Although the cruise across Flevoland was unremarkable in itself, what WAS remarkable was the thought that until the 50s and 60s this whole enormous area of 1000 square kilometres would have been 6 metres under water.
We set off again on our way out of Flevoland, through the locks and the 6M rise at this end of the island onto the Ketelmeer. Alex wondered if our much-reduced speed may be the result of growth on the hull. This had been bothering him for some days and so he decided that as we were relatively close to SRF in Harlingen we might try to see if they could fit us in for a quick lift-out to check. SRF couldn’t fit us in before September so he tried Multiship, also in Harlingen. They could do it the very next week – at a price!
After some heavy bargaining over the cost of it all, we made the decision to go ahead. This meant we would travel a similar route to Harlingen as we had 8 years previously, rather than taking our direct route from Mepple to Groningen on the Drentsche Hoofdvaart Canal via Essen. But never mind! There are always the meers to enjoy on our way to Harlingen
Now we could look forward to the historic village of Blokzijl where we had been lucky enough to moor in it’s harbour 8 years ago. When we got there we saw what looked like a space big enough for us between two cruisers. We headed for it but as we started to manoeuvre in we saw that the quay had a kink in it half way along. Abort! Abort! We’d have to reverse out and moor elsewhere - perhaps in a space that a passer-by told us was normally used by a trip boat. But as we backed out the wind caught us and Louise had to quickly insert a fender between us and the posh cruiser as we slid along its upper hull!
Alex went along afterwards to apologise. “Is there any damage?” asked the grim-faced owner. “No” said Alex. “Well that’s all right then”. No smiles or bonhomie – miserable git!
That night there was to be an alfresco play by a local touring ensemble. A stage had been floated into the lock after hours and tiers of seating erected looking over it. All the local residents appeared dressed in traditional garb and the “Lord Mayor” in a top hat and his lady came to talk to us before the show began but said, sadly, that there were no more tickets available.
However shortly after the show began we went for a wander and found ourselves ‘backstage’, as it were, sitting on a bench with one of the locals watching the whole thing from the ‘wrong’ side!
The most interesting part was that the hero of the piece was seated not 10 yards from our bench on an old tjalk, waiting to claim his beloved. His back was to the audience throughout and he joined in the singing but kept a low profile. Not until the very end did he leave the barge and join the rest of the cast in the finale. He did have a very good voice and Louise thought he looked smashing! But of course the whole thing was in deepest Dutch dialect so we hadn't a clue what was going on! But the hero got the girl. Universal!
As we journeyed on from Bloxzijl we noticed that the propeller seemed to be more noisy than it had been! What next? We found that if we slowed down to about 5.5 kph it became quiet again. As we had plenty of time we decided to do that speed all the way to the lift-out and investigate what might be amiss on dry land.
Spotted this rather strange double-master in the throes of renovation in Franeker - note the hole in the hull, and the welder working INSIDE the boat through the hole!!
The lift out went without a hitch and it turned out that the growth on the hull was not as bad as we had thought. But we were committed now, so the job would have to go ahead. The propeller also looked absolutely fine. So the noise would probably still be there when we got back into the water!
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| On our way back into the water |
Alex knew the seals on the outside end of the stern tube had ceased to be effective as water had started to seep through, so while we were on the hard he introduced some extra grease into the bearing. After refilling the greaser TWICE he at last managed to get some grease to exit the outer end of the prop shaft. Perhaps as the oil seals had failed the grease had been washed out?
When we finally got back in the water and set off the strange noise from the prop had stopped. In fact, the whole barge seemed to be back to a time when all had been operating smoothly. And our speed seemed to be back to normal. Hurrah!
We moored at Stroobos so that Jeremy and Carol (latterly of barge ANTHONIA but now in a camper van) could meet up with us, but before they arrived we noticed that the discolouration on the port side of the barge couldn’t be removed however we tried. We had thought it was just general wind-blown shipyard dust and that it would come off with a good wash. The starboard side which also looked discoloured did come clean fairly easily with a stiff brush. Strange!
Alex wrote to the shipyard, sending photos, to ask for advice. It was thought by them to be overspray from the undercoat being caught in the wind. We were asked if we could return to the yard and they would sort it out. Alex explained that we were by then 3 days cruising time away and couldn’t return. Finally, it was agreed that if they could give us a couple of 5 litre tins of hull blacking, we would do the painting ourselves. After much discussion it was arranged that one of the staff members who was driving to Germany that very evening could drop it off at Stroobos.
So on Friday night at about 7.30 pm and while we enjoyed supper with Carol and Jeremy, we received 20 litres of Hempex High Build Black. Fantastic! More than we had asked for, but hey, we still had to do the work!
Onwards to Groningen and we found the same mooring we had used 8 years ago, and it was available. Lunch at IKEA, a climb of the Martinitoren for fantastic views of the city, and more food shopping as usual. We were just setting off after the 2nd night when the Havenmeester appeared – that will be €57 please. We explained that as there was no signage regarding payment, we had assumed the mooring was free. “Oh no! Nowhere in Groningen is free – it says so on the internet” he said. But €57?!!
