Monday 3rd June 2013 Aremberger Gracht to abv Ossesluis. 25.7 kms 3 locks

Boats at Zwartsluis on the Zwarte Water

Grey skies, cold North wind, sunny spells later. At 10.25 a.m. we winded and set off back down the Aremberger Gracht with the generator running to power the washing machine. There was a man with a white beard working the lock (Arembergersluis) today, he was a bit concerned at first about the two boats going into his lock side-by-side and the length of the Snail. The lock was 4.6m wide and 27.8m long. Masts off to get under the 3.3m bridge over the top end of the lock beyond the top end gates. 

Liftbridge and floodgates Meppelerdeip

Under Whaabrug and out on to Zwarte Water, checking for traffic as we did so, only a few cruisers milling about, the commercials were all moored none moving. Turned left on to the Meppelerdiep and had to wait a short while as the flood gates below the liftbridge were closed due to work in progress. They opened and we went through followed by a cruiser. The keeper leaned out of the window of his cabin way above us to say good morning and wish us a pleasant voyage. Anne said on the radio that they had something on the prop and would have to stop. We motored on as the washing hadn’t finished. 

Boat slip at Meppelerdeip

As we were approaching the lock on to the Beukers Gracht a large cruiser increased speed to overtake us, making sure he arrived first at the lock. We smiled as we kept going, past the lock, up the Meppelerdiep. About four kilometres later we turned on to the “new” bypass canal around Meppel, it was 12.20 pm. Several cruisers had overtaken us and we found them moored by the liftbridge, Staphorster Grote Stouwe, it was lunchtime, we took the mast off and sailed past them under the lifting span which was 2.7m above the water. The washing finished and we paused next to a couple of old posts to take the generator drive plate out which gave the Snail chance to catch up. 

Moored above Ossesluis

A chunk of willow tree had been round the prop making a loud noise so they had to stop and get the weed hatch up. I made some sandwiches for lunch. We had a short wait at Rogatsluis as a cruiser was catching us up. The lock and liftbridge were worked from afar, the keeper watching us via cameras. The bridge lifted, we entered the chamber and he cruiser came in behind us. There were bollards and vertical bars in the piled walls of the lock to hang our ropes on. The lock filled gently and we rose about 2m. Five kilometres of wide deep canal later we were at Ossesluis, again operated remotely, and we had a short wait while the lock emptied as the cruiser had gone up some time before us. A concrete-sided chamber this time, with bits of vertical cord down the walls plus recessed bollards. Attached our centre rope to one of the bollards and Mike hung on to the rope, lifting it up from one bollard to the next as the lift was 3.5m. Above the lock on the left hand bank there were some wooden dolphins for boats to tie to whilst waiting for the lock and there were signs to say there was a mooring along the bank behind them. We dodged between the dolphins and moored behind a sailing tjalk with its masts down. Oll brought the Snail alongside us. It was 3.30 pm

Sunday 2nd June 2013 Aremberger Gracht, trip round lakes and back. 24.3 kms no locks.

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.

Friday 31st May 2013 Ketelhaven to Aremberger Gracht. 32.1 kms 2 locks

Below Ketelsluis

Sunny with white clouds, but breezy. The weather forecast for today said winds of 3 to 6 on the Beaufort scale. A gaggle of cruisers went up the lock around 9.40 am. The lock emptied and we went up around ten am. Wrapped fore and aft ropes around vertical ropes from bollards on the lock wall and rose 5m very gently. The keeper, walking with a stick, came down from his cabin to give us Navigation newspapers and a map. 

Rams Diep litbridge open for two sailing boats.

He told us he was born near Zwartsluis lock 68 years ago and had been a marinier; his last boat had been a 67m that had gone to the ship breakers when he stopped working. We could have stayed chatting longer, but there was a boat below the lock hooting so we had to go. Out on the Ketelmeer the wind was picking up. The first bit of navigation was complicated by the fact that they’d built a big island, plus there were shallow bits with cardinal markers around them. We headed off towards the Ramsgeul, passing between the shore of the new island and the West cardinal bouy. 

