Wandering Canuck

Back to waterways adventures. After spending the day in Naarden, I moored in the harbour of a little island in the Gooimeer. The wind was up and I wanted serious shelter, and not an urban marina mooring. I found the ideal location. A quiet night, and then a speed run to Utrecht on the Amsterdam-Rijn canal. Think waterways freeway: no lift bridges, obstructions, and as straight as a waterway can be. Lots of commercial traffic, but lined on each side with a double row of trees.

a canal ‘superhighway’

My first Dutch castle beside the canal in Muiden

I then spent two days exploring Utrecht: a very interesting university city. The cathedral is a centerpoint here as well, though the building is a bit eccentric. The nave (largest part), fell down in a big storm in the 1500’s and was never replaced. The tower remains, but separated by a square and some replacement buildings. The remainder of the church is very weird: high gothic and immense- but truncated. The entrance to the nave was bricked off, and now supports a large organ. When I went in, there was a choir rehearsing for a concert- and singing one of my favourite choral works “Cantique de St. Jean Racine” by Faure. A VERY different sound with 80 voices in this building, and in Dutch.

someone who has travelled with me on my journeys specifically appreciates the floral displays: the Netherlands have the best!

Some boat work, and then pottering along on the little canal to Gouda. There was a delay for about 30minutes while a diver attached a hoist to a piece of metal that he was removing from the canal, and then on I went. This canal has the most vivid displays of multi-coloured hydrangeas, all in bloom.

Then on to Rotterdam, where I met a former student who overcame all the hassles of my stagecraft program to become a lead lighting hand on the Diana Krall tour. It was great to chat about his adventures and life events (married, two boys, and a very successful career in touring with artists like Michael Buble, (and Justin Bieber, but no one can choose all their music!).

an apartment building in the center of Rotterdam. Either someone forgot to finish the center, or there was a catastrophic collapse… the people living in the center of the arch have windows on their floors.

instead of trains, or cars, in the Netherlands, they have boats and water

We walked the city, finding interesting architecture. We also found this toys set: in Canada, trains, or perhaps race cars, in the Netherlands, canal sets. Just think of the fun your kids or grandkids could have with all the water!

Well the adventures continue on a new page. I spent 5 days (including the weekend) in Meppel, getting engine serviced and new water filter units installed. I toured the town extensively on the bike trails, and dealt with a few other boat issues. All good, and nothing critical- just part of getting this complex machine to continue to work well.

Then, down the Zwarte Water to the Ketelmeer, where I turned southeast to skirt the new province of Flevoland. This is the most recently reclaimed province of the Netherlands- reclaimed from the sea. I spent the first night in Elburg, which was once a coastal defense fortress, now really an inland center. Very touristy; I was moored alongside a row of camper vans, but it was certainly not boring! I then cruised along, in ever increasing winds directly at me (with concurrent waves!), past the city of Harderwijk to a little inlet near Zeewolde, where I moored in a delightful, quiet, sheltered rural mooring. It was good to get out of the wind!

Today, I made my way further along the water that separates Flevoland from the rest of the Netherlands, in dense mist, rain and continuing winds. At the Gooimeer,  I turned south to moor in the very posh marina at Naarden, so that I could meet a former student from St. George’s, who has been living in Amsterdam. Dave Munroe and I had a wonderful afternoon getting caught up on our diverse experiences of the last years. He is getting married, and will be moving back to Vancouver for new job experiences. All exciting life events. I’ll hopefully have some sun to take a few photos of Naarden and area for tomorrow.

Five weeks. It is hard to imagine, but I’ve had crew (visitors) for five glorious weeks of touring in the Netherlands. First Nick and Chris from Devizes in Britain, who helped sort a number of the teething problems, and got me from Leiden to Haarlem. PAt and Kerry joined me there, and we had shared time to Allsmeer. Chris and Nick returned to England, and off Pat, Kerry and I went, to Amsterdam, Arnhem, then north to Groningen, and around Friesland to Sneek, and back to the meeting point at Meppel, where Pat and Kerry left me this morning.

the journey with friends in the Netherlands

I’ve had an awesome time sharing company, playing games in the social times, and meeting new people. I’ve seen a fair amount of this amazing country, whose people work constantly to master water- in every way: for transport, agriculture, domestic use, and probably most significantly, to reclaim land from the sea. We saw specific evidence of that as we were on the northern coast of the Netherlands, and the massive, long dikes that keep the sea away. Canada is proud of the dams for hydroelectric projects: James Bay, the dams in BC, and all, but they are 100’s of meters long. Dikes here are 10’s of kilometers long, and are in constant use, repair, and extension. The engineering is amazing. The whole country I’ve seen, uses, depends on, and masters drainage and water flow.

Now, a few boat details to attend to, and then on to meet the next visitors. I wonder where that journey will take me? Hang in there and find out.

We spent the night in Arnhem, having lots of time to explore and visit the museums. The Battle in Arnhem, September 1944, as part of Operation Market Garden, where the allies were decisively defeated in their attempt to seize the bridges across the Rhine, is embedded in almost every aspect of this city. The reconstruction, realignment of the roads, and the resettlement that had to occur as the Nazis evacuated 100,000 people from this area after the battle, has left an indelible mark on the city.

the northern approaches of the John Frost Brug, where the British tried to capture the bridge

the ‘bridge too far’ which was the farthest objective of Operation Market Garden

the great bourdon bell, which fell with the others as the tower collapsed. note the bullet marks and the broken canons on the top

Dutch family in front of the ruins of the church

The largest church, now a city monument, was rebuilt completely.

We turned just upstream of the city, onto the Ijssel branch of the Rhine. From 8km/h going against the current,  we were suddenly going about 18 km/h with the current. A VERY different experience! You can just see this at the very top left of the photo.

the Neder Rijn in Arnhem, in flood, with the re-built city in the foreground

Kerry inspecting our position in the lock relative to the rather larger ship ahead!

We spent the night in a marina along the river, and met some new friends, Bob and Henne. A great evening was spent with them. Then, further along, we turned at Zwolle, through a lock, and back to canal waters. A night in Zwolle after some time to explore the town, we set off northwards in ever smaller canals. Zwolle church has a (restored) Arp Schnitger organ from 1720’s. Very impressive.

We arrived in the vast metropolis of Uffelte (population probably 100), and moored beside a farmhouse that looks as if it had once been a barn. The family was tractor obsessed: dad mowing with a lawn tractor, 3 boys, each with small pedal powered tractors towing a small trailer, and grandpa, with an antique hit-and-miss powered one, out for a drive to entertain the boys (one perched on each rear fender- a rare sight these days!). Small village life…

It is interesting to be on the big rivers, but also good to be back on canals that are narrow, with hand-powered bridges and locks, and in the midst of rural Dutch life.