The ‘mud-map’ for summer 2024 – our seventh season

We have quite an itinerary this summer, starting with a flight from Perth to Vienna to do an 8-day self-guided bike ride from Vienna to Budapest in late May. We will then return to Lady M taking the night train from Vienna to Amsterdam, and then by car.

We are planning to spend all of June, July and most of August on Lady M visiting north-west Germany and as far south as Dortmund, passing through the Netherlands provinces of Friesland and Groningen & Drenthe along the way.

On our return to RFU in Jirnsum for winter storage, we will also prepare Lady M for sale at the end of our season, in the hope of finding a similar-sized ‘sedan-configuration’ motor cruiser to replace her and continue our travels in future years.

Portugal is our next destination – Lisbon for a few days before doing a self-guided hike with friends to visit various windmills and villages in the Coimbra region. This will be followed by some time in the city of Porto, and then a couple of days with friends in Viana do Castello, before returning to Lisbon by train for our flight home in mid-September.

Vienna to Budapest by bike

We have used a local bike tour company to arrange bikes, accommodation and luggage transport for our 8D/7N self-guided ride along the Danube river, averaging about 55km/day of easy / moderate terrain in Austria, Bratislava and Hungary.

The eastward cycling route from Vienna to Budapest via Bratislava (Map courtesy of bikemap.net)

We have done a number of similar tours over the years, in counties including Italy, Vietnam, Portugal, Spain and Croatia, and have always found that cycling (very much like boating) is an ideal way to explore and meet the local people at a sensible pace, whilst giving us time to ‘soak in’ the experiences along the way. We will spend two extra nights to explore Vienna before we start the ride, and similarly three extra nights in Budapest before heading to Lady M.

Our plans on the water

We are planning to depart Jirnsum on 2 June, crossing northern Friesland via Dokkum, Zoutkamp, Groningen and Delfzijl, and entering Germany via the tidal Ems River. Travelling south on the Ems along the border to Dortmund we will do a clockwise loop, including a section along the Rhine (with the current) from Duisberg to Wesel, before returning north on the Ems then east along the Mittellandkanal to Minden and possibly to Hanover.

PC Navigo route map for our summer travels into north-western Germany

We will then make our way back north from Minden via Bremen on the Weser River, and hope to then return via Bremerhaven, then cross-country via Wilhelmshaven, Aurich and Emden before re-entering the Netherlands at Delfzijl. We will return to our winter storage at RFU in Jirnsum via the Eemskanaal to Groingen and then the Van Starkenborghkanaal.

At this stage we have three lots of visitors planned to join us along the way, two in the first two weeks, and the third group in our final week, so that will certainly keep us on our toes!

Portugal

We had hoped to get from the Netherlands to Portugal by train, but it is looking like a flight will be the most viable (though not our preferred) option. We have four nights to see a bit more of Lisbon (the last time we were there was in May 2013 – that’s 11 years ago!), then off to Coimbra and surrounds for week, during which we will spend five days doing the “Ancient Windmills’ self-guided walk with a local company.

We will then take the local train to Porto to spend four days exploring this ancient city, followed by a couple of nights staying with old friends in Viana do Castello (which is about 80km north of Porto) before taking the train back to Lisbon and flying home in mid-September.

All-in-all its a fairly long holiday with a busy start and finish, and plenty of relaxing time on the water in between to enjoy what will almost certainly be our last summer on our lovely Lady M.

We hope to do our first post on the water around mid-June (after our early guests have departed) . . . . .

Brewing beer at home in Perth

So, what’s all this about then ?

So, I hear you say, what is the connection between brewing beer in Perth and our travels on Lady M?

Well, to be entirely truthful, the answer is “very little at all” – save to say that Tim does enjoy a beer or two in the evening wherever he happens to be.

However, having now settled into our new home in Perth, Tim has re-discovered his brewing equipment, and we thought it would be something of interest to (hopefully) some of our readers to share a brewing day with you.

Additionally, we have not posted a blog for some months, and wanted to keep you all on your toes.

It just so happened that in January our nephew Joseph, who is a doctor practicing in Melbourne (and something of a beer connoisseur) was visiting his folks in Perth. He had a couple of hours spare, and was interested enough to come along with his Dad (my brother Peter) to see what this beer brewing lark was all about, and so the opportunity presented itself.

Fortunately Peter is also a keen photographer with an arty flair too, so we have him to thank for the following photo montage which describes the day’s events.

So, here goes . . . . [and by the way, some of the print in this post is quite small, so if you want to read it comfortably we suggest you visit our site at ladymtravels.com from your computer rather than via your phone or iPad]

The general set-up

Tim’s brewing equipment lives in the garage, and primarily comprises a grain mill, a “Brewzilla” 30 litre brew kettle, a hot water urn, a 25 litre fermenter, a dedicated fridge and a multi-plate heat exchanger, accompanied by various buckets, connecting pipes and cleaning products.

The secret of successful and good-quality brewing is cleanliness – everything must be washed and sterilised on brewing day prior to commencement.

The general set-up in the garage, with the happy brewer itching to get started. The tub on the floor contains about 15 litres of sterile cleaning solution which was used to clean all the equipment, and in which the transfer hoses are kept until needed

Brew selection and grain milling

We are fortunate enough in Perth to have a couple of “Brewmart” stores where a brew-kit comprising grain, hops, yeast and basic instructions can be purchased. In this case our choice was a replica of the Mash Brewery’s “Hop Head IPA” recipe, with 6.25kg of grain and lots of new-age hops.

We prefer to mill our own grain to make sure it is done properly (we have had a bad experience when we got the shop to mill it for us). Fortunately Joseph was at hand to try his hand, and did a splendid job!

Tim demonstrates the milling process, then hands over to young Joseph

Milling completed – introducing the mash to the pre-heated mash water

Once all of the grain had been milled, it is introduced into the pre-heated (65C) mash-water in the brew kettle, about 1kg at a time accompanied by stirring with the paddle between each addition to ensure the mash doesn’t “ball-up”.

Grain milling completed and mash is introduced into the pre-heated water in the brew kettle

Joseph also turned his skills to the paddle stirring and was an instant success – this young man is showing great promise! With all the grain introduced and the temperature stable at 65C, the re-circulation pump is switched on and a 1-hour cycle commences where the wort is circulated through the mash in the brew kettle whilst the carbohydrates are extracted and converted into sugar chains to form the wort.

Paddle stirring the mash, followed by getting the wort re-circulation going

Sparging then removing the mash

The water temperature is raised to 75C during the last 10 minutes of the 1-hour mash cycle, following which the mash basket is raised and suspended above the wort. The additional water (pre-heated to 75C) required for the boil-wort volume (about 12 litres in this case) is then added by pouring it gradually over the suspended mash basket so that it percolates through (known as sparging) and flushes out as much of the remaining sugar chains as possible.

Tim lifts and suspends the mash basket and uses a 2 litre jug to add sparging water at 75C

Boiling and hopping

On completion of the sparging process, at which time the required boil-wort volume is in the kettle, the mash basket is removed and the contents disposed of (we suspect it would probably be a good addition to a garden composter, but we don’t have one).

Boiling is another 1-hour process, during which hops are added at various pre-determined points, according to the unique recipe for the beer being made.

Brew kettle contents almost at boiling point. The hops are vacuum-packed in the correct quantities according to the recipe. Below is the 6.25 kg of spent grain which now weighs about 10-12 kg from absorption of water during the mash process

Decanting the wort, cooling and into the fermenter

Once the 1-hour boiling process is completed, the heating element is switched off, and the object of the exercise is to then cool the wort as quickly as possible whilst decanting it into the fermentation vessel, so that yeast can be added once it reaches at least 25C.

For this purpose, Tim uses a multi-plate heat-exchanger with the cooling water side using tap water (at about 24C) passing (at about 5 litres per minute) through a condenser coil immersed in a bucket of iced water. This usually gets the wort from about 98C down to about 35C which is still too warm for the yeast, so the fermenter goes into the fridge overnight and the yeast is added the following morning.

The fridge is maintained at 18C, and following the addition of the yeast the fermentation usually takes 8 to 10 days. During this period, dry hops may also be added to enhance the flavour of the beer.

At top is the heat exchanger (without all of its associated plumbing), and below is the 25 litre fermentation vessel safely installed in the fridge at 18C, with the airlock in the lid to keep the contents free from bugs or microbes

Bottling and bottle fermentation

After spending about 10 days in the fermentation vessel (which is kept in the fridge at a constant 18C), during which time we added some flavouring hops at day 5, it is time to put our fermented beer into sterilised beer bottles.

To add some natural carbonation to the beer when the bottle is opened, we add a small dextrose tablet to each bottle, which generates a further few days of bottle fermentation and creates the natural head on the beer when it is poured.

The fruits of our labour

With the bottling process completed, we have produced about 60 x 330ml bottles of beer. These are then placed back in the beer fridge (still at 18C) for bottle fermentation (about 1 week) and maturing (another 3 weeks), so that our beer is ready for drinking about 4 weeks after bottling.

The latest batch safely in the fridge, and will be ready for a “taste test” in about 10 days, and for consumption in about 4 weeks – Can’t wait !

All-up, our total cost for about 60 x 330ml bottles amounts to:

• Ingredients = $38
• Yeast = $6
• Chemicals and consumables = $10
• Power and water = $3
• Labour = Free of charge by retirees !

This equates to less than $1 per bottle, plus there is the added bonus of having a bit of fun along the way, and keeping our visitors entertained – priceless !

There is a proverb “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” which in our case roughly translates into “the quality and enjoyment of the beer is in the tasting” . . . . . . . . .

Here’s “Cheers to you all“, and we hope you enjoyed this little deviation from our travels

Where to next ?

In March or April we will post an outline of our plans for this summer in Europe on Lady M, so until then, we will leave you with this lovely extract from an old Irish blessing:

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.

A jaunt along the Great Ocean Road, Victoria (and a little further)

On our return from Europe in July we had promised ourselves a trip to Victoria before the year end to visit friends Col and Linda, and to do some sightseeing with them along the Great Ocean Road (and beyond). Col’s home is in the lovely township of Point Lonsdale at the entrance to Port Phillip bay, and Linda’s is in Perth (where we live), so they spend their time between the two homes.

Plans were made, dates and flights confirmed, and we arrived in Melbourne on 2 October, taking the Gull airport coach to Geelong, from where Col & Linda whisked us off to Point Lonsdale on a cool but sunny afternoon.

From our research we had discovered that the Great Ocean Road is a 240km long heritage-listed section of coastal road between the towns of Torquay (in the east) and Allansford (near Warnambool) in the west, with rugged and spectacular coastal scenery. It was constructed by returned WWI servicemen between 1919 and 1932, and it is dedicated to the soldiers killed in WWI. As you might imagine, it also happens to be the world’s largest war memorial.

