Monday 29 September 2008

29.09.08 Leiden to Delft

Moored in Leiden on the finger jetty behind us was a large cruiser bearing a British ensign. This is only the second British boat we have been within hailing distance of since we entered Holland.

Vivian and Pauline, of Aqua Lady, had tea and a long chat with us in the early evening, and before they left the following day, Alex had another gas and swapped more useful information, mostly from them to us as they have been summer cruising in Holland for 5 years or more and know most of the ropes.

We are now in Delft and have packed a lot into the last three days, as you do when you have a visitor, but it has been lovely having Alice to stay and it has given us a different focus for a while.

We picked her up from the station in Leiden on our trusty bikes. The suitcase went on Louise’s bike while Alice went side-saddle (Dutch style) on the back of Alex’s bike. We wobbled back to the boat.

We took Alice on a walking tour of the best bits of Leiden during the remainder of the day and still the sun shone and we had drinks on the deck in the evening.

We set off the next day having spent 3 nights in total in Leiden but only paid for two! One of the bridge-keepers was outside his door as we approached so Louise went forward to see if she could distract him with her charm into not charging for the extra night.

Success! But we did wonder as we went through the next few bridges if they would suddenly remember and keep us locked in!

We had a lovely journey as far as the sluis at Leidschendam where the lock/bridge-keeper told us that the next bridge was broken down (due to drunken vandal damage). Is nowhere safe? We could go no further until it was repaired. It was a lovely day and lunchtime, so we happily moored up (good moorings and free). The next day the bridge was reopened, we moved on to Voorbrug and caught the train for a quick 5 minute journey into Den Haag.

Den Haag, the seat of Dutch government and home of the royal family, is so totally different from the other towns and cities we have been to in Holland. It has much bigger squares, wider streets and larger, more imposing buildings and a more ‘planned’ feel to it. Our principal aim, of course, was the Mauritshuis Museum and, of course, the works of Vermeer, Rembrandt and other great Dutch artists. Fortunately (!) half the displays were closed and thus the price was much reduced, so we saw just exactly the right amount of Dutch art - any more and it would have been too much to take in. Of course we saw the purpose of the excursion, ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ and debated, again, that the earring was definitely not a pearl at all, much too large, wrong shape and colour, and discovered from the audio tour that the picture was almost certainly not of a real girl, but was painted more as a display of an art style. This was disappointing, but the picture was lovely.

Alice was keen to do a bit more boating so we trained it straight back to the very pretty Voorburg and motored on to Delft.

The moorings in Delft were said to be lovely, but they are right on a very main road with a T-junction and traffic lights and everything - all very busy. The harbour is overlooked mostly by fairly modern undistinguished office blocks. In fact, the burghers of Delft have destroyed the beautiful view of Delft made famous by Vermeer, and which we had seen ‘in the flesh’ the day before. We have been generally disappointed by Delft. The very centre has been largely retained and is pretty but all around seems to have been unsympathetically built and rebuilt.

We looked round the Oude Kerk and the Nieuwe Kerk and climbed the latter’s tower. The tower was great with two outside ‘balconies’ to walk round on the way up to the highest one allowed. Fantastic views but rather dull weather. Then it was back to Riccall for a quick lunch before seeing Alice onto the train to Schipol for her flight home.

We hope Alice enjoyed her weekend as much as we enjoyed having her.


Friday 26 September 2008

Amsterdam to Leiden

26.08.08 Amsterdam to Leiden

We left Amsterdam with the usual confusion over how to attract the bridgkeeper’s attention. We tried both radio channels – no reply. We were sure that there was a body behind the smoked glass of the control tower (so friendly, smoked glass!) but no reaction whatsoever.

Eventually we moored up again and rang the phone number usefully given by our software program PC Navigo. Then ensued the 20 questions – Where are you? Who are you? Where are you going? Have you paid the harbour dues? etc and then at last ‘OK, I will open the bridges’.

We are now heading south on the Amstel river which meanders through the countryside, but nearly always with a busy road on one or both sides. We have passed three or four moorings with proper bollards and signs saying ‘OK to moor’ – and free! No other boats on any of them. This is amazing. Something must be wrong, or is it just that it is now September and the season is well and truly over?

