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| Flood lock on the Reitdiep at Electra |
11.8º C Still cold grey and
windy after lots of rain in the night. Set off with the pins in, ready to do
some washing, at 8.15 a.m. We winded and went back through the new flood lock
and out on to the Reitdiep, turning right, heading downstream. Only the
briefest of pauses in midriver while the Roodehaan liftbridge opened for us.
There were hundreds of mallard ducks along the next stretch of river, most of
them in one bunch, they took off and landed again behind us. The cruisers
started waking up and moving off after nine o’clock. The first washer load
finished just before we reached the flood lock at Lammersburen and I had time
to unload and reload
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| Moored fishing boats and smokeries Zoutkamp |
before we had to stop to work through the lock. There was
a lift today of about 5cms. We went on the left, Bill came in on the right and
the wind blew Rosy across the lock and across our bows before he had time to
sling a rope around the wooden baulks. A British yawl, a very nice sailboat,
was waiting on the other side of the lock. We did some mutual admiration and
took photos. On down the river, the wind was picking up and, as the river got
wider, the waves increased in size. Through Zoutkamp, taking photos of the
fishing boats moored by the brightly painted fish smokeries. A sailboat got in
the way, it was waiting for the Fries sluis liftbridge bridge to open at 10.36
a.m. and was stooging right in the middle. We could get under the bridge deck,
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| Small coaster at Zoutkamp |
but ended up having to slow down to stay behind the yacht, so I had to pause
the washing briefly. I got the ironing done. Glad to get that out of the way as
the laundry pile had been growing. On into the former tidal estuary, called the
Slenk (snake) and I stood in the side hatch and took photos of the waves
hitting our bows and Rosy’s. The northwest wind was in our faces as we got to
the widest bit, which wasn’t very deep - 3m deepening to about 4.5m as we
reached the Dokkumerdiep, where we turned left to head south. The waves slapped
loudly under the
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| Boats in the hafen at Zoutkamp |
counter as we turned and we were still moving with the swell.
There were lots of sailboats out, although most had no canvas showing and were
moving under motor. A large charter klipper overtook us, he was sailing with
just one big square sail deployed. I made us a cup of soup as it was really
chilly with the biting wind still in our faces. Another British yacht went
past, doubling the number we’d seen so far this year. The wind on the estuary
had been blowing around force five to six, but moderated as we went further
away from the North Sea and the channel grew narrower. As we were going
upstream there was a flow to contend with,
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| Starboard channel marker on the Reitdiep |
only about 1.5 kph but that’s a fair
flow for Dutch waters. Lots of sailboats overtook us, all in a big bunch, just
before we arrived at the lock, Willem Loréslûs. The big charter sailboat was
heading for the lock, which still had red lights showing and a cruiser was
trying to get in first. There was a long queue of mainly masted sailboats tied
to the wooden stagings waiting for the lock. Two blasts on the ship’s hooter
were needed before the cruiser gave way and the ship went into the chamber
first. The lock lights changed to green and the lock keeper called us two
narrowboats in behind the sailboat alongside the cruiser, leaving lots of
smaller boats still
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| Rosy battling through the waves |
milling about. The problem with the lock is that there is a
liftbridge which reduces the amount of headroom in about half the length of the
65m long chamber, so sailboats get in first and motorboats (with less height
above the water) can sit under the deck of the lowered liftbridge. The road
which crosses the bridge is a busy north-south route, the N358. We rose about
20 cms and followed the sailboat and cruiser out of the lock on to the Dokkumer
Grootdiep. A queue was forming on the other side of the lock too. At the head
of it was the first hireboat we’d seen this year, a big white cruiser belonging
to Blue Line. I took a photo of it heading into the
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| A klipper under sail |
lock. Hardly had to slow
down before the liftbridge at Engwierum opened for us. It was operated from
afar by a keeper watching us on CCTV. The wind was still in our faces as we ran
west heading towards Dokkum. We moored at 2.10 p.m. at the first Marrekrite
mooring just after the junction with the Oud Dokkumerdiep. We needed a hot meal
so I heated some pea soup for Mike’s lunch. After lunch we fetched a plank off
the roof to get the moped off (the bank was a good step down off our gunwales,
only about 20cms above water). It was 3.30 p.m. when Mike left to get the car.
Bill took Fanny for a walk into Ee to post a letter. Mike was
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| First hire boat of the year |
back at 6.15 p.m.
with a handful of plums from the house by where he’d left the car yesterday.
The couple at the house had been picking the fruit off their tree and had given
some to him when he arrived to collect our car. He’d moved the car to a car
park by the lock, Willem Loréslûs, and ridden back along the canal bank on the moped.
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