This year we'd decided to visit Holland again. We didn't get to the very east side of the country last time we visited.
Our mooring at Seneffe had to be vacated by 9 am Monday morning as there was to be an event of some sort. We left on Sunday night!
We needed to fill up with red diesel before we got to Holland as it is no longer available there (and who knows, we may need the genny or equally importantly, the central heating!). So we decided to go via Antoing, a two day cruise to fill up there and return via Seneffe for our route north, via Charleroi and Liege.
Our first, Sunday night mooring, was to be the entrance to the historic lifts at Strepy Thieu. We ignored the no entry sign on the right about 0.5 km from the mooring and spent a peaceful night despite being clearly in the Zone Portuaire which we saw next morning!
On our way out the following morning we spotted an Australian barge which had been moored at Seneffe. Alex called them up on the radio and said we would see them at the top of the Strepy Thieu lift. However, a few minutes later we received a text from our friend Paul of BEATRICE reminding us of the bunker barge in Liege! Ah yes – on our route. Change of plan! We can fill up there and avoid a 4 day round trip to Antoing. Quick call to the Australians to cancel meet-up (they did have the grace to seem disappointed!) and off on our route to Liege via Charleroi and Namur.
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| Soon into a lock with one of the big boys again! |
At Liege we almost missed the fuel barge, as we were fascinated by the sight of a boatyard capable of taking 110m barges on the other bank!! We filled up with red and white diesel and water.
Height of the river flood in Huy port in July 2021
On to Maastricht and a mooring we had been able to access in 2016 – St Pieters. Then we had moored up alongside our friends Jeroen and Anja on their 39m barge DE CAPO II. This time we moored up to two of the ‘duc d’Albes’ which were the right distance apart for us. So nice was the mooring that we stayed an additional night and took an ‘American School Bus’ trip round Maastricht to get an overview of the city.
At Maasbracht, we heard with some surprise that our friends on BEATRICE were moored in a polder a few kilometres away, so we motored on and across the lake and joined them on a sturdy fixed pontoon (with no access to land) for several aperos and suppers on each barge. The weather was truly dreadful but despite that, it was such a peaceful spot we stayed for 4 nights! (Louise painted the hand rails between showers.)
The following several nights we managed to find moorings in polders off the mainline of the Maas until we eventually managed to find the historic harbour at Kraaijenbergse not very far from Nijmegen. What a super place for us – full of historic Dutch barges, mostly ex-tugs – and such friendly people (and very reasonable mooring charges!)
However, having spoken to the locals there, we realised that even the short 20kms trip UP the Waal, which we had hoped to do, would not be possible for us with the power of our engine, so a change of plan: we would continue down the Maas and get to Arnhem in the reverse direction via the Mepple to Groningen canal and then south down the east side of Holland through Ter Apel etc.
At our mooring north of Gorinchem, at Meerkerk, we heard a little voice outside the boat saying “Hello, RICCALL, hello”. And there to our amazement was Louise Ritchie of her new boat ‘ASCENSION’ (soon to be re-named). Louise had left Keith aboard at Vianen and come to collect their car which was parked 10 yards from our boat! Keith had been visiting hospital in Gorinchem so had stayed aboard to rest. Louise came aboard for tea and bics and we agreed to meet up again the following day when we got to Vianen ourselves. Second coincidence of our trip so far and very welcome!
A new system for mooring, electricity and water, has been installed in this area of Holland since our last visit. It is now necessary to download an app on your smart phone to give you access to the facilities. (Havenmeesters now redundant presumably!) Whenever you moor in a place controlled by this scheme, you advise of your arrival on the phone, and can gain access to water and electricity. The bill arrives at the end of the month which you pay – using your phone.
No! I won’t do it! I won’t pay any bills using my phone. I just don’t trust the technology. So I will do without water and electricity in those moorings and if they want to charge me for the night’s mooring I will pay cash, otherwise they can go to hell!
(However, I have to admit we were quite happy to take water using Keith and Louise’s app!)
We went through the lock onto the Lek but were very taken by the mooring designated for pleasure craft before entering the fast-flowing Lek river. We stopped for lunch, but as a 2-day stay is allowed, we stayed on for overnight.
We got onto the Vecht and found the mooring we had used 8 years ago had enough space for us and two available bollards. It was also one of the ones that now had a small notice on the bollards telling us to pay through the app! (or perhaps through the nose).
Well, the grass was 3 feet high, clearly hadn’t been cut this year. The second bollard was falling out of the earth and the whole mooring had an air of neglect. The two other boats on it looked to be abandoned. Who wants to pay for that? In the end we had to abandon the forward bollard and do a cat’s cradle with the other bollard and the nearby lamp-post.