So we moored on the last one of these free and empty moorings and very pleasant it was too (if a bit road-noisy). We were even able to crouch in front of the wheelhouse, out of the cold north wind and enjoy the last rays of the warm sun.

Travelling on towards Leiden we passed through a lock (as with most locks, a 20cm drop only!) and continued on down the Aarkanal. The next half dozen bridges or more were all opened just as or before we arrived with no communication necessary. We then turned right into the Oude Rijn and the first few bridges opened as before with no problems. But then we arrived at Oudekerkbrug. No reply to the VHF, but we could see the operator in his cabin, so when we got right to the bridge we gave a friendly little toot on the horn. He gave an acknowledging wave and we sat and waited for him to open the bridge. And we waited and waited, together with the cruiser behind. After 20 minutes we put a rope on to make it easier against the wind and still we waited. After half an hour he got to his feet and let us through. So what was all that about? No other boats coming or going, not closed for lunch or teatime. We still just can’t fathom it. (Was it perhaps that little ‘toot’ he didn’t like?) The next few bridges all opened like clockwork. No problem.

We moored for the night on some brand new moorings where another pleasure boat was already moored, though they looked to us like bridge-op moorings. We took our chance as we were a few kilometres from Leiden itself and it was mooring up time. We later discovered that pleasure boats can moor here free for two days but you can usually push it to longer – but how were we to know with no signage?

We cycled to Leiden itself to sus the scene. Alex spoke to the bridge-keepers, also in charge of the municipal moorings, who told us if we moored on the most suitable spot - where the hotel boats were moored – and another hotel boat came in we would have to move, and we should use the central moorings instead. So we rode along, had a look and although tight, we thought we could just squeeze in.

We returned to Riccall and motored into Leiden and through the bridge into the moorings area. The bridge-keeper took one look at us and directed us to the hotel boat area despite what he had previously said. Alex went off to parlez with the bridge-keepers (three!!) and pay for a couple of nights. He asked ‘Won’t we have to move if a hotel boat comes in?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, wouldn’t it be better if we just went straight to the central haven?’ ‘OK if you think you can get in.’

So – ropes away, reverse out and 100 metres to the central moorings, where we found we were indeed too big! We might have got in but if anything else moored we would never have got out. So we tried opposite on the low quay wall where there was a gap. We got the ropes on but could only get to within 2 feet of the quay as it was too shallow for us.

We noticed a small cruiser moored on the outside of the finger moorings opposite – the only place where we could moor easily and safely. So we watched, and at last we spotted the owners returning to their boat.

Alex girded up his loins and went into battle. ‘Excuse me, we are aground where we are moored. Would it be possible for you to move inside the finger and let us moor out here with our big ugly boat, as this is the only possible mooring place for us?’ They spoke no English – or weren’t admitting to it – but wifie understood our predicament. Husband wasn’t having any of it. The body language was all, ‘Go away! I don’t want to know! I am too busy securing my bicycles.’ So Alex said, ‘Never mind. Doesn’t matter,’ and left while wifie talked to her husband. From 50 yds away, Alex heard a shout and went back. He has agreed to move – all smiles. Alex thanked him profusely. They shook hands. He slapped Alex on the back. The deal was done.

So we have a decent mooring near the centre of Leiden with electricity and water available (at a price) and the mooring charge? - a hefty E17 a night. But Leiden is worth it and it is not too far to the railway station where Alex’s daughter Alice is arriving for a long weekend with us. We have passed though Leiden station en route from Dordrecht to Schipol and Leiden looks like an industrial wasteland from the train, all huge impersonal factories and warehouses, then closer in to the city skyscrapers crowding in but the town centre itself is charming: tiny cobbled streets down either side of a myriad of different sized canals, some so small you could barely get a rowing boat down them. A pleasant feel to the place too, even before the sun came out, and it has shone for the last two days: blue skies, warm in the sun, an autumnal chill to the wind but lovely.


Saturday 20 September 2008

15.09.08 A bit more hogwash!

Before we left for the UK our ‘mooring hosts’ had coffee with us and looked round Riccall and we made a return visit to their home.