Demolishing the old road bridge

As we aproached the entrance to Ramsgeul we saw “No entry” signs so we had to turn back to the East to the entrance into the Ramsdiep (a “sheltered” channel along the Northern edge of the Ketelmeer) - we’d never been along there before as it is used by commercial craft and boats that were higher than 2.6m (the maximum to pass under the Ramspolbrug). Cruisers and sailboats were going in and out of the Schokkerhaven at the start of the Rams Diep, which curved round to the right. Still no shelter from the cold North-west wind. 

Bridge keepers cabin Rams Diep

Lots of boat traffic went past us and overtook us, including an empty péniche called La Vie. There was a flow in the channel of about 0.75 kph and we were going against it. A large cruiser from Zwartsluis full of large blokes overtook us. The liftbridge on the N50 opened, creating queues of traffic to let a single masted yacht through. Several sailing boats caused the bridge to be opened again before we reached it. We sailed under its 13m high fixed spans with no problem as did a small fishing boat heading out to sea. From the noise we deduced the old bridge was being demolished and that was the cause for the diversion. A little further on notices confirmed this and said the interruption would continue until the end of 2013. Traffic with masts up to 13m would then be able to use both the Ramsgeul and the Ramsdiep. 

Wind trying to rip our flags off the mast

As we left the Ramsdiep and the navigation opened out into the Zwarte Meer a cruiser from Sneek cut across our bows as it was racing to overtake an empty 80m commercial. Among the cruisers following it we spotted Austrian and German flags. The wind was blowing ever harder from our left as we 

went along the Northern edge of the lake. 

Heading for Arembergersluis

To the South was a nature reserve where boats were forbidden to navigate. Several hundred swans (we’d never seen so many in one group before) were feeding in what must be a shallow section. We kept within the red and green markers, heaving hard on the tiller and crabbing sideways. The landmark big light on a tall post by Vogeleiland had gone, not needed now with modern navigational instruments. We turned right along the Zwolse Diep and into the narrower channel of the Zwarte Water. The wind didn’t drop and was still blowing from our left. The cable ferry from Genemuiden went across several times before we reached it. 

Thatched barn for storing reed thatching

Mike took our mast down to get under the bridge at Arembergersluis, we had a green light to go under the road bridge and into the haven, then the lock lights changed to green as the gates opened, we sailed in side by side, the two boats practically filled the little lock. The lady keeper came out to speak to us and worked the lock from controls in a small cabin. She gave us charts and an Overijssel flag to fly. Sorry, no drinking water was available at the lock, nor the marina by the bridge, maybe the next marina after that. 

Moored on Arembergers Gracht

We sailed on along the Aremberger Gracht passing some very lovely houses with beautiful gardens where automatic mowers were trimming perfect lawns and then past a barn loaded with dried reeds for thatching before we were out into the countryside again of the De Weide nature reserve. A small open motorboat, Cool Cab, came out from one of the side channels between us and the Snail then overtook us and turned off into another side channel. We moored just before the first bridge to wooden stumps along a wooden edged grassy bank next to a small road. It was 3.45 pm. The wind was still trying to rip the flags from our mast.

Thursday 30th May 2013 KP40 to Ketelhaven 22 kms 0 locks

Moored at KP40 Hoge Vaart

Grey skies most of the day, light but cold breeze, no rain. Set off at 10.15 a.m. We stopped at Biddinghuizen to get some water. As we tied up the commercial we’d seen the day before, called Norma, went past, now loaded, heading back towards Almere. Biddinghuizen had completely changed, with new houses and a new waterfront - no mooring was allowed in front of the new houses on the posh new paved quay 

Commercial called Norma passing at Biddinghuizen

but further along there was an extended wooden staging with posts to tie to and bins, chemical toilet disposal and a water tap. We all cried hooray, we can fill up. But too soon as we discovered a new type of tap that wouldn’t allow us to connect a hosepipe because of the pressure which just blew water back through the fitting. Mike and Oll tried all sorts of ideas but the only thing possible was to get water in containers and fill the tank with them. We were down to less than 100 litres so we had to do some topping up, the Snail’s tank was half full so they didn’t need to bother. 