And when we set off we discovered a definitely free mooring just round the corner!
As we travelled east out of Groningen we spotted ahead of us what looked like an extremely large barge, but as we got nearer we saw that it was in fact an ocean-going ‘tramp steamer’, huge, brand new and still being completed in a massive shipyard. Then a kilometre or so further on another and then more and more, all brand new and in various stages of production: a sort of production line of huge sea-going barges, each 150m long and at least 12m wide and so tall – 7m minimum freeboard and the wheelhouses 14m up in the air! Extraordinary! Who knew this was all happening in north east Holland.
When we arrived at Veendam, we moored up on what we hoped after Groningen, was a free mooring, and adjacent to our mooring was a ‘coffee shop’ of the Dutch variety. There was an endless procession of cars stopping for just two minutes – time enough to buy the next joint but no coffee. Next morning we discovered it wasn't, as hoped, a free mooring - But €8 is fine thank you very much.
The lock keeper had told us to be ready at 9 o’clock to traverse all the bridges together with three other cruisers (all German on their way home via the Ems).
At 8.30 he came to tell us that one of the Germans wanted to leave as soon as possible and could we be ready sooner. We said give us 10 minutes to warm the engine and then we can.
This was the start of a day in which we were last in a convoy of impatient Germans who wanted to get home before the weekend at which their holidays ended. They had to wait for us at each bridge and lock as we could only mange 5 kph in the shallow canal. We made many references to the hare and the tortoise during the arduous day!
Alex managed to remove two bits of detritus from the prop (which Alex had expected had been there for some time) but the last bit of string just couldn’t be shifted.
We had asked for 10am start the next day but it wasn’t till 10.30 when two other cruisers appeared that we got going again, for another day of bridges and locks.
One of the cruisers stopped at the passantenhaven so that left just one to contend with and he was also heading for Germany so we lost him at the junction as we headed south on to the Compasscuum Canal. At last, we thought, we have the canal to ourselves, but No! A cruiser came round the corner from Germany and joined us in the first lock to head south!
The locks are not so big here and seemed to be getting smaller as we progressed. When we reached the Compasscuum Jansen lock the lockkeeper would only let us in by ourselves and also mentioned that there was a low bridge ahead in a couple of kilometres. We decided to moor up for the day and hope for drier weather in the morning when we would have to remove the roof.
The morning dawned sunny and wind free! We removed the roof and set off. As it turned out we might have just squeezed under the bridge (which was a lift bridge but seemed to be restricted as to how high it could lift).
The rest of the day was great as we were the only boat travelling. We had to negotiate the circuitous route around the Veenpark (an industrial heritage site). No boats can moor here to visit the site, which seemed a shame. This canal had been closed for some time and the original route had been built over so when they reopened it in 2013 the Veenpark jiggle was the only available route.
This included several right angled turns and also the pinch point of the whole journey – a very old lock – kept open but still only 4.8m wide.
RICCALL is exactly 4.8m wide so we were looking forward to this. In the event it was tight, but the lower hull of our barge is narrower than the deck and we got through with centimetres to spare.
Finally we moored up near the start of the StieltjesKanaal at the first lock – just in time as it turned out as the wind became a near-hurricane together with heavy squalls of rain. The day ahead, Sunday – appeared to give us just an hour and a half of cruising time before a rail bridge which is totally closed on Sundays – the only one of our entire route. Louise made a decision and declared a day of rest – then went on to the paint the starboard hull of the boat making good use of a fine morning.
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| Lovely day, but not exactly warm! |
It was a nice spot upstream of the Stieltjesluis so we stayed a couple of nights.
In the morning we tried to alert the lock-keeper, assuming that he/she was at the lock as there were two cars parked outside. There appeared to be people inside the lock building but Alex was unable to contact them when he walked down to the lock. In the end, having tried the VHF to no avail we had to ring the phone number given in our P C Navigo computer program. After trying each of three numbers, finally a lady said “I will prepare the lock for you”! Gosh! The myriad systems of alerting lock-keepers here in Holland really makes alerting someone difficult. By press button, by VHF, by phone, by video surveillance camera. You never know which it’s going to be!
When we got to one of the many lift bridges we seemed to have lost our travelling bridge operator. We hung around for 10 minutes or so then gave up, moored and started our lunch as it was 11.50 and the bridges close between 12 and 12.30pm, so we assumed we would have to wait.
We had just started our lunch when the bridge operator arrived together with two cruisers. We asked to stay to finish our lunch but he explained that if we didn’t go through now we would have to wait till late afternoon to get going again so we went through the bridge, stopped immediately for a quick finish of lunch then set off again to catch up with the other boats in time for 12.30 at the next bridge.
What a palava! The other two boats sped off and we trailed along behind. After the next bridge we gave up and moored up for the day. This gave us time to cycle back to Lidl, our favourite shop (who knew?) for supplies.
