Amersfoort, and on to Sneek

Having said our farewell to Chris, we spent the afternoon doing a self-guided walking tour of the older parts of Amersfoort, which took in the two other remaining city gates, Kamperbinnenpoort Gate and Monneckendam Gate, as well as a number of historical buildings.

Amersfoort’s Kamperbinnenpoort Gate – looking from outside

Watch tower (complete with watcher) at the Monnickendam Gate

 

The building on the right dates from 1618, and on the left was the Brewers Guild. Beyond is the Onze Lieve Vrouwetoren – almost 100m high

We managed a 31km loop bike ride the following morning before departing for Naarden – it was a very windy day with waves of 0.5m to 0.75m along the Eemeer and Gooimeer before we moored in the very spacious and sheltered (and expensive) Naarden Jachhaven for a couple of nights – and only a 20 min. walk from the ancient town of Naarden.

Naarden – the most intact of the star fort towns – and one of the highlights of our trip

Safely moored, we walked straight to town and came across a Friday afternoon wedding party leaving the town Stadhuis (where the majority of marriages are performed in NL).

Naarden Stadhuis (dated 1601) and wedding party

We came across a number of home flagpoles each with a small backpack attached – mystery explained – it signifies the resident student has just completed his final school exams

The old and the new – vapour trails over the medieval town

The so-called Spanish House. Naarden was once a colony of Spain, and on a day in 1572 approx. 700 inhabitants of the town were massacred by Spanish troops in this building, as they gathered to hear a peace proposal

The walk home was preceded by a couple of sundowners at Café Van Demmers – great little venue with character (it reminded us of Rodney’s in Mosman Park)

Sunday 18 June was a long haul of just over 6 hours from Naarden to Elburg in warm and sunny conditions with almost no wind – hundreds of wind turbines enjoying a rest day. We were able to moor in the Nieuwe Haven, very close to the town walls.

Town map of the fortress town Elburg

Sunset harbour from Lady M

Picturesque property on the moat at Elburg’s Vischpoort Gate

One of many beautifully kept streets in Elburg – the Dutch take great pride in their homes and communities

Elburg’s Binnenhaven, reserved for the large fleet of historical wooden sailing vessels

Cute miniature tug boat

Elaine near the Vischpoort Gate on our return from a very pleasant morning ride (with coffee this time)

Another reasonably long haul of 5.5 hours on Monday took us to our overnight mooring at Vollenhove – memorable mainly because there was not one open bar or restaurant in the entire town! Elaine took a turn at the wheel on the way.

Smiles en-route from Elburg to Vollenhove

We cycled into nearby Blokzijl the following morning, decided that it was a good destination (problems with our PC-Navigo system), returned and motored there late morning and moored in the large central harbour.

View from our pontoon mooring across Blokzijl harbour to the town centre

Blokzijl has many historic buildings from the early 1600’s with great character in the streets surrounding the harbour . . .

. . . including this one in the foreground which is dated 1666 (the Great Fire of London)

Our trip from Blokzijl to Echtenerbrug via Ossenzijl took us along a very picturesque waterway called the Kalenbergergracht and through the beautiful villages of Muggenbeet and Kalenberg (where we had hoped to moor for lunch – but no public moorings around).

Many kilometres of manicured residences and agricultural properties on the way to Ossenzijl

After a café lunch break at Ossenzijl we motored on and overnighted at Echtenerbrug, a rather uninspiring modern town and boat hire centre at the southern end of the Tjeukermeer. We were first through the bridge when it opened at 9am on Thursday 22 June, and made it down to a busy Lemmer in less than 2 hours in 12km winds from the SW, and scored a central mooring just after the Flevobrug.

View from Flevobrug – Lady M is hiding between the timber mast and the tree on the right side

Lemmer is yet another historical fishing port previously on the Zuider Zee, and now about 60km (across the Ijsselmeer and through the sea locks) to get to salt water. It was famous for its herring, smoked eels and anchovies – now a tourist centre for all water-related and outdoor activities.

Lemmer’s old fishing boat harbour with the sea lock in the background guarded by the two lock keeper watchhouses

Our journey from Lemmer to Sloten on Saturday 24 June was just 1.3 hours. Our mooring at the JH Lemsterpoort was only a short walk into the very pretty city (yes, city granted rights in the 1400’s and now with only 700 residents). As luck would have it, we had arrived on the day of the Sloten annual fair ‘Sipelsneon’ – lots of stalls, great brass band, a Wurlitzer, boats from everywhere, and people like us enjoying it all.

Sloten is also one of the eleven Elfsteden, and without setting out to do so, we have now visited nine of them on Lady M – missing only Ijlst and Hindeloopen – who knows what we may get up to next year?

Enlargement of a map of Sloten dated 1616

Model of Sloten made in 1953 – today it remains almost unchanged – note the windmill bottom right, and in the photo below

Windmill (flour mill) dated 1755 with the south bridge to the left

Historical sail boats visiting Sloten for the annual fair

The “new” Stadhuis which was completed in 1761

 

A gaily decorated working boat at Sloten

Sunday morning 25 June we found a coffee at the small bar where we had been people-watching the afternoon before, then off to Sneek via Woudsend and the southern end of the Sneekermeer.

Yet another variation of the windmill, this one at Woudsend with a long barn beneath

A smooth 3-hour trip to Sneek and a mooring in Koopmansgracht midway between the Oppenhuizer and Van Harinxma bridges – in good time to tidy up ready for our next visitors – Tim’s sister Jackie and husband Mike, who are arriving from UK this evening to spend six nights . . more to follow in our next instalment in early July.