Tuesday 9th August 2005 Warffum to Schaphalsterzijl.

The basin at Warffum

13º C overnight and still 13ºC when we set off at 8.05 a.m. delayed slightly because a man from Brentford came to chat with Mike. Grey, overcast, chilly and windy again. We arrived at the junction with the main canal as Bill was reversing Rosy out and winding. We followed Rosy back down the Warffumermaar. Bill told us that the water level had gone down a couple of inches overnight, enough to put Rosy on the bottom and he had to shove the boat off the mud. We hadn’t noticed, the water must have been deeper in the basin.

Under one of the low bridges in Baflo

Turned right into the Rasquerdermaar. Bridges through the village of Baflo were all fixed ones and quite low, some a little under 2m. The navigation’s name changed to the Baflo-Mesingeweer kanaal. We had a short pause as we drifted against the reeds while Mike and Bill looked at the chart and discussed where to go at the next junction. We set off first leading the way again. Turned right on to the Mensingeweerster loopdiep just after a cruiser had gone across the junction from left to right. After a short distance we turned 

New flood lock at Schaphalsterzijl

left on to the Kromme Raken, another river with no flow leading on to the main river, the Rietdiep (pronounced Reetdeep). Toasted some raisin buns (similar to hot cross buns, a Dutch speciality and addictively tasty) as we wound round some extremely tight bends. Bill missed a particularly tight bend and had to go into hard reverse but just managed to miss the reeds. Good job the canal is deep all the way across edge to edge. Just before we reached the village of Schouwerzijl a cruiser caught us up but stayed behind Rosy. The moorings just before the Reitdiep were empty, a long wooden landing with rings to tie to and a notice saying there

New flood lock at Schaphalsterzijl

were no free moorings there (our Wateralmanak Deel 2 of ’97 said the moorings were free for three days, must be out of date on that one, same as it was regarding the moorings in Warffum - they were supposed be the same - free for three days). We turned left between two cruisers heading down the Reitdiep, heading upstream on the wider river. A sailing boat went past under motor. A short distance up the river we turned left into the Winsumerdiep and found a brand new flood lock at Schaphalsterzijl. When we

New flood lock at Schaphalsterzijl

moored there in ’97 there were single flood gates under the road bridge, now there was a brand new, modern pumping station and a lock. New moorings for lock waiting had been installed too. Bill paused on the one before the lock while we had a look at the moorings upstream of the lock. The old quay was now rebuilt (and inaccessible), but the mooring for lock waiting looked OK, if a bit overpopulated with things to tie to. There were bollards, low level looped bars and high level tiny bollards on top of wooden boards, almost no room for your feet. The decking was the type that Fanny hates

New flood lock at Schaphalsterzijl

to walk on – open metal mesh. Mike called Bill on the radio, it was quieter away from the main river, so he brought Rosy through the open gates of the flood lock to join us. We overlapped either end of the mooring. I made some lunch then helped Mike unload the moped. Black clouds came over so he threw the cover over the moped and retreated back on board until the heavy shower passed over before he went off to get the car from Middelstum. I put the inverter on and got up to date with the log. Mike returned and negotiated with the people at the house to park our car on their land. It was OK. Bill couldn’t get TV as the trees were in the way, so I gave him a hand to pull Rosy alongside us.

Monday 8th August 2005 Middelstum south to Warffum via Usquert.

Modern suction dredger at Middelstum

9.6º C. Rain in the night. Sunny spells and more heavy rain showers. Mike was up at 7.30 a.m. He took Bill to get a few things from a Plus supermarket by car before we set off at 9.20 a.m. Back down the Boterdiep. The first bridge, Fraamklap was only a kilometre away. We arrived just before the lady keeper came out to lift the bridge at 9.50 a.m. A cruiser was waiting around the corner, but the keeper let us through first. Ninety degrees right and within a few more minutes we were at the brand new DIY lock at Den Deel. Pressed the button on the landing before the lock

Den Deel lock and pumping station

and the lights changed to red and green, then the guillotine gate lifted and we went into the concrete chamber, 25m long by 3m wide, guillotine gates at either end and a new pumping station alongside the lock chamber. Bill pressed the button on the lockside and we rose 10 cms. The heavens opened and it poured with rain. We followed Rosy to the next waiting point, the liftbridge in Onderdendam. I went inside and did a few chores while we waited. Zijlvestrbrug opened at 11.30 a.m. and we followed Rosy through. Bill missed the

