We took the morning to explore Delfzijl today but as mainly a shipbuilding and industrial town there was little on offer for the visiting yachtsman - not even, as far as we could find, a tourist office which we normally rely on for our stickers. The redeeming feature was we had arrived on market day and being a sleepy sort of town they were only just getting set-up when we arrived at 10am. We found a very useful bike spares/hoover bag stall where we bought two spare tyres for our folding bikes, in anticipation of our next bike disaster. After the obligatory coffee and apelgebak to celebrate our return to the Netherlands we stocked up on a few groceries and returned to the boat.

Our afternoon's cruise took us through the Eemskanaal sea lock and along the peaceful and easily navigable Eemskanaal to Groningen. As we were following a barge pusher the bridges opened promptly and we made good time. As the Oostersluis we opted to continue on and made our way along the Van Starkenborgh canal which skirts the city, a route not open to masted yachts due to the 6.7 metre headroom.

We had thought of stopping for the night at Gerkesklooster but the neighbouring ship yard and dredging operation did not really appeal and we opted instead for the Friese Meren town of Bergum. Here we were welcomed heartily by a harbour master who happened to be standing on the visitors pontoon and were glad to be moored up after a long cruise. The harbour's welcome extended to a leaflet of special offers available in the town which ranged from a white baguette at the special price of €0,50 to free aperitifs for up to four people dining at the Restaurant 't Somerhuys. We were particularly intrigued by the half metre sausage in luxury gift packaging but a heavy thunder shower delayed any further investigation to the following day.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 38 nm

Total to date: 1271 nm

Avg Speed: 5.4 knots

Duration: 7 hours

Diesel: 38 litres

Mooring: €10

Electricity: €1 (4A)

Water: €0,20/100l

Locks

Eemskanaal

Oostersluis

Gaarkeuken

Bridges

Eemskanaalsluis (lift)
Eelwerder (lift)
Wold (lift)
Bloemhof (lift)
Borg (lift)
Dreibonds (6.8m)
Oostersluis (lift)
Groningen (7m)
Korreweg foot (6.8m)
Korreweg road (swing)
Korreweg foot 2 (6.8m)
Noorderhoge road (6.9m)
Noorderhoge rail (9.5m)
Paddepoelster (swing)
Dorkwerd (lift)
Aduard (lift)
Zuidhorn road (lift)
Zuidhorn rail (6.7m)
Gaarkeuken lock (lift)
Eibersburen (6.65m)
Stroobos (swing)
Blauwverlaat (7.3m)
Kootstertille (7.3m)
Schuilenbrug (swing)

Charts

ANWB A & B