but for the Grace

18th July, Dordrecht to Gouda.

Checking my log, I do keep an official one even on the canals as I think it may be the law although some days my entries are a bit vague! I see that we left our berth and were doing the bridge foxtrot with the other boats waiting for the Engelangen Bridge to open all before 0900. Dordrecht has been fun and it is a really pretty place to moor up in. Looking back from the water you get a great view of the old town.

We are heading up the Noord Kanaal today, the only real pinch point today is the Alblasserdam bridge which as very fixed opening hours. We are motoring and are quickly up the two miles to the bridge! Just missed its last opening and the next time it opens is 1015. There is also no waiting pontoon so nothing for it but to waltz about for half an hour with the other boats and dodging the barges who of course can fit under the bridge and will not wait or indeed stop for anything! 

Once we are through, then a couple of miles until we reach the junction with the Oud Maas river. Turn to port and continue to head north for 3 miles, we are skirting the east side of Rotterdam, then after a mile we need to make a sharp turn to starboard into the Hollanse ijssel. It is quite industrial with big busy shipyards.

Surprisingly it would have been quite easy to miss it even at 4.5 knots as we distracted by Noah’s Ark…..it has been rainy recently but really! 

Ark with giraffe!

Then almost immediately we are at the Algerabrug and Sluis. I radio up the lock keeper on VHF 22 and the next opening will not be until 1220, unless there is a large container ship which we can follow. We tie up and have lunch. 

We are going to stop at Gouda for the night to make sure that we are bright and early for the railway bridge at Gouda which opens only every 4 hours so it is important that we make the opening first thing tomorrow morning for its 0938 opening! 

We still have 8 miles to sail to Gouda and one last lock, the big Juliansluis which we do quickly. 

The big Juliansluis

We have chosen the first and we think easiest Marina to get into, the Cruising Association guide says it a bit industrial and tight to get into but all the others require 3 locks which means getting out in the morning is a bit chancy! Our pilot instructions says turn to starboard at the windmill (surprise!) and then another sharp turn to starboard through the narrow gap by the lime factory! It is right, and we are soon in a channel the width of the boat and into a tiny marina bounded by a petrol station on one side and the Dutch equivalent of B and Q on the other……but there is a view of a windmill! 

Approaching slowly, and wondering where to stop, a man pops out of a boat yells “Hello Captain!  23”, our berth number and two old codgers trot along the boardwalk to greet us and within minutes Grace is safely moored between two posts with her engine off for the first time that day.

Naturally our first stop has to be the Cheese Museum as we are in Gouda! This is in a very fine market square where they held the cheese market until 1952. I assume it is in some tin shed on the ring road now. 

The town hall and market square 

In the background there is the roof of the cathedral towering over the shops and cafes surrounding the square, it is the longest in the Netherlands.

The cheese market 

We pay our €4.50 and we’re direct up some spiral stairs, on the first floor we were mistaken for the vanguard of a German coach trip and confusion reigns! Ushered up more spiral stairs we are sat down in front of a video! This is an ‘epic’ produced in the 1970s for the Milk Marketing Board, featuring an all star cast of cows and is incredibly cheesey…..pun intended! Anyway we make a swift exit, avoiding being herded onto a coach back to Dordrecht and are now fully qualified experts in the manufacture of Gouda cheese, prounced Houda! Naturally I put my new found knowledge to the test and buy some.

Time for a quick iced coffee before we go exploring!

Gouda is a pretty little place, even with flying cheeses!

It is Anne’s birthday today and we take some time to explore Dordrecht. Of course being a Monday absolutely everything is closed! 

The is no signs of life! I wondered if everyone was hungover from the partying the night before but even everything related to yesterday’s festival had vanished! I began to wonder if I had imagined it! 

The tourist office was miles away in the new bit of town and were helpfully unhelpful. At least we got directions for the bike hire place near the station. It was easy to spot by the 30 foot bike outside although I did not notice it at first. Hiring bikes was surprisingly easy for country where we have been told we cannot use our credit cards because they are bumpy! The only proviso was that the bikes had to be back before midnight! We both agreed that that would not be too much of a hardship.

Without much of a plan we headed out on the Oranjeplaan towards Biesbosch National Park. On the way out to the park, which was an extremely long 5 km we noted lots of houses with thatched roofs, the explanation of why was in the park. The park area was originally cultivated reed banks and willows. So plenty of things for thatching roofs. It also formed the basis of building the dykes. Their origins date back St Elizabeth’s flood of 1421. 

After lunch we cycled round the park before heading home via some nice cycle paths and a stop for iced coffee by the old port entrance. 

Cycling is good fun when it is flat, with no hills and nice wide cycle paths, special road junctions and cars that don’t come at you from every angle! I guess that is basically Holland…..

Back at Grace after dinner in the main square, we have walked miles and are both a bit saddle sore but console ourselves that cycling and walking use different muscles so we would be much more tired if we had only cycled or only walked all day! Very strange logic indeed!

Sunday 16th July.

It’s our wedding anniversary…..30 years ago we really did not think we would be doing this! By 1130 we are in the fairway, I have radioed the Sluis and we are good to go! We soon pass into the Volerak and over to the red/green HG1 mark at the far end of the channel. We now follow the green HG buoys until we reach HG13 where we turn to starboard and into the waiting area of the lock. There are three boats waiting. An English yacht turns up and warns us that it will be a chaotic free for all in a moment. Then suddenly as the lock lights change from red to red/green dozens of yachts appear around us! There is no orderly British queuing here just one big scrum! Fortunately the lock is really big and the lock keeper is there on the side encouraging people to move up closer! 

1330, the big lock gates slowly open and somehow Grace has managed to wiggle her way to the front. Not bad considering we were almost last to enter! I think scars she now carries makes people think before getting in her way! We are finally now in Hollandse Diep Noord. It is in fact one huge Shell chemical factory that stretches for miles and the waterway is essentially on large motorway with barges shooting up and down it at 15 knots! 

We make our way across to Numansdorp (where there is apparently a very good golf course as we were advised by someone who we nudged in the lock. I think they thought that we would be better at golf than sailing…..no wrong we are even worse golfers than sailors!) and the NMD1 buoy. With the wind almost astern we run down the margin of the shipping channel between the 2 m shore line markers and the big red HD channel buoys. We are keeping well clear of the barges today! 

We carry on like this for about 8 to 10 miles until we reach the turn for Dordrecht and the Dordtshe Kil. Sails in and motor on it is time to do some more darge bodging! Sod’s Law! Just as we wanted to cross to the far side of the Kil, two barges and a ferry turn up. This is the main route towards Rotterdam and so is very busy.

Before Dordrecht we plan to make the 1712 opening of the railway and road bridges. Sunday is a great day to travel as they open every hour, during the week day it is every two, so if you miss it you have a very long wait! 

Our timing is impeccable, there is a strong 2 knot current sweeping us a long up the Kil at 6 knots, it flows north about 2 hours after high water. If we had got this wrong then it would have a miserable slog up at 3 knots! 

At Rotterdam we turn to starboard and Dordrecht following the the Oud Maas. At quick time check and it is1555 with a mile to run before the bridges. They will open at 1612 so I give Grace more revs and arrive at the bridge in time to see yachts leaving the waiting area and head towards the bridges. Ahead the bridge lights are showing red/green. We’ve made it and with a few minutes to spare I push Grace into the queue. It is an amazing bridge to watch as it lifts the railway tracks into air which moments earlier has trains running over! We can see a train waiting at the station and no sooner are we through than the tracks start to lower – they won’t wait for stragglers here! 

Dordrecht is now on our starboard side and we look out for our turning into the new marina. We have gone for the new one as it is moderner with better facilities than the older wine harbour. When they say ‘new’ they mean 1460 as opposed to 1310 of the old one! The sailing directions are a bit vague to say the least! ‘Take the second turning in by the police boat and ring they bell’ . They are however perfectly accurate and we do just that! We slip through a gap in a wall, avoid the police boat and tie up to a couple of posts and ring the bell! 

