Strandhorst.

So now we are in the final straight of getting the boat winterized. Skip has spent the morning head in the bilges changing oil, oil filter, replacing gear box bolts, cleaning out bilge and pumping antifreeze into the faithful "beast", as it is called fondly.

The Bimini came down to be scrubbed - we pondered whether to give it a mow first. I guess it's been up awhile. And so on, and so on. Happily :) the sink needs recaulking so we get to eat out again tonight.

Some final statistics, yawn, for anyone who is interested.

Thanks Zoe

We did 840 kms in six weeks.
Total engine hours: 115
Fuel used:  396 litres
Average speed:  8.2 kph - would have been higher if not for the IJssel current
Running fuel : 3.5 litres per hour

Paid moorings for 10.5m boat : we paid between 8,80 and 18,00, which prices included the government tourist charge of 1,25 per person. Some of these prices included a 2,00 euro charge for "stroom" - electricity. At others the stroom was provided at a pay meter which you fed with 50c pieces or euro coins. The highest price for stroom was at Weesp where one euro bought 300 watts (which lasted about 1\2 an hour). Needless to say they only got one euro out of us as we can go without for 4 or 5 days. About one quarter of our moorings were free - could have been more but while we were in Friesland, where the lakes are full of free moorings, the weather was too unpleasant to be in the lakes so we headed into towns instead.

Thanks for your company. See ya next year.

"Look!" said Skip. "Ah, but which boat?" I asked.

Weesp to Strandhorst. Vecht River / Randomeer.

This is what we awoke to.

A pea soup mist.

We had a longish day ahead so set off up the Vecht in the hopes that the mist would be short lived. We refuelled in Muiden and tied up in front of a boatyard which was shut, being Sunday. An hour later the mist had still not cleared so we edged out into the meer and with the help of HD Boating on the tablet made our way up the channel from buoy to buoy. 

I wonder if Jack Sparrow is aboard.

The mist did eventually start to lift revealing hundreds of sailboats slowly going nowhere in the windless conditions. 

By lunchtime the sun had come out. We even dropped the Bimini to fully enjoy the warm sunny conditions and pulled in to our berth at Strandhorst by four pm. Hugs and kisses all round from the Sunday staff. It was like coming home.

Now the work starts, getting the boat ready to leave for the winter. First job a load of washing - the cheapest we came across on this trip at 5.50 for a big load, wash and dry. 

Happily we have the Wok Inn right here in the marina. I think our fortune cookie might predict stir fry prawns in our near future :)

I don't remember any sideways buoys in our CEVNI test.

Amsterdam to Weesp. Amstel River / Weespe Trekvaart.


Today's route took us out of the Amstel river and into the Weespe Trekvaart. A lift bridge guarded the turn into the canal. There was a small sign posted on the bridge and lacking superman's vision, we had to juggle up real close to discover the bridge would not open again until 1.30. "We can make it if we drop the tent." Skip declared, so back down it came and all the windows too and we cleared with 20cms to spare.

"We can make it", Skip insisted. And we did.

The next couple of kms took us through scruffy graffiti-land on the city's outskirts until we re-crossed the Amsterdam-Reijn canal. How many times is that? I've lost count. It's become an old friend. 

Here we go again, we said, as we prepared to cross the Amsterdam -Reijn for the umpteenth time.

We waited for this big boy to pass before dashing across. His name, Novamente, summed up our feelings!

Once across things improved rapidly along, no doubt, with the property prices.

Not too shabby.

Waiting for a bridge in Weesp. This will, I promise, be the last picture of a windmill.

We found a good spot to moor in Weesp's binnehaven and after lunch put the bikes ashore for another 30 km ride to the nearby town of Naarden. I had seen pictures of this fortified town and wanted to see it for myself. The cycle route took us through woods, along the meer and across wonderful farmlands. So pretty.

No we didn't hire a helicopter. I pinched this photo off the internet.

Naarden's fortifications are just as impressive close up. Our first stop was the tourist office to pick up a leaflet about the town which excelled in being as uninformative as possible. They made a passing reference to murder and mayhem. What murder, what mayhem, we asked. Anything we learned was on consulting wiki when we got back to the boat! Who writes these things? (The murder and mayhem was a disgraceful event perpetrated by the Spanish in 1572.)

Naarden's moat.

The bike batteries lasted the 30 km ride, I am happy to report. We saw lots of those fat-bottomed cows Sian posted about in her blog. That's how I knew they were Belgian Blues, or maybe they call them Dutch Blues here over the border :). We also spotted a distant Kasteel.

Back on board we struggled with Filmon, Cricfree and even ITV direct, to watch the boks beat the Scots, but gave up before the England/Australia game as we kept losing the signal. Good thing too, by the sound of it.