South eastern Australia, and the relative location of Victoria’s Great Ocean Road relative to NSW, Vic, SA and Tasmania (Map courtesy of Google)

Map of the Great Ocean Road showing the route from Torquay to Warnambool and beyond to the South Australian border (Map courtesy of http://www.sydney-australia.biz). Point Lonsdale (not shown) is just west of Queenscliff (centre right)

Memorial plaque at the eastern end

Life-sized bronze sculptures at the Memorial Arch

First stop on our journey was the Memorial Arch marking the eastern end of the road

A very happy Col with Elaine and Linda at Lorne, with sculptured bathing beauties behind. As you can see, not the ideal weather for getting anywhere near the beach or the water !

After a great brunch of coffee and bacon and egg rolls at the seaside town of Lorne, we took a slight detour to visit the Great Otway National Park, Cape Otway and its historic lighthouse – it was a very clear but windy day.

The historic Cape Otway lighthouse

The rugged coastline looking west from the lighthouse

View from inside the lighthouse looking upwards to the original ‘state of the art’ Fresnel lenses from the early 1800’s, now replaced by an automated light station

A view looking north west from the Gibson Steps showing part of the “The Twelve Apostles” limestone and sandstone rock formation near the town of Port Campbell (my apologies for the glare). The Apostles are probably the most famous landmark along the Great Ocean Road, but sadly only 8 of the original 12 remain

And here’s the view looking in the opposite direction, with rather more colour courtesy of having the sun behind. There is a person walking on the beach which gives some idea of the scale

Not much further along the coast from the Apostles lies the Loch Ard Gorge, named after the English clipper ‘Loch Ard‘ which came to grief on nearby Mutton Bird Island on 1 June 1878 in heavy mist, having sailed for 3 months from Gravesend on its way to Port Phillip Bay. Only two of the 54 passengers and crew survived the wreck.

Loch Ard Gorge, where the only two survivors of the Loch Ard wreck, passenger Eva Carmichael and merchant sailor Tom Pearce, were able to get ashore and start their new life in Australia

We overnighted in the pretty little town of Port Campbell, which is less than 10km from Loch Ard Gorge. It boasts a caravan park, a lovely sheltered beach in the bay, a pub, a couple of small motels and cafes, and even its own brewery “The Sow and Piglets“, where we enjoyed some surprisingly good beer – highly recommended.

Later that afternoon, and despite the chilling 30-40km/hour wind from the south, we crossed the town’s little suspension bridge and took the discovery walk up to Sunset Lookout, where we were rewarded with some great views back along the coast we traveled during the day.

View looking east back along the ‘Shipwreck Coast’ from the cliffs along Port Campbell’s discovery walk. You can just make out the dark rock outcrops of the Apostles slightly right of centre on the horizon

The following morning, with the weather still cool and very windy, but now overcast and with a hefty swell on the ocean, we made our first stop at ‘London Bridge’ lookout just a few kilometres west of town.

Big swell and frothy waves washing through the rock formation known as ‘London Bridge’

About one kilometre further along the coast from London Bridge lies ‘The Grotto’, a very picturesque natural rock feature reached by a flight of stairs, and protected from the heavy sea (except for high tides and massive swell).

Sheltered rock formation and pools at The Grotto

View looking west across the ‘Bay of Islands’ under a heavy sky. The swell was 3m to 4m and you can still see the wind patterns on the water

We cannot remember exactly where this photo was taken (possibly at our lunch stop near Warnambool), but we loved the artwork and wanted to share it with you

We passed through Warnambool on our second day, and were now technically beyond the western portal of the Great Ocean Road. Our plan was to continue east and visit the Mt Schank extinct volcano and then Mount Gambier and on to Robe on the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, before turning west to Penola in the Coonawarra wine region of South Australia for a couple of nights, then returning to Point Lonsdale via the shortest cross-country route.

Google map showing the route from Point Lonsdale via the Great Ocean Road, Port Fairy, Portland and Nelson to Mt Schank (an extinct volcano). Robe is on the coast upper left, and Penola is west of Robe and due north of Mt Schank

Port Fairy is less than 20km west of Warnambool and was, without question, the standout most attractive historical town we visited on the trip. The town is named after a seal hunting cutter ship “The Fairy” by its captain in 1828. We walked around the town and its very picturesque and sheltered marina along both sides of the Moyne River, which is overlooked by some very lovely waterside properties. The town’s wide streets are clean and tidy, and have a large variety of ‘olde worlde’ shops and cafes, selling everything from R.M. Williams outfits to books and antiques.

Unfortunately, we were so busy enjoying the sights of Port Fairy (and avoiding a very heavy afternoon rainstorm) that we don’t have a single photo to share with you . . . . . so you will just have to take our word for it (or go and see it all for yourself) !

Our overnight stop on the second day of our trip was Portland, a rather large and busy coastal town with a busy industrial port. We found a decent pub dinner at Macs Hotel near the port, and were entertained by the antics of various locals at the bar.

The following morning we detoured down to the Cape Nelson Lighthouse, and then on to the coastal Petrified Forest at Cape Bridgewater. The former was well worth the visit, however the latter was somewhat uninspiring (plus we got rather wet from a squall that blew in over the ocean and surprised us on our clifftop walk).

Two views of the Cape Nelson Lighthouse taken less than half an hour apart. That’s the weather in Victoria for you – four seasons in one day !

Part of the ‘Petrified Forest’ at Cape Bridgewater – the remains of petrified trees in limestone cliffs. Almost identical to the geological features at the Pinnacles Desert in the Nambung National Park south east of Cervantes in Western Australia

The weather has improved, and we are on the edge of the cone looking into Mt Schank’s extinct volcano crater. The volcano was formed quite recently (about 5,000 years ago) and local aboriginal people have witnessed its eruptions during their history

From Mt Schank we visited the large rural town of Mount Gambier in South Australia, just 10km west of the Victorian border, which also has a couple of extinct volcanoes in the form of natural lakes (the Blue Lake and the Valley Lake) as well as a beautifully landscaped sunken garden in a sinkhole known as Umpherston Cave.

Umpherston Cave sunken garden – an inspiration ! We noticed a couple of wild bee hives hanging from the overhanging rocks – bees and gardens are very happy !

Our third overnight stop was in the quaint coastal town of Robe, with its large and well-protected marina home to plenty of cray boats and fishing boats.

Once again that rough ocean swell, this time at Robe on the Great Australian Bight. The red and white structure is Robe’s ‘Obelisk’, which was constructed as a marine navigation beacon before the first lighthouse was built

This is Robe’s ‘Doorway Rock’ which is just around the headland from the Obelisk, and accessed along the Robe Coastal Walk

And all too soon we were at Penola, the primary agricultural town of South Australia’s famous Coonawarra wine region (think of Wynns, Bowen Estate, Redman, Rymill, Majella, Katnook Estate, and Reschke, to name but a few).

Coonawarra wine country, 40km from the coast and most famous for it’s Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine lovers amongst you will be familiar with this etched version of the famous Wynns of Coonawarra label, which greets visitors to their cellar door. We enjoyed a very relaxed wine tasting here accompanied by an excellent cheese platter

Some old vines on the Wynns vineyard at Coonawarra (which the Two Hands vineyard in Barossa would rightfully describe as “gnarly dudes”)

Penola is a small but busy historical town providing services to the large Coonawarra wine region and beyond. It has strong ties to Scotland and still has a Caledonian Society and even a Caledonian Pipe Band.

A bit of Penola history, the original 1857 Cobb & Co. stagecoach booking office

An original settlers cottage on Penola’s main street, with a spectacular front garden

This very old cottage hasn’t fared so well, and now stands alone, awaiting it’s fate on a large block of land which is for sale on the main street

Our 6-day westward journey via Robe ended with a couple of nights in Penola, from where we explored a couple of wineries, returning to Point Lonsdale by the most direct route via the towns of Casterton, Hamilton and Colac.

A fun time was had by the four of us, and our special thanks to Col & Linda for the comfortable 4WD we shared, and for Col’s extensive local knowledge gained from having guided many hikers along the various coastal hiking trails which follow and criss-cross the Great Ocean Road.

A truly exhilarating part of our great country and it’s history, and we are very glad to have had the opportunity to have experienced it, and we hope you have enjoyed our insights too.

After leaving Col & Linda we visited family in the Mornington Peninsula and even spent a few nights in Melbourne, where we discovered the Fixation Brewery not far from our hotel in Carlton. Tim just had to share this photo with you – and it has reignited his enthusiasm to get our home brewing underway again in the near future !

Tasting platter at the Fixation Brewery in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton – a great experience all round !

We are currently working on our plans for summer 2024 in Europe on Lady M, and look forward to sharing those with you in the new year. Until then, keep smiling . . . . .

A quick circuit of Friesland and then to Jirnsum

We arrived in Joure’s sheltered harbour on Saturday 1 July to hide away from some strong winds and rain for a couple of days.

Our overall plan for the remaining few weeks of our season was to work our way from Sneek to Leeuwarden to collect our final visitors for the season. Our idea was to take them to Franeker and Harlingen (from where they would depart for Schiphol), and then to wend our way back to Jirnsum and put Lady M into winter storage.

Route plan for the final leg. Sneek is middle just below centre, Joure to the south east of Sneek, Leeuwarden is the large urban area top right, and Harlingen is the port upper left on the west coast (North Sea). Our final destination is the green flag at Jirnsum (called Irnsum in the local Frisian dialect)

We couldn’t have picked a better day to start our visit to Joure. Despite the impending bad weather, that afternoon was the annual brass band music festival along the main street of the town, and the weather was kind. From 1pm until almost 5pm, no less than 12 brass bands from all over Friesland played their stuff, leapfrogging between seven different locations along the main street, with between 3 and 4 bands playing at any one time.

The atmosphere was great – the Dutch know how to have a good time – and we joined in the festivities.

Great support from the locals, and also from the members of other bands while they have a break between performances

Joure is home to an interesting old church named the Hobbe van Baerdt (after a wealthy nobleman and resident of the town) which was constructed in 1644, and just happened to be open to coincide with the afternoon’s festivities. The adjacent tower (De Jouster Toer) is older and dates from 1628, and its three historic bells were cast by the bell founders Gregorius Hall (1603), Jacob Noteman (1636) and L. Haverkamp (1790). The well-known coffee and tobacco company Douwe Egberts, which is based in Joure, subsequently donated a carillon with 37 bells in 1953.

The inviting entrance to the Hobbe van Baerdt church, with its ‘Welkom’ flag, and the church tower just visible on the left

The beautiful interior of this rather small church has a lovely timber-paneled vaulted ceiling and some very exquisite woodwork, not to mention a very fine organ

We took a local bus and visited nearby Heerenveen and its Museum Heerenveen on Sunday 2 July, where we saw some striking photo portraits by the talented Dutch photographer Reiny Bourgonje, although sadly we have no photos of our own to share with you here.