Below the lock at Ketelhaven 

They set off again and we carried on filling 5 litre containers until we had 300 litres in the tank, which would see us through the next few days until we found another tap. Set off again at 12.25 p.m. Just after we set off we could see the amusement rides at Flevoland’s Walibi park off to the right across the field. We tied up at 2.45 pm in Ketelhaven on the long wooden staging behind the Snail. Anne and Olly had been out looking for the Ship Museum by the lock. Alas, it had been moved to Lelystadt.

Tuesday 28th May 2013 Almere KP9 to KP40 Hoge Vaart. 30.4 kms no locks.

The Hoge Vaart

Sunny with hazy cloud, cold blustery East wind in our faces. 

Knardik floodgates

Set off at 10.15 am with the pins in doing some washing. I made lunch, which we ate on the move. 

Egyptian geese

We passed two small boats going in the opposite direction, one had overtaken us just after we set off, then we saw nothing else moving. One small cruiser was moored on one of the wooden landing stages. We arrived at the staging at KP40 at 3.20 pm. 

Adding extra wildlife habitat

Two cruisers were already moored there, one in the middle and one moored ten feet from the far end. We tied up on the other end and Snail moored alongside

Monday 27th May 2013 Nederhorst den Berg to Almere Flevoland KP9. 37.4 kms 2 locks

Mooring at Nederhorst

Sunny all day with a light breeze. Set off at 8 am heading down the last of the river Vecht, through Weesp. A large house right on the edge of the river bank looked like it ought to be afloat. Past the two windmills and under the bascule liftbridge, (with the Ensign off and the Snail followed with canopy still up), by the large boat club where quite a few hireboats were moored, Locaboats and Le Boats. There was a boat going through the Smal Weesp (that connects to the Amsterdam-Rijn Kanaal) and the liftbridge was up. 

A house, not a house boat!

A sign said it was 3€. A Le Boat overtook us just after the railway liftbridge and then a five-woman rowing skiff. We had a short wait behind the hire boat while the swingbridge over the tail end of the Zeesluis at Muiden swung open for boat traffic. We followed the hireboat into the left hand chamber. Two cruisers had also caught up and they went into the right hand chamber. The lock keeper operates both locks from a control panel between the two chambers and he filled both at once. (Amazed, no money was demanded! Nor any for today’s liftbridges!) 

Railway liftbridges at Weesp

The level lifted a matter of a few centimetres and we were off on the last bit of the Vecht between masses of moored boats (including the King’s boat, a green tjalk) and many big powerful speedboats, then a line of moored masted Dutch barges. Soon we were on the channel leading into the Ijmeer. The two cruisers veered off to the right behind the islands heading for the Gooimeer and the start of the Randmeeren, a chain of lakes around the South East of Flevoland that used to be the Zuiderzee coast. 

Moored boats at Muiden

The weather was good, the breeze light and so we carried on across the Ijmeer past Pampus island to run along the North West edge of Flevoland. We crossed the shipping channel that leads to Gooimeer just before commercials went past in both directions. A suction dredger moved off as we were heading towards the end wall of the Pampushaven, he turned to our left so we went straight across to follow the dijk leaving a good margin for the fishing nets along the edge. The wash from passing commercial traffic was making more waves than the wind, which was now directly behind us. An empty 50m commercial came out of the harbour as we were within ten minutes of arriving there, then a yacht came out – we could see his mast above the harbour wall. We turned right together with the Snail and went into the harbour, past the pumping station and then turned left into the Zuidersluis lock approach as a cruiser called “Quality Time” was just leaving the chamber. 