Harma gave us a couple of slices of delicious homemade cheesecake with cherries and Arie fried us some freshly caught cod (too small to sell and not really supposed to be landed!) but delicious for all that.

Krommenie Dijk, the original village, was having its annual artists’ showcase day. We visited about 20 different ‘bottom-of-the-garden studios’ to look at the work they were producing and selling.

Prices ranged from E35 for a mediocre painting to E1000 for an 8" x 6" stylised painting of a Dutch peasant girl. Louise did like a couple of watercolours by one artist and Alex was very taken by a small surrealist picture produced using coloured wax and a hot iron, a system called encaustic. He didn’t dare, however, ask the price!

As we were riding along, we overheard an English voice commenting on how nice Dutch bikes were (ours!) so we just had to stop and chat to the two women, one English, one Dutch, until her sister arrived in a huge 4x4 and we caused a traffic jam on the narrow road and had to move on.

We also rode into Zaandam to look for the elusive wi-fi at the library. It did not exist! However, not to be outdone in the accident stakes, Louise managed to fall off her bike and become totally tangled up in it. Not hurt – well not much, but Alex had to lift the bike off for her to escape.

And then, on the day of our return to the UK, Arie very kindly gave us a lift to the station, which was great as it was pouring with rain and we made an uneventful trip back home.

Angela (living up to her name) was waiting at the airport to give us a lift to our car at Methley Bridge. She asked Alex to drive as she had pulled her Achilles tendon. He was more than happy to oblige but on reaching the first mini roundabout out of the airport, managed to go round it the wrong way! Fortunately there was only one other (bemused) car driver some way off, so we all had a good laugh, and Alex managed the rest of the UK break without putting a wheel out of place, which was lucky as we have been haring up and down the country, London, Bedford, Birmingham and Newcastle seeing everybody and getting things like dentists, doctors, spectacles, haircuts, accountants (tax returns) done.

Now we are back in Holland, but before we set sail Harma took us on a half-day trip to Alkmaar, which was great as we had had to pass straight through on Riccall and never got a glimpse of the city which is really lovely.

We have said a fond farewell to our kind mooring hosts and are back in amazing Amsterdam. We have spent the whole day (well nearly) in the library on the internet managing our changed blog which Robert and Alex have been working hard to improve. We have also got our good camera back (replaced) so no more under-exposed phone pics.

The photos are now in slideshow format at the bottom of the text to which they relate. With the click of a mouse you can watch the slideshow, enlarge the images to full screen and by clicking on ‘Info’ reveal the title (and caption if any). We hope this will prove less confusing but would appreciate comments, as ever.


Friday 5 September 2008

29.8.08 Round Trip to Schagen

Take a deep breath – Alex is on a roll for this one!

We decided before we came back for our few days in GB that we would do one last round trip into the northern area ‘above’ Krommenie.

We set off with a light breeze and the usual overcast skies and headed off into the Omval-Kolhorn Kanal. Our Noodersoft program told us that we could not do this stretch without removing our roof. However, at the first lock we just squeezed under the hanging height marker (said to be at 3.6m) with 15mm (half an inch) to spare. Thereafter, the lockkeeper assured us, all bridges were 100mm (4 inches) higher. And he was correct!

We spent the first night on some lovely rural moorings quite close to a hamlet set amongst the little canals that always surround everything here. Alex took several pictures but they just didn’t quite manage to convey how idyllic it appeared to the observer.

The next day we continued northwards, eventually arriving at the lock at the north end of the stretch at about 1 o’clock, which we knew would be closed for lunch until 2pm. Great time for our lunch too – so let’s relax and have a breather.

At 1.20pm, confusion: the lights turn green, the lock gate opens! Do we drop everything and go in? Fire up the computer again; find the phone number of the lockkeeper, and ring the number; pigeon English conversation with ‘the wife’, the lock is closed till 2pm. Fine, back to our lunch. 15 minutes later, two boats appear and go through the lock. Another boat comes the other way. It is now 1.50pm. Another green light beckons - oh well, alright, off we go. The usual story – if you want the bridges/locks to open, there is no response. If you want to stop for a quiet meal or whatever, they’re all over you to come through!