On Tuesday 4 July, having survived a wet and windy few days in Joure, we motored less than two hours to nearby Akkrum, and explored the small town not far from our mooring at the Drijfveer Yacht Harbour on the Meinesleat canal. It turned out that we were in for another blast of wild, wet and windy weather from the north, which arrived that afternoon. The following morning the wind was blowing even harder, and eventually peaked at 55km/hr (with gusts of over 80km/hr) in the early afternoon.

The view across the Meinesleat canal to a moored 8m yacht at the height of the storm. Also note the trees in the background, and those are windblown waves on the canal !

We motored on to Warten in fine weather on Thursday 6 July, another village we had not previously visited, and moored in their very large but sheltered yacht harbour in glorious sunshine. It was hard to imagine the gale force winds of the previous day. Warten is located just north of the Prinses Margrietkanaal, and is well-positioned next to a large national park called Alde Feanen which extends south from the opposite side of the canal.

Warten Yacht Harbour, with the Prinses Margrietkanaal just visible top right in the midst of the green. Lady M is moored on the end of the first jetty, just left of centre of the photo

The weather prompted us to do a bike ride the following morning, returning via the village of Earnewald in the heart of the park. We liked the look of Earnewald and made a mental note to spend a few nights there on our way back from Harlingen the following week.

Motoring to Leeuwarden on Friday 7 July was in very pleasant weather, first along the Prinses Margrietkanaal and then west into the Van Harinxmakanaal. Nearing Leeuwarden we got to see our favourite Dutch bridge, the Slauerhoff Bridge, opening for us (and a few others) once again.

A speeded-up video heading into Leeuwarden under the Slauerhoff Bridge

This is what it looks like from the air (Photo courtesy of Google Maps), Leeuwarden is to the right (east) and Harlingen to the left

We were pleasantly surprised to find that there is no longer any “Bruggeld” charged for entering the city – last time we visited, it was a Euro 7 fee payable in coins at the first bridge. On that occasion, we missed the sign and had to moor up alongside a wharf whilst poor Elaine dashed back (in the pouring rain) to pay the grumpy old man at the bridge!

Our friends Chris & Jo arrived on schedule at Leeuwarden Station on Saturday afternoon for their flying 3-night visit (such are the time constraints of those poor people who are still working and yet to retire). We enjoyed a pub-style dinner at the Double B (Beer and Burgers) and spent a long evening catching up on each others’ news over a few more ‘bevvies’.

Visitors arriving at Leeuwarden’s main railway station are greeted by these sculptures of two children (7m high !) titled ‘Love‘ by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa, and one of 11 such fountain sculptures commissioned by the province of Friesland

On a clear and sunny Sunday morning we moseyed down to the beautiful town of Franeker, just under two hours of motoring and just over half way to Harlingen. Chris and Jo visited the Eise Eisinga Planetarium (which is covered in a post during our first season in 2017). It is the world’s oldest working man-made planetarium, and was hand-built by Eisinga, a humble wool comber and carder, in his cottage between 1774 and 1781. It is an absolute ‘Must’ if you are in the vicinity of Franeker. Chris and Jo were not disappointed.

Meanwhile, we visited the nearby Martena Museum on the town’s main street, and once the city castle home of the nobleman Hessel van Martena, who built it in 1506. A stained glass window in the house dates from 1609 and commemorates his death at the age of 60 on the island of Rhodes in 1517 on his way back home from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Fortunately he had the foresight to write his will before he departed, and left his wife and four daughters financially secure.

It’s quite astounding to think that Martena’s city castle is over 500 years old and still looks this good ! Obviously there has been some TLC and restoration over the years

The text at the bottom reads “Lord Hessel Martena Knight. First founder of this house died on the island of Rhodes in 1517“, and above is his armorial bearings and his coat of arms

In the museum we also learned a little about the Mulder family, Johannes and his wife Hyke Sophia and their two children who also once lived in this house, and whose portraits, painted by Willem Bartel van der Kooi in circa 1800, also hang in the house.

Portrait of Johannes Mulder, doctor, surgeon and professor at Franeker University, who once decided to operate on himself during a class. He extracted a molar and tried to drain an inflammation in one of his sinuses. He had to ask his assistant to complete the procedure, which was apparently a success, however, he later developed a high fever and died

Portrait of Hyke Sophia and their children Aaltje and Claas. Like his father, Claas studied medicine and became a professor of botany, chemistry and pharmacology at the university in Franeker

Another of Franeker’s historic buildings, this one was an orphanage which has been somewhat modernised in recent years. The ancient signage over the door describes how it had been an orphanage since 1668, and was modernised in 1854 by the guardians through generous donations from the municipality

There is lots more history and architecture to see in Franeker, as well as some fine restaurants (and a great gelato shop), so we strongly recommend a stopover if you are passing this way.

No time to hang around, we continued on to the port city of Harlingen on Monday 10 July, and were surprised to find the city’s Noorderhaven harbour quite busy. The harbourmaster’s friendly team found us a quiet mooring alongside the wharf, and gave us some tips for mooring to accommodate the 2 metre tidal change in water level, all of which worked very well.

We explored the town that afternoon after a tasty lunch at a pub on the wharf, and in the evening we took a stroll down to the Brouwdok (Brew Dock), a newly established brewery on the North Sea facing harbour on the south west side of the city. The beers were not bad, but the view was better.

Chris and Tim patiently awaiting the arrival of some golden nectar

It was farewell time on Tuesday morning, and we walked with our guests to the bus station for their bus trip down to Alkmaar, via the Netherland’s famous Afsluitdijk (Cut-off Dyke), from where they would catch the train to Schiphol airport. It had been a fun-filled few days, and we look forward to seeing Chris & Jo again soon.

Built between 1927 and 1932, the Afsluitdijk is 32km long, 90m wide at its crest, and incorporates massive sea-locks at either end. It’s construction annexed and protected the Zuiderzee (Southern Sea) from tidal flooding and also allowed the Netherlands to increase it’s land mass by converting some of the low-lying tidal areas into agricultural land.

The weather was continuing fine so we decided to linger in Harlingen for another couple of days, get some laundry done, explore the city a bit more, and make a plan for the remaining week of our holiday. We also booked an overnight stay in Den Haag on the night before our planned departure from Schiphol on 21 July.

Interestingly, we had been planning to stay our last overnight in Amsterdam on 20 July, but we realised that Amsterdam is so busy with mass tourism, and accommodation has become so expensive, that we would prefer to stay elsewhere. Den Haag is a far more relaxed (and affordable) option, it’s only 25 minutes by train from Schiphol, it is more compact and far less busy than Amsterdam, and we had never stayed their overnight before – an easy decision!

You guessed it ! Yet another museum on Wednesday, this time the Hannema House Museum on Harlingen’s main street, which was bequeathed to the city. The museum comprises quite a diverse collection which includes paintings, grandfather clocks, tiles, silverware and maritime history in various forms, so we will let the photos give you a flavour.

The beautiful face of a hand-made grandfather (Longcase) clock (circa 1760) by Harlingen’s master clockmaker Tjeerd Ratsma.

It was one of the most beautiful he made, and features day, date and month, a ‘celestial square’ featuring the constellations (in front of which passes the sun), and a hole through which is depicted the phase of the moon.

The case contains a chime with thirteen bells, and there is a choice of twelve different melodies !

A tile tabletop depicting the whaling ship ‘De Jonge Boom’ made in Harlingen in 1775

An entire wall displaying collections of tiles made in Harlingen between 1600 and 1933

Highly detailed scenic tiles from the 2nd half of the 17th century

Various sailing ships from the 17th century

A couple of close-ups showing the level of detail in these very fine hand-made tiles

An aerial map of Harlingen (North to the left) produced by local resident cartographer Jacob Lous in 1610. How clever were these map-makers over 400 years ago ? The Noorderhaven (where we were moored) and the Zuiderhaven are easily identifiable on the centre left and right of the map, with the narrow harbour entrance channel protected by sea walls at the bottom of the map

Harlingen’s Hannema House Museum also is home to a spectacular portrait ‘Isaac Massa en Beatrix van der Laan‘ painted in 1622 by Frans Hals (whose museum we visited in Haarlem a few posts back), which is on loan from Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum until 3 September 2023. Yet another good reason to visit Harlingen this summer !

We commenced our return along the Van Harinxmakanaal on Thursday 13 July, overnighting in Franeker, and treated ourselves to a very tasty lunch at the Eisingha Stadcafe – great service, excellent food and highly recommended. On our evening stroll we enjoyed a sundowner at the Stadsherberg pub located along the very pretty Noorder Gracht municipal harbour. Unfortunately for us, these moorings are restricted to vessels with a maximum air draft of 2.5m, but great to visit on foot nevertheless.

On Friday we motored to the rather industrial town of Burgum, another we had not previously visited, and moored at the comfortable and friendly municipal harbour. The attraction we had come to see was the ‘Observeum‘, and small observatory and museum about a 2.5km walk from our mooring, and the weather was fine, so off we went.

In addition to the 3.8m long x 200mm diameter telescope (not operating during the day), the Observeum has a very diverse range of displays from archaeology, primitive inhabitants, local people and history to boat building and work by local artists.

‘Spirit of the Rainbow’ by local artist Jan van der Meulen

Some more very colourful and imaginative creations by Jan van der Meulen

Burgum was the home of Hendrik Bulthuis, who designed the ‘BM’ class of sailing dinghy in 1928, which became very popular in the Netherlands because it was able to be constructed as a “DIY” project for a relatively low cost, and thus made dinghy sailing accessible to ‘ordinary people’.

This is an original Class BM12 (sail number ‘BM 131’), length 4.75m, beam 1.5m, draft 0.8m, and sail areas of 8.8m2 and 3m2 for the main and jib respectively, i.e. 12m2, hence the Class BM12

A 1:10 scale model of a BM 12

In 1931 the Class BM was expanded to include a BM16, a 6.0m long BM with a 16m2 sail area, and then in 1941 a BM10 with a sail area of 10m2 and a length of 5.0m.

With the promise of another strong weather system landing on Saturday afternoon and continuing into Sunday, we motored to the town of Earnewald on Saturday morning and found ourselves a secure mooring right next to the local river ferry ramp as the wind began to start cranking up.

Earnewald is a small village surrounded by water and open country in the centre of the Alde Feanen National Park, and almost entirely dedicated to outdoor pursuits including walking. bird watching, nature studies, canoeing, sailing, camping and caravanning. Nearby is the ‘Skutsje Museum’ which was constructed about 25 years ago by volunteers to celebrate the famous Dutch sailing barge the ‘Skutsje’.