We had assumed that this 'little' canal in the far east of Holland would be calm, rural and very peaceful. In the event it turned out to be the industrial powerhouse of the country, with huge gravel workings, cement works, chemical factories and so on. Quite a surprise!
As we were nearing the end of the Stieltje Kanaal we, on a whim, contacted the Almelo Passantenhaven and asked if we could moor our 70 ton, 19m barge in his marina. This seemed to be fine and he opened the two bridges necessary to travel to the end of the dead cut. He welcomed us to the mooring just before the Java bridge. This was a really good mooring for us and especially for historic boats as they can moor for free. He kindly gave us free electricity too so we just had the tourist charge of €1 per person to pay.
Almelo town from the wheelhouse
Almelo small boat harbour from the wheelhouse
We stayed for two nights, had a very mediocre lunch in town and had a look round the old textile district. The whole area has been demolished and re-built with social and private housing in typical modern Dutch style. Very impressive.
Moving on we decided, in the teeth of yet another rain storm, to grab an ideal mooring somewhat earlier than normal. It was intended for commercial craft but it was supposedly necessary to contact the Eefde Lock to ask for permission to moor from 6pm-6am, which we dutifully did. We rang the number but as expected the message was in totally unintelligible Dutch. We used our translator device to record the message and wow, it worked – press 1 for the control centre, press 2 . . . etc We did so and the guy who answered spoke perfect English. “Could we moor here for the night please?” “I will ring back and let you know.” OK right.
10 Minutes later he rang back and told us we could moor at the ‘Sport’ mooring (pleasure boats are called Sport in Holland and Germany) at the next lock Eefde. Alex explained that we were miles from Eefde at this mooring east of Goor. “Oh, I see. Well that’s OK, you have my permission!” Good job.
Arriving at said Eefde Lock the next day some time after 3pm we asked to moor on the Sport mooring for the night. “No.” Well how about the commercial mooring “No.” We asked what had happened to the Sport mooring which our Waterway Guide from the DBA had mentioned. “There is no Sport mooring here. Go back 12 kms to Lochem or out onto the Ijssel and up stream to Zutphen.” The Ijssel, we knew, was running at around 6kph so trying to go upstream would be, if not impossible, at least very difficult.
Well, what could we do? Faced with this impossible choice we turned tail and retraced our steps, expecting to have to do the 12 kms to Lochen where we knew there was mooring. However, approaching the little harbour of Nieuwe Aanlag we saw that there was a ‘box’ available wide enough for us to nose into – carefully! (A box in this context in Holland, is a space designed with upright poles to corral a suitably sized boat bow or stern on to a quay.) Very slowly and with great care we went in.
Thankfully snuggled into this tiny little harbour
The havenmeester, after welcoming us warmly, expressed amazement that we had been refused mooring at the lock and took pity on us, despite our being oversized, and said we could stay providing we were well roped. In the end we had 7 ropes to various points around the barge and fenders in everywhere. Even so we moved around a great deal as the big commercials whizzed past.
We decided despite some consternation about the speed of the Ijssel, to leave the next morning and managed to extricate ourselves without side-swiping anybody (by a miracle) and headed back down stream to Eefde Lock.
As we went through we saw that there was a perfectly good Sport mooring both above and below the lock and plenty of space on the commercial mooring. Was it just coincidence that 2 days before England had beaten Holland in the Euros? We feel a letter of complaint is in order, because that is just not on.
The Ijssel was flowing at 5 to 5,5 kph so on top of our 7.5 to 8 kph we made good progress.
This is probably the fastest we have ever cruised!
The moorings at Deventer were under water and there was no obvious place to moor so we decided to just get the Ijssel under our belt in one shot as it were, and reached Zwolle Lock just after 3pm and with some trepidation asked if we could moor on the Sport mooring downstream of the lock for the night. Again the lock-keeper said he’d check and get back to us on VHF. “Yes, you can, but please moor at the very end of the mooring and what time will you be leaving?” We said 9-10am, our usual departure time.
We were just starting breakfast at 8.45 the following morning when the RWS (water ‘police’) launch crossed the waterway from its mooring and moored up behind us. They came to say that we should have left at 8am, despite their having heard our conversation with the lock-keeper the night before as to our intention of leaving at 9-10am. “Can we finish our breakfast?” “You have 5 minutes.” That’s a no then!
Honestly, if they had heard our intention last night, why didn’t they come over and make the 8am departure clear. We would have got up earlier. What is it with these guys. The England-Holland match again?
They hovered around us in their launch until we actually set off then they whizzed off into the lock while we set off down the Ijssel again while finishing our breakfasts and the morning’s ablutions in shifts.
With relief we got to one of our favourite moorings on the Keteldiep by 11 am. Off the main line, quiet and peaceful and 3 days allowed (max length 15m). But gosh where did we lose those 3.75 metres?!
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| Another rather splendid house |
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| Completely empty on passing one way - totally full 2 weeks later! |
1 comment:
Fascinating stuff as usual Louise. Jean and Mike x
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