Month: June 2017

Having said our farewell to Chris, we spent the afternoon doing a self-guided walking tour of the older parts of Amersfoort, which took in the two other remaining city gates, Kamperbinnenpoort Gate and Monneckendam Gate, as well as a number of historical buildings.

 

We managed a 31km loop bike ride the following morning before departing for Naarden – it was a very windy day with waves of 0.5m to 0.75m along the Eemeer and Gooimeer before we moored in the very spacious and sheltered (and expensive) Naarden Jachhaven for a couple of nights – and only a 20 min. walk from the ancient town of Naarden.

Safely moored, we walked straight to town and came across a Friday afternoon wedding party leaving the town Stadhuis (where the majority of marriages are performed in NL).

Sunday 18 June was a long haul of just over 6 hours from Naarden to Elburg in warm and sunny conditions with almost no wind – hundreds of wind turbines enjoying a rest day. We were able to moor in the Nieuwe Haven, very close to the town walls.

Another reasonably long haul of 5.5 hours on Monday took us to our overnight mooring at Vollenhove – memorable mainly because there was not one open bar or restaurant in the entire town! Elaine took a turn at the wheel on the way.

We cycled into nearby Blokzijl the following morning, decided that it was a good destination (problems with our PC-Navigo system), returned and motored there late morning and moored in the large central harbour.

Our trip from Blokzijl to Echtenerbrug via Ossenzijl took us along a very picturesque waterway called the Kalenbergergracht and through the beautiful villages of Muggenbeet and Kalenberg (where we had hoped to moor for lunch – but no public moorings around).

After a café lunch break at Ossenzijl we motored on and overnighted at Echtenerbrug, a rather uninspiring modern town and boat hire centre at the southern end of the Tjeukermeer. We were first through the bridge when it opened at 9am on Thursday 22 June, and made it down to a busy Lemmer in less than 2 hours in 12km winds from the SW, and scored a central mooring just after the Flevobrug.

Lemmer is yet another historical fishing port previously on the Zuider Zee, and now about 60km (across the Ijsselmeer and through the sea locks) to get to salt water. It was famous for its herring, smoked eels and anchovies – now a tourist centre for all water-related and outdoor activities.

Our journey from Lemmer to Sloten on Saturday 24 June was just 1.3 hours. Our mooring at the JH Lemsterpoort was only a short walk into the very pretty city (yes, city granted rights in the 1400’s and now with only 700 residents). As luck would have it, we had arrived on the day of the Sloten annual fair ‘Sipelsneon’ – lots of stalls, great brass band, a Wurlitzer, boats from everywhere, and people like us enjoying it all.

Sloten is also one of the eleven Elfsteden, and without setting out to do so, we have now visited nine of them on Lady M – missing only Ijlst and Hindeloopen – who knows what we may get up to next year?

 

Sunday morning 25 June we found a coffee at the small bar where we had been people-watching the afternoon before, then off to Sneek via Woudsend and the southern end of the Sneekermeer.

A smooth 3-hour trip to Sneek and a mooring in Koopmansgracht midway between the Oppenhuizer and Van Harinxma bridges – in good time to tidy up ready for our next visitors – Tim’s sister Jackie and husband Mike, who are arriving from UK this evening to spend six nights . . more to follow in our next instalment in early July.

We filled up with water at Steenwijk on the morning of a cold and blustery 6 June, and made the short trip down to Giethoorn, arrived in pouring rain and moored on the main canal.

The weather cleared enough for the girls to do a round trip of Giethoorn in a small tour boat whilst Tim did the walking tour. Giethoorn is a very picturesque village dating from medieval times – thatched houses on the water’s edge and pretty wooden footbridges – it has a “Hansel & Gretel” feel about it.

Meppel was our next destination – the weather was so cold and wet that we do not even have a photo to share with you!

Our arrival at the pretty town of Hasselt (another star fort town) on Thusday 8 June was blessed with clearing skies (but still cold), and we were treated to an amazing (and free) public recital at the Grotekerk, performed by the church organist accompanied by a trombone – mesmerising. We visited the kalk ovens (lime) which operated from the 1,800’s until about 1980, and also the small but very interesting town hall museum (also free), and still had time for a great dinner at the Restaurant de Herderin (we had to pay for this).

It was raining the following morning when we headed for Zwolle (dare I say, yet another star fort), but we were rewarded with a mooring in the inner harbour – very convenient for our sightseeing. The ancient town was walled and apparently incorporated about 37 towers – there are only three remaining, of which the Sassenpoort is the best example.

