Drentsche Hoofdvaart.

We left Groningen just after lunch yesterday. We had thought we might stay a day, but it is too much "big city" for us bumpkins. We didn't get too far, kilometer wise, down the canal because the bridges take up so much time, but we did enough to get back into the country again. Tied up to a couple of trees near the village of Yde.

Tied up to at tree at the bus stop.

The awful weather we had been promised failed to materialise and it was a lovely sunny late-afternoon so we put the bikes ashore for a ride. Cycling along through the woods we spotted signs for the 'Meisje van Yde' . There wasn't much there when we eventually got to it, but this is apparently where a famous bog mummy was found. But the track to get there was lovely.

We had promised the lock keeper we would be prompt at his 9am lock opening, so it was, for us, an early start. We had no destination in mind, just the idea to stop wherever we were when the bridges shut for the night at 5pm. Again, we were expecting force 6 from the south and lots of rain. It was, however, a light breeze and patchy sunshine.

 We had just passed the centre of Assen when the bridges closed for lunch, so we moored and biked into town for a look see. Small provincial town - looks like a nice place to live. No motorbike races until the end of the month when the Superbikes are in town.

After lunch we headed back down the canal. We are now in the province of Drenthe and the first lock keeper in this province gave us a lovely book of maps and area guides. Very nice. Wish we had them for the rest of the country. There were signs all along the canalside telling us we were now in the Hooglanden (highlands) but we were'nt worried about altitude sickness because, although one of the highest areas in the country, we were still only at  27 metres.

This Drentsche Hooftdvaart is far nicer than we were expecting. On a map it looks quite dull - ruler straight with no interesting villages along the way, but so far it has been quite attractive. It is narrow for a Hooftdvaart, with plenty of trees and, outside Assen, the shops were so close you could windowshop. And SOOOO crowded - we saw one other boat all day!

A secondary road runs along one side, which is a bit odd when you feel like you need to swerve for the trucks. And there are LOTS of bridges. Today we did 32 kms with 4 locks and 29 opening bridges, most of which went smoothly with very little wait, but a couple were more tardy and at one we waited 20 minutes, which feels a lot longer when you are idling in a narrow canal and trying not to end up sideways.

We started playing a game of "Catch the cars" - trying to see how many cars got "caught" waiting for us going through the bridge. The record was about 20, but we couldn't see beyond the bend in the road, so it may have been more. The best was going through a spoorbrug when we held up a train!!! OK, it was a tiddler with only two carriages, but STILL.

"Dodging" the trucks!

We "caught" this train with our opened bridge.

After a gourmet lunch of cheese on toast, I said I felt like icecream, and lo and behold, waiting at the next bridge we spotted a snack bar right next to canal. Clive put the bow ashore and I hopped off to buy us both a cone.

Hopping ashore for an ice cream cone.

At 3pm sharp the rain we had been promised for days arrived. We carried on for another hour, through a couple more bridges and locks til the crew said - "Mais Nada!". So now we're tucked up cosy in a hamlet called Dieverbrug.

Supper last night was Yummy veggie "quiche" in the Omnia.