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| Heron on Lagevaart (pictures from 2005) |
3.8° C after a really chilly overnight temperature a calm,
warm morning followed - with no wind! Mike talked to the skipper off the
cruiser, which was from Zwartesluis (where we were headed for), and asked him
about the new bouyage system - as he’d spotted lots of new yellow cans out on
the lake the day before when he was at Ketelhaven lock. He confirmed there was
a new route across Ketelmeer and it was best to head straight across for the
Ramsgeul. He told us that, not only had they made a new through route by making
a new lock on to Flevo at Harderwijk, they’d also taken out the lock on the
Randmeer (the chain of lakes around Flevo). Set off at 9.30 a.m. running side by
side on the wide straight canal as there were no other boats in sight. I stood
on the roof of the boat to spot the first tulip fields.
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| Unloading Lagevaart (pictures from 2005) |
There were no longer
any boats moored on the quay at Biddinghuizen, so we paused to have a look at
the tap there - it would have taken twenty four hours to fill our tank! We’d
just set off again, then Mike spotted a bin, so we reversed and I dumped our
rubbish and Bill’s. The industrial wharves in the town looked derelict from the
canal, but the silos might have been in use by road transport. A little further
on down the canal a great pile of sand on the bank had been utilised by sand
martins for nesting. We wondered afterwards whether the pile of sand had been
placed there just for that purpose! We were overtaken by a fast small cruiser
called Dolce Vita on the bend just before KP 50. Another small boat coming in
the opposite direction turned out to be a very smart police boat. Lunch. The
small cruiser had moored for lunch by one of the road bridges to Dronten. He
overtook us again half an hour later. Bill called on VHF to say that he’d
forgotten to pump up his day tank and his engine had run out of diesel! He’d
have to bleed it before he could start it again. We went back to catch Rosy as
she was heading for the bank. Put fore and aft ropes on and kept going while
Bill sorted out his motor. I steered while Mike gave moral support. We were
steaming along, making a slow 3 kph, heading for Ketelhaven. On our left there
were narrow rows of tulips flowering across a huge field, pink ones and then
several rows of maroon ones with their flowers cut off, making a gaudy
pile in the gaps between the rows. On
our right bank there were yellow ones and more purple ones.
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| Knardijk Lagevaart (pictures from 2005) |
Through binoculars
I spotted a loaded commercial turning from the Hoge Vaart heading down to the
lock on to Lage Vaart and on towards Lelystadt, having just descended the lock
from the lake at Ketelhaven. Bill got the engine going again and we untied to
run the last couple of kilometres to the mooring below the lock at Ketelhaven.
There were new moorings at the camping place on the corner of the junction with
the Lage Vaart. A couple of teenage lads were playing about in a rubber dinghy
and tried racing us towards the lock until they realised we were mooring up.
There was just one large cruiser on the wooden edged mooring, which looked like
it had been left there. We tied up at the end furthest from the lock leaving
enough room for Rosy right on the end. We were going shopping, but Mike had a
job to do before we went. He’d replaced the plastic laminate on the runners for
the engine room sliding hatch and wanted to edge them with filler to stop them
“lifting”. I gave him a hand when he realised he couldn’t do it quickly enough
on his own before the filler went “off” and set rock hard. Once we’d finished
we went into Lelystadt by car and found the Albert Heijn - we’d been to last
time we were there. They had a post office inside the store so Bill posted a
packet back to GB. He wanted more charts from the ANWB and Mike wanted some
batteries, so we went into the centre of town. There had been a road accident.
A policeman was directing traffic - away from where we needed to go - so he
pointed out a car park where we could stop and walk to the shops. I stayed in
the car and the men went for a walk. It didn’t take them long. I was supposed
to get a parking ticket from a machine, but a) I’d got no change and b) I
couldn’t fathom out which coloured button I was supposed to press - the plan of
the car park was marked out in different colours - so I gave it up as a bad job
and hoped there were no traffic wardens about. Back at the boat I packed the
groceries away, we watched “Corrie” and then I made a stirfry using a lovely
Shanghai Pak Choi I’d just bought from the AH. It was delicious with chicken,
mushrooms, carrots and oyster sauce. Central heating on again. The rain that
was forecast started during the evening and was heavy through the night.
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