 |
| Stork flying over Thijssengracht |
Sunny with white clouds, but a
strong, cold North wind. Set off at 10.10 a.m. following the Snail across
Kleine Belter Wijde, where three quarters of the circumference of the lake was
occupied with moored boats. Made a cuppa as we went through Belter Wijde lake
and followed the Snail through liftbridge Ronduite, now remotely operated from
Blauwe Hand, and therefore free! Through a very choppy Beulaker Wijde with about
half a dozen brave souls on windsurfers and in little sailboats bouncing across
the waves. Into the relative calm of Walengracht where a masted tjalk was
moored among the cruisers and little sailboats. Turned right on the Vaart Sloot
which lead on to the Giethoornse Meer.
A police boat came whizzing past at about 50 khp with blue lights flashing
while I was sitting on the front deck making a phone call.
 |
| Low bridge Thijssengracht |
Turned right on to
the Thijssengracht, a narrow virtually straight canal that was marked on our
charts as being only 80cm deep, but our echo sounder read 1.6m most of the way.
Took the mast off to go under a fixed bridge of 2.4m. At Middenbuurt we turned
right and headed south down the busy Kanaal Beulakerwijde-Steenwijk with the
scenic village of Giethoorn on our left and a little canal through the village
made a circular tour that was being enjoyed by hundreds of people in small open
motor boats. We started looking for drinking water and stopped by a small boat
club.
 |
| Thijssengracht - remains of an old swingbridge |
The guy who was standing by their hosepipe said we’d have to see their
Harbour Master, but there was a place a bit further on down the canal on the
left hand side. We stopped at a fueling station on the left where several small
open motorboats were filling up. There were two hosepipes, one at either end,
so we went to have a look to see how much they wanted to fill our tanks. 4€ for
10 minutes, about 300 litres, he said. Free if we had diesel. How much diesel,
a litre? No. 5 litres. No. We gave up and carried on. Almost missed the
hosepipe with a notice beside it saying mooring for taking on water only.
 |
| Reed cutters boats Aremberger Gracht |
Snail
went into the mooring and we went alongside. 50c in the slot. It worked out to
about 50c for 100 litres. There was a constant procession of boats passing in
both directions and overtaking in both directions, most of them doing more than
the 9 kph speed limit until they all slowed down as a police RIB went past! Set
off again, joining the mêlée following the canal again. Turned right into the
Blauwe Hand lake and into the choppy waves again – no more open motor boats! In
fact very little traffic on the lake except for a few diehard sailors. Back
through Ronduite liftbridge, waving to the keeper on the main canal to say
thanks via the camera. Back across the Belter Wijde and more speeding
motorboats appeared from the moorings around the lake. Through the bridge and
we tied up on Aremberger Gracht again, but closer to the bridge than where we
were the night before. It was 4 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment