more or less full, no gaps big enough to get our 18m into, even if we’d moved the cruisers up a bit. A refugee trip boat from Amsterdam was unloading passengers and had left his prop turning while he did it. Along the quay were new signs that said mooring charges applied.

Modern bascule bridge at Maarssen

Cross that one off our list of good moorings and we carried on. Mike dropped our mast and took the ensign off again and we passed under the bascule liftbridge without waiting for it to be opened. Beyond the bridge there were several moorings marked along the grassy bank by a busy road and all had signs saying mooring charges applied. Keep going. It was the same through Maarssen, we guessed it would be. A cruiser passing by had a red ensign on its stern, the crew smiled and shouted hello as we passed. A couple of boats were moored by the first liftbridge,

Tug about to move a houseboat

Vechtbrug, waiting, and beyond it there were miles of empty moorings all with the new signs saying mooring charges apply. We had to wait for the first bridge, lots of open motor boats were going under its low deck which would still have been too low if we’d stripped all the stuff off the roof to try and get under it. Round the corner, passing houses on both banks with brick-paved quays and walls, where there were lots of no mooring signs and we came to the next liftbridge, Termeerbrug. We waited. I made a cuppa. Two boats came up behind us and the keeper arrived on a scooter to let all three of us through his second bridge. He came to the edge of the bridge to say he liked our boat in perfect English. More empty pay moorings as we went

Dredger at Maarssen

through the town and past the new police station right next to the river. Two policeboats, RIBs with big outboards, were moored outside. Moored dredging pans and a tug, then a small tug went past with a man stood on its roof to steer it – obviously because the pans he pushes were higher than the tug, but it looked very odd without a pan in front of it. One of the two boats we’d been following had turned right on to the ARK through another short arm, just after that we passed a hire base that had lots of small open motor boats for hire – that’s where they’re all coming from! A big house building project on the left bank and a string of houseboats on the right, more dredging pans and a tug had got a long narrow floating pontoon attached to a houseboat which he was about to move! That surprised us, didn’t realise they were moving the houseboats to dredge underneath them! A long low open boat went past with the steerer and one lady cyclist on board, it was a cycle ferry boat – something like a bus. Under a high road bridge and the houses at last started thinning out a bit and there were fields with grazing cows plus several windmills on the left. The moorings on a bend as we approached Oud-

Coming in to moor by stumps at Oud-Zijlen

Zijlen were closed, probably due to the dredging programme; we spotted some sections of the wooden bank edging had great chunks of wood missing where something had hit it, maybe dredging pans? On into town and we caught up again with the white cruiser we’d gone through the last liftbridge with. He was waiting for Plompbrug to open. We waited behind him. The wind blew us gently on to the waiting area stumps and we threw a rope around one, as did the boat in front. A gaggle of cruisers were arriving on the far side and milling about as there was nowhere for them to tie up and wait. One of them even hooted, silly person, there was no resident keeper, it was remotely operated judging by all the cameras surrounding the bridge. Eventually the cruisers on the far side started milling about again as the deck lifted, they got the green light first, then we followed the cruiser through. More new signs had appeared on the bank where we had moored in pouring rain last year. Mooring fees apply now and we couldn’t get close to the bank last time. We went for the set of posts with no bank access a bit further on, there was a sign saying it was a mooring for 2x24 hours – and something black and tall had run into the sign which was higher than our cabin roof - a dredging pan perhaps? We gave up and moored to the only free mooring we’d seen since we set off. It was 2.45 pm and we had no land access. Never mind, the car can stay where it is.

Wednesday 16th July 2014 KP9 Almere golf club to Nederhorst. 35.4kms 2 locks

Egyptian goose scavenging by the boat. Got any bread?

14.4°C Sunny and hot all day, very light breeze. Mike took the mast down to get under the low bridges and we set off at 9 am. Said tot ziens to the neighbours on Isis. Under the first bridge, then a left turn on to the Lange Wetering. Lots of small cruisers were moored along the canal on the wooden stumps provided and in neat offline basins. A long line of houseboats stretched along the right bank, some were three storeys high. A cruiser set off from the next little offline basin and zoomed off in front towards Almere Haven. As we got closer to the basin another cruiser came out heading in the

Half-built hotel. Almere.

opposite direction and another came down the canal towards us as we were passing the junction with the Krome Wetering, which leads to the lake in the city called Weerwater. Two cruisers were below Almere Haven sluis, the first one went into the lock and, although there was plenty of room left in the 20m long chamber, the gates closed behind him and shut the second boat out, he moved down the quay and we tied up behind him. The skipper came to say hello – we’ve met before! It was the cruiser called Excess, whose crew we’d met at Hoogeschmilde when we called there for water. All smiles and laughing, we

In Almere Haven sluis. Flevo

had a natter on the quay, mostly in Dutch as he didn’t speak English but the words we didn’t know in English she translated for us. They went up the lock (they were staying in the haven for water and a bit of shopping) and I sorted out the washing while Mike connected up the Markon drive. The lock lifted the boat about 4m up to the level of the Randmeeren lake called Gooimeer. Mike shinned up the ladder to pay the keeper 2,50€ for the lock, then we headed out through all the moored boats in the haven and turned left into the channel leading to the Gooimeer. It was 11.30 am already. By the entrance there was an underwater pipe bubbling air into the water to oxygenate it. The surface of the lake had a green growth of algae. By the entrance channel a fishing boat was anchored while it washed its nets. Turned right heading northwest for the Hollandsebrug which carries the motorway across from Muiderberg onto Flevoland. There were sailing boats and cruisers and speedboats galore. An empty commercial called Adriana overtook us 2kms before the bridge. As we approached the bridge we could see there was

