Wednesday 16th June 2004 Wedde to Veelerveen.

9.9° C Grey, overcast and showery with a chilly strong breeze. We set off at 9.10 a.m. following Rosy back downstream on the Westerwoldse Aa. Once upon a time this was a river, but now it flows whichever way the pumps dictate. Just past the windmill and yacht haven in Weddeveer there was a series of islands. 

Liftbridge - photo by Grenze

Bill asked Mike on VHF if he was going round the back of the islands, he said he wasn’t going to go. Mike thought about it and decided to try it as it looked OK. We swung left alongside the basin of the yacht haven and followed a winding route between flowering yellow water lilies. With nothing registering on the echo sounder, the prop threw up great black clouds of mud stirred up from the bottom, but we had no problems. The channels rejoined by the road bridge to the big campsite. The next island was immediately beyond the wooden road bridge, too sharp a turn for our length, so Mike went to the other end of the island and we turned left and went back towards the road bridge. The course was narrower and shallower with more water lilies, but the mud was soft and again we had no problems. Shortly afterwards we turned right on to the Veendiep, following Rosy at 10.10 a.m. Still no boats moored in the round yacht basin by Bellingwolde. Yvonne ‘phoned. 

Groenesluis - photo by Staverse

She said that a picture of our boat was in a waterway magazine that Horace had, and asked if we wanted a copy of the magazine. Mike tried to fathom out where it was (there was no caption indicating its location) and thought it was probably in the North of France, possibly on the Grand gabarit to Dunkerque. Looking forward to seeing that. A shower of rain caused us to get the brolly out. No sooner had the brolly gone up than it was down again, the rain didn’t fully wet the roof, which was still covered with sticky patches from being moored under lime trees. Bill turned the key and went into Groenesluis. We went in alongside and I pushed the button to “fill” the lock - less than 2.5 cms - and we went out first, turning right on to the straight and deep B.L.Tijdens kanaal. I turned the key in the box below the next lock, Vriescheloostersluis. When the lock was empty Mike called Bill past to go in the lock first as the wind was blowing right to left, Rosy favours the right hand wall and the wind would keep the boat that side. Bill didn’t realise this and went for the left hand wall and was surprised when the wind blew him over to the right. Later I told him we hadn’t realised he didn’t know about the “wind effect” in empty lock chambers. It’s something useful to remember and use to advantage in such a windy place as Holland. 

Vriescheloostersluis - photo by Roepers

Bill went out of the lock first and stopped to lift the fully automatic push button Veendijksbrug, while we hovered about in the middle. The moorings were just beyond the bridge in Veelerveen. There was a Dutch cruiser called Pax on the mooring (but right at the very end, which was unusual) so we winded and took the other end leaving the gap in the middle for Bill. Had lunch, then Mike decided as it was only 4 kms back to Wedde (we’d come round almost a full circle by boat) he would walk it. He picked up the car and went to the library in Blijham to check our e-mails, collecting printouts of one from Glyn (he’s been having bumps on the head - a mirror fell him while he was asleep and he tripped over the hall carpet, hit his head on the wall and gave himself a black eye!) and one from insurer who was waiting for a British Safety Survey certificate from us (what??!??). 

Noabersbadde bridge at Veelerveen - photo by Roepers 

Mike took Bill and Fanny to find a vet, as the lump under the dog’s chin was starting to get very large and needed something to reduce the size. Bill had bought a herbal remedy when we were in France, which had worked well but hadn’t been able to find a pharmacy which sold the same pills since then. The vet said Fanny’s lump couldn’t be left until October as Bill had originally planned and Bill agreed for her to have the necessary surgery done the following Tuesday morning. When the young lady vet said it would be 200 Euros Bill jokingly said that he wouldn’t be able to eat for the next fortnight! I made a chicken and mushroom curry for dinner. I read. He watched the football, Russia v Portugal, the home team won (all the matches are being played in Portugal, some English fans had been stirring up fights in bars in the Algarve and had been arrested and deported. UEFA had threatened that if violence occurs with the fans at the England matches then the team would be chucked out of the competition!) Mike tried using the callback service to ring Glyn and, like Bill earlier, he couldn’t get the service in the USA to call him back. 

Monday 14th & Tuesday 15th June 2004 Langebrug to Wedde.

Monday 14th June 2004 Langebrug to Wedde.

Westerwoldse-Aa - photo by Johan Zuidema

7.9°C Chilly, grey, overcast with a cold south west wind. Drizzles of rain which lasted (thankfully) only a few minutes. We set off at 9.10 a.m. and ran down the Westerwoldse Aa to Wedde, a distance of 8.5 kms. Three boats came out of the Veendiep - two of them turned the wrong way and went towards the dead end at Wedde (the direction we were going) until they realised and turned round to head for the Winschoterdiep. Perhaps only one of them had the map! The channel from the junction with the Winschoterdiep had been wide and straight, except for one bend at Langebrug, all the way to the junction with the Veendiep, a distance of six kilometres. After the junction the navigation became more like a river, winding between reedy banks, passing a large camping site. 