About 10 minutes later the bridge opens and we are greeted to the sight of boats packed wall to wall, we follow another boat towards a man stood on a small visitors pontoon, he yells at them ‘box17’ we sidle up and he yells ‘box17’ we say it is the same as the one he has just given to the other boat and he says you have to share it! We do and squeeze in beside the surprised leading yacht! We probably don’t need mooring lines as we are so tightly packed but everyone shuffles down a bit and we all fit! 

We rig a precarious ladder at the bows to reach a particularly wobbly bit of pontoon which Anne insists on using as it is ‘much easier ‘ than just walking across the foredeck of our neighbours. Needless to say I break the ladder and almost fall in! 

Dordrecht is beautiful and where we are moored is especially pretty. We are in the heart of town and there is a music festival so we go out to drink beer, eat very nice burgers and listen to music!

It is Saturday 15th July and we are ready to depart the picturesquely named Sint Annaland. We are now on our way to Willemstad in the rather romantically named Hollanse Diep. (Or so I think!) The chart says the maximum depth is 9 m so not very deep! 

At 1000 we have cast off from the pontoon and are away without mishap, we are soon in the Krabbenkreek channel and then out into the Mastgap. There is a Force 3 westerly and we motor the 3 miles up to the large lock at Krammer. It is huge and there is a separate lock and waiting area for ‘Sport Boats ‘. We enter the waiting area dodge about for a bit then slickly tie up at the waiting pontoon. 

A large yacht with a crew fluff it and have to go round again to have another go. You can’t help feel a bit smug when it all go well! The lock opens and it is a free for all as we all pile in. We find a space. It is quite nerve wracking as we are going under our first non opening bridge. The lock keeper checks our air draft. It is 15.5m and a big digital sign on the lock says 18.8m so we know we will be okay but going under the bridge span itself it still feels very close. 

Anyway we had nice chat with other people in the lock. Our EU flag seems to meet with approval. Also now we start to push deeper into Holland people are commenting on how far we have come, all the way from Chichester! I give them my best ancient mariner expression and agree. It is then promptly spoilt in a frenzy of engine revs and apologies as Grace bounces her way out of the lock! 

At 1130 engine off and sails up! We are out heading out to the far side of the Volkerak. On a bearing of 150 we gybe down the channel dodging huge barges as we go. It is fun and we invent a new sport ‘darge bodging’ which involves seeing how close we dare get to them before gybing away. Which is not very close as these things are huge and travel really fast! Grace is sailing beautifully, the helm is easy and the sails drawing well. We are only making 2.6 knots but slightly more over the ground (SOG).

All this ‘darge bodging’ has taken time. It is 1400 and realise that we will not make Willemstad today. Instead we make for Dintelas in the Brabant. Entry is easy through the lock, the Manders Sluis. I VHF the lock keeper on channel 20. He tells us we are next ones through so we float about for 10 minutes until we get the green light. There is no height change here. It is purely to control blue-green algae. 

By 1535 we are safe and secure in a box mooring in Dintelmond Marina. 16 miles covered today. 

We walk into Dinteldorp which is about 1.5 miles away. For a village so small it has two enormous churches and a very nice bar by the town dock. We realise that if we had taken our dinghy we could have moored right in the centre of town!

Dordrecht – Monday (and everywhere closed)

Gouda – Tuesday (cheese museum)

Leiden – Wednesday (tulip museum)

Haarlem – Thursday 

Amsterdam – Friday (Rijks Museum plus)

Inselmeer – Monday 

Friday 14th July. There is quite a strong wind blowing us onto the jetty. I will have to make our exit stern first as we have no depth to go forwards. I press gang a man from another yacht to give our stern a good push out! A text book exit, out we come gently reversing past the yacht that is close behind us! Very slick! 

We want to go to Bruinesse today and spend a day on the Gravellingen Meer in the Oosterschelde. It is about 25 miles away with two locks. The weather forecast is wet and windy….but it is July and can’t be that bad!

But first we need to solve the mystery of how to pump out the holding tank for the sea toilet! Normally, when far enough out out at sea you open the big seacock, there is a satisfying glug and Bob’s your uncle, one empty holding tank! But here you can’t do that. 

