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- Category: Netherlands Cruises 2019
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Monday 15th July Ref: 2019/22
We left Sixhaven around noon, after doing some chores and preparations this morning and then cruised steadily along a Noordzeekanaal busy with ferries, barges, leisure craft and the odd ocean-going liner! Ikon had got out of the marina first and then led the way into Zijkanaal G, where they moored up at The Voorzaan bunker boat and I came alongside. We both topped up with diesel, Lady Martina having used 388 litres, at a cost of €1.15c per litre and then they stayed in Zaandam and I cruised along to Zijkanaal A and moored at Beverwijk. We both ate at the fish kiosk and then Kathleen went food shopping as I wrote up this log, prepared Lady Martina for her sea passage tomorrow and kept a close eye on the weather.
After a slow start to the day, Kathleen and I layed in until after 9:30am, indeed until Chris of Ikon came by to discuss our future plans. He revealed to Kathleen that he had booked both boats into Zandaam for this evening but she queried this as we wanted to move to Beverdijk ready for our sea trip tomorrow from Ijmuiden to Lowestoft.
We therefore discussed our options and understood that, following our joint cruise today to Zijkanaal G and the fuel berth, Lady Martina would cruise on to Beverdijk and Icon would stay in Zanndam. In all probability, they will not make the North Sea passage until Wednesday the 16th with us going a day earlier.
I was closely monitoring the weather today and it would be much the same tomorrow and Wednesday. After making that passage to Lowestoft, it was our intention to cruise on through Great Yarmouth and home the following day. I always believe it’s best to take the first possible window of good weather as forecasts can always change.
This morning I checked Lady Martina’s engines, the oil and water levels, and then disassembled the inlet filters and made sure there was no level of weed which would interfere with our passage. During the day, I made everything ready, gathering together the necessary charts, setting up the boat computer and bridge ready for tomorrow.
It was just after midday when we made a start to our cruise along the North Sea Canal and a very warm and busy waterway it was too with ferries, barges, leisure craft and the occasional ocean-going cruise liner! By arrangement, Ikon arrived first at the Voorzaan fuel terminal and moored up port-side-to so that we could more alongside in the same sense with both of our fuel filling inlets within reach. Chris negotiated a €1.15 price per litre, as before, and Lady Martina took 388 L at the cost of €446.20; which was just about the amount I had calculated based upon our theoretical consumption.
After we parted company, it took us an hour or so to cruise on to Beverwijk, where we found enough space to moor for the evening as the weather calmed down ready for tomorrow. For the first time, I noticed that Beverwijk has now joined the 50-strong network of locations for water and electricity supply, both activated by a an Internet connection using the app aaUIt.net on address www.aanuit.net which is another improvement for these moorings, which has also enjoyed some planting of espalier screening trees.
Kathleen and I had a lunch at the fish kiosk; a paling broodje (small smoked eel sandwich) for me and some scampi for Kathleen. Later on, we had a mackerel salad for an early dinner and some apple crumble and ice cream after. By dusk, we had removed the ‘porch’ canopy and irons and safely stored them. We had also disassembled the folding chairs and stored them too. Next came the bicycles to be folded and stored away in their bags so we were all clear for tomorrow’s very early start.
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- Category: Netherlands Cruises 2019
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Section I - North Holland – 22nd June to 28th June (7 days)
Upon arrival across the North Sea from England, and continuing through IJmuiden and mooring up in the Amsterdam area, we then chose to spend some time exploring the venues in North Holland, where visits are less common than in past cruises. For an overview of the season as a whole, see Lady Martina Schedule of Voyages 2019
Part 1. Saturday 22nd June - Beverwijk to Zaansdjk see Beverwijk to Zaansdijk 2019
Part 2 Monday 24th June - Zaandjk to Alkmaar see Zaandijk to Alkmaar 2019
Part 3 Tuesday 25th June - Alkmaar to Purmerend see Alkmaar to Purmerend 2019
Part 4 Wednesday 26th June - Purmerend to Marken see Purmerend to Marken 2019
Section Ib - Flevoland – 28th June to 1st July (4 days)
After spending time in North Holland, we decided to work our way to Giethoorn, The 'Green Venice' via the Markermeer and inland Flevoland routes, providing the crew of Ikon with some new experiences such as the wide expanses of the Zwarte Meer.
