Arnhem to Maurik. Neder-Rijn.

We left shortly after 9am and headed down the Neder-Rijn in bright sunshine. The jackets were stripped off and we even opened a couple of the tent flaps. Big wide river with plenty of room for little Zoe and the constant stream of barges most of which were headed up-river. 

It was a pleasure to be doing our normal cruising speed of 10km. The river is much more interesting than the IJssel, with villages and farms and even a couple of "hills"! Yes, there are a few areas of high ground in these parts, usually wooded which made them appear even higher.

Ferry

There are only a few bridges along this stretch and they are very high, so no need to open. In between the towns and bridges, small ferries take cars and bikes across the river. 

Our progress was hindered only by two ginormous locks. We had to wait 20 minutes at the first one along with another motor cruiser. 

The first lock we shared, but I think there's room for both of us ...

The second lock was opening its doors as we approached and once the four loaded barges passed out we sailed straight in. We had the whole 260m lock to ourselves!

Plenty of room.

All the barges we passed today were fully laden and, to our inexperienced eyes, appeared to be on the verge of floundering. Put it this way, if the crew needed to walk from the stern to the bow (which would take awhile anyhow), they would get their feet wet. Good thing there are no waves on rivers.

FULLLL !!!

Just as we were negotiating the second lock the heavens opened and it rained, hard, for the next half hour to our next mooring spot in the Maurik lake. 

The island-dotted lake was once a stone quarry and at places is over 25m deep. Can't say for sure as our depth sounder is only set to 25 and it went off the scale. There are a couple of marinas, a yacht club, golf, tennis courts and rows and rows of rental chalets. This is obviously a popular summer holiday spot although we saw not another soul. We tied up to the reception dock at one of the marinas (the one with a washing machine :) ) and it was at least 2 hours before a man showed up to collect his money. 

A wash and dry was 6.50 euros. That's a medium price. The cheapest we have found is still at Strandhorst, our 'home' port, where a wash and dry will set you back 4.50.
The WiFi is free, as it is in most places, albeit usually not strong enough to stream any video. We do listen to the radio quite a bit. When the BBC news gets too repetitive/boring/depressing we switch across to radio 4 extra. Last night was Round the Horne followed by the Navy Lark. Oh my, I can remember listening to these on Springbok Radio when I was a kid, and they were oldies even then! Oldies, but goodies.

We came across houseboats again today.