Sunday 22nd June Ref: 2019/7
A very restful and peaceful night’s sleep in Beverwijk, after which we took time to get started for the day and then re-arranged our bridge and brought up our folding bicycles and assemble them for future use. This, before Ikon and us set off along the Nordzeekanaal along to the Zaandam area, where we filled up with fuel and then cruised further up the navigation to moor at a yacht club ready to view the Zaanse Scans windmills in the morning.
Our cruising colleagues Chris Cole had made several previous purchases of diesel fuel for Ikon from the barge JH Hierro near to Zaandam and so, this morning, after Chris and Maggie had taken shopping trip by bicycle and I had spent time restoring Lady Martina after its sea trip, we set off and cruised along the Nooordzeekanaal where we turned into Zij-Kanaal G and moored up alongside for our fuel at the Hierro boatyard services yard.
Interestingly, the skippers of both vessels could monitor the fuel we had used for the North Sea crossing very closely as we had both filled up before leaving Lowestoft and I had only used 268 L at a cost of some €313, due to my economy. By my calculations this bill would have been €664 at 12 knots and €864 at 15 knots; and would have taken 8½ hrs and 6½ hours respectively.
This done, I took the lead and made the necessary VHF calls on channel 22 to some five or six bridge keeper’s and a navigation lock or Sluis, all of which open for us and accommodated our passage so that we eventually cruised further along the navigation until crossing over the De Poel lake and taking on water and mooring for the night at YHZV De Onderlinge on its north bank.
Having secured a mooring for the night, we were within range of the Zaanse Schans windmills which we intend to view the following day, A session with our colleagues making our plans for the next couple of days and then I settled down to some writing and log-work before my journal and to bed after I had made us some milky coffee.
