30 May 2017

Randomeer - Leidam Eiland to Spakenburg

What a lovely quiet night we had on the island! The only sound (other than snoring :) ) were the birdies singing. 

The trip down the meer was 22kms to the historic (yet again) town of Spakenburg. This time, the attribute really does apply, as the whole harbour of Spakenburg is a museum. 

Before the Afsluitduik closed the Zuiderzee and turned it into a huge lake, this was one of the premier fishing towns along this coast, with a large fishing fleet, smokeries, shipbuilding industry etc etc. 

This is the waterway called the Randomeer. The towns along here, Spakenburg, Hardewijk, Elburg etc were once busy fishing and trading ports before the closing of the afsluitdijk and the reclaiming of the Flevoland polder.

After centuries of flooding, however, and especially as a result of the terrible floods of 1916, the Dutch government finally decided to go ahead with plans to close off the Zuiderzee by building the enormous dyke, known as the Afsluitdijk and that pretty much put an end to the fishing. 

Sailing 'botters' and 'scows' heading out to the lake for a race around the buoys.

The town still has a substantial fleet of mostly antique fishing "botters" which are nowadays a tourist attraction and used recreationally. There are regular "botter" races around the meer and yesterday evening happened to be one of them. About 16 of the lovely old ladies motored out past our boat and had a rather slow and stately "race" around the buoys. 

I'm no expert, but I think this one is a 'scow'.

And I'm pretty sure these are "botters"

The picturesque and narrow old town harbour has probably around 60 old botters while the Nieuwe haven (built in the 19thC) is full of permanent local boats. There is a new haven (21stC i.e. built very recently) which is full of fancy permanent boats and sailing yachts which all means that the available moorings for visiting boats are few, just along the narrow entrance canal to the town which can berth about 20 boats sardined in. There is power, at pay meters (using a prepaid SEP card which can only be recharged in the harbour office) which chomps up the euros in no time. 

It is also a rather long schlep from where one ties up to the harbour office and even further into town. If one needs the ablution block, then be prepared for a walk first. Luckily for us we have bikes and don't need the facilities. Still, there is no doubting that this is a really pretty old harbour.

30 May 2017

Roggebot to Hardewijk to Leidam Island

The meer was particularly boring this morning. We had 30kms down to Harderwijk where we had decided to stay the night. We have been there many times on the bikes from our homeport, Strandhorst, but had never been there on the boat or explored the historic old center.

The Randomeer - just as boring as it looks.

 Coming from the north, the Harderwijk visitors' harbours are through the bridge and turn left. The harbour on the north side is only for commercials.

Instead of going through the bridge, one can elect to go over the aquaduct instead. 

Our previous visits had been really "exciting" ones - boat shops, hardware stores etc etc on the outskirts. Shortly after lunch we were tied up in one of the last spots available in the tiny binnehaven, which was a squeeze to get in.

Skip literally had only inches to spare between the boat in front and the bridge. It was quite a masterful maneuver to get in without incident. You can really see the "moustache" we pick up from the brown water. It drives Skip nuts, and he is forever up front scrubbing away, muttering to himself. Graeme informs us it is called "Chesapeake eyebrows" in the USA :)

From the bridge behind, passing traffic had a good look into our cockpit. I felt like I was in a goldfish-bowl. I was pleased when we moved. 

The town's waterfront in in the process of a huge redevelopment project and I expect it will be very nice when it is completed. This binnehaven is small and only has space for half-a-dozen boats. There is a binne-binne-haven the otherside of this little bridge, but that is reserved for the botter/skutje fleet (cuties!). There are also a couple of marinas on the outskirts.

Skip put his bike ashore and headed off (yet again) to the hardware store and the big camping shop to pick up some more BBQ mats. I elected to walk around the old town, looking in windows and wandering around inside every air-conditioned shop I could find. The old center is really attractive with more than it's fair share of monument buildings (what would be referred to as "Grade II listed" in the UK).

