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!