Trees by Westerwoldse-Aa - photo by Johan Zuidema

First there were fixed caravans and then some men were laying bricks to make new bases for more ‘vans. A large meadow had lots of bays set out, bordered by low bushes, for touring vans and campers. A small mower was busy cutting the grass ready for the influx of holiday makers. The river passed through a pleasant wooded area, winding past white and yellow waterlilies. The water was shallower, we were leaving coloured muddy trails behind us in the water. At Weddeveer there was a small windmill on top of a building alongside the waterway, it had a rotating set of small blades to direct the main sails automatically into the wind. We arrived in Wedde at the limit of navigation for large vessels. Beyond the next road bridge the navigation was suitable only for canoes. 

Westerwoldse-Aa - photo by welvoart

It was 10.45 a.m. and the weather was showing signs of brightening up. Helped Mike unload the moped off the roof using a plank and he went to collect the car from Langebrug. When Mike returned he spotted that I’d missed a call on the ‘phone - it was from Glyn - he must have called when I was in the engine room starting the Rediline! Mike tried dialling back using the new callback system only to find he was engaged (at that time he used dial-up, so most likely he was online)! Then we all went into Blijham in the car to get a few groceries from the C1000 supermarket. Back for lunch. Mike took Bill to get diesel from the garage halfway between Wedde and Blijham, where they were selling it at 78.9c a litre, which was much cheaper than in Germany, so they did two trips in the car with all their cans and topped up Rosy’s fuel tank. 

Waterlilies  

When they’d finished with the fuel Mike lit the BBQ and we cooked sausages and baked spuds. Bill did slavinken and ribs (half of the ribs were for Fanny). I made stir fried veg to go with our sausages and spuds and we sat outside and ate our dinner, waving to all the passersby in cars and on bikes - they all waved! A queue of sportscars and vintage cars went by. Mike and Bill recognised the owner of the trip boat company whom they’d met earlier at the garage. He waved too! While we were waiting for the meal to cook, I had one of Mike’s Grolsch. Bill and Mike shared a bottle of Côte du Rhône with their dinner and later they had a few G&T’s. Bill had had a text message from Jim MacD. who was at Oldenburg in Germany, (having crossed the Dollard and gone up the tidal Ems) waiting for the tide to go down the river Hünter to Bremen and then up the tidal river Weser and later on to the Aller. A man on a bike stopped to have a chat. Later a couple in a pickup towing a trailer (for wood he told us) stopped to talk - they were fascinated by the boats, having seen nothing like them before. Bill showed them his boatman’s cabin.  

Tuesday 15th June 2004 Wedde.

12.7° C Grey, muggy and showery.We all got up late after a late night the night before. I collected up all the BBQ gear we’d left at the top of the grassy bank next to the park bench.

Westerwoldse-Aa - photo by supervakantiehuis

Later Mike and Bill went for more diesel. They topped up Bill’s containers so he had as much fuel as he could carry and refilled our containers for use in the car. The price had gone up 1c from the day before - now 79.9c! Still much cheaper then in Germany! They found the library in Blijham, but it was only open Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 2.30 until 5.50 p.m. with extra late opening 6 until 8.30 on Thursdays. Meanwhile I repotted my seedling herbs, parsley and chives, and the plants off the roof of the boat. Mike watched the football, the Netherlands and Germany drew, scoring one goal each.

Friday 11th - Sunday 13th June 2004 Nieuwolda to Langebrug.

Friday 11th June 2004 Nieuwolda to Langebrug.

Zwaaagsterklap liftbridge - photo by Jaap Elevelt

15.7° C Windy, sunny spells, white scudding clouds plus a few grey ones. Heavy showers during the night. Set off back down the Termunterzijldiep at 9.15 a.m. following Rosy. After we’d gone through ‘t Waar I made a cuppa. Two cruisers saw us coming, untied and pulled out right in front of Bill at Nieuwe Scheemda. We followed them and caught up at the first of the two movable bridges. They were having trouble with the swingbridge, Tichelwaardsdraai, so we hovered under the busy A7 motorway bridge. One cruiser went through, then we followed, leaving the other cruiser’s crew to close the bridge. The woman off the other cruiser lifted the Zwaagsterklap liftbridge, which meant we were both in front of the cruisers. I said to Bill when we got to the lock that I felt a bit guilty at having the lock when they were in front. 

t'Waar - photo by Rens van Stralen

He said I shouldn’t as they had rushed to get out in front of him and swung out almost across his bows to be first, which had now backfired on them. One of the skippers came up on the lockside and asked how long our boats were. The lock was only 25m long by 6m wide, so they had no chance of locking with us. I walked on to lift the bridge on the bend. The lock filled and the gates opened, but Bill had trouble getting his key out, so he swopped keys with the bloke off the cruiser. They were heading for Groningen - the opposite direction to us. Bill went through the bridge, then Mike followed him and picked me up. We carried on to join the Winschoterdiep, turning left into Scheemda. It was 11.30 a.m. as we dropped ropes round bollards at Eexterbrug to wait for the keeper. 

