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.