Week 19 Not in Wijnjewoude

 Sunday

Heerenveen to Blokzijl

Monday

Blokzijl to Kampen (a Hanseatic League City)

I was intrigued by this very robust means of stopping the lean of the two buildings - they both had a lean on them i.e. towards each other.

Tuesday

Kampen to Harderwijk (another Hanseatic League City)

Harderwijk

The mooring (paid for with an app on the phone - so very easy)

The Haven Kantoor (office and included in the price amenities)

The Botterloods (a Botter is a traditional type of ship and "loods" is shed - the Botter Shed)

Used by volunteer enthousiasts to restore an old botter.

Strawberries seem to be very plentiful at the moment - as does asparagus.

Wednesday

Harderwijk to Weesp

At Robin's suggestion, we decided to go back into the polder after all - a great decision as it turned out. The route was partially new for me - entering through the lock at Zeewolde (5 metres down) and then joining up with the Hoge Vaart through to Almere Haven (5 metres up)(for the umpteenth time - but never tiring of it!).

Zeewolde

The name of the lock "de Spiegel" appears as the water drops.

Noah's Ark...but we didn't have quite that much rain...

In the sheltered polder again...

Up to Almere Haven

Then across to Muiden with no wind to speak of - this is an open stretch of water and it can get a bit choppy.

The castle (slot) at Muiden. Presumably built to protect the mouth of the Vecht river.

From Muiden, it is a short run down to Weesp. Ben came to meet us here. It is noticeably a "dormitory" suburb of Amsterdam - lots of young couples and lots of kids - and only 15 minutes by train to the Central Station in Amsterdam.

Mooring overnight at Weesp (Haha, the same as the last time we went through)

On Thursday morning we left at first bridge opening (0900hrs), planning to meet up with Ron and Nettie on Houtrib and David and Janice on Sukey.

Heading to Utrecht on the river Vecht - we met up with them about half way at Loenen aan de Vecht.

It really is a beautiful stretch with some exclusive houses along the way...

Houtrib and Sukey travelling behind us.

Weesp at the top - Utrecht at the bottom

An alternative route might be the Amsterdam Rhine Canal - but this is a direct route for major shipping - to be avoided if at all possible...

To our dismay, we found that there was a bridge closed (inoperable) on our route - so we had to back track and cross out on to the said canal - I was in the lead and was immediately confronted by two ships heading in opposite directions (i.e. to each other).

I had just discussed with Janny that there is a special turn that is recommended when entering the canal - which I had to do immediately! It must have looked OK because we got a thumbs up from one of the skippers. 

The Golden Rule of all boating here is to "keep to the right" - so I did - going in the wrong direction until the ships were past and it was safe to cross over and head down the other side of the canal.

This was the first time that I had actually had to do it.

And so we had a couple of hours on the Amsterdam Rhine canal after all. Janny was hanging on rather grimly for a while.

Eventually, we entered a lock to get into Utrecht - and then had to wait for about an hour before the next bridge would open - the local bridges all close for peak hour - At 1800hrs we could go further to our mooring - about 900 metres from Utrecht Central Station - where Frank and Pam will be arriving from Paris.

On Thursday evening we all went out for dinner and stumbled upon a Greek restaurant  - it was getting late after a long day and so we decided rather quickly - and had a delightful evening with pretty good food.

On Friday we went shopping - until Janny had to catch the train home. Ron and Nettie took Houtrib through the centre of Utrecht - a lovely little trip - a part of the canal had been opened up since I was last here in 2018 - so we could do a circle and come back to our mooring.

Ben came to visit on Saturday and so Ron and Nettie did the tour operator thing again and we again went through the city centre - every bit as enjoyable as the first time.

Ah, the joy of boating...David has a leak on Sukey and Ron had an overheating problem with the motor - and I've been constantly checking that I have no further problems with water in the bilge (seem to have fixed that ✌).

But Janny thoroughly enjoyed her little break (except for the major canal). This is the longest trip (distance) that Janny has done - a bit of an eye-opener for her - but we both think that "pottering around Friesland" is just fine.

We both missed Boeke.

He was in good hands with Ankie (as was the business and Janny's Mum).