Tomorrow is our last day on the water as we make our way out of the Vecht and up the Randomeer to our homeport at Strandhorst. 

Uithoorn to Amsterdam.  Amstel River.

There was a LOT of grumbling coming from the aft cabin when I got up at 5.45 this morning and informed Skip that it was 6.4 degrees out. Brrrr. But we managed to leave on the bikes just after 7 and were at the flower auction at Arlesmerer half an hour later. Skip reckoned it was about 4 degrees with the "windchill". 

WOW! Definitely worth the chilly early start. 

Aalsmere is the biggest flower auction selling 60% of the world's flower.

They auction off 34.5 million flowers per DAY!

That's a pretty impressive 12.5 billion a year.

The daily takings: 9.6 million euros.

Flowers come in from all over the world. These South African proteas fetched 1,60 each. The protea grandioso (bigger) made 2,10 each and pincushions 0,35.

Prices on the auction "clocks" start high and drop until a bidder presses a button to fix the price. There are 40 of these clocks.

Buyers/bidders sit at terminals in two rooms like this. The auction goes at a heck of a pace - they really have to pay attention.

They auction everything from flowers, pot plants, greenery to ornamental pumpkins.

This lot were mostly hydrangeas and boxed orchid plants.

It looked like well organised chaos. Within 60 minutes of pressing the button, orders were collated and being loaded into buyers trucks. The scale  and speed of it all is impossible to get in one photograph.

A couple of hours down river we found ourselves close to the centre of Amsterdam. Interesting, but as you've probably gathered not our thing, so we went back a couple of km to an area of "country" moorings where we are once again tied up to a couple of trees. There are a number of rowing clubs along this stretch of the river and we were well entertained watching them train.

We wondered how many rowers had been put off their stroke by this joker.

How about that for a houseboat!

Here is a link to a short video taken at the flower auction. Persevere - there is a BIG surprise halfway through :)


https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=845031252260239&id=742073815889317&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.magicshoot.nl%2Fdisplay.php&_rdr

Woerden to Uithoorn. Grecht / Amstel River.

Have to smile as I write this. In South Africa I have always associated "Amstel" with beer and it strikes me as odd that it's a river too, albeit one that is the same brown colour. Maybe it tastes the same too :).  The manne (safrican guys) were always rude about Amstel drinkers. "Moffies!" they would cry disdainfully, clutching their Castle Lagers in beefy paws. 
No, don't ask me to translate.

The entrance to the Gracht is beyond this narrow bridge. The canal is not much wider.

The guy in front was going SOOOO slowly, and the canal is too narrow to pass. Skip nearly nodded off at times.

It has been yet another warm, sunny day (see yesterday's sky pic), most of it spent on the sweet Grecht canal. Tad dull at times, but still sweet. 

Every now and then the canal widened. A stiffish breeze had gotten up about here and we were juggling around trying to get up to the button to call for bridge service (so tiny and cunningly hidden you can't see it in the photo). Just then a woman popped up out of a canal side house and came running over with the key.

Things livened up towards the end as we approached the Amstel and we are now tied up on the new quayside moorings in Uithoorn where they have just charged us a princely 16 euros. They have to pay for the new moorings somehow, I guess.

Today's lock cost 1.50 which I had to put in the shoe.

The canal took an abrupt turn right outside the lock.

We had mooted going on a bit further today until I realised:

a. Uithoorn is an easy 7 km bike ride from Aarlesmere and
b.  Aarlesmere is where the world famous flower market is and
c.  Friday morning is auction day !!!

So we are going to be up early tomorrow (6-ish) to be at the auction by 7.30. 

How fragrant!

This was a surprise on the Grecht.

Zwammerdam to Woerde. Oude Rijn river.

With only 13 km to do today, we had a lazy start. It was another gorgeous day and we stopped everywhere we could for a stroll. 

Our weather for the last five days :)

First was a few km down (umm, up, I think) the river at the hamlet of Bodegraven. 

Skip manning the midline in Bodegraven Lock.

The lock keeper asked us where we were headed. "Over there." we pointed to the moorings other side the lock. "We're going ashore for a coffee and an appelflap." He could have told us that the only coffeeshop in town, which is right next to the lock,  was shut. We did find an open bakery though, and I can recommend the Spekulaas tart. 

Back aboard, I made coffee while we watched the lock activity.

The lock opened and out came two loaded barges being pushed by the cutiest widdle tug.

"Look! It's The Little Tug Who Could." I cried.

He pushed and pushed, but sadly he was The Little Tug Who Couldn't and his bigger brother had to help.