A Skutsje is a Frisian sailing boat of the type ‘tjalk‘ or ‘Dutch barge‘. Originally they were an ordinary sail-powered cargo boat with a very shallow draft for negotiating shallow water and equipped with a pair of “zwaards” (swords) which are external keel blades (one either side) which can be lowered to provide steerage when the vessel starts to lean and slide in strong winds. Nowadays they are prized as classic historic sailing boats and also live-aboard house boats, and there are annual races for them too.

A replica Skutsje built by the museum volunteers, and out for a leisurely afternoon sail with a group of seniors on board. Note the ‘zwaard’ keel board is in the lowered position

A photo (of a photo) of a racing skutsje under full sail (Courtesy of the Skutsje Museum)

The museum is run by volunteers and celebrates every aspect of the life of a skutsje, from joinery and timber work and sail-making to blacksmithing, rope-making and racing.

The re-created carpenters shop, with a plane for every occasion !

Beautiful hand-made pulley blocks old and new

A selection of block planes – they had some over a metre long that required two men to operate them !

A beautiful skutsje model in polished steel (possibly this was a race trophy?)

During the summer months the Earnewald community arranges weekly treats for its visitors, and this Sunday we were treated to a special event in the form of a visit by the famous ‘Bicycle Showband Crescendo Opende‘ who, we must be honest, we had never heard of !

The band arrived on their fleet of custom-built bicycles at 1pm and began a two-wheel tour of the village whilst playing their instruments, and also stopping at various locations to entertain with some stationary renditions too. Fortunately the foul weather had departed by late Sunday morning although, as you will see, the wind was still a-blowing!

Here is a short video of the Bicycle Showband Crescendo – great musicians and cyclists. They are quite unique and have traveled as far afield as Japan and the USA to showcase their skills.

If you want to see some really good footage of the band in action, then search on YouTube under ‘Bicycle Showband Crescendo’ – very skillful and entertaining.

We managed to do a couple of nature walks through the surrounding countryside on Sunday evening and Monday morning – lots of fresh air, waterfowl and other bird life, but we weren’t brave enough to get on our bikes with the strong wind still hanging around.

With improving weather on Tuesday 18 July we made our final motoring day of the season, refueling along the way, and arrived at RFU Jirnsum, our winterising port for 2023, by early afternoon. Lady M had been stored here during the winters of 2017/18 and 2018/19 before we relocated to Wessem for the last four winters, so it was nice to say ‘Hello’ again to Yke and Pascal.

Our parting photo for the season from our aft deck – nearing sunset and a rather cool evening after some late afternoon rain – the perfect time for a nice glass of red

And so comes to an end yet another motoring season, during which we have completed some necessary hull painting and other maintenance on Lady M, seen a bit more rough weather than in previous years, but have nevertheless explored and enjoyed ourselves, entertained some great visitors, and managed to survive unscathed.

For those of our readers with an enquiring mind, our motoring statistics for the season are:

• Distance traveled – 813km
• Engine hours – 100.2 hours
• Diesel consumed – 365 litres
• Fuel consumption – 3.65 litres/hour

We spent two nights at RFU before heading to our overnight in Den Haag on Thursday 20 July, which ensured we had plenty of time to complete all of our end-of-season chores. We very much enjoyed our one-day visit to Den Haag, and we are now safely home in Perth, where it is mid-winter, and we are already looking forward to the arrival of some warmer weather in September.

We expect Lady M will have her end-of-season engine service in the next week or so, before getting a bit of minor maintenance done, following which she will go into the winter storage shed until our return in May 2024.

We hope you have enjoyed our 2023 season travels. No doubt we will publish another post or two before we return to the water next year, so until then our Best Wishes to you all, and we will look forward to having your company again soon.

North Holland and onward to Friesland

North Holland – Amsterdam to Medemblik

With our visitor safely aboard, we made a leisurely start on Sunday 18 June, heading a few kilometres westward along the Noordzeekanaal before turning north into the Zaan River towards Zaandam and into the province of North Holland.

The provincial boundary of Noord-Holland is actually a little south of Haarlem, but the Noordzeekanaal is a more convenient and easily-identified point of reference.

This route plan covers the voyage from Amsterdam (bottom left) north and west to Medemblik via Alkmaar and Schagen, and then onward to Sneek after crossing the Ijsselmeer to Stavoren

First stop was the Yacht Harbour A.r.z.v. at Akersloot, on what turned out to be a rather windy Sunday afternoon. We also discovered that it was Father’s Day here in the Netherlands, so every restaurant in the country was busy! It took some serious negotiation to find a table for us in the marina’s Restaurant De Roei that evening, but it was well-worth the grovelling and turned out to be a wonderful dinner.

Three hungry ‘boaties’ quenching their thirst at Restaurant De Roei

Alkmaar was only just over an hour’s motoring the following morning, and we were glad to take shelter from the gusting wind. Alkmaar is home to an amazing variety of ancient buildings, of which De Waag (The Weighing House) is probably the most famous.

Lady M comfortably moored up in Alkmaar’s Mient harbour (Photo courtesy of Magued)

We visited the VVV (Tourist Information Office) and purchased a neat little self-guided walking tour book covering the city’s most prominent historical buildings, to help us explore. Records from 1514 show that the city had a population of 3,500, and was surrounded by walls, and had a moat with a drawbridge which was pulled up at night.

Alkmaar’s “stripey” Stadhuis, of which the nearer (eastern) portion and the octagonal tower were built in 1520, and the western portion (beyond the staircase) was added in 1694. The carillon still chimes the time

The very ornate and attractive brickwork and stone facade of a home built as accommodation for 6 to 8 old men in 1656, and funded from the will of it’s benefactor Johan van Nordingen. It is locally known as the “Huis van Achten” (the House of Eight)

The very elegant “Court of Sonoy” with its octagonal tower. The Court was, since around 1400, the Convent of Saint Maria Magdalena, but was acquired by the City in 1572 as a result of the Reformation. It was then sold to Diederick van Sonoy, a local provincial governor, and later in 1591 he sold it to lawyer William van Bardes

Looking across the bascule bridge guarding an entrance to the old city, behind which is the so-called “House with the Bullet” dating from the mid 1500’s. History has it that during the siege of Alkmaar in 1573 by Spanish forces, a bullet (actually a cannon ball) penetrated this house and shattered a chair upon which a girl was sitting whilst operating a spinning wheel. None of the seven people in the house were injured, and you can see the cannon ball mounted on the outside wall (centre left) just above the date of 1573

One of the smartest stepped gabled buildings in Alkmaar, “The House with the Spades” (note the 3 spades emblem above the door) which was built in 1609 and housed the city’s pastry cooks. Flour and grain was hoisted into the warehouse above, and pastries and bread were sold from displays on the horizontal shutters at street level

Alkmaar’s world-famous De Waag (Weighing House) which dates to approximately 1390 and was originally a guest house for poor travelers and the sick. It was rebuilt in 1582 after the city of Alkmaar re-gained the right to weigh its own produce after defeating the Spanish

This house dates from 1540 and is one of Alkmaar’s oldest houses, a simple middle-class dwelling with horizontal shutters under the porch from which merchandise could be sold from the living room by the occupants

This once city mansion was built by the wealthy Mr Leeuwenberg (Leeuw is Dutch for a lion) in 1707. He intended to represent his name by having two sandstone lions and the Alkmaar city coat of arms on the gable. As a result of a series of unpleasant dealings with the city council and delays to his building permit, he reversed the lions so that their derriere’s face the coat of arms to reflect his irritation – Brilliant !

Our next destination en-route to Medemblik on Wednesday 21 June was Schagen, a convenient overnight stop with a small harbour and walking distance to the town centre. It was a longish day of more than 5 hours as a result of a couple of “lazy bridge openings”, and the wind didn’t help. After mooring up, we wandered into the town centre, only to discover that it was dominated by a visiting children’s fair and showground, accompanied by all the associated ‘doof-doof’ and bass music. We spent a quiet but very pleasant evening on Lady M with the faint thump of music in the distance, instead of having our traditional sundowner in one of the town’s local pubs.

Captain Magued showing how it’s done

It was an even longer day of 7.5 hours on Thursday 22 June, as we continued our way north on the Noordhollandsch Kanaal towards Den Helder, then east on the Balgzandkanaal and south on the Slootvaart (including a total of five locks) to get to Medemblik’s comfortable Westerhaven just after 5pm. The Slootvaart had long sections of shallow water where the weed level was right under our keel, which made that part of the journey quite uncomfortable and hard work steering, but no damage done.

Sunset view looking east down the length of Medemblik’s Westerhaven, a very spacious and comfortable harbour with good facilities and just a short stroll to the town’s main street

Friday 24 June was spent exploring the town’s main street, it’s railway station and the other two main harbours, which collectively have many hundreds of yachts and motor yachts to admire. There is also the massive Regatta Centre Medemblik which is built out into the Ijsselmeer and protected by a 500m long sea wall, and which provides moorings for more than 500 sea-going yachts. Very impressive – have a look on Google Maps!

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Magued’s visit was celebrated in style with one of Elaine’s hearty Champagne breakfasts

On Saturday 24 June we said farewell to Magued, and he and Tim headed into Hoorn by bus before hopping on the train – Magued heading for Rotterdam, and Tim to Schiphol Airport to meet our new guests who were arriving early that afternoon from South Africa.

Medemblik to Stavoren and Friesland

With our guests Mervyn & Maryna safely on board later that afternoon, we had a late night chatting and swapping news. Tim and Mervyn met at Natal University in 1978, graduating as civil engineers in 1981, and so have been friends for 46 years, managing to keep in touch despite distances, remote projects and living in various countries, not to mention getting married and bringing up families along the way. The last time our families had seen each other was on a shared holiday near Cape Town in December 1998 – almost 25 years ago!

Having a healthy respect for the weather, we picked Sunday 25 June to make our 23km crossing of the Ijsselmeer from Medemblik to Stavoren, because it offered a wind forecast of only 8 to 12 km/hour – ideal conditions. The crossing was a breeze (please excuse the pun) and took about 2 hours, and so we were through the lock at Stavoren and happily moored up in the shade before noon.

Stavoren has a special place in our hearts because it is where we first took possession of Lady M in late April 2017, and from where our actual travels on Lady M began in early May 2017. It was covered in our first blog post published on 18 May 2017.

To date we have published a total of 57 posts covering six seasons (we missed 2020 due to Covid-19), and we hope to be able to continue for a few more seasons to come.