Back on the boat, hot, hot, hot, Skip declared we were leaving again and going to one of the islands where it would be cooler under the trees and without the town buildings blocking the breeze. So despite already having paid the 11 euro harbour fee we went 2km out into the middle of the meer and found a lovely deserted (mostly) mooring with trees and the promised breeze. AND we were back in clean water so we could take a swim and a BBQ ashore. Phew.

 Please ignore me in bathing-suit (aaaaaargh) and admire the tranquil island mooring. There are dozens of these islands in the Randomeer and almost all of them have moorings similar to these. At some of them, a chappie will come around and collect 6 euros from you for the organization that maintains them.

Roggebot Jachthaven

Not a lot to report today as we had a lay day and stayed at the Roggebot yacht harbour for a second night.

We went for a bike ride, of course, in the morning. Short one - 22 kms - through the countryside on the Flevoland Polder side of the river. Up though the woods and down next to the dyke.

This looks like a road, but actually it is the cycle path on the dyke. You can go all around the polder - don't know how far exactly, but it must be close to 150 kms around.

For a change, we were on top looking down.

We got back to the boat in time to adjust the satellite dish for Skip to watch the Grand Prix on channel 4. We had closed the curtains before we went for the ride to keep the sun out the boat, and with the slight breeze and the fan going it was a reasonable 25C in the boat. 

Boring race - no overtaking, but then that's Monaco for you.  The most exciting bit was the creative parking by Vehrulain. Not his fault of course, but he still deserves the parking medal.

Skip spent an hour or so scrubbing the coachroof teak deck. We're not oiling this bit 'cos we don't have enough left, but he will put a dab on a patch so we can monitor how long it lasts and see if it is worth doing the rest.

Beer on the aft deck - La Chouffre - and then supper at the campsite cantina. 

27 May 2017

Dalfsen to Roggebotsluis

- River Vecht, Zwaarte Water, Ijssel River, Randomeer

After a good peruse of the maps on Saturday morning, we decided to put in a long day and get all the way back to the Randomeer. For us a very long day, as it happened, 57 kms. 

"Let's get through the bridge early." Skip declared, so we did. However, just after we got through the lift bridge out of town, he spotted dozens of old tractors parked up next to the canal so we tied up again the first spot we could and wandered over to take a look. What gorgeous old beasties they were.

The Bulldogs were the growliest of all.

This weekend, as part of the town's festivities is an "Oldtimers" meet. Yesterday were the vintage cars and today were the tractors and classic cars. The tractors set off for a 19km route, the cars would do 59km. Getting all the old girls going took some doing, with a lot of cranking and hand-spinning of flywheels and backfiring. (I called it kabooms and bang bang bangs - Skip corrected me and said it was backfires).There was a fair amount of tinkering involved too. There were some lovely old cars too, but somehow the tractors had more personality.

Back aboard we carried on downriver and then took a left turn in into the Zwaarte Water for a couple of kms past Zwolle and through the big lock into the Ijssel River. Being Saturday, there was no barge traffic but there were loads of small boats out and about enjoying the hot weekend weather.

Cruising past Kampen.

 "Take a look at this!" Skip called excitedly, showing me the speedometer. We were doing 14kph which, considering our maximum cruising speed is 10kph, was pretty impressive. "We've got 4kph current with us for a change!".  Which was great, as the whole journey took less time than we had calculated. There were also no lift bridges or locks until we got to Roggebotsluis in the Randomeer where we had decided to stay the night. Speedy. 

We had decided to stop at the Roggebot Jachthaven for no better reason than it was  a) convenient and b) free as we had been given a voucher by our home marina Strandhorst for a free night's stay at one of the other Randomeer marinas. 

 Hard to believe we are in the midst of 180 trailer/caravans. The site is carefully planned so one doesn't feel overwhelmed by campers.

Although the river water is brown, it is perfectly clean and a GREAT way to cool down. Today's high temperature on the aft deck reached 32C.

