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The World Cruise of Veleda IV |
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To the Netherlands Written April 25, 2000 At Gouda, NL 52 00.7N 004 41.4E I start this log uninspired, as I have experienced a couple of frustrating setbacks to which I just have to be resigned. The first was a couple of days ago when I started this log of our trip across the Channel and entry into the Netherlands. However, I did not have the adaptor for the power turned on, and after keying in two pages of log, I noticed the power level low, but before I could save the material or turn on the power, the laptop crashed and I lost one and a half hours work! It gave me no warning of low power before crashing, but sarcastically reminded me when I flashed it up again with the power turned on that the computer was not turned off properly. Anyway, I was not able to retrieve the log, and did not feel like starting it over again too soon (that was 3 days ago). The second frustration was this morning when we planned to be up at 0530 to leave Gouda at 0545 to make the first railway bridge which opens between 0613 to 0618, then not again until 1013. However, my alarm did not go off until 0600, and we missed it. However, we had a leisurely stay in bed and an enjoyable breakfast of grilled cheese (what else in Gouda?) sandwiches, juice, tea and coffee. However, the timing of the bridges is important, as had we made this one, we possibly could have gotten to Amsterdam today. Now, we will be doing well to get to Haarlem today, then Amsterdam tomorrow. We may have just lost a day which of itself is of no importance other than we want to be up to Inverness by June 3 to meet a friend, and this just cuts our timing a bit closer for all the things we want to see en route. No big problem, - hey, we're retired and shouldn't be controlled by the clock or calendar, - should we? Enough of my frustrations. We left Ramsgate as scheduled (There I go again!) two hours before high tide at 2230 on April 18 in a slight drizzle. The weather held and we made a comfortable crossing, only having to alter course three times to avoid the shipping that operates in this most heavily traveled stretch of the junction of the English Channel and the North Sea. We had to cross the traffic separation lanes at right angles which meant we couldn't sail directly to the Netherlands, but had to go straight across to the Dunkirk coast of France, then up the coastline of Belgium to enter the Netherlands at Vlissingen (formerly Flushing). We reached Vlissingen at 1640 the next day (April 19), going through the lock and continued up through 5 bridges to a lovely town called Middelburg. There we entered one of their "box" moorings just two moorings down from Wenonah, a Canadian boat with Fred and Kathy on board whom we met several times in London, as they wintered up in St. Katherines Dock. We had a good evening with them, and toured the town and marketplace the next morning. The "box" moorings are bows on situations, where the boat enters between two poles (called dolphins) set about 30 feet out, attaches stern lines to them and then edges to the dock, securing bow lines to cleats on the dock. To get on the dock we have to scramble over the bow. This system is not unlike the old system we had at the Toronto Hydroplane and Sailing Club, except there we had moored floating tires to secure to instead of the wooden dolphins. (Ed note: for a video clip on this type of mooring, click here) Middelburg is a delightful town where the docks are on canals in the middle of town, and the town itself is circled by canals. There is a market square in the middle, with narrow cobblestone streets winding around it in a meandering circular pattern, the houses and store fronts right on the cobbled sidewalk, so we could look directly into the store windows or peoples' immaculate living rooms, through their squeaky clean clear glass windows. There was a good tourist center with a large floor map of Walcheren Island, a video display of sights in Middelburg, and good maps and brochures as well as traditional tourist knick knacks. There was also a small scale model of the town, and some lovely churches and buildings to see. Middelburg was destroyed by bombing in WW II in reprisal for some Resistance activities but was rebuilt according to the original architecture dating back to the 1500's. So far, it is my favourite town. It would have been nice to spend several days enjoying it, but we left by noon hour the next day. Fuel is very expensive over here. It costs 1.90 guilders per liter or $1.26 Canadian. We filled up the tank and gerry cans for the first time since last September, taking 135 liters for a cost of 240 guilders or $160.00 Canadian. For sail boaters this is a lot! It might only be a drop to power boaters but for us it hurts! We cast off a while ago to catch the 1013 bridge only to see a sign saying it won't open until 1313! Apparently we misread the exceptions to the regular hours, as we are using a Dutch chart which lists the opening times of locks and bridges. They are at crazy times, depending of course on rush hours and train schedules. That is why so many of the barges are low, so they do not have to wait for bridge openings as we sail boaters with 14 meter masts do. So we came back into the channel leading into downtown Gouda with the intention of going through some of the city's bridges to the downtown marina. However, Murphy's Law, the bridges would not open! We checked our chart and they should have. We tied up on a waiting wall and walked to the bridge keeper's office to find out that some repairs were being made to other inner bridges and no traffic could go in or out. Good thing we did not go into the inner marina yesterday, but stayed on an outer one where we did not have to go through any bridges. So now we are waiting until 1300 alongside a canal wall. Judy has walked into town to get some groceries while I stayed on board to check on Veleda's mooring and to wash some fender boots, clean some vinyl windows on our dodger/Bimini and to get a bit more of this log down.  I don't remember if I have mentioned it before, but our fully enclosed dodger/Bimini was one of our best investments. It has been up continuously for two years, crossing the Atlantic and going through full gales, keeping us dry and wind free in the cockpit. We also have the Bimini fully enclosed with vinyl zippered windows from the Bimini to the coaming of the cockpit base. The windows can be unzipped leaving a mosquito netting in place for infested areas. There is also a clear vinyl window in the top of the Bimini so we can see the top of the mast and sails through it. There is a canvas flap that can be rolled across it when we want full shade. This was made for us by Genco in Toronto just before we left in 1998. They did a good job. |
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