But, he did get to push the empties back down river :)))

Further upstream, we came upon a fort with a convenient mooring alongside. It had very impressive ramparts, so we stopped for another stroll. The buildings were all in need of some TLC but unfortunately there was absolutely nothing to tell you about the place. Which was a shame because I looked it up later on wiki and it actually has an interesting history. 

Wiericker Fort

Third stop of the day was our destination at Woerden. A small town with an impressive surrounding moat where they have some gemeente moorings for boats (paid). We managed to find a spot by some grass (well, weeds) and tied up to some trees, which was free and still in range of the haven WiFi.

Approaching Woerden, the canal narrows.

The town is not unnattreactive, with all the usual shops, but the 1960's town planners have much to answer for as they filled in all the canals, other than the ring moat, to make way for cars, which are now banned from the centre anyway. What a shame. Same thing happened in Gouda, apparently, where protesters only managed to save one canal.

Situated on the border between multiple warring states for just about all its existence, the town has an interesting history, but relax, I'm not going to bore you with it. Wiki can do that.

She is someone's pride and joy.

Gouda to Zwammerdam. Gouwe / Oude Rijn.

The first hour or so out of Gouda, up (or down?), the Gouwe was a big snore. I'm amazed Skip managed to stay awake (I was doing sudoku). Things improved, though, once we made the turn into the Oude Rijn. 

About the only thing of interest on the Gouwe this morning was a series of these lifting bridges which can lift to 34m.

Remember, if you want to view bigger versions of the pictures, click on them.

We have come to at least two conclusions on this trip : 
1. Big canals are not for us and ... 
2. We are real bumpkins and don't like big towns either. Even Gouda was too 'big'. 

Jaws dropped when this came, backwards, through the Zwammerdam lift bridge and down the really quite narrow river.

We found a lovely mooring in the village of Zwammerdam - trees, grass and a pretty lifting bridge, and FREE. Happily we are again on the dog walking route and there is a never-ending parade of cuties going walkies next to the boat. Cuddle-time :)

Today's cycle route.

After a Bakker Bart lunch of sausage rolls, we took a nice long ride around the nature reserve just north of here. A labyrinthe of lakes, waterways, islands and woods with pretty villages dotted around. And all on a lovely sunny afternoon. Such a pleasure!

Giving the bottom a break.

I bet these prime moorings in the village of Nieuwpoort are chock-a-block in season

Until we discovered that part of the route took us on a ferry which was closed for the season and we had to consult the maps and plan a detour around the top of the lake which turned a 26km ride into a 38km one. 

And guess what?  The bike batteries only last 30km, so the last 8km or was pedal power alone. Good for the legs, I told myself. I can have an appelflap when I get back, I told myself.  Two glasses of wine tonight, I told myself. 

Then my kind Skip, who still had a trickle left in his battery, swapped bikes with me. Very gallant, but can I still have the appelflap, I debated. What do you think?

Spotted on the back of a pothole repair truck.

Pollock or Mondrian - can't quite decide ...

Utrecht to Oudewater. Hollandse IJssel.

For the fourth time in three days we dropped the Bimini and tent to pass under the first bridge of the morning.

Entering the Hollander Ijssel

It was such a gorgeous day - sunny, clear blue skies, no wind - that we left it down for the rest of the journey to Oudewater. Pronounced, we learned from the first lock keeper who asked us where we were going : ow-der-vaater. 

With our bimini down, we were able to pass through most of the bridges

Pretty!

Once again we crossed the big Amsterdam-Rijhn Canal, but being Sunday, there was little traffic. The first lock keeper had called ahead for us and we made swift progress through the next lock and series of lifting bridges which were all expecting us. We appologised to him for his having to work Sunday on such a glorious day. "Hey, I get paid one and three-quarter times to be out here in the sunshine!".

Lovely houses with lawns to the water's edge.

We got to do some nosy window peeking.

We just loved this stretch of the Hollandse Ijssel. Such a pretty, narrow river with so much of interest along the way. There are plenty of free moorings on this stretch of the. We pulled into one where they had installed a water point for the boats and topped up the tanks.

Oudewater town quay.

We are now tied up on the quay in the centre of town on a free mooring. Most towns we have come across on this trip would have charged for the privilege.

The town blurb says it is the prettiest town in the green heart of the Netherlands, and for once I totally agree with their PR department.

At times very rural.

Other times, the houses got fancy.

And then even fancier.

We picked a nice circular cycle route from my new cycle maps and went for a couple of hour bike ride. Much of the route was along the narrow Lange Lindschoten canal, which we soon realised was the upmarket side of town. VERY nice homes and gardens, including the stately home Lindschoten. 

Lieve Hecksie's outhouse.

No, I told Skip. You can't have a figurehead too.

The cycle routes are such a pleasure - well signposted and virtually car free. Even a cycling "poepslang" (according to my dear husband) can enjoy them worry free.