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The World Cruise of Veleda IV |
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Sailing the Dutch Canals Part 2 May 7, 