Statue of a bow-hauling boatwoman at Onderdendam

right turn on to the Warffumermeer and had to reverse - that put us in the lead. Two men in canoes followed us and overtook as we went along the narrower canal. We hadn’t gone far before we met a new replica botter coming in the opposite direction. He sounded his horn, so we sounded ours. Cheeky so and so thought he was going to get the middle, think again, matey! The elderly couple inside the cabin looked very miserable as they went past, not a smile or a wave. Turned right on to the Usquerdermaar at 12.15 p.m. a

The hill by the Usequerdermaar

wider canal fringed with reeds and good views across the fields and meadows. Bill went straight on, as he said he wasn’t that interested in dead end canals, (unlike us, we always have to go to the very ends of navigation, always have done!) so he continued on into Warffum and we said we’d see him later, or possibly the next day. Just us now. The canal up to Usquert was deeper too at almost 2m deep. Seagulls and whimbrels were feeding in one large meadow. A little further on we came across a grass covered hill, partly hidden by trees - almost a forest! Came to the conclusion that the hill was formerly a rubbish tip and the trees were to hide it. We passed 

Farm track liftbridge (DIY) near Usquert

a fisherman and saw no other signs of humanity until we reached the village. The last section, alongside a road, was narrower with trees on our left. A farm access liftbridge was DIY and hand wound, once I’d heaved on the rusty bar to unlock the deck. Mike took the boat through and picked me up on the other side and we ran into Usquert. There was a wide space before the moorings so we winded and stopped by a little landing stage while Mike went to look at the moorings and take a couple of photos. While he was away, an elderly man in a van stopped to have a chat. He’d been a sailor and had been to all sorts of places in England - Margate and Whitstable, even Gainsborough! I told him we’d just come back from Poland. He asked if we were staying overnight and I told him no, we were going to carry on back to the junction and 

Start of the moorings at Usquert

up the Warffummermaar. He said the moorings were free in Usquert. I didn’t get the significance of his comment until later. It was 2.15 p.m. when Mike returned and said the moorings were completely full and he could find no sign of a tap. I walked back down the road to wind the farm bridge up and he brought the boat through. I had remarked that we must get some water as I really needed to do some washing. Mike put the pins in and we did one load while we carried on down the canal back to the junction and turned right heading up to Warffum.

End of navigation at Usquert

Travelling at the increased speed necessary for generating 240v made some of the bends a bit tricky. We turned right into an old basin which had new brick quay walls and a low wooden landing to tie to. It was devoid of boats except for one resident cruiser. There was a section marked “Water” and a hose connection in the wall, so we tied up next to it and Mike went to find the harbour master while I connected up our hosepipe. I dipped the tank to find we had half a tank, 300 litres. The man who came back with Mike to unlock the cabin across the road and turn the water tap on spoke very good English and was very chatty. He said that the moorings in the main channel were an overspill from the basin and were charged at the same rate, which

Lovely, but almost, empty moorings at Warffum

should be 4,50€ per night for boats of our length (electricity cost another 1€ per day, but the water was free). (Now we knew why the guy at Usquert made the comment that their moorings were free!) We said we’d move on. Mike said he would walk down the road to go and tell Bill the bad news and the guy went with him. It had started to rain while we were refilling the water tank and neither of us thought about the fact that we’d left all the gear out on the stern of the boat, including the GPS and the camera. When Mike returned he said the guy had waived the charges as he thought it was silly to charge for the moorings and have no boats stopping overnight. That was nice of him. We took all the stuff off the slide inside and dried it out as best we could. The GPS was pretty much waterproof, but the camera wasn’t. Left it to dry out overnight with its battery and flash card removed. (We were lucky – it recovered). Watched the news and weather - Britain was enjoying good summer weather, while we were due more cold rain and wind.

Sunday 7th August 2005 Oldenzijl to Middelstum south.

Rosy winding in the reeds on Uithuizermeester

8º C Cold, sunny spells, breezy, rain later. Mike was up at 4.30 a.m. retying the boat. Some nasty person had lifted our stern ropes off the mooring pins and untied our bow rope too. The noise of our bows bumping Rosy had woken Mike. They’d undone Rosy’s stern ropes, but hadn’t been able to get to the bows as Bill had looped a rope round the post supporting the rubbish bin and his bows were not near the bank. That’s the first time ever that that has happened since we’ve been on Continental

Houseboats

waterways. It was only 13º C when we set off in reverse at 9 a.m. We only just turned the boat in the outflow of a field drain, forcing the stern fenders through the tall reeds, being careful that the headlight didn’t catch the footpath bridge over the drain, but the depth was insufficient for the bows to go that far up the drain. Waited while Bill turned Rosy and set off again at 10.20 a.m. heading back “upstream” on the former tidal creek. We saw no other signs of life than a lone fisherman sitting atop a section of reedless bank by the road bridge. We arrived back at the