Stavoren still has an active ocean fishing fleet – here is some of the fleet laying in the fishing boat harbour on Sunday afternoon. They were all gone very early on Monday morning

Our plan was to take Mervyn & Maryna to Sneek by Thursday 29 June (for their onward train trip to Ghent on Friday 30 June) via a few small Friesland towns. Workum was our next stop on a windy Monday 26 June, and although it was inexplicably quite busy, we managed to find a quiet mooring (albeit without power) near the town centre.

Workum’s De Waag building from 1650, with the two lions on the town’s coat of arms looking strangely oriental

There are unfortunately not many photographs to share, because we spent a lot of time chatting and exploring with our visitors, however we had lots of fun and there were a few beers (and wines) consumed along the way.

Friesland’s Elfstedentocht Cities

Here is probably a good place to also mention that we were again in Friesland, home to the historic ‘Elfstedentocht‘ (Eleven cities tour) which is an ice skating competition on a 199km course taking in 11 main cities in Friesland, with 300 speed skaters and about 15,000 leisure contestants. The cities are Leeuwarden, Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker, and Dokkum.

The Elfstedentocht route (Courtesy of: Condor3d. Kaart op basis van OpenStreetMap. – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=112620953)

The tour was first held in 1909 when there were 22 competitors and the winning time was 13hrs 50min. It was last held in 1997, when the winning time was 6hr 49min at an average speed of more that 29km/hr ! Safety requires that the ice along the course must be at least 15cm thick for the event to be permitted, so its anybody’s guess when the next one might be held !

Onward to Sneek

Our visit to Workum was followed by a night at Bolsward and then Heeg, before arriving in Sneek (via IJlst) on Thursday 29 June, with coffees and custard fruit tarts at the local “Brownies & downieS” to celebrate Tim’s birthday!

Mervyn and Tim about to attack their cold beers at a brasserie alongside the canal in Heeg

For the first time in three visits to Sneek, we were fortunate enough to find a mooring just on the edge of De Kolk basin, and facing the 17th century Waterpoort – a great spot, and easy walking into the lively town centre.

The view from Lady M across the always-busy De Kolk basin to the beautiful Waterpoort, one of Sneek’s 17th century city gates

Here is the happy crew with the Waterpoort behind . . . . . . and proof that even people of our age can take selfie’s (at least, after a few tries . . . . !)

It was all too soon before our visitors were leaving us on Friday 30 June and on their way south from Sneek station to continue their holiday with a visit to Ghent. It is always strangely quiet aboard Lady M after our visitors depart, and it takes a day or so to get used to being on our own again.

We busied ourselves with some housekeeping, putting new saddles on our bikes (the original ‘Specialised’ ones were ‘entry-level’ and very uncomfortable), and checking out the weather over the coming days. The forecast was for 2-3 days of wet and very windy conditions, so on Saturday 1 July we headed for Joure’s sheltered harbour to ‘bunker-down’ for a few days whilst the weather blew over.

You will be able to read more about our visit to Joure (and the brass band competition that greeted us), and the final few weeks of our season in Friesland, in the next post which will follow in a couple of weeks.

Until then, our best wishes to you all.

Haarlem to Amsterdam

On the two previous occasions that we visited Haarlem we were travelling south. This time we are approaching from the south, having departed Halfweg on the Ringvaart, and turning north into the Spaarne River which flows through Haarlem and into the Noordsee Kanaal.

PC Navigo route map, with Halfweg just below centre, and the Sparne river junction with the Ringvaart at the Cruquius pumping station bottom left. Haarlem is the darker brown area upper left, and Amsterdam is the “busy” dark brown area upper right

Haarlem – our third visit, but we always find something new

We had sussed out the mooring situation in Haarlem on our bike ride from Halfweg the previous day, and slipped quietly into a nice ‘alongside mooring’ on the Turfmarkt just north of the Lange Brug, Away from popular moorings between the Gravestenenbrug and the Catharijnebrug, but closer to the city centre.

First stop was a stroll into the Grote Markt and a visit to St Bavo’s Church with its Gothic spire which towers over the old city. Last time we were in Haarlem the church was shrouded in scaffolding and screens, so we didn’t pay it much attention.

Haarlem’s St Bavo’s Church from across the market square

The 30m high organ comprising no less than 5,068 pipes, which a 10-year old Mozart played in 1766. The vaulted timber paneled ceiling is also an absolute work of art and a credit to medieval tradesmen

This copper and carved timber Choir Screen was installed in 1517. The intricately carved panels below the screen depict various characters and coats of arms

These two characters with protruding teeth and rosary beads occupy the left and right ends of the lower carved panel. There is bound to be an interesting story that explains what they represent

A visit to the Frans Hals Museum

Whilst in Heemstede visiting the Cruquius pumping station we were telling the young barman at the local pub about the amazing Depot Boijmans in Rotterdam, and he said we should not miss the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, so off we went the following day.

The Frans Hals Museum is located in this beautiful street not far from this row of 20 cottages built in 1610 and associated with the former St Elisabeth’s Hospital

The entrance to the Frans Hals Museum, which was built in the 1600’s and was formerly a home for elderly men

This is the museum’s internal courtyard. It looks they looked after the old blokes quite nicely back in those days !

Frans Hals is considered the greatest of Haarlem’s 17th century artists, famous especially for his individual and group portraits, many of which are in his characteristic laid-back setting, a completely novel approach to portrait painting in that era. Anyway, rather than waffling on, we will let the photos do the talking.

Interestingly, one of the first paintings which drew our attention was by Charley Toorop, who we first became aware of during our visit to The Depot in Rotterdam (see our last post).

“Woman with a black hat” (1928) by Charley Toorop – such a very distinctive style

There is just so much going on in this painting “Dutch proverbs” (circa 1625) by Pieter Breughel II. Set in an imaginary village, the villagers enact over 90 Dutch proverbs of the time by showing how not to behave, including: “To bang one’s head against a brick wall“; “To be as meek as a lamb“; “If the fire is to hot, then piss on it !”; and “Where there is smoke there is fire“

Frans Hals “Banquet of the Officers of the St George Civic Guard” (1627) which almost seems to be inviting us to join in the party

Frans Hals “Meeting of the Officers and Sergeants of the Calivermen Civic Guard” (1633). Don’t forget that all the people in these portraits were real people, and Hals was renowned for capturing their features and their characters with great accuracy

A small but very detailed portrait by Frans Hals “The traveler” (circa 1650)

A close-up of the decorated and stitched leather wall panels covering the entire room

“A Boy Holding a Tankard and Pipe” (circa 1628) by Jan Miense Molenear, who was an apprentice of Frans Hals

We hope you enjoyed this very small sample of art from the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem – highly recommended for a visit if you are in the vicinity.

Breakfast at “Brownies & downieS”

Two years ago we discovered a small cafe in Limburg province (the name of the town escapes us) called “Brownies & downieS” (Yes, with a lower case “d” and a capital “S” in ‘downieS’). The cafe sold a good range of coffee, tea, breakfasts, snacks, cakes and pastries for very reasonable prices, and many of the staff were Down Syndrome.

It wasn’t until this year that we realised that “Brownies & downieS” is a growing franchise across the Netherlands. The franchise was established in 2010 and now has more than 50 locations across the country. The cafe’s provide opportunities for Down Syndrome employees to learn hospitality skills and gain confidence in dealing with customers (strangers) in a supportive and caring environment.

This year alone we have visited their cafe’s in Gouda, Sneek and Alkmaar, and Haarlem was no exception – we enjoyed a lovely breakfast there too. Please look out for them when you are visiting the Netherlands – we are sure you will not be disappointed.

Maintenance stuff

Of course, its not all “plain sailing” (excuse the pun) on Lady M, and as with every boat, in addition to washing and cleaning the superstructure, there are always odd jobs to be done.

We have Tecma electric toilets on Lady M – they are excellent quality, very robust and reliable, but like all things mechanical and electrical, they have a life span. Having successfully changed out the forward toilet macerator pump last year, and the control panel this year, we had purchased the replacement macerator pump for the aft cabin toilet, but Tim had been holding off doing the changeover.

Anyway, with the imminent arrival of a guest on 17 June, Thursday 15 June was Tim’s chosen “Tecma” day. He set himself up with the necessary tools, rags and a bucket first thing in the morning and, expecting things to go wrong, he was happily surprised (more like ecstatic) when he managed to change out the whole unit in less that 90 minutes, and without even a bad word !

Needless to say there aren’t any photos of the exercise. Suffice to say, all toilets are working well, and should not require any intervention for many years to come.

On another note, here is a photo worth sharing. We needed to replace a common garden hose end fitting (see photo below), and went to the local hardware shop in Haarlem. You can imagine our reaction when the fellow at the till rang up Euro 8.09 (about A$13) – when our jaws dropped he explained “It’s the very good quality Gardena brand“.

Tim thought that possibly they had removed the 30m of garden hose that was obviously supposed to be attached to the fitting !

Our Euro 8.09 hose end fitting – now carefully secured under lock and key in a secret location aboard Lady M

Onward to Amsterdam

We had an appointment in Amsterdam on the afternoon of Saturday 17 June to collect our first visitor of the season. After leaving Haarlem and motoring up the Spaarne River on 15 June, we passed through the lock at Spaarndam, and made an overnight stop at the peaceful little yacht club at Ijmond.

The following morning was another clear and sunny day as we set off upstream on the Noordzeekanaal heading for Sixhaven, right opposite Amsterdam’s Central station. There is always lots to see along this route.

Here we were motoring at 11km/hour and being overtaken by a 4,000 tonne dumb barge being pushed by a tug at 12.5km/hour !

We also had to give way to this monster self-propelled post-mounted materials-handling crane which was crossing the canal in front of us

And here is our happy Elaine after we were all moored up

A perfect day, and the view up Sixhaven from our mooring towards the clubhouse – not as busy as it was last time we were here in 2021

The following morning we were woken by the sounds of another vessel mooring up in the pen alongside us in the Sixhaven. When we got up, we were amazed to see another Lady M right alongside, in the form of a brand new 41 foot Jeanneau Yacht on its maiden voyage, having traveled all the way from Belgium overnight.

Two beautiful Lady M‘s side-by-side at Sixhaven

Our visitor arrived on schedule on Saturday afternoon, and the following morning the three of us departed Amsterdam back down the Noordzeekanaal, turning north into the Zaan River for Zaandam and North Holland.

That journey will be the subject of our next post in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep smiling and stay safe !

Northward to Leiden and the Ringvaart

In this post we travel north from Gouda to visit Bodegraven, then east to Leiden and surrounds, before continuing north again to the Ringvaart and the towns of Heemsteede and Halfweg.

The PC Navigo route plan marked-up to show our route for this part of our trip

Parting shot – Gouda’s old harbour as dusk arrives, with the spire of Gouda’s Catholic Church in the background

Our first stop after Gouda was the compact and tidy town of Bodegraven on the Oude Rijn river, which is a very pleasant and scenic waterway. We had motored through Bodegraven some years ago on our way from nearby Woerden to Leiden, and had promised ourselves that next time we would stay a while.