t'Waar - photo by Yvonne Quispel

We expected him to be on his lunch break and I went in to make a sandwich. Ten minutes later he arrived with a boat coming from the opposite direction. He let us through before lowering the bridge when there was no sign of movement on Rosy. We couldn’t raise Bill, so Rosy remained on the far side of the bridge until 1.00 p.m. Bill had been listening to the cricket on Radio Four (probably with headphones on). After lunch the keeper returned and let Bill and a cruiser through Eexterbrug. He kept the cruiser waiting to go through the next two bridges, Graaf Adolfbrug and Kloosterbrug, but it was well ahead of us at Beertsterbrug (the busy road bridge into Winschoten) so he let them through the bridge and closed it after them, reopening it again for us when we arrived five minutes later. 

Be Burcht at Wedde - photo by Frits Knappen

The wind was blowing very hard as we caught up with the cruiser again, who was waiting for the railway swingbridge to reopen after lunch at 2.00 p.m. Mike put the bows into the wind and we waited. No trains this time and the bridge swung to let us through at 2.10 p.m. The cruiser turned off right down the Pekel Aa and we went on to drop down Bulsterverlaat diy lock and turned right under the low bridge on to the Westerwoldse Aa. We moored next to the old quay at Langebrug at 3.30 p.m. and Mike went off on the moped to collect the car. A small cruiser went past just after we’d tied up, ideal to test our mooring lines. The news was full of former US president Ronald Reagan’s funeral in Washington (he’d died at the age of 93 after succumbing to Alzeimer’s disease in his later years) and also Labour’s huge losses in the local elections in England. A couple of blokes had arrived by car earlier in the evening and set up to fish on opposite banks of the canal right by the boat - they didn’t pack up and leave (noisily) until midnight.

Saturday 12th June 2004 Langebrug.

11.3° C The weather was getting colder again. Heavy showers, with brief sunny spells later in the afternoon. Mike was undecided on whether to go to the library in Winschoten on the moped or go in the car. He spoke to Bill, who also wanted to go to the library, so they went in the car. He was glad that they did, as it started to pour with rain five minutes after they left. I got on with the chores. They were back at lunchtime having spent some time in Praxis (DIY) and had called in Wedde to look at the mooring at the end of the navigable Westerwoldse Aa. We’d had a confirmation e-mail from World Wide Telecom with the dial up numbers for their callback service. After lunch Mike took Bill to have a look at a junk shop Bill had spotted on the B.L.Tijdens Kanaal near Bellingwolde. Bill came back with a book and a postcard. Mike tried using the new callback system to ‘phone Mum and Dad and got their answering machine – just our luck when we wanted to test the new system. I made Indonesian fried rice with chicken for dinner.

Sunday 13th June 2004 Langebrug.

Aerial view of Bourtange - photo by Amauri Brandalise

12.1° C Grey and chilly with a cold wind blowing. Set off just after 10.00 a.m. in the car to visit Bourtange, a fortified border village, as Mike and Bill had been told that they fire a cannon at midday on Sundays. Parked the car (vehicles are not allowed in the village) and had a walk around the inside battlements of the star shaped fortress. Bill had brought Fanny and she had a good time chasing her tennis ball up and down the inside slopes of the earthworks. Bill tested (well, not literally, he sat on one of the seats) a reproduction gardrobe - a toilet shed with seats and holes over the moat. When we got back to the residential area, a stall was being set up in the middle of the village square which had a notice that said that the firing of the cannon would be at 15.00 - 3 p.m. Mike said we’d come back next Sunday! We went to have a look at the moorings. We called at the junkshop, Curioso, on the way back. Mike and I went in for a look round while Bill stayed outside with Fanny (the woman in the shop said he could have brought her inside as they had dogs too). 

Bourtange - photo by glamgrids

The junkshop was a in a large shed next to a house facing the canal. They had all sorts of old junk and some nice bits of collectible stuff. Bill had been tempted the day before by an old brass blow lamp, but they wanted 35 Euros (about £23) for it and it was not guaranteed to work. Mike gave up (he’s not a shopper and certainly not a fan of junk shops, unlike me) and went to chat to Bill. I bought a small plain white cream jug with Maastricht on the base for 3€ and a Bitburger stone beer mug for 1€ (thought it would make a nice present for Ray when we go back to GB next). Back home for lunch. Engine and Markon on and did some washing. First load for Bill, then two loads for us, pre-soaked jeans then whites. Mike went for nap and I did the ironing. He’d missed the qualy for the Canadian Grand Prix, by misreading the time on the programme guide, thought it was midday and it must have been midnight. He watched some American Nascar racing and then cricket. I mended a pair of my jeans. Cooked an apple pie with a Dutch pastry mix. The oven was on so I put sausages and some pork in the oven too and did veg to go with them for dinner. Custard with the hot apple pie for afters. The football competition Euro 2004 was being held in Portugal. Mike watched  England playing the cup holders France. We were winning 1 - 0 until the last two minutes of injury time when Zinedan scored two goals for France to win 2 - 1!