Part 5 Friday 28th June - Marken to Schokkerstrand see Marken to Schokkerstrand 2019
Part 6 Saturday 29th June - Schokkerstrand to Guithoorn see Schokkerstrand to Guithoorn 2019
Section Ic - Friesland – 2nd to 10th July (9 days)
After the frenetic Guithoorn, with its Sunday visitors, and avoiding Sneek, which our guests had visited before, I selected a few lesser-known venues which we enjoyed for 1-2 days each, between times cruising through the meadows and open fields of Friesland amongst grazing cattle and farm-houses with nests of Storks on top
Part 7 Tuesay 2nd July - Guithoorn to Heerenveen see Guithoorn-Heerenveen to 2019
Part 8 Wednesday 3rd July - Heerenveen to Terherne see Heerenveen-Terherne 2019
Part 9 Friday 5th July - Terherne to IJlst see Terherne via Sneek to Ijlst 2019
Part 10 Sunday 7th July - IJlst to Workum see Ijlst to Workham 2019
Part 11 Monday 8th July Workum to Makkum see Workum to Makkum 2019
Part 12 Wednesday 10th Makkum to Hinderloopen see Makkum to Hindeloopen 2019
Section Id - North Holland and Amsterdam – 11th to 14th July (4 days) (variable)
The plan for the final section of our Dutch cruise is to position ourselves back in Amsterdam awaiting good weather for our North Sea crossing home to Norfolk. This may well be contracted or extended depending upon the weather forecasts as access would be easy via IJmuiden yet much of the Markermeer and its attractive towns could be visited if time dictated. It is also better to cruise the IJsselmeer and Markermeer during calm conditions and windier weather would dictate an inland passage and result in an early rush or a late delay
Part 14 Thursday 11th July - Hinderloopen to Enkhuisen see Hindeloopen to Enkhuizen 2019
Part 15 Saturday 13th July - Enkhuisen to Hoorn - see Enkhuizen to Hoorn 2019
Part 16 Sunday 14th July - Hoorn to Amsterdam see Hoorn to Amsterdam 2019
Part 17 Monday 15th July - Amsterdam to Beverwijk see Amsterdam to Beverwijk 2019
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Monday 24th June Ref: 2019/8
This was an even hotter day with concerns in nearby France the public health as temperatures hit 40°C and we were grateful for our installed sun canopy as we cruised from Zaandijk along the Zaan waterway to Alkmaar, overcoming a bow thruster failure and mooring in the quaint Turfmarkt haven where we enjoyed shore power and used our air conditioning to make the conditions just about tolerable. I stayed out of the heat and inside the boat for much of the time but joined the others for a nice visit to a local restaurant for dinner after which we took a cycle ride around the city
We had agreed to leave at 9am this morning, which just gave me time to cycle in to Zaandijk again, taking both Kathleen’s and my own bank card to withdraw €200 for each of us before returning to prepare Lady Martina for today’s cruise. It was our plan to cruise north along the Zaan waterway to Alkmaar and we set off from our Zaandijk moorings when my bow thruster worked well enough then, but it failed soon afterwards leaving me to steer using just the helm and both engines.
We cruised under the Julianabrug, which raised for us immediately after I had contacted them on VHF channel 18, and then through two more bridges by use of the same channel, the Zaanbrug bridge at Wormenter and then the Beatrixbrug, where there were many marinas on the port side for potential mooring, before we entered the wide open Alkemeeder Mere where Kathleen took the helm as I started raising floorboards to find out what happened with the bow thruster. It seemed to be an electrical fault but there was not much we could do until I found somewhere to moor on the meer.
After first looking at the free public moorings at the north of the meer, and eliminating them as they were difficult mooring ‘boxes’, where I would need to manoeuvre, I then took us to the meldesteiger, or arrival pontoon, of the boatyard on the north bank, where I rasied the floorboards again and used my test meter to establish that the fuse for the bow thruster had blown meaning a relatively simple repair could be made provided I could find a suitable spare! Kathleen then helped me search through my boxes of spares and, with some relief and a sense of triumph, we found the relevant fuse and I was able to fit it and restore the use of the bow thruster so that we could continue our cruise.
This took us further along the rather dull Noordhollandisch Kanaal and under the Leeghwaterbrug, which also opened for us so that we could then enter Alkmaar and moor up at their Meldesteiger where a friendly young fitness instructor, working in the summer for the town, came to collect our money and direct us through a small opening bridge into the Turfmarkt Haven, where I could connect up our electricity and comments our stay.
Unfortunately, with the heat from the hot engines percolating through the floor and the sun trap that this enclosed haven represented, it was unbearably hot and it was all the air conditioning could do to keep the inside temperature in the low 80s° Fahrenheit. Unlike our friends, we stayed inside for a long time struggling to resume our composure as I tried to do some work but could not really achieve very much. Eventually they took a bike ride around the town of Alkmaar and then changed for dinner in a local restaurant and I joined in with Kathleen and we had a nice meal and followed that with a collective bike ride around the town.
