Holland - 2003
Our first adventure was to sail to Leeuwarden, about 25 kilometres from Harlingen. We had the sage guidance of Richard Francis on board, and since he had taken Tam and Di Murrell's course on barge handling, we knew we were in safe hands. We were not disappointed and learned such important tricks of the trade as stopping, mooring, and calling up the bridge managers on the VHF. This last item can be a bit intimidating when you don't speak the language and just hope that you are going to be talking to an amateur-friendly person. It was particularly helpful when we finally had to contact the lock keeper in Nijmegen to determine where in the queue of some dozen huge commercial barges he wanted to locate us in order to least disrupt the bustling traffic.
In the quiet moorage of Ossenzijl we saved a mole from drowning by fishing the poor thing out of the canal with a bucket. He had been washed in by a passing cruiser, most of which go far too fast for the likes of moles. No sooner had we landed the little guy on the shore and he started to burrow, but a dog came along and started to dig him up. We pleaded with the dog's owner to stop the process and were advised that the dog was specially bred for digging moles. The little guy must have thought he went from the fat to the fire. In the end, Barb called the dog who it seems would rather have been petted than chase moles, so it all worked out for the best.
We started the trip with a substantial concern over how we would be treated by commercial barges, next to whom we are rank amateurs and basically Saturday sailors. To our delight, every experience with commercial captains was positive. On one occasion, the captain of a pusher barge called us over to moor next to him as he had seen us floundering around on the previous day. Once moored he proceeded to give us lessons in tying ropes, the right gloves to wear, rafting off in locks, and registering in the Belgian lock system. The two fellows running the barge were headed to the south to pick up a gravel load which they hoped to return in time to attend a daughter's birthday party. It was an experience that we came to regard as typical of the courtesy and assistance provided by professional bargers.
We thoroughly enjoyed cruising in Holland. The most exciting adventure was going down the Waal, or Rhine, amid some 30 big commercial boats at about 15 kilometres per hour, with ships passing on all sides. Another highlight was when we were passed by a convoy of over 100 motorcylces with sidecars. In each sidecar was a Downs-syndrome person from the local care facility being driven in a parade by members of motorcycle clubs representing the complete cross section of bikers and bikes. It was decidedly touching.
We took more than a month to cruise through the Netherlands. It could easily take all summer. We found plenty of places to moor, almost all of which were at no cost. Several times we anchored in small lakes that are being created by dredging operations. Because the boat is quite self sufficient for both power and water we did not need to find marinas. At 25 metres it is just as well as this is not a size normally accommodated by pleasure boat pontoons.
We were sorry to leave Holland, in part because we were leaving a country in which nearly everybody spoke English, and in part because we knew we were leaving a country in which they understand ships and barges. We could always get services and always find parts and equipment suited to a ship of this size. We made many friends in Holland and look forward to taking the boat there for some R and R in 2006.
