29th April 2016
Durgerdam to Haarlem

I am tired of telling you about the chilly starts, so ... it was a lovely, blisteringly hot morning with nothing but blue skies. I wish. The day did differ from the rest though, in that it has blown a hoolie all day, which made manoeuvring quite interesting at times. 

Clive found the passage through the city´s commercial port quite interesting - for me it was ho hum. 

Amsterdam´s commercial port has miles of engineering works etc. lining the river.

On the other side of the city, we went up a small canal, turned right sharply and tied up outside a big boating centre called Dekker Watersport. 

Tied up outside Dekker waterport

We had been warned that their prices were quite high and we would be better off buying online, but skip only needed a few bits and pieces in the bolts and screws department and for these their prices were pretty competitive.

Skip happily wandered around for an hour

...while I browsed the maps.

We also bought a boarding ladder to hang over the side as I battled in some of the low places we moored last summer. Dekker´s basin is really very small with only a 4-boat dock out front. The wind was now gusting up around 30 - 40 knots from the side, but skip masterly got us out of there with minimum fuss and no dings. Unfortunately the weather was so awful, no one was outside to admire his skill !!

The shipping got bigger. We stayed well clear.

How´s that for a close shave?

From Dekker to Haarlem is only 16 km but it has taken an age as some of the bridges shut from 16.00 - 18.00 (rush hour) so we are still sitting waiting as I write this. We are hoping to get moored and go ashore for dinner later. I think I´ll take something out the freezer just in case.

28th April 2016
Somewhere on the Flevoland Polder to Durgedam

What a glorious morning! No wind, sunny, warm - wonderful. We pulled up stakes just before 9 am and set off down the mirror-like canal. 10 minutes later we passed the first of many public mooring docks, spaced at every couple of kilometers along the canal all the way to the exit to the Ijsselmeer. Dunno why there were none in the 16km stretch up to Hardersluis. 

Tulip fields alongside the canal

Everyone was enjoying the lovely morning, wildfowl, rowers, dog walkers etc. Very few boats, though. At one point we had to make an emergency stop to allow a red setter to swim across the canal with a float in his mouth. We think he was in gun-dog training. His owner was very grateful that we had stopped and yelled thank you´s as we went past. As we approached Almere, the dormitory town at the south end of the polder, the area became increasingly built up with houses and low-rise apartments. It looks like a nice area to live - very leafy with lots of gardens and just a 20 minute train ride to downtown Amsterdam.

Suddenly the clouds came over and a few minutes later we were in the middle of a dump of hail/sleet which so built up on the windshield we could´nt see out.The temperature also plummeted, so Skip quickly lit the heater. Luckily it stopped just before we approached the Suidersluis lock and by the time I had to go out on deck to handle lines, the sun was out again.

Hail/sleet one minute ...

... sunny the next.

At the lock, we let a commercial barge through in front of us. We are, after all, on holiday, and he has no doubt a schedule to keep up. He only just fit into the lock with just a couple of inches to spare. 

Just inches to spare.

The crossing over the Ijsselmeer was dull, as expected. There were a few sailboats out and a steady stream of barges in the shipping lane which we avoided other than to hop across at one point. 

Durgedam consists of a row of very pretty gabled houses and a chapel. Nothing else, except for the sailing club where we spent the night. The club is exclusively for sailboats and it is nice to be in a marina full of yachts again. It is really pretty and quiet and a short hop into the city. A bus runs every half hour to the ferry across from Amsterdam Central station, so one could go into town easily from here. The mooring fee is 15 euros, which includes electricity and wifi and there is a washer and dryer in the ladies, which I made use of. 

Durgedam

Last week, when we were in Lisbon, on a whim we went to eat at a seafood restaurant we had not been to for about 8 years. At some point during the evening we got chatting to the couple at the table next to us, who eventually joined us. Gerrit & Sandra are a Dutch couple with a boat here at this yacht club and we came here on their recommendation. I emailed them to say we were here and they turned up an hour later to say hi. They have their boat out on the hard in Monnickhendam, the next door town, and we have arranged to meet them there for dinner in a couple of weeks time.

Zoe tied up at the Durgedam Sailing Club.

Disappointingly last night´s low temperature was back down in the minuses again -0,08. We have since learned that this is the coldest April since 1984......

26 April 2016
Strandhorst to Elburg

Just a reminder, if you click on the phtos it will make them bigger.

We only managed to get off after lunchtime, what with last minute chores in between freezing rain showers. The trip up to Elburg was 26 km, when we eventually got around to looking it up - longer than we remembered. But we were smug and snug inside our tent, feeling sorry for passing boats with their crews out in the elements.

Underway at last.

We were amazed to see both kite and windsurfers blasting across the bay - either mad, or dedicated, or both.

Elburg inner haven.

The inner harbour of Elburg is charming, full of old wooden sailing boats called "botters", but there is limited space for visiting boats so we found a good spot on the grassy wharf near to the shower blocks. The harbour master came to collect the mooring fee - 15 euros. Last year was 12, but they have removed all the pay meters and now the electricity, showers etc are included in the price. Yay, we cranked up the electric fireplace to it´s highest setting! 