On the way north on the Gouwe IJssel we had an unusual and scary incident, when a bridge-keeper raised a bridge for a fast moving commercial barge whilst simultaneously giving vessels on both sides the green light. There were a few close-shaves and a fair amount of loud language as the queue of boats on both sides started motoring through, each thinking that they had right-of-way . . . Such excitement we can do without !

Bodegraven is also home to the Brouwerij de Molen (Windmill Brewery) where they create some very fine lagers, ales and stouts. Needless to say, we treated ourselves to an early dinner there one evening and sampled a few – and jolly good they were too.

A sunny evening at Brouwerij De Molen. They used to brew inside the mill, but as the business grew they acquired a nearby industrial building for the brewery, and the mill is now a dedicated brewery restaurant and bar

The weather had even improved enough to allow us to enjoy a bike ride along the scenic Oude Rijn and through the surrounding countryside to Woerden – lots of waterbirds, up-market country homes and blue skies with sunshine – what a pleasure. In the afternoon, with the continuing good weather, we got stuck in and polished the superstructure paintwork (we ran out of time to do this at Wessem) – it made a big difference.

Although our mooring just east of the town centre was free, the electricity supply cost was a staggering Euro 1.38 per kWhr, the most expensive we have encountered this year (that’s about A$2.20 per kWhr – around 7 times Perth prices !). I guess they have to cover the cost of mooring, electricity and water somehow, so no complaints from us.

Sunset from our mooring on a very calm summer evening, looking towards the town, with the old factory on the right now converted into swanky apartments, whilst still sporting its brick chimney stack

Instead of motoring directly east to Leiden, we followed the Oude Rijn eastward down to its junction with the Rhijn-Schie canal, then turned south for a short distance into the very peaceful and rural Vliethopper Yacht Club and marina, just a 2km walk from the town of Voorschoten, another town we had not previously visited.

Paul, the very helpful and friendly harbourmaster, put us in a pen right next door to another SK motor yacht, SK302. Our Lady M is officially SK224, so our neighbour was quite q few years younger than us. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but we managed with a little bit of help from the neighbours on “Walhalla”

We sat out some windy weather here, and visited Voorschoten on foot, where we enjoyed a great coffee and some delectable Turkish pastries at a recently-opened cafe in the pedestrian main street. The owner was a lovely Turkish fellow who had arrived in the Netherlands about 6 months previously, having escaped Bakhmut in Ukraine with his family. He told us that they had lived in Bakhmut for about 20 years, and had owned three very successful restaurants which apparently were totally gutted by the invading Russian troops. He was amazingly accepting (and not bitter or angry) about his circumstances, and was very positive about the future – we were very humbled and saddened to hear his story.

On the walk into the nearby town of Voorschoten, an “executive” insect hotel surrounded by a beautiful meadow of summer flowers

Motoring into Leiden on the clear sunny morning of 7 June, we were fortunate enough to score a mooring in a quiet corner of the central harbour. We suspect that the prolonged poor weather has kept many locals away from the water in June this year – lucky for us.

The view from our Leiden city harbour mooring – a great location for seeing the sights

With the continuing good weather we did another longer bike ride south, passing some very large mansions and also the US Embassy along the way, and returned via Voorschoten to visit our friendly Turkish cafe for a farewell coffee and baklava! In the afternoon we took a 50-minute boat tour around the inner canals of Leiden – nothing special, but it was great to see the city from this alternative perspective.

The highlight of this, our third time in Leiden, was our visit to the Laken Hal Museum, housed in the city’s old Cloth Hall, where we were treated to an amazing collection of David Baiily paintings and old masters, and an insight into Leiden’s cloth-making history. Rather than rattle on, we will let the photos do the talking.

A close-up of a beautiful illustration of De Laken Hal taken from a large map of Leiden dated 1670

And a close-up of how it looks today. The Dutch are great masters in respecting and preserving their history – the rest of the world could learn much from them

David Bailly’s now-famous “Vanitas Still Life with Portrait of a Young Painter” dated 1651. Experts are still deciphering the meaning and the identities of some of the people portrayed in this masterpiece. The oval portrait held by the painter is a self-portrait of the artist at the age of 67, and it is likely that the main character is also a self-portrait of the artist as a younger man

David Bailly’s “Kitchen Still Life” painted in 1616. Apparently the buxom and rather scantily-clad maid symbolises impurity, the dead game symbolises death, whilst the grapes, bread and the chalice refer to life after death

This is “Vanitas Still Life” by artist Jan Lievens (a contemporary of Rembrandt) dated 1628. The bread roll looks so real that you almost want to reach out and touch it

Jan Lievens “Head of an Old Man” dated 1630 – almost photographic in its detail. Works by Lievens and Rembrandt are apparently often confused with one another

The magnificent glazed domed skylight above the central staircase of the Museum Laken Hal – WOW !

And here is the gigantic map (about 2m x 2m and requiring 16 copper engraving plates) of Leiden dated 1670, with lithographs of the city’s famous buildings in the borders

Last, but not least, another illustration from the 1670 map. The Marekerk (built in the mid-1600’s), and the real thing as it stands today

Before heading into Haarlem, we had been inspired to take a slight detour and visit two world-class engineering feats, in the form of Victorian-era steam driven pumping stations in the northern part of the the 60km long Ringvaart van de Haarlemmermeerpolder. Haarlemmermeer translates as Haarlem Lake, a polder is land reclaimed from the sea, and the Ringvaart is the man-made circumferential drain which sits at a higher level than the polder, into which the water is pumped from the land being reclaimed.

Here is a map from the 1700’s showing the extent of the Haarlemmer Meer at that time. The cities of Amsterdam (top right), Haarlem (upper left) and Leiden (lower left) are shown in dark red. The North Sea coastline is on the left

The original plan in 1641 was to build the Ringvaart and use about 180 windmills to drain the polder. After almost two centuries, and prompted by some devastating floods in 1836, King William II decreed that the polder would be drained using three massive steam-driven pumping stations. Steam engines of this size, designed and manufactured in England, had never been built before. The first pump station, Leeghwater, was commissioned in November 1845, and the second, Lynden, commissioned in December 1848. The largest, Cruquius, was commissioned in April 1849, and this is the one we had come to see.

The Cruquius steam pumping station, the largest steam engine in the world. The launder (ringvaart) level is just below the white perimeter fence, and the drained polder level is 5 metres below, at the water level surrounding the pump station

A cut-away perspective of the pumping station, showing the eight radial balance beams, central steam cylinder and vertical displacement pumps

Draining of the polder was completed by July 1852, adding 183,000 Hectares of fertile land to what is now the Netherlands.

The central steam cylinder is 3.66m in diameter, and drives eight pumps which each deliver 8m3 per stroke at a maximum rate of 5 strokes per minute = 320m3 per minute ! The pumping station operated from 1849 until 1912, and then remained on standby until it was decommissioned in 1932.

In 1933, the Dutch Royal Institute of Engineers established a foundation to prevent the pumping station from being demolished and to preserve it as a museum. Thank goodness for their foresight.

And here’s the view from inside the engine room, showing the drive shafts and balance beams connected to the piston shaft. Don’t you just love that Victorian engineering ?

This is the view from Lady M of the very well-maintained and peaceful Merlenhaven at the town of Hemsteede, from where we walked to visit the Cruquius Pumping Station

The other steam pumping station museum we had hoped to visit was a little further on, at the town of Halfweg, which we motored to on Saturday 10 June. Unfortunately, the museum was closed (for no apparent reason) and the two attendants who were “guarding” the open museum door almost seemed to take some pleasure in telling us so! We wandered away wondering why they were there at all, if the museum was not open?

Halfweg is famous for a couple of other things, namely a massive “outlet” shopping centre (on the site of a disused sugar refinery), and the fact that it is on a number of flight paths to and from Schiphol airport – so be prepared for low flying aircraft from dawn to dusk (we voted it the noisiest town in the Netherlands) ! On a positive note, our harbour was comfortable and well located to the town, and we also managed to do another bike ride.

The administration buildings at the old sugar refinery, which date back to 1645 (doubtless the structural steel and rusted silo came at a later date !)

A couple of concrete silos at the sugar refinery site, which have been re-purposed as office buildings with some striking (and award-winning) stainless and glazed cladding

Sunset from our mooring on the Ringvaart at Halfweg, looking in the direction of our path to Haarlem on the following morning

So as the sun sets on this post, we can tell you that in our next post we will motor the short trip into Haarlem and explore the Frans Hals Museum, and do a few maintenance jobs before heading to Amsterdam to pick up our first guest of the season.

A day trip to the Depot Boijmans van Beuningen (Rotterdam)

Depot Boijmans van Beuningen is purpose-built publicly-accessible art storage facility about a 20-minute walk from Rotterdam’s central station. The building appears like a giant mirrored glass teacup (about 40m high) was designed by the same architects (MVRDV) who designed Rotterdam’s iconic “Market Hall” (which we visited on our blog in 2021).

The stunning 3-D curved mirror glass paneled exterior complete with space-age aircraft style doors

Here we are, gazing up at centre photo, patiently waiting for the 11am opening time

A close-up of one of the massive hydraulically-operated structural steel and glass doors

The Depot took about 4 years to construct and was opened in late 2021. It houses the combined art collections of F.J.O. Boijmans, who died in 1847 after donating his vast collection to the City of Rotterdam with the intention of founding a museum, and D.G van Beuningen, a Rotterdam businessman whose collection was donated and added in 1958. Both of these gentlemen wanted the public to share their enjoyment – what a wonderful gift. The Depot also stores works of art for some private collectors, and also provides extensive restoration facilities for various forms of art.

We were told the insured value of the contents (more than 150,000 items ranging from paintings to drawings and manuscripts, wooden and metalwork to ceramics) is around Euro 8 billion. The collection is arranged in high security climate and light-controlled rooms according to the climate requirements of the object.

It was the last day of May when we took the train into Rotterdam Centraal (Euro 12/each for an open day return) for our 11:15 entry time at the Depot. Because the museum is essentially a storage facility with a carefully controlled environment including temperature and humidity, there are limits on the total number of people that can be in the building at any time. The Euro 20 entry fee allows you to explore on your own, but also includes a 45-minute small group guided tour, which we grabbed without hesitation, and which turned out to be very worthwhile.

View up the wonderfully light-filled central atrium with staircases and lifts, which is used for displaying all sorts of art forms, as you will see . . . .

Here we are attired in our dust coats (courtesy of the Depot) which are required to be worn if you do the guided tour

Our first stop was the Selection, a group of about a dozen paintings which were on display hanging between panes of glass so that you can see the front and back of each – quite unusual, and some interesting stories to be seen.