We go back to the Delta Marina and go alongside the fuel pontoon. This is where there is normally the pump out kit. We find a couple of long hoses, one is free to use and the other costs 2 Euro so we guess that must be the ‘poo pump’!

I open Grace’s holding tank cap, by the complete absence of any scratches on it I guess it must never have been opened before! I gingerly try to insert the pump out nozzle into the tank, it just won’t fit! This is going to be a problem…..

Clearly this calls for another visit to the chandlery, after much scratching of heads (sea toilet joke) I leave a good few Euro poorer but with an amazing Heath Robinson contraption of hoses. Oh plus a large pair of rubber gloves in case it all goes wrong! In the end I did not need all the bits but a simple bit of pipe to stuff in the end of the pump! 

As we motor out towards the Zandkreeksluis the wind starts to build, first 15 knots, then 20 and gusting 25 knots with buckets loads of rain! 

The lock itself is modern and easy and we go through without drama! We are now in the Oosterschelde and head north towards the great big Zeeland bridge. It really looks impressive as the sun breaks through and glints white on the bridge spans.

We are motoring and there is quite a swell and we are wet! Hugging the red channel markers we come across a little flotilla of sailing barges. It is a great sight to see!

At the bridge we head east for 10 miles towards Briunisse. There is a big queue at the lock and lots of boats rafted up 2 or 3 deep. Not a lot seems to be happening and the lock is showing two red lights which means it is not in operation. 

We don’t want to hang around too long in this wind and head back to the channel. We decide to go to our ‘reserve port’ when we see no boats leaving the lock after about half an hour! We head to Sint Annaland Marina, moor up on the visitors pontoon and I hop off to find the harbour master for a berth. He looks at me in amazement and asks why I did not use the intercom on the pontoon?! Good question! 

We tuck ourselves into I5 then go off to explore Sint Annaland, finding two windmills and a Jumbo supermarket!

It is the evening of Thursday 13th July, we are moored alongside a jetty in a beautiful little creek on the Veerse Meer. It is incredibly peaceful and calm after the last few days.

 We are only disturbed but a couple of policemen on jet skis who zoom past a wave cheerily! 

Grace had been lifted that afternoon, a bit of an alarming experience as the Crane operator undoes the back stay of the mast – I thought it was there to stop it from falling down but am assured that it will be fine…..usually! Worse is to come, he slips two straps under her hull and dangles her out of the water! 

The engineer looks at the prop, one of the blades of the auto prop seems to be a bit stiff and not moving as easily as the others. I had delved deep into the hold and found a bag marked grease gun for auto prop and the spare propeller. The propeller and sail drive are flushed out and cleaned. The rest of the hull looks nice and clean. Clearly the anti fouling paint is working fine and I am advised not to have the hull cleaned as it will damage it. The rudder is inspected and other than a small chunk out of the bottom then it is fine too. 

We have a quick confab and decide to grease the prop blades rather than change it and that and the cleaning seem to have worked. 

Grace is back in the water and a test sail to our resting place for the night confirms all is now well.

Wednesday morning, 1015. We have got Grace ready to depart in record time, less than 15 minutes earlier we were still having breakfast, now we are all togged up in our oilies, life jackets on and we are motoring through the open bridge and out towards the canal. It is here that the real strength of the wind hits us! But it can’t be too bad, we are on a canal after all and there are no waves, but the cross wind is strong and it can be quite difficult to keep Grace on track. There is 20 knots of wind, sometimes gusting 30 plus. We are not going back and what could possibly go wrong? 

Well what could go wrong was Veere Lock at the end of the Kanaal door Welcherin! We tie up to the waiting pontoon and call the lock keeper on channel 22. It is a bit of a relief to be out of the wind and rain for a few moments. 

 

We get the green light and are off! There are three boats going through the lock and we are last in. Everyone else leaves without drama. I have tied up on the windward side of the lock , my logic is that the wind will blow our bows out to leewards, I just need to give her a bit of gas and punch her out through the opened gates and into the Veerse Meer and freedom. Disaster strikes almost immediately, as I bring the bows pass the open lock gates a strong gust catches them, spins them round and bounces us about the inside of a very hard stone lined lock. I lose control of Grace but Anne secures a line to the lock wall and we are under control again but facing the wrong way!  A bit shaken up I radio the lock keeper to say that we are stuck in the lock. He calmly says;” yes, I can see that! What do I want to do?” I resist the temptation to say go home and never come back! And merely reply with remarkable sangfroid “oh, I will exit back into the canal and then have another go.” All said in tones of Just William. 