The following day as we travelled north we were pleased to note that the ‘app’ notices had run out and the un-serviced moorings were back to being ‘free for 3 days’.
We were heading for the Zuidersluis into Flevoland from Muiden but we noticed a little island – Pampus – not far off our route in the Markermeer. We decided to call in there for lunch. There is a fortification there which is part of a line of defences similar we imagine, to the French Maginot Line.
We were joined by a couple on a yacht who had some trouble mooring up in the strong wind. They were members of the Dutch equivalent of the RNLI which was formed a year after our version and operates on the same independent principles.
After an appalling lunch of ‘bitterballen’ (the ubiquitous Dutch deep-fried balls of meaty or cheesy mush) most of which we quietly slid into our doggy bag, we had to say goodbye to the Dutch couple as they were going on the tour of the fort. We felt we couldn’t spare the time for that, as the wind was getting stronger and we still had 20kms at sea to run.
RICCALL maintained a fairly even keel despite the wind which was largely on the stern, only rolling about 5 to 10 degrees. That was until we had to turn at right angles to enter the calmer waters of the Almere-Buiten harbour. Then all hell broke loose as we rolled quite dramatically from side to side! The drawers in the wheelhouse started to crash open and closed and Louise was frightened out of her wits. Alex shouted that whatever else she did, she just HAD to stop the drawers crashing in and out – which she did.
After about 5 minutes or so we were into the shelter of the harbour and everything settled down. A quick check below revealed only one breakage – a little oil lamp which had fallen off the mantelpiece. Of course the accommodation is below the water line so the roll is not as dramatic as in the wheelhouse. Alex has absolute faith in the sea-worthiness of RICCALL and apart from worrying about the drawers, actually enjoyed the drama!
Although the water was calm in the harbour, the wind was still pretty strong so we nestled against a pair of duc d’Albes in front of the red light, and tried to contact the lock-keeper. We tried the radio – no reply. We tried one phone number but the response was of course all in Dutch. We tried a different number and received a message asking it seemed, for our location and destination – but not by name, but allocated numbers. Of course all in Dutch. On our second attempt we guessed at two numbers! Nothing happened. So after 15 minutes we decided to go to the sport boat mooring where we could see an intercom or at least a press-button. As we reversed off the duc d’Albes the wind caught the bow and slammed it onto one of them. Oh shit!
We made our way over to the sport mooring and suddenly the lights went to red and green – they had seen us at last! But as we waited the wind caught us again and we had to reverse off and do a 360 degree turn. As we finished the turn the light turned to red again! What were they playing at?
So we moored up again on the sport mooring and were just about to ring yet again when the green light came on again. This time we waited, safely tied up, until the lock gates were open before setting off.
To our surprise the drop in the lock was over 5 metres, lowering us that far below sea level. This is unusual for Dutch locks, which are often just a few centimetres.
At the next lock a kilometre further on Alex tried the radio again. No reply! Eventually he said, “This is RICCALL, is there anybody OUT there?” (in the tone of voice used by Pink Floyd!). After a short pause, we received a reply! Wow! There IS somebody there after all!
So down another metre onto the Lage Vaart canal in Flevoland, now over 6 metres below sea level.
We stopped on a good mooring close to shops and spent a day shopping. We realised, with something of a surprise, that all the buildings had only existed since the 1960s and later so everything was pretty modern. No fascinating little towns here.
After a couple of days we stopped at the Mechanisch Erfgoed Centrum – Steam Museum - which had been recommended by Paul and Diane. We had thought that this was Steam Weekend but soon learned that it would be next weekend, but we stopped anyway. The museum was amazing, with huge old engines and steam rollers, ancient cars and bicycles, and everything under the sun – sewing machines, radiograms, valve radios, prams, clocks, light switches, meters etc etc. all stored in sections in a vast building. We spent the whole day there and that night on their mooring.
The next day we had another, our third, surprise.
Having got to the lift bridge just before Dronten and had no luck contacting anyone to get it opened for us, we turned round and returned to a good mooring we had passed just one kilometre back. We moored up and set off again on our bikes. On our return, there on the quay was Suzanna Markusse, a good friend we had first met with her husband George 15 years before, in 2009. We last saw them in Harlingen in 2016. What a lovely surprise, so we invited them both for drinks the following day as their own barge was moored close by in Dronten.
As it turned out it was bleaching with rain the next day so we went forward through the bridge (we eventually found and pressed the button this time) and joined George and Suzanna in the passantenhaven, and bought two nights to include electricity - second night half price!
We had drinks together one day and coffee the next and did all the catching up you do after 8 years.
We've included some additional photos of interest during this voyage:
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| RICCALL looking pretty in pink |