On this ride we took in the sight of the regular Friday cheese market venue in the town square, where countless people were out drinking and enjoying themselves, and also took a ride down the main shopping street and saw the Grote Kirk and town hall buildings which were very fine. There were also many quaint back streets where local people maintain their houses beautifully, encouraging flowers and plants outside in beautiful display.
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Tuesday 25th June Ref: 2019/9
The say started cool with Lady Martina in the shade but continued very warm and sunny again with no sign of the forecast thunder storms by the time we set off in early afternoon. We cruised back from Almaar via the Alkemaader Meer but had to bypass the non-working Kogerpolderbrug bridge and cruise via the Markervaart and Krollendammer Vaart to get to our target destination of Purmerend.
In a conversation earlier today, Chris and I had agreed that we should allow the ladies time looking around Alkmaar this morning and then move on this afternoon, as our current location would be too hot and noisy for what would amount to another hot and humid day.
Kathleen wanted to visit the large church/cathedral I would have liked me to have gone with her, but I’d work to do and wanted to stay on the boat to continue to update my websites and navigational work. The day started cooler than yesterday, and with Lady Martina in the shade of the adjacent Turfmarkt buildings, I made good progress firstly updating my Lady Martina website and then my own journal website as well and had cleared up my computer away by the time they had returned.
We set off at 2pm local time, when the bridge lifted from our mooring basin and we could continue our voyage. The cruise started well but then we found notices saying that the Kogerpolderbrug bridge was not lifting and this involved is taking a large detour via the Markervaart and Krollendammer Vaart to get to our target destination of Purmerend. All of the time the sun was beating down on the day was getting hotter and we had to be grateful that we were underway with a breeze on our faces even though we were still far too hot.
Upon arriving at Purmerend, had a lot of trouble with the automatic ticketing and water dispensing technology that had been adapted at the club moorings we had to wait a while until I could get the harbourmaster to appear in person to help us. In the end, he seemed to give me my 300 litres of water free and then charged me just €2 for continual and unlimited electricity which was a great boon to me such that I could run my air-condioning in the very warm and humid weather.
In the cool of the evening later, I could take my bicycle and tour around Purmerend and visit its grand church, town hall and market square which had its market today which we were unfortunately too late for.
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Wednesday 26th June Ref: 2019/10
Today, we set off from Purmerend down the Noordhollandsch Kanaal towards Amsterdam, experiencing some problems with the locks but eventually emerging into the Noordzeekanaal. Then making our way through the Oranjesluizen into the Markermeer where, in choppy waters and a fresh breeze we cruised north to stop the island of Marken alongside at the Oude Haven where we relaxed with sparkling wine to celebrate our achievement before spending the night with the chirping and friendly sparrows there
After an early planning session with Chris and Maggie, we set off from Purmerend down the Noordhollandsch Kanaal towards Amsterdam at the start of a full day of cruising that was not without difficulties, but, together with the crew of Ikon, we celebrated our achievements of navigating some 27 nautical miles through 3 locks, 12 bridges, a congested and tricky section of the main river at Amsterdam and then a choppy exposed Markermeer to arrive safely at the haven of Marken.
Paradoxically, on the map, we were only some 10 miles east of our starting point, when we arrived, but, because there is no waterway between Purmerend and either Edam or Monnickendam which allows anything but boats with very low headroom to navigate, the big detour was necessary. It also made a change, gave Lady Martina and Ikon an opportunity to open up their engines and fulfil their proper functions and was exhilarating for the crews of both boats, making a change from plodding through the waterways.
The passage through the bridges on the Noordzeekanaal was not without incident, as there was a long delay with a problem with the Buiksloterdraaibrug before somebody came to operate it, despite its to red lights warning of its un-serviceability. Care was needed to navigate the Amsterdam section of the Noordzeekanaal, because of the crossing ferries, commercial barges, passenger ships and all else and also because of the need to utilise the small boat channels to comply with the regulations.
Once we entered the Markermeer, it soon became apparent that the fresh northerly breeze against the outflow from the River IJssel, would be kicking up short choppy sea in its shallow waters but at least this was on the nose of our vessels which only started rolling when we turned broadside on briefly during the passage. Even so, a few items on unprotected surfaces in both boats were casualties when we fell into the trap of not treating these inland lakes as the seas they really are.
Upon arrival at Marken, we moored against the east quay in the Oude Haven and then the five of us shared two bottles of sparkling wine to celebrate our achievement, as the countless local and friendly house sparrows ate titbits from the deck. The weather today had changed remarkably with fresh air from the north replacing the humid air from the south, making conventional clothes more suitable again and made for a much more comfortable experience.