We found a great bar (Holland Pannenkoeken – pancakes) for a sundowner and pre-dinner snack – the huge platter in the photo was €9.50 and fed all three of us – dinner subsequently not required. The weather has finally started warming up a bit.

Zwolle hosted their annual half-marathon on Saturday 10 June (it started at 7:30 pm !) – by default we had ringside seats – apparently 8,500 entrants (including the shortened courses) – TV and helicopter coverage, live band, the whole town was there, dancing in the main street till late that night.

A warm but windy Sunday morning saw us visit Zwolle’s Museum de Fundatie (housed in a funky building) before motoring down to Hattem, and mooring on a pontoon in the large private harbour. The small town square was busy but not overly so – there is a well-preserved working windmill (mid-1,800’s), and the stadhuis and many of the surrounding buildings were built in the 1,600’s.

Monday morning 12 June we departed Hattem heading downstream on the Ijssel for Kampen in cool, windy and overcast conditions. We moored on the riverside wharf adjacent to the town because the jachthaven was 1.5km away from town and would have been tight mooring for Lady M.

On our departure the following morning en-route to Hardewijk we passed under the vertical lifting bridge at Kampen – complete with gold-plated wheels.

A rather long day motoring south in sunny but quite windy (25 to 30km/hour) conditions saw us in Hardewijk inner harbour before 3pm. On the way Chris spent some time at the helm, bringing back memories of her sailing days in Singapore.

Our mooring in Hardewijk was very close to the town centre. Hardewijk was once a sea port but is now separated from the Ijsselmeer (itself an inland lake) by the 20+ km width of the man-made Flevoland island – boat, caravan and cycling tourism have now replaced fishing.

Another longish day on Wednesday 14 June in warm and sunny conditions as we motored for 5.5 hours through the remainder of the Veluwemeer, the Nijkerknauw and the Eemeer and into the 18km stretch along the River Eem to moor at yet another beautiful town – Amersfoort.

Our farewell evening was spent with sundowners and dinner (thanks Chris) at a great little restaurant t’Lieve Vrouwtje in the corner of the main town square, followed by drinks back on board, with a spectacular view from our mooring.

Thursday 15 June was Chris’s birthday, so a cooked breakfast and bubbly onboard before an unexpected walk to the railway station (taxi wait was 45 minutes!) to see Chris on the next leg of her travels to Switzerland and UK – and so closes another chapter on our own journey.

We spent another night in Amersfoort and then on to Naarden before turning east again and heading back towards Sneek – all of that, and more, in our next installment.

Steenwijk was the chosen port to meet up with our good friend Christine who lives in Malaysia and will be our first guest aboard Lady M. There is a direct train from Schiphol to Steenwijk. Our journey from Sneek to Steenwijk will take us through Joure and across the Tjeukemeer to Ossenzijl.

Joure is a very popular and pretty town at the dead end of a short canal, and we spent two nights here – enjoyed a great local pizza one night, visited the historic clock-making workshop . . . and even managed a bike ride too.

On Friday 2 June we took the bus from Joure to Heerenveen and spent a couple of hours exploring this bustling town which was home to many Frisian noblemen in the 1600’s.

On our return to Joure we discovered another Lady M in the harbour in the form of a 9m sailing yacht converted for motor cruising . . . we wonder how many more we might find on our travels.

On the waterway between Joure and Ossenzijl we came upon a windmill for sale right next door to a popular canal-side B&B on the Jonkers of Helomavaart canal a few km east of Echtenerbrug – food for thought . . . . . ? (Elaine said “not for us”).

Ossenzijl is a very small town straddling a bascule bridge (BB) and an abandoned lock (sluis). It was here that we met David from the UK (on his 9m steel yacht) who kindly gave us much valuable information about the local waterways – he has been a nomad in NL for almost 2 years. We spent two nights here and did a great ride which included Kalenburg (a very picturesque village), the DriewegSluis, and our first use of a hand-operated chain ferry – bloody hard work.

Our arrival in Steenwijk on Sunday 4 June was in windy and cool conditions – some brave youngsters arrived to jump from the harbour pedestrian bridge to impress the local girls.

Below is our View from the dunny #2 – a feline neighbour at Steenwijk harbour

In our next installment we head south from Steenwijk on 6 June with Chris safely on board . . .