This painting (circa 1500) in an unusual octagonal frame is “The Pedlar” by Hieronymus Bosch. Apparently it was painted as part of a triptych which was sawn into pieces after his death !

Pieter Bruegel’s “The Tower of Babel” circa 1568. The level of detail is simply stunning

Vincent van Gogh’s portrait of Armand Roulin (1888), the 17 year-old son of his friend Joseph Roulin of Arles in France

Here we are with our group of 8 and our tour guide. Our highlight was a 15 minute entry into the main painting storage room which is home to about 2,500 works of art mounted on radially sliding hanging frames. The works behind our tour guide are from the 14th century, and the lights are not normally on

Here is Elaine in an identical space on the next floor, which is currently being designed for storage and exhibition

Self-portrait Charley Toorop (1928)

Self-portrait with red party hat – Marty Jungmann (1930)

Self-portrait Marius Richters (1901)

Here are three striking self-portraits hanging in the public areas within the atrium. We will see some more of Charley Toorop’s work in Haarlem (in a future blog)

The art comes in all shapes and sizes – and materials

Like we said – some of the works of art are quite unusual

Portrait of the Family Lutjens by artist Max Beckmann (1944), whose work was condemned by the Nazis !

Of course, no art collection could be considered complete without at least one bicycle – this one triangulated with tensioned cables

And to cap it all off, the view from the rooftop garden and terraces, of the Nieuwe Instituut, an architecture and design institute which is right next door

A smattering of photos and a little bit of information to hopefully whet your appetite.

We think the Depot is an opportunity not to be missed if you are visiting Rotterdam – and of course you can always do the 15 minute walk to MVRDV’s Market Hall, before or after, for a meal, drink or both, and get to see another great architectural icon for free!

Dordrecht and Gouda

On a rather windy Thursday 25 May, after washing the boat, topping up our water and visiting the nearby bakery for some morning tea supplies (‘boatie code’ for apple flaps or fruit scrolls or, in this case, both), we wafted out of Willemstad marina and eastward onto the expanse of the Hollandse Diep. We were fortunate to tuck in behind a 2,000t commercial barge and tagged along with him for about 1.5 hours before we turned north into the not-too-busy Dordtsche Kil, which links the Hollandse Diep with the Oude Mass River which flows through Rotterdam into the North Sea at the Hook of Holland (top left quadrant in the map).

Our PC Navigo route plan for this leg of the journey. Willemstad is bottom centre, Dordrecht just below and right of centre, and Gouda top and right of centre. The large city (dark brown) just left and above the centre is Rotterdam. The total distance for this leg of our journey was approximately 61 km

There is a huge industrial / petrochemical area called Moerdijk (very bottom, just right of centre in the above map) which draws your eye as you motor towards, and eventually past it for the first hour or so after leaving Willemstad. As you can imagine, there are many 2,000 to 3,000+ tonne gas and fuel barges making their way in and out of Moerdijk throughout the day. Fortunately the Hollandsche Diep has a very wide and well-marked channel, so there is plenty of room for everyone.

Dordrecht and a side-trip to the Kinderdijk

We were able to get a mooring for four nights at the KDR & ZV (Royal Dordrecht Rowing & Sailing Association), although they put us on the first jetty just inside the entrance, where we suffered a bit with wash from passing barges during our stay. That evening we enjoyed a sundowner with new-found friends Mark and Philippa from UK, who we had met the previous morning before leaving Willemstad, and whose yacht ‘Snow Goose“was now moored in the nearby Wijnhaven, a 500m walk away.

This was actually our third visit to Dordrecht, quite a compact and easy to get around friendly small city. With 7C overnight temperatures and cold northerly winds, the weather was still too cold for bike riding! Never mind, we lucked out with Saturday being the local market day, and spent a couple of hours enjoying the crowd and the sights, returning home with a fresh papaya (Paw Paw), roasted cashews, avocados and some fresh tuna steak for dinner.

Street view with the leaning Grote Kerk in the background

Cobbled street-scape with Dordrecht’s City Hall

Dordrecht has some lovely cobbled streets and pedestrian-only areas, which makes getting around on foot so much more pleasant

A visit to the Hof van Holland Museum in the afternoon was very educational. This museum records the events surrounding the Dutch revolt against their Spanish masters (King Philip II) and Catholicism, which lasted from 1568 to 1648 (the 80 Years War), and celebrates the victory of the Dutch freedoms of speech, of worship, of conscience, and to be who you are, as a result of this war. Dordrecht was the first city in Holland to be granted city rights in 1572 under the “First Assembly of the Free States”, at which time Dordrecht installed a Calvinist city administration, and began the orderly removal of altar pieces and the images of saints from churches.

This late 1500’s cartoon depicts the Calvinist’s (those on the right) belief that the Catholic church (those on the left) placed too much importance on outward appearances, beautiful and worldly objects and the opinions of monks, rather than the written word contained in the Bible

Of course, after a full-on day in the city, time to go and find the local brewery, Stadsbrouwerij Dordrecht is based in an ancient brewery building a few hundred metres from our mooring. We made an impromptu visit and they were very happy to give as a brief tour. The brewery provides training by volunteer master brewers to young and old aspiring brewers, and produces 2 x 50 litre batches on each of four brewing days per week.

The four brews produced by Stadsbrouwerij Dordrecht under the label “Schapenkopje” (Sheeps Head). Tim was very happy with them all, especially the Amber

That evening was the annual end of school year procession, when children from primary school upwards complete their end-of-year walk to celebrate their graduation, accompanied by school band(s) and many accompanied by proud parents and even grandparents, and it seems the whole town lines the streets to cheer them on. The procession, of an estimated couple of thousand children, lasted for more than a hour, and passed within metres of our mooring, so we had an excellent view of the proceedings. The only other time we have witnessed one of these processions was in Ter Appel in 2018, which we also mentioned in our blog at the time.

A brief video of the annual end-of-school-year procession, taken from our mooring (Don’t forget to have the audio ON)

The following day we made a ferry trip from Dordrecht (via Rotterdam, which we had not realised, and which made for a rather long day) to visit the Unesco World Heritage-listed Kinderdijk site and its 19 world-famous windmills which were built in the mid-1700’s. It was a rather “touristy” place to visit, but nevertheless it was wonderful to be able to walk through it all and see these beautifully maintained historical machines in such a pleasant environment.

We were also fortunate to be blessed with a lovely clear sunny day, although there was still a chilly northerly wind

That evening we decided to dine out for a change, and chose Proeflokaal Bregje, only about 100m from our mooring and a good value-for-money restaurant which we had enjoyed in 2022. We were joined by Mark and Philippa on their final evening in Dordrecht, and we all enjoyed the food and service and are happy to recommend to others.

Sunday 28 May turned out to be a public holiday, the weather caused Tim to make a note in the diary “its almost summer“, and we visited the museum at the Dordrecht Patrician Home at the Wolvershaven (we learned that a patrician is a person of high social rank), which has been opened to the public by the current owner.

This home is a combination of two buildings which were built in the mid-1600’s, and were later combined into the single home we see today, explaining the mid-1700’s facade

Grand circular room on the north side of the house, which looks directly on to the confluence of the Noord and the Oude Maas Rivers

The marbled entrance hall, with strategically placed clock for ensuring (amongst other things) that the servants kept to their schedules

Onwards to Gouda

On Monday 29 May, despite 25 to 30km/hour chilly winds for most of the day, we motored up to Gouda, knowing that we would be sheltered from the wind at our planned mooring on the Turfsingel. The trip took us up the Noord, left turn (downstream) into the Nieuwe Maas (Lek) River, then shortly after a right turn (north) into the Hollandsche IJssel (a very pretty stretch of river) and finally a short stretch on the Nieuwe Gouwe. There are two locks on the approach to Gouda, though neither had any noticeable change in water level.

We ended up mooring up next to our friends Mark & Philippa who were collecting friends from UK that evening from the station in Gouda, to join them on Snow Goose for a trip further north. In Dordrecht Mark had told us about an interesting art storage gallery in Rotterdam called Depot Boijmans van Beuningen, and that evening we booked on-line for our entry and train tickets for the following day. More about that in our next post, which will be dedicated to this gallery.

On our only previous visit to Gouda, we had enjoyed the history, but neither time nor the weather was not on our side, so we had decided that we’d like to return and see the inside of Gouda’s amazing Town Hall, learn some more about the ancient St Johns Church (opposite the Town Hall), and also to visit the Gouda Museum.

The rear of Gouda’s 1448 Town Hall on market day, when the weekly cheese market is a popular tourist attraction

The Wedding Hall, with its centuries-old green tapestries

The mayor’s room. The motto on the mantelpiece reads “Age quod agis” meaning “Do as you would be done by“

Here are just two of the grand rooms within the ancient Town Hall – even the floors and ceilings are stunning

Yet another view of the tower of St John’s Church – this time across the Grand Market square through centuries-old glass

St John’s church is hemmed in by many old buildings, and not very easy to photograph

Here is a model of the church itself, looking down the inside of what is the longest church in NL

Sint Janskerk (St John’s Church) in Gouda

St John’s Church in its present form was rebuilt between 1485 and 1510, after the original church was destroyed by fire in 1438 (the same fire that destroyed the original Gouda Town Hall). The collection of 72 stained glass windows from the 16th century, and the largest of its kind in the Netherlands, almost entirely pre-date the assignment of the church to the Protestant faith in 1573, but were kept because of their historical significance, whilst the altar and other Catholic artifacts were removed.

The stained glass from before 1573 includes depictions of various donors including King Philip II of Spain, his wife and sister, Prince William of Orange, bishops, Knights of the Golden Fleece and Commanders of the Order of the Knights of St John – the last in this period is from 1571. Since 1573, further stained glass was added between 1594 and 1603, but this time by donors including the States of Holland, the Board of Polders of Rijnland, and the free towns of Holland which had relationships with Gouda, including Dordrecht, Monnickendam, Leyden (Leiden), Haerlem (Haarlem), and the towns of North Holland.

Dated 1559, this window “The Bearing of the Cross” features the donor Nicolaas van Nieuwland (first Bishop of Haarlem) in yellow cloak

Dated 1600, this window “Freedom of Conscience” depicts victory over tyranny, after the defeat of King Philip II of Spain, donated by the States of Holland

Dated 1596 and donated by the town of Haarlem, depicting the capture of the Egyptian port of Damietta, famous in Haarlem naval history

Dated 1603, The Relief of Leyden, donated by the town of Delft

The above is but a small example of the extensive history in stained glass at St Johns, and we highly recommend a few hours of observation if you ever find yourself in Gouda.