Almere Haven

lots of work going on to build another bridge with a diesel-powered pile-driver and loads of earth moving plant. A loaded boat called Jomajo came through the bridge, Spes-Vera and Contentus were unloading sand by the bridge and Maaike likewise on the far side before the bridge. Under the bridge and out on to the southern end of the Markermeer, a light breeze powering many sailing boats. It was busy. We headed out for Pampas Island as the weather was so good. Lake

Fishing boat washing nets. Gooimeer

insects were in almost plague proportions, tiny flies and mossies in their millions. Fortunately they didn’t bite, just made themselves a nuisance. I made some lunch and we just had time to eat it before we arrived at Muiden and went into the Grote Zeesluis – the keeper had kept the gates open for us and we filled the last bit of the chamber – opposite our friends with Excess again! The lock emptied (yes, downhill by about 20cms off the sea lake on to the river Vecht) and the long footbridge

Clouds over Gooimeer

over the two lock chambers swung open (a young lady carrying a baguette under her arm sprinted across and made it just as the far barriers came down) and all the cruisers raced off to the next bridge, Rijksbrug, which had a 5m clearance without being lifted so most of them got through it and we followed. More building work for the new road that will cross next to the Hollandsebrug, more pile-drivers and cranes and earth movers. Mike took the mast

down and the sunshade so we could get under the next couple

Pile-drivers. R Vecht at Muiden

of bridges. Under the railway bridges where several large high boats were waiting and into Weesp. Wide narrowboat Water Melody went past, a large Dutch flag fluttering at the rear. Ducked under the bascule bridge with the ensign off, then Mike put the flag and sunshade back up as we could get under the rest with them up. The river seemed to be full of small open motor boats, travelling fairly sedately up and down. Took photos again of the two windmills in Weesp. A person wearing a wetsuit and an orange swimming cap was swimming along the left bank. We overtook (unusual for us as

Loaded boat on Markermeer

we’re always the slowest) an open motor boat and then a cruiser which was dawdling along far right of the middle, we got dirty looks for overtaking him on the wrong side. Spotted a round fortress on the left bank that I hadn’t noticed before, it had a large café next door to it and a rusty canon in front of it. Next to it was the entrance to a little canal that we had marked on our chart as “opens for two hours on a Wednesday “. A police RIB went past us heading in the opposite direction just as a small cruiser was overtaking us, 

Moored on R Vecht near Nederhorst

the police officer indicated that he should slow down (the river has a limit of 9khp) Close to the village of Hinderdam where there is a lake by the canal there was a commercial called Union moored, it was unloading sand which was being pumped into the lake using a big pipe (maybe they were filling it in??) We moored on a quay by Charley’s café at the end of a long sprawling village called Nederhorst den Berg, slotting between the cruisers on a three day mooring. It was 4.10pm.

Friday 11th July 2014 KP40 to KP9 Almere golf club. 30.2kms no locks.

A working Dutch barge - Voorwaarts loaded with sand

15.5°C Sunny with hazy clouds. Hot and still muggy even after last night’s very heavy rain. Mike got up early, so did I, and we set off at 8.20 am as we knew we’d a long way to go. The other three boats were still on the moorings when we left. After a short distance heading southwest we turned right heading northwest for about a kilometre, around a left hand bend and then we were running due west, still on the Hoge Vaart. It was very quiet with lots of birds about, coots, mallard, grebe and house martins. Caught several glimpses of big birds of prey but

Voorwarts heading back to Ketelsluis empty

not enough to identify them. Mike took photos of the dividing dike, Knardijk, which separates the two polders, east and south Flevoland.  Voorwaarts went past us, running empty, back towards Ketelmeer. Shortly after we went past where we were sure he’d unloaded by the unloading quays at KP27 Trekkersveld. A cruiser went past heading for Ketelsluis, then Climax, another boat loaded with sand, went past at KP26 – we know where he’s going to unload! Bet his sand came from the Markermeer. A small cruiser was pootling along in the wake

Another sand boat coming from the other direction

and churned mud behind the commercial. Mike made a cuppa then I went in to get on with the chores. Several more cruisers went past heading in the opposite direction to us and two were fast catching us up. There was very little wind and the big wind turbines, here scattered across the fields – not in lines – we all still. As we went past one giant wind generator tower next to the canal I picked the binoculars up to check what I thought was a bird sitting on top of the tower – it wasn’t a bird it was a man’s head and shoulders sticking out through a

Hoge Knarsluis, floodgates in the Knardijk

trapdoor in the power house of the generator, he was on the phone! The first cruiser that overtook us was a low one without a rooftop steering position, the couple on it were sitting comfortably on a seat right at the stern and Mike spotted that the guy was steering using a little joystick remote control. Neat, we ought to have one and sit on our comfy seat in the bows! The second cruiser overtook us, then around KP15 two open boats went past - one was a trailered speedboat, the other one was one of the much favoured in the Netherlands

No it's not a bird - it's a man making a phone call

type of open boat that looks like a small lifeboat with inboard engine and thick rope fendering all around its gunwales. The sun was obscured for a while by the hazy clouds and it became even hotter. At 1.15 pm we arrived at the intended mooring in a small layby with an island at the golf club in Almere. A very large three storey cruiser was moored parallel to the bank with his bows right into the corner. I hopped off into the reedy jungle with the middle rope while Mike asked very nicely if the skipper would mind moving back down the wooden

Moored by the golf club

quay by about a metre so we could tuck our bows into the corner at ninety degrees to his and our stern then wouldn’t be sticking out into the main canal. OK, after he realised our boat was too long to moor behind him (there were fishermen there anyway). Mike knocked some pins in and I made some lunch. After lunch Mike set off on the moped at 2.15 pm to collect the car from Ketelhaven 60kms away on the far side of the island.