Turned out a happy choice as it is a delightfully small marina with lots of trees and grassy banks. The place is half empty at the moment with only a couple of the remaining boats occupied so it is very quiet. There is also a huge campground with over 180 mobile homes and caravans, but the way it is laid out  between the meer and a lake, with trees, hedges and plantings between them it seems very private. But hot, hot, hot so we dug out the swimmers and hopped off the back of the boat to cool down. Heaven!

26 May 2017

Ommen to Dalfsen

We had an afternoon's bike ride planned - the Castles & Monuments route from Dalsen - so we left Ommen before 9:30 for the short 12 km cruise downriver and were moored up by lunch time. We had checked out the jachthaven on the way up day before yesterday and concluded that it would be a squeeze for us to get into the slots, so we decided to tie up on the wall before the bridge. No facilities and rather a steep flight of stairs to get the bikes up, but we managed.

There is just the one lock and bridge on the 12km stretch between Ommen and Dalfsen.

 

 Approaching Dalfsen from upriver.

We moored up on the wall before the bridge. There is a small yacht harbour on the downriver side of town if one wants facilities - power, water, ablutions etc.

Turned out we chose well as a fairground and concert tent had been set up right next to the yacht harbour and the boaters there would have needed earplugs to get through the night. 

Scenes from today's bike ride:

Huis de Berg

Kasteel Rechteren.
Parts of the castle date to the middle-ages. The curtain wall, moat and defensive elements were removed during the spanish war in the 1500's to prevent Spain acquiring it and using it against the Dutch king. It is still in the hands of the original family.

The weirs on the Vecht have "ladders" for fish to get upriver to spawn.

For a change, mine was not the largest behind.
What we were looking at ...

Intermittently through our ride, we would have a wobble on the bikes as a noisy engine would approach loudly from behind and one of these lovely old ladies would roar past us. Turns out their begoggled drivers with flying scarves were taking part in a vintage car rally. There were close to 30 of them.

From the river, Dalfsen doesn't look like much, but it is actually a nice little town with lots of shops conveniently close to the moorings. The whole Vechtdal area is lovely, with lots of castles and what in the Uk would be called "stately homes" - here they are called "monument estates".  There is a nice 38km bike route taking in most of them which we did in the afternoon. It has been hot lately, but it is always cooler on the bike and much of the route was through woods and forest.

Headed back to Dalfsen, we heard some loud engine revving noises so pulled over to see what a roadside crowd were looking at. 

"It's a tractor pulling competition." translated Skip from a poster. 

Well, yes indeed, but MICRO pullers. 

Unsurprisingly, the audience consisted mostly of blokes :) 

We took a walk over to check out the fair in the evening. We were there kinda imbetween times and there were surprisingly few people about. Some kids on the rides and attractions, and some teenagers losing their money in the shooting galleries etc, but it would all liven up when the concert started at 10pm by which time we were back aboard enjoying the cool evening air. Just as we were about to turn in at 11:30, the fireworks display started just behind the boat and went on for 15 minutes.

The prettiest and most fragrant stall at the fair was this one selling donuts, oliebollen and other yummy fattening things. We only looked.

I wonder who brings storks their bubbies?

  

Ommen

We did the BEST bike ride we ever had today. 36km through woods, farms, villages, just wonderful. There was even a MOUNTAIN, the Lemeleberg, although at 42m high it's a stretch calling it a mountain. Anyhow, let's just say we even had undulating terrain. We did have a lovely long SWOOP down the other side.

I'll just let the pictures tell the story 'cos we're gonna go uptown, where there are thousands of people enjoying the riverside sunshine, and try yet another beer....

(p.s. remember, you can click on the photos to make them bigger)

Despite taking a picnic, we just had to stop at this cafe/restaurant in the woods. This is Skip's special smile he reserves for chocomel with whipped cream, or for kibbeling. He also had an apple pancake which he declared was:  "Wonderful, nothing like those poncy crepes you get in France."