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.