Sunday 2nd May 2004 Nigtevecht.
10.9° C overcast grey, cooler and windy. An enforced day
off as the lock on to Flevo wasn’t open afternoons and we couldn’t get there
before 12.00!
Monday 3rd May 2004 Nigtevecht to Almere Haven.
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| Replica galleon at Muiden |
8.4° C Cloudy, but dry until late
evening. Got up early to make a good start. Set off at 8.00 a.m. with nothing
but us moving on the river and queues of traffic on the road bridges heading
into Amsterdam. We went under the bascule bridge at Weesp, then we saw a
cruiser going in the opposite direction and one hovering on the bend waiting
for the lift bridge to open to give him access on to the Amsterdam-Rijn Kanaal.
Again we could pass under the fixed part of the bridge that carried the railway
line across the river, for the others there was a double lift bridge (two side
by side to carry the two sets of rail tracks).
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| Muider slot (castle) |
A large cruiser was stooging
about on the long sweeping left hand bend with houseboats all around the right
hand band. We went on the wrong side of him to keep out of his way. The next
boat we encountered was a large sailing tjalk. It had its masts up but was
running under motor power as it winded to come in to moor next to several more
old sailing boats. I phoned the boatyard Tisset on Flevoland to ask what time
the lock closed in the afternoon. The hours had changed and they were open
until 7 p.m. Great! Time for us to have a run round Pampas Island! Love it! A
short wait at Muiden below the lock, then the keeper swung the bridge to let a
small cruiser out of the right hand chamber and we went into the left hand one.
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| Moored boats at Muiden |
She gave us a discount - two for the price of one! - and only charged us as if
we were under ten metres, 2,50€ each instead of 5€ each. I had to ask the
keeper if we’d come uphill or downhill as none of us had noticed a change in
level. She said we’d come uphill on to the lake. Bill said his motor was
clanking again, but only at tickover. Mike had a look and said they would have
to have a closer inspection later. I made a cuppa as we ran past the castle,
Muider Slot, and all the moored yachts, then out into the Ijmeer.
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| Pampas island in Ijsselmeer |
Took a couple
of photos. A little green Dutch barge decided that he would cut straight across
our bows - I was looking out the side doors as his wash hit and I got my sleeve
wet from the splosh that came through the side doors! Swine! and I’d just given
him a cheery wave. The westerly wind was blowing quite strongly on our port
side as we headed due north out to the island in the middle of Ijmeer. The
waves were only small and there was very little traffic moving - all the
sailing tjalks were tied up in Muiden below the lock. There were a couple of
commercials moving on our left, coming out of Amsterdam, heading north up the
lake towards the Ijsselmeer and a few small sailing boats messing about. We
went around Pampas island to head south east to the entrance to the Gooimeer
lake, the first of a chain of lakes around Flevoland. Ten new wind generators
had been built along the coast of Flevo and all were turning, producing free
electricity from the energy of the wind.
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| Rosy passing Pampas island |
We entered the buoyed channel running
past the end of the small chain of islands (where the channel was for the
direct route through shallow water between the islands and the south shore).
Under the bridge carrying the A6 motorway and the railway and into Gooimeer. A
large cruiser overtook us, then a couple of yachts under sail. As we passed the
island called De Schelp, two commercials went by heading for the Ijmeer,
Evelein an empty container ship, and an empty 65m boat called Elonie. A large
waterways dredging platform was catching us up. A very large passenger boat
called J.Henry Dunant from s’Gravendeel went past just as a fast cruiser was
overtaking us, their wash collided, applauded and watered the plants on our
roof.
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| Rosy entering Gooimeer |
A tug called Zeemeuw pushing an empty pan Zaanstadt went past and we
turned left, as the wind started to back to the south, to keep to the left side
of the channel, ready to turn left into the harbour at Almere Haven. The big
square dredging boat had been catching us up, but as we turned left he did too!
We thought he was going to get in our way but he went into a large basin in
Almere Haven before the boat harbour. The wind was side on to the boat again
and made a few waves as we went into the harbour. It was 12.40 p.m. as we tied
up above the lock to wait for the keeper to come back on duty after his lunch
at 1.00 p.m. Gave Bill a hand to tie up and a cruiser came alongside him.
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| Rosy on Gooimeer (picture from 2005) |
A
British chap off a cruiser in the harbour came over for a chat. He told me
they’d been hiring boats for holidays in Holland for years before they bought
their own, mainly so they could have the grandkids on holidays in the summer.
They were off to Friesland this year. The keeper came back on duty and we
escaped first. Paid our 1,95€ lock dues and had a town guide. We dropped down
five metres, now down below sea level. Paused on the quay below the lock, after
two small boats had gone into the lock to go up it, and waited for Bill. Mike
took the rubbish and I made a sandwich for lunch. Pushed off from the quay as
the clapper gate opened and Rosy emerged. We ran down the Lange Wetering
channel, under low wooden bridges with our mast down, past lots of houses and
people out walking in the sunshine. There were four cruisers moored at the
first mooring basin, three of them on the main line and one opposite them
inside the basin.
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| Almere Haven (picture from 2005) |
Past a new square building under construction, with round
turrets on three corners and a huge square tower on the fourth. We wondered
what it could be and decided it was either a prison, a massive hotel or a block
of very posh flats (it’s a hotel called Kasteel Almere and it still (ten years
later) hasn’t been finished as the builders ran out of money). Past a long row
of designer houseboats and turned right
on the Hoge Vaart (high route) to moor next to a converted tjalk by the golf
course at 2.45 p.m. The people off the houseboat came to look at our strange
boats.
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| Kasteel Almere |
They’d only had their boat for four months and were looking forward to
having holidays on it. Mike had a listen to Bill’s clanking engine. Bill
tightened up the engine mounts and the clanking stopped. He went to ask the
Dutch couple where we could get some steel from to make straps to firm up the
mountings. I gave Mike a hand to get the moped off and he went back to
Nigtevecht to collect the car. Bill came back from the neighbours with a map of
where to go in Almere for some steel.
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