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| A stalking stork |
11° C overnight. Grey, overcast
and chilly until late afternoon when the sun came out. We set off just before
nine, through the liftbridge at Ossenzijl, and went past the moorings where we
had intended to be the day before. The moorings were empty except for one
little sailing botter. We turned left on to the Linde and suddenly there were
birds galore. I took photos of a white stork hunting his breakfast in the
meadow and quite unconcerned at such trivialities as passing boats. Then we
were treated to an aerial display by several black tailed godwits, arguing
between themselves as they flew across the adjacent meadows. A newly mown field
of grass had been occupied by a very large flock of greylag geese. The lock
with the longest name in Holland, Mr H.P. Linthorst Homansluis, was empty and
ready for us. A cruiser entered the lock with us and we rose 20 cms. I took our
rubbish and Bill’s across the bridge to the bin and dashed back to the boat
just as the keeper was ready to lift the bridge to let us out of the chamber.
Now we were on another navigation with an equally long name, the Jonkers of
Helomavaart. The first liftbridge, Oldetrijnster, had double red lights
showing. One cruiser on the far side was waiting for the bridge to lift. Mike
dropped our mast and ensign and we went under the side fixed span. The cruiser
that had come up the lock with us was unable to follow. Three cruisers from the
opposite direction (one with navvie lights on! is this another “new” thing -
like the Dutch cars driving about in daylight with their headlights on?) joined
the queue on the other side. A woman on the first cruiser said they had been
waiting half an hour. There were three men in the control cabin, it looked like
there must have been some sort of breakdown but they had it fixed within the
next ten minutes and traffic was soon back to normal. A whimbrel flying low over us was
calling as he went by (which made him easier to identify). At the next bridge,
Oldelamer, the keeper kept two cruisers on the far side waiting until we
arrived, then he let them through first while we stooged around, which was not
too easy in a strong wind. The wind was turning very cold, so it was a case of
jackets on again and a cup of soup to warm us up. We turned left on the
Tjonger, then right, into the Pier Christiaansloot. It must have been turn-round
day at the hire base in Echterbrug, as there were cleaning women polishing the
already immaculate cruisers for hire.
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| Mr H. P. Linthorst Homansluis |
We paid 1,40 Eu for the liftbridge and
motored out on to the Tjeukermeer. At midday Mike called Bill and asked if he
fancied stopping for lunch in the middle of the lake, he said yes, why not, so
we hauled out a small anchor (and a mud weight when the wind kept blowing us
broadside) and paused for lunch. The boats were only rocking gently in the
slight swell and there was very little other traffic about and what traffic
there was followed the buoyed route round the edges. We set off again at 1 p.m.
fetching peaty soil (and I thought the bottom would be sandy!) off the anchor
as Mike heaved it back on board. At the edge of the lake we passed pochard and
tufted ducks by the entrance to the Scharster of Nieuwe Rijn. More noisy black
tailed godwits. Under the motorway liftbridge, which had been lifted only a few
minutes earlier, stopping the road traffic to allow through passage to a small
masted yacht. Then a cruiser followed us through the right hand lifting span
when there was acres of space to the left under the fixed span where he could
have easily passed us. He overtook us a few minutes later. The bridge at
Scharster lifted for boats coming towards us first. We crossed the Langweerder
Wielen heading north west, then into the Kaai channel off to the north east and
into a long narrow lake called Fammens-rakken, then under three low fixed
bridges to moor at the wooden landing stages south of Jentje Meer. It was 3.30
p.m. We found a portable mooring ring, which someone must have forgotten, it
was designed to fit through the slots in a wooden decked staging and twist.
(Later we found it was wedged fast, which was why it had been left behind -
Mike of course un-wedged it!) The godwits were still arguing, several were
using the fence posts along the hay meadow opposite the moorings for sentinel
posts. The birds we saw were all males, so the females must have been sitting
on nests somewhere in the grass and the males were bravely fending off seagulls
and shouting at one another too. Mike collected the car. I did the chores. Peter
sent an SMS to say his HF set was at the menders, it had no audio. He wanted
info to be able to power up an old FT101E he’d been given. He hadn’t got a
power lead. Mike sent him details of the connections in the power supply socket
on the rear panel.
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