We skulk out of the lock and tie up again. We make tea and eat some windmill biscuits, but all too soon more boats arrive and the lock is opened again. Feeling not very confident and now in a less than immaculate looking Grace we enter the lock again! Fortunately a big blue motor yacht squeezes in next to us and I reckon that it will make a good fender and stop us from getting in too much of a mess.

It all goes fine but when I push the engine revs up beyond 1500 there is a terrible vibration and shaking in the steering binnacle, reducing the revs we limp along sometimes barely making 2 knots against the strong headwind. We slowly make our way around to Kortegene where there are three marinas to choose from. We pick the biggest and easiest one to get in to and tie up to the nearest free pontoon. Phew, we are pleased to stop! 

We have been through 3 locks (admittedly the same one three times!) and tied up 7 times. It is 1530 and weather is improving, the Marina staff are really helpful and they happen to have a Volvo Penta agency on site with a boat lift!  They say no problem, pop back at 0830 and they will arrange to get her lifted. They smile and nod heads sagely and say that I might have lost a propeller blade. I have a folding prop and I am convinced that once in Chichester it failed to open allowing me to bump the lock gates there…….ummm a pattern is emerging! Anyway I carry a spare propeller, so for once I am quite chilled. 

The once pristine Grace is looking a bit sad! Her bows bear the marks of the lock wall, the fibreglass is smashed and broken beneath the anchor bow roller.

 This will respond well to someone who is good with GRP. It is above the chain locker so I don’t think will leak into the boat. The aluminium trim covering the port stern deck joint is crunched and bent but responds well to my lump hammer as does the plastic trim protecting the stern.

 Every fender is now coated in sticky and slimy brown mud from the lock walls. The hull is covered in great big gobs of gunk from where she had a close shave with the walls! 

Oh and as I discovered later, a chunk out of the rudder!

We have no food on the boat and go to the Spar in the nearby town. Too late it is closed so we wander back and have a lovely large local beer and a burger at the marina’s own restaurant…..top marks again! It was huge and we waddle home to Grace and bed. 

We learnt something today….Holland is well known for windmills for a good reason! Trust the weather forecast. Be prepared to turn back. Be prepared to press on too. Have another go.

It is now Wednesday and we have been in Middelburg for two days. It is a pretty little place, currently celebrating its 800 years  anniversary and we have had a nice time but it is time to go! Although it is raining hard and blowing a 30 knot wind (Force 6 to 7). If we were sensible we would wait until the winds have passed like everyone else! But no, we are who we are and need to learn by our mistakes first…….but more of that later! 

Middelburg has 4 main features:

1. A floating chandlery, Jos Boon that has everything! We tested them with toilet seat hinges for a small sized Jabsco sea toilet after they gave up the the ghost under the influence of my large sized bottom! This challenge was easily dealt with by a lady who took one look at us and said, “ah yes Engels” and disappeared down into the bowels of the barge only to reappear a minute later with a pack of hinges! I then tested her with some long fenders to run along the side of Grace and with which to give me a false sense of security! As demonstrated a few hours later on! The final test was another set of RV charts, my current favourite instead of the dull Imray Admiralty style ones. All passed with flying colours! 

2. A remarkable number of cafes per square foot! Why the Dutch are not all the size of buses I do not know – perhaps it is all the bikes that come at you from every direction has something to do with it! They are either peddling like mad or jumping out of the way!! And the most wonderful apple cake and coffee in the courtyard cafe in front of the abbey.

3. A huge abbey with a tall tower that plays the hits of Andrew Lloyd Webber on the hour…..I will name that tune in 1 peel! 

4. A nice museum in the Abbey that has a nice painting of Captain Pugwash (Admiral De Ruyter who was apparently they scourge of the English!)