A mere stone’s throw away from St John’s you will find the imposing entrance to Gouda Museum, which has been housed within the 1665 Catharina Gasthuis (Catherine’s Hospital) since 1947. The museum, in addition to having some lovely spaces, and a chapel within its walls dating from 1474, houses a large collection of Gouda pottery, as well as some 17th century militia group paintings and Dutch paintings from the 19th century.

Tim remembers from his high school history that 1665 was the year of the Great Plague in London

This large scale model depicts Gouda as it was in 1562. You can see the Town Hall in the Grote Markt, and St John’s Church (which was being rebuilt at the time, after the fire). Gouda’s layout has changed very little since this time

Spectacular tile tableau of a colourful rooster, and a close-up of the head. Dated from 1624 – 1649, the details and the quality is striking

The original hospital pharmacy has been located in this room since 1655, although this pharmacy interior is from another location. Medicines were made here for the homeless, poor, sick and elderly who were staying in the hospital. Ultimately, it served the entire city – the poor came to receive free medicine, and the rich paid for theirs

Up in the attic of the museum (just look at those hefty hewn oak joists) we sat and absorbed the beauty and craftsmanship of this sample of fine Gouda pottery

Apparently these two, which are about a metre high and were produced by the “Plazuid” Company in Gouda in the very early 1900’s, were made for the window display of a luxury department store, to draw customers

We fell in love with this wonderfully lifelike and colourful tile tableau (approx 1.2m x 0.8m) from 1914 of the offices and warehouse of the Gouda Cheese Trading Company, which were located on the Kattensingel, about 400m from where we were moored. Tim took a walk there, but unfortunately these buildings have disappeared

As we mentioned earlier, we also devoted a day from our Gouda mooring to take a day-trip to Rotterdam on the train to visit the Depot Boijmans van Beuningen. We are looking forward to sharing that with you in our next post . . . . . . soon !

Tholen, Steenbergen and Willemstad (Dordrecht to follow)

The route map below gives an overview of this leg of the journey, as we visit Tholen and Steenbergen for the first time and, Willemstad for the second time, and (in our next post) Dordrecht for the third time.

Plan of our northerly route (the thin red line) from Antwerp to Dordrecht, visiting Tholen, Steenbergen and Willemstad along the way

We departed Antwerp on the cloudy and chilly morning of 16 May, passing through the Port of Antwerp whilst the harbour authority monitored us via our AIS transceiver (refer to previous post for an explanation of this) and made radio contact with us each time we crossed from one sector to the next.

This is a larger scale view of our route (thin red line) through the Port of Antwerp (at the bottom of the previous map), from Willemdok in the south to the start of the Schelde Rijn Kanaal (and our exit point from the Port). There is a 5km scale line at bottom left, so you can see our journey through the Port was close to 20km, which took us about 2 hours. The wide snaking grey river is the tidal Schelde winding its way north and west towards Vlissingen and the North Sea

Things were a lot smoother and quieter once we reached the Schelde Rijn Kanaal, and after passing through the lock at Kreekrak (a fall of 2.1m) it was a short and pleasant motor into the town harbour at the star-fort town of Tholen for a few nights’ stay.

Google aerial photo of Tholen, clearly showing the star fort configuration of the ancient fortified town. The entrance from the Schelde Rijn Kanaal into the harbour and marinas is just off the bottom of the photo

Here’s our lovely Lady M comfortably moored in Tholen’s town harbour

We did a 5.5km walk to the nearby village of Oud Vossemeer the following day, rewarded ourselves with coffee and a superb apple tart (no cream, mind you) and discovered that this village was the home of the ancestors of F.D. Roosevelt (32nd president of the USA) who had traveled to New Amsterdam (subsequently New York) from the Netherlands with the Pilgrim Fathers in the 1600’s.

Tholen is home to a couple of well-preserved windmills. The one on the left looks like it might still be in working order, whereas the other (built 1848) has been beautifully converted into a fine home of grand proportions

Despite the overnight low of 5C, we braved our first ride of the season the following morning when it reached 13C. Much to our regret. The wind blew as we slogged our way west around the southern part of the island of Tholen before we headed inland and home. It was colder when we got back to Lady M than it was when we had started almost 2 hours earlier!

Here’s another one of those quaintly distorted houses we seem to find all over the Netherlands. This one bears the date 1619, and the quality of the brick, masonry and joinery restorations speaks volumes about the skills of Dutch building tradesmen

Tholen’s Town Hall, which dates from 1475, has 35 melodic carillon bells which still ring out the passing of time – a daily reminder of the rich history in this part of the world

We took ourselves off to the the nearby town of Bergen op Zoom (pronounced “Zome”) by bus on Friday morning and visited the Markiezerhof, a 15th century Marquis’ palace (a Marquis is higher than a Lord, by the way), but not before buying our Netherlands Museum Kaarts (Euro 64.50 each). These cards are valid for 12 months and give us access to more than 450 museums and historical buildings around the country – excellent value for money when you realise that a typical museum entry fee is Euro 10 to 16 per person, and sometimes Euro 20 or more.

The entrance to Bergen op Zoom’s Markiezerhof – a very grand palace

There was an art exhibition in one of the grand rooms, and these two beautiful glass works by artist Vicky van der Plas caught our eyes, named “Tea Time” and “Cocktail Time”

This very large and detailed model depicts Bergen op Zoom in the 1500’s. The city’s St Gertrude Church is just below and left of centre, and the Markiezerhof is just above and right of centre, and both are still very much alive

And here is an ancient map from an earlier time in the city’s history. This one hangs in the Town Hall, which was constructed in the early 1400’s.

The view from the tower of St Gertude’s church (after climbing the 180 steps) looking west over the Grote Markt (Market Square) towards the vast expanse of the Oosterschelde

There is a historic synagogue in Bergen op Zoom, which was shut down during the German occupation in WWII, but has since been restored as a permanent reminder of the terrible persecution suffered by the Jews at that time. The synagogue no longer operates because the Jewish population in the town was effectively obliterated.

The entrance foyer displays a memorial to those from the town, some as young as 18 (and one child aged 5), who died in concentration camps

Bergen op Zoom’s synagogue as it is today, and as it was in the late 1930’s

Despite this tragic part of the city’s history, we found Bergen op Zoom to be a lively and bustling city, and well worth a visit. We chose to moor at Tholen because the village atmosphere seemed a bit more inviting, whereas Bergen’s harbour and its facilities did not really appeal.

Saturday 20 May was a lovely clear and sunny morning, though still cold and breezy, when we continued motoring down the Schelde Rijn Canal into the expanse of the Volkerak, hugging the southern shoreline and then ducking in to the Steenbergse Vliet (“vliet” translates as “flow”) which eventually took us to the pretty little harbour of Steenbergen. The harbour has more than 100 resident vessels, some of them very “up-market” too – there is obviously some wealth in this town!

On the winding Steenbergse Vliet we passed the abandoned Fort Henricus, which was an outlier star-fort protecting Steenbergen from around 1627. We walked back the following day and explored the revetments and moats, all exactly as they were in the day, but all the buildings are gone.

Fort Henricus lower left, protecting the entrance to the Steenbergse Vliet and the city of Steenbergen

Aerial shot of Fort Henricus as it is today (courtesy of https://routiq.com)

Steenbergen’s harbour was very well run, clean and tidy, with a modern central shower / toilet / laundry facility and the harbour master’s office above – and a supermarket only 200m away – all very convenient! The town itself is quite pleasant but not particularly inspiring, with very little historical architecture. There is a good gelato shop in the main street !

Steenbergen’s rather overbearing and daunting St Gummarus church was built in 1902 and is offset from the single main street. We found it rather cold and uninviting, both inside and out

Our mooring at Steenbergen’s marina, with the spires of St Gummarus in the town centre beyond

Steenbergen does have a beautifully maintained cemetery on the outskirts of town, where we found the combined grave of two 1943 “Dambusters” heroes, Wing Commander G.P. Gibson and Squadron Leader J.B. Warwick. They were shot down during a bombing raid on Rheydt near Munich in Germany in September 1944, and both died when they crashed near Steenbergen.

Gibson and Warwick are buried together in Steenbergen. Wing Commander Gibson was only 26 years old when he died

Monday 22 May saw us depart Steenbergen on a rather misty morning, carefully winding our way downstream and back out onto the Volkerak. We tucked in behind a large commercial barge and cruised down to Volkerak Lock in about 2 hours and went through together with six other “sports boats” after a short wait.

I know we have featured the Volkerak Locks in a post a few years back, but as previously, we remain impressed by the size of the facility and also the sheer number of commercial vessels passing through two of the three commercial locks in both directions. Very busy, and so glad that us “sports boats” had our own lock well away from all the action!

Aerial photo of the Volkerak Locks, with the star fort town of Willemstad centre right. The north-west lock is for “sports boats”, and the three south-eastern locks are for commercial vessels

Willemstad is a lovely historical star fort town which has an ancient feel about it – a bit like the star fort town of Heusden. This is our second visit, and we think that the Dutch do a great job in preserving their history by carefully controlling development in and around historic sites.

We were given a good mooring in the inner harbour and Tim spent almost 2 hours trying to repair one of the mast “Navigation” lights, only to discover it was actually working all the time, but was operated by a separate switch because it was an “Anchor Light” (and not a Navigation Light after all) ! . . . . . We live and learn.

Willemstad proved to be a good refuge from the 25-40km/hour winds which blew up the following day – this was the day we put together most of the last blog, whilst hiding from the weather. Talking of weather, whilst walking around the town in the afternoon we discovered this visual record of historical water levels in the town, dating back to 1775.

Historical flood levels. Behind Elaine you can see the nominal water level in the harbour. The stones indicate, from bottom to top, historical flood levels in 1775, 1808, 1894, 1916 and 1953. Interesting to note that the historical flood levels at this location have consistently increased over the last 245+ years

Oh! So Dutch ! The walk into town from Willemstad’s back (outer) harbour. The windmill overlooks the inner harbour, and has been converted into a residence. The clock tower and spire in the background is Willemstad’s Town Hall, which dates from the 1580’s

What to do on a wild and windy day in Willemstad? Enjoy a fine lunch – in this case, at Mauritz Grand Cafe – highly recommended

We both love the tropical colour and style from this poster in the restaurant. Entitled “Bieres de la Meuse“, an advertisement for beer produced by Alphonse Mucha in 1897

As a result of the rather extreme weather over the last couple of days, we were treated to a rather spectacular cloud trail that evening after the wind had subsided.

Sunset view from our mooring of the extensive cloud trail over Willemstad on the evening of 24 May 2023

And with that cloud trail and sunset in mind, we will bid you farewell until our next post, when we will spend a few days in Dordrecht before moving on to Gouda, from where we took a side trip into Rotterdam to visit the amazing (inside and outside) Depot Boijmans van Beuningen . . . but more about that in the next post.