Muiderslot

The lock lights were on double red, lunchtime. We tied to the waiting area timber baulks and had some lunch. Just had time to eat it before the lock reopened at 1 pm. Followed the Snail into the chamber, surprised there were no floaters – the Snails threaded fore and aft lines around vertical ropes hanging from bollards, we put our centre line around the ladder until the lock started emptying and exposed some recessed bollards in the lock wall and we moved forward on to one of those. The lock emptied gently and we were soon 5m lower than sea level on the Hoge Vaart – the High Canal – and set off on the deep, wide tree lined canal into Almere. 

Zuidersluis. Flevoland

The housing in Almere had now spread beyond the canal to the left hand side where there had been fields when we were there last. We passed a loading gantry but there was no sign of a silo – or any boats to be loaded. A small cruiser went past, then we passed a layby filled with houseboats moored bows to the banks. There were a few moored cruisers at the end of the canal leading to the lock at Almere Haven and the Gooimeer. 

Gooier Hard. Mooring on Flevoland

We continued to the mooring at KP9 (now named Gooier Hard, as it had been a navigation marker used by fishermen in the old Zuiderzee) by the golf club and moored at ninety degrees in the corner after Mike had evicted the floating islands of weeds that the wind had blown there. It was 2.45 pm. A comfy mooring and they’d even cut the herbage down.

Friday 24th May 2013 Breukelen to Nederhorst den Berg. 16.5 kms no locks.

Liftbridge over arm on to the
Amsterdam-Rijn kanaal by
Nieuwerbrug

Sunny morning, chilly wind and heavy showers mid-afternoon. Planned to set off at ten but the guy with DB Lucretia came alongside and Mike and Oll had info off him about the new canal, Kanaal Koning Willem Alexander, that had been made between Emmen and the Haren-Rütenbrock kanaal. We set off at 11.10 am and the tjalk had our spot on the quay. Mike had put the pins in to connect the Markon so I could do some washing and ironing as we went along. As we passed through a police radar speed trap Mike said we were doing 7 kph when the speed limit is 6 kph. The police RIB went past and never said a thing, just waved. Nieuwerbrug, surrounded by cameras, remained with red lights as we approached. Oll put his bows by the press button and Anne pressed it. Nothing happened, so Oll rang the number on the board. The guy said he had been waiting until we got closer to the bridge! Off to our left was another liftbridge, hemmed in by houses, over the little Wettering navigation, that linked with the Amsterdam-Rijn kanaal. About a kilometre further on we waited, with the wind sending us sideways, for the bascule bridge Cronenbrug in

Windmill in Leonen

Loenen and a cruiser came through from the opposite direction first before we went through. It was after midday so the lights on the bridge behind us went to double reds. Round the corner to the next bridge and we slung ropes around the posts by the bridge to wait for the bridge-keeper’s lunch break to finish at 1 pm. A tjalk was attempting to sail along the river by the next windmill and having trouble getting past a dredger and pan. Two more bridges in Vreeland, the second was another bascule bridge. More dredging was in progress and we passed an empty 750 tonner heading upriver in reverse. The little Hilversum kanaal went off to our right, then we went through the bends at Overmeer past the camping site, a long wooden edge with stumps which was empty except for two cruisers. 

Vreeland Van Leerbrug bascule bridge

An empty 750 tonner called Deo-Juviante went past as we wound round the bends to Nigtevecht, passing a stop lock that lead on to the Amsterdam-Rijn kanaal. The tjalk, called Vrouwe Cordelia, that had been sailing was now motoring and overtook us just before where we were going to moor. Rain started pouring down. Tied up on a concrete topped quay with bollards by a restaurant and a chandlery in Nederhorst den Berg. 

Sailing tjalk Vrouwe Codrdelia

Amazed that no one came for money for the mooring then we noticed the boatyard was up for hire.