We had both run out of wine - desperate situation, so we put the bikes ashore for a chilly 6 minute cycle to the Jumbo. Skip had been drinking from the remains of a 3 litre Albert Heijn house white which had been opened way back in September last year. "Houdbaar 3 weke naar opening!"  (Keeps for 3 weeks after opening") it said on the box. We can reliably inform them that it was houdbaar for a lot longer than that.

Elburg city gate

Cocktail hour was spent on the aft deck with the heater going, the entertainment provided by an English charter group who moored behind us - a good half-hour of battling with lines, fenders and all to a soundtrack of yelling and frantic overuse of their bow thruster. Before we even heard them talk we knew they were English because they were wearing short pants and sandals. It was 5 degrees outside.

The rain and wind let up enough for skip to light the first BBQ of the trip. That´s better.


27th April
Elburg to somewhere on the Flevoland Polder.

Today was King´s day - a major public holiday in the Netherlands. The kids all take to the streets to set up stalls selling off unwanted toys, clothes etc, while the adults party in the streets and EVERYONE wears orange. 

We spent the day in Amsterdam last year which was fun, but crazy. Elburg was a much more genteel affair - more upmarket and family oriented. There were lots of games for the kids while the parents and grandparents watched from the patios of the bars and restaurants lining the main street. It was also fun, but in a quieter way.

Luckily the morning was sunny, the rain holding off until after lunch after which it drizzled most of the afternoon. We decided we might just as well sit in the rain underway, and started heading down the Flevoland polder. 

The deepest lock we have come across in Holland so far - 5m drop

We passed through the lock just above the Hardewijk bridge. It is a small one boat lock but the 5m drop shows how much lower the land on the Polder is compared to the surrounding areas. 

On the other side, the canal is very rural, with thousands of water fowl. There are very few mooring places and when we eventually decided to stop about 5.30, we just pulled into a side creek and banged some stakes into the bank. The wind has dropped so Skip is making another braai.

Where´s the rest of him?

The night time temperatures are improving! A couple of days ago we recorded a low of -3, then night before last it was 1.1 and last night a balmy 2.5 ! Wow, the only way is up ....

25 April 2016

Strandhorst

Our flights to the boat all worked out well, in fact the TAP flight from Lisbon to Amsterdam left on time and arrived 1/2 hour early. Nephew Michael kindly met us at the airport and drove us the 80 km to the boat. It only took Clive a couple of minutes to reconnect the power and toilet, turn on the heating and then we grabbed a quick pizza at the Italian restaurant on the dock and crashed.

Skip happy to be back!

Woke at 10 am (!!!) - no cats to wake us up wanting to be fed.

After crossing his heart, Skip turned on "the Beast", which started at first go. Excellent! He tested out the rudder, gears, revs etc - all working. He then tried the bow thruster and, oops NOTHING. 

So, anyhow, after 3 hours of dismantling the forepeak cabin he eventually got to the motor and had it out and taken apart. The problem was a seized bearing at the front end (?) - I think that´s what he said. Being Sunday we had no option but to wait until today to get it repaired. This morning, Andre from the marina office took Clive into town to a chap with a small workshop who gave it a big bang with a hammer and now it works. OK, so I might have simplified that a bit, but it was something like along those lines. It is now reinstalled (there was a lot of bad language coming from the forepeak - I had to cover my ears!) and is working fine.

Yesterday late afternoon we put the bikes together and headed across the river on the ferry to the only supermarket open on a Sunday in Zeewolde. Stuffed the panniers full to bursting and had a very chilly ride back again

In case you ever wondered what would fit in 2 panniers & a small backpack.

The weather has been CHANGEABLE. Mostly sunny, but every half hour or so the heavens open. We had every kind of water that falls out of the sky yesterday - rain, hail, sleet and, yes, snow! Temperatures around 3-8 depending whether we were in a sunny or sleety patch. Got down to -3 at some point last night. 

Hail on the deck - brrr!.

The friendly ferryman made me a souvenir snowball as it chucked it down on the ferry across. He thought it was very funny. I felt like chucking it at him :)

Happily we are really cosy on the boat - warm and toasty. Clive turns the heating on when he gets up for his 6 o´clock pee, and by the time we get up a couple of hours later it is 16 in the boat. We turned on our new aftdeck tent heater yesterday evening and sat out with a drink and some oude amsterdam cheese. We had to turn it off when it got to 22 degrees and we were sweltering. So that works!

Our plans have changed somewhat, with the delay in departure and the weather. Tomorrow we will putter up to Elburg, about 18km up the meer. We will stay there for Koning´s dag on Wednesday as it is a pretty old town and should be very jolly. We´ll then look out the window and decide where next. 

PS  This German keyboard is taking some getting used to as the Y & Z are transposed, so pardon me if I forget sometimes.