The early afternoon moorings were in De Strook and a quick, 8 mile bicycle trip to Schagen followed for a few provisions and to see it again, when it’s not on show like last Thursday. We get stung for mooring fees (E11.20) when we got back to Kolhorn, but it could have been worse.

The next day, the Schagen-Kolhorn Kanal. Noodersoft tells us that we cannot do this canal at all, even with our roof down, but we have done our research and we don’t believe it! (For we read Alex.)

The weather was better that day – we even caught a glimpse of the sun and before we left, we took the roof off. This procedure usually causes a bit of interest with onlookers and even with us, as each time we are never quite sure if it really will work! And off towards the Noords Hollandsche Kanal. Plenty of headroom!! The lockkeeper said the bridge out of the lock was the lowest – all the others were 100mm (4 inches) higher. Wrong!! The flagstaff, which we had forgotten about, just scraped through his bridge then got broken off by the next one! Fortunately, we saw it coming, and Louise grabbed it before it dropped into the canal. Then onto and south down the Noords Hollandsche Kanal stopping for the obligatory (for us) short ride to the beach and an ice cream and then onwards to our third night’s moorings at Schoolerdam.

But suddenly Alex realised his phone was missing!

After much deliberation and searching, we thought it may have fallen from his pocket when he tripped (!!!!) at the mooring at Kolhorn, 25 miles away. It rang when we used Louise’s phone to call it, but no answer, so no-one had found it yet. Looked like a long bike ride the next day on a wild goose chase. Everyone knows it’s not the value of the phone (it was free) it’s all the numbers on the sim card that you forgot to note somewhere else that’s priceless!

The next day dawns bright and early for us at 7.30 – well, early, but not so bright. At least the wind is light and the clouds don’t look too threatening. A quick breakfast and by 8.50 we are off on the said wild goose chase.

We have the waterways map of this area (courtesy of a photocopy of our mooring host’s rather old map) so we cross the network of roads and canals between us and our quarry. We had drawn in what we thought was the most direct route, but following it was easier planned than executed: left and right at junction after junction, with very few signs to help us. However, in amazingly good time we are crossing the bridge at the lock where Alex knows he last used his phone, and we give a wave and a shout to a rather bemused lockkeeper (with whom we had a long chat the previous day, but from the deck of Riccall as we headed away!). 5 minutes later he drove past with a toot on his horn and a wave back! And 10 minutes after that Alex was accelerating off to scour the area where we had moored the previous night.

Out with Louise’s phone and ring Alex’s number. Listen! Hark! Is that a ‘ring ring’ coming from the grass? Yes, but where? It’s getting louder as he homes in and - careful now, it’s close to the water’s edge - there deep in the grass is THE PHONE – EUREKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! – a few drops of morning dew but it’s OK.

Seven ‘missed calls’ all from us of course, and one text message to ‘ring the sender if found’ (also from us)!

We did a little dance of success and gabbled off what had happened to a bemused couple of boat people close by, but being German they didn’t understand a word! then we set off back for a more relaxed ride home. We stopped at the friendly lockkeeper’s lock to explain - we still felt so exhilarated. He was much amazed, and we left him explaining our luck to the next boater going through his lock!

After a leisurely cycle back and a quick shop on the way, we were back at Riccall by 12 o’clock.

We just had to tell the boat next door, who had helped us moor the previous day, and of course one thing led to another and we had coffee with them and looked at their boat and they looked at ours! And such a nice couple: as they left for their afternoon at the seaside ‘Rob’ suggested we stay another night rather than leaving after lunch. Tempting, very tempting, but we have an agenda, so we had to decline and move on, through the bridges of Alkmaar, and to Krommenie by 6.30.

We do meet some really nice people on this jaunt. It’s surely not just boats that bring out the best in people, but any common interest – even fishing (no perhaps not on second thoughts)! When Alex was in electronics he used to think all people in electronics were really nice guys – and they were. Perhaps all the lags in HM Prisons think that the really nice guys are their colleagues (co-lags) in HMPs!

Back to UK next week for 2 weeks so you all get a break from this hogwash.