With a dull and showery day in prospect we opted to press on with our cruise today, rather than persist with sightseeing in the rain. Fortunately the bridges in this area now open for limited periods on Sundays and we were able to retrace our path through the city back to the Van Harinxma canal. Here we took advantage of our 5.15m air draught and again squeezed under many of the bridges to avoid delays. We took a short cut towards the village of Warten passing under a fixed bridge with 7 metre clearance and arrived just before the start of the bridge's afternoon opening period. There were many boats waiting in the narrow waterway and it was quite a scramble for the boats to squeeze through and deliver their "bruggeld" into the clog at the same time.

From here we continued south-east to the lake area of "the old fens", an area of peat-marshes and swampy woodlands reminiscent of the Norfolk Broads. The lakes were formed in the 17th and 18th century by peat-cutting and are now connected by narrow channels to form an ideal boating centre and home to over 100 species of birds. The Hotel Restaurant Princenhof at Earnewald is a popular stopping place and here we enjoyed a traditional Dutch sunday lunch (accompanied by three types of potatoes).

By now the weather had deteriorated into persistent heavy rain, and the spirits of even the hardiest campers and boaters were somewhat dampened. We found a village staithe with water and electricity next to the hotel and decided to give up on the day - resorting to the sanctuary of the warm cabin and the Sky TV.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 12 nm

Total to date: 1214 nm

Avg Speed: 5 knots

Duration: 2:30 hours

Diesel: 24 litres

Mooring: €9

Electricity: €0,50/kWh

Bridges

Vrouwenpoort (lift)

Vallatsbrug (lift)

Hermesbrug (lift)

Slauerhoffbrug (lift)

Zwette (5.3m)

Leeuwarden-Meppel rail (5.3m)

Heerenveen (5.3m)

Drachten (5.3m)

Lang Deel fixed bridge (7m)

Warten (lift)

Rogsloot (lift)

Charts

ANWB B "Friese Meren"