1st September, 2015

First, thanks for all the birthday wishes.

On Clive's birthday we left Zwolle, earlier than intended due to an imminent swim meet for which they were emptying out the basin, and took a right turn into yet another Vecht river. This time the Overijssel Vscht. I had read that it was a lovely waterway, but had also heard that it was possibly impassable. In the event both turned out to be correct as the river is only navigable for about 30 kms up to Ommen.

The river is very rural - bucolic, in fact, although Clive says this sounds like a nasty disease. We saw no other boats except for the odd fishing dinghy.

There were two hand-operated locks with jolly lock-keepers. I mentioned to the one that it was Clive's birthday, which was passed on to the crowd of a dozen or so cyclists waiting to cross the lock. They gathered on the bridge and regaled us with a tuneful rendition of "Happy birthday", in English! The birthday news was then further relayed to the next lock up river where the lock-keeper also greeted us with cries of "Happy Birthday" and suggestions of where in Ommen to celebrate the event.

Ommen is a lovely little town. There were only a dozen or so boats tied up to the new town haven (inaugurated March 2015) and for a change we were the biggest boat. We put the bikes ashore and took a nice long ride in the nearby woods, mainly to escape the hot sun. Just as we were leaving the boat to go out for dinner a van pulled up to the grassy sward next to the haven and unloaded a big basket and hot-air balloon. They then inflated it and launched right next to the boat. Quite the floor show.

Back down the river the next day - "How's your head?" the lock-keeper wanted to know...

Spent the night in the Molewaard marina in Hasselt - they have a laundry :-) - which we thought very reasonable at 14 euros a night including "stroom" (electricity). We met up with a South African boat, Dream flower, which we had first bumped into in Zwolle and had drinks on board their boat. Turns out they (Tony & Elaine from Hillcrest) know Ian's sister and husband, Sean & Lynne.

After a night wild with thunder and lightning, we were awoken, rather abruptly, by a boat on fire on the opposite dock. Two fire engines a gaggle of firemen and police turned up and evacuated our dock because of the toxic fumes and the possibility of something exploding. Luckily nothing did and after an hour or so they had it under control and we were allowed back on board. They had towed the two closest boats as soon as the fire was discovered. The boat was undergoing renovations and there was no-one aboard at the time. Probably a short circuit  somewhere.

Did some shopping this morning with the bikes - amazing what we can stuff into the panniers, and I even forgot to include two pots of herbs in the photo.

We are now tied up in the binnehaven in Zwaartsluis, right next to the museum. The harbourmaster just came by to collect the mooring fee, and we get three days for the price of two. We'll certainly stay two nights, but probably not three as we want to push on up to the lakes just north of here.

Had Tony and Elaine over last night and cooked up a huge pot of mussels. Luckily there was a very big pot on board because the mussels were 5 euro for 2kg at the local market. I also made some chicken sate. Yum!