Storm clouds gathering

junction with the Boterdiep at 11 a.m. After a half hour wait the keeper came to swing the bridge at Doodstil and we carried on following Rosy back through Kantens back to Middelstum. We tied next to Rosy at 12.45 p.m. by the bridge north of Middlestum to wait for the bridge to lift. The keeper arrived just after one and we continued around the village to moor at the southern end in a layby. The rain had started to pour and the wind had picked up to gale force as we swung round to moor with our stern in the corner so we could have a

Moored in the layby at Middelstum south

better chance of getting satellite TV. A man came to chat to Mike as we tied up. Gave Bill a hand to get Rosy alongside, it was difficult in the side wind. After lunch Mike and I went for a walk through a deserted village to pick up the car from the mooring by the bridge to the north of the town. We went to have a look at the possibility of mooring (and winding!) in Usquert and Warffum, both villages at the ends of little canals. They both looked OK. Mike said let’s go and have a look at the sea, so we went north across the flat as a

Horses and seagulls on the Nordpolder

pancake Nordpolder, through an old flood dyke and then stopped at the foot of the next dyke at the end of the road. We took a walk to the top among the sheep and saw fields below where horses were grazing, beyond which were posts in the sea bed continuing the process of land reclamation, called landaanwinning here. Gulls wheeled in the air and lapwings took off as a marsh harrier flew low over the marshy fields. In the distance on the Waddenzee there was a large island ferry boat of Grimaldi lines and we could see the Waddeneilands

The Waddeneilands ferry

on the horizon, the mud banks of one to our left and buildings in the town of Borkum to our right. Back home via the villages of Warffum and Baflo on the N363, then turned east north of Winsum back to Middelstum. The weather had been sunny while we were out, but was still very windy. More rain arrived later.

Nosy Nordpolder sheep

Saturday 6th August 2005 Middelstum to Oldenzijl.

Leaving the mooring at Middelstum

10.7º C overnight. After rain in the night it was sunny, but with a cold wind. We went out in the car first thing to get fuel, petrol for the gennie and diesel for the car, then called in a Plus supermarket in the village for bread and cheese, etc. When the bridge opened at 10.15 a.m. we set off, heading north on the Boterdiep. It was still cold with the wind blowing, so Mike kept the coal fire going all day. The channel was narrow and the banks built up with gabions (rocks in wire mesh baskets) below the road through the village of Kantens, past a tall

Grote Geert windmill in Kantens

windmill called Grote Geert. The canal did a sharp right turn, with a canoe route off to the left called the Koksmaar, and we passed two moored houseboats (which had seen better days) in the middle of nowhere. A young man stepped off the one that looked inhabited with a dog at his heels – hippies! He said hello as we passed by. We arrived at the swingbridge at Doodstil (the village sign said the “mooiest plaatsnaame” - the most beautiful place name in the Netherlands - it means dead calm) at 11.35 a.m. No one around, so we dropped a rope on the posts by the bridge. An old chap with a camera arrived to chat and take photos. At 11.45 a.m. two waterways men came with a couple of cruisers on their way back down the canal from Uithuizen (where the Boterdiep finishes). As we went through the bridge Mike told the bridge workers that we weren’t going into the town, we were going up to Oldenzil, but one of them still cycled on to the liftbridge going in the direction of Uithizen. He went away again when we did a

Rosy in the reeds in the narrow channel of the Uithuizermeester

sharp right turn into the Uithuizermeester, a very narrow channel between high banks of reeds. The course of the former river twisted and turned, ducked under several fixed footbridges and a roadbridge and after 6.5 kms we arrived in Oldenzijl, the end of the navigation, where an unattended liftbridge barred the way. Mike tried winding with the bows in a ditch at the end of someone’s garden, but the boat was just about two metres too long. We gave up and backed off for Bill to have a go. He couldn’t get Rosy round either, so we both moored next to an old low quay wall and decided we’d have to reverse

Reeds and a winding channel - Uithuizermeester

next day to a place about a kilometre back down the navigation where we might be able to wind. We’d stirred the bottom up quite well and the water had turned from peaty brown to inky black, sending up the most malodorous pong imaginable. We’d arrived at 1 p.m but it was 1.45 p.m. by the time we’d tied up. Mike said we’d leave the car where it was as we would be going back to Middlestum next day. We started making up the new mossie net strip curtain for the front door. In the middle of

Moored at Paapstilbrug

doing that a small (15m) unconverted (except for an engine in its hold) masted tjalk arrived with a crowd of people who leapt off on to the bank behind us and proceeded to hammer out the wedges on the bridge deck and wind up Paapstil liftbridge with two hefty blokes swinging on the windlass to operate it. They took the boat through, some of the youths climbed the bridge deck whilst hanging on to the side railings, and then wound the bridge back down again and never said a word to us, didn’t even look in our direction - we might have been invisible! Not even a wave. Back to work on

Tjalk going through the bridge.

the curtain, except a lady arrived on the quay and engaged Mike and Bill in conversation. She invited us to go to her house for a drink. OK. Half an hour later her husband arrived in his car to pick us up and we had a very entertaining time with two journalists who had been all over the world.

Friday 5th August 2005 Ten Boer to Middelstum.

Oosterdijkshorn lock on  the Westwijtewerdermaar in the rain

12.7º C Heavy rain in the night. A chilly, overcast, grey day with heavy rain showers. It was only 13º C when we set off at 8.20 a.m. to be at the first lock, Oosterdijkshorn, for its first locking time of the day at 9.00 a.m. We were there at 8.40 a.m. and threw a stern rope around a large wooden bollard on a tiny wooden landing stage and waited for the keeper to arrive. The keeper was a bespectacled middle aged farmer’s wife in waterproof, skirts and short wellies, who spoke no English. She opened the liftbridge for us and we went into the lock

Oosterdijkshorn lock on the Westwijtewerdermaar in the rain

which she had already filled for us. The lock was about 25m x 5m, with sloping brick sides and guillotine gates at either end. Electric motors had been installed to modernise the ancient lock, the motor wound what had previously been a manually pulled endless chain – the gate went down slowly behind us and then the one in front went up slowly, filling the 10cm difference in levels without us even noticing. As we left the lock we spotted the sign which said keys for the Damsterdiep available here. Mike reversed back to the lock

Oosterdijkshorn lock on the Westwijtewerdermaar in the rain

landing and the cheery keeper came back out of her farmhouse kitchen with a 20€ note in her hand for the key! We motored on after Rosy. It was 9.20 a.m. I made tea and toast. We hadn’t gone very far when Bill called on VHF to say he’d found a cruiser which had broken down. Mike asked him if he was going to be tugmaster again, to which he replied oh! all right then, and towed the little boat back to its mooring by a house just before the liftbridge in Westwijtwerd. We’d just missed the bridge opening time at 10.45 a.m, the next was at 12.15 p.m. according to the time board. Bill had gained a newspaper reporter who had come to ask questions. Set off again

Oosterdijkshorn lock on the Westwijtewerdermaar in the rain

when the keeper turned up to open the liftbridge at 12.15 p.m. Round a sharp 90º bend to the left and there was a swingbridge, where we had another wait for a keeper to appear at 1.15 p.m. I went inside to do salad for lunch. We went past a factory with an old liftbridge which was permanently open to canal traffic, ducked under another low bridge and followed Rosy round a sharp 90º right hand bend as we joined the Boterdiep. After a couple of kilometres we did another sharp 90º turn to the left under a low bridge and skirted round the town of Middelstum. An open motor boat was moored under the next bridge, a low wooden footbridge, its occupants looking fed up under a brolly sheltering from the downpour. The rain seemed to have set in for the afternoon. The next bridge was in sight and it didn’t open until 4.00 p.m. - it was 1.45 p.m. By this time we were brassed off with the weather and hanging about, we’d only done 12 kms since setting off, so we backed up to a concrete quay with bollards next to a

Windmill on the Westwijtewerdermaar - in the rain!

public garden and tied up. I helped Mike get the moped off the roof and he donned his waders and went to get the car from Hoogezand. First he went on reconnaissance around the village and came back to tell me to tell Bill that there was a VVV (tourist) office back the way we’d come. Bill was getting a bit anxious as he was wanting an internet café. Bill knocked at 4.00 p.m. he’d been for walk and had just seen the bridgekeeper by the liftbridge – the bridge doesn’t open until 10.15 a.m. in the morning. He told me he’d found the VVV office and had asked about the library but hadn’t got there before he was soaked through and decided to turn back. The rain was coming down in buckets. Mike was back at 5 p.m. It was still raining as I helped him put the moped back on the roof. Bill cycled back into the village and found the library, which was only open two days a week, but he had been lucky and found they were open late on Fridays. Watched the news and weather (more of the same for us). It was cold and damp, so Mike lit the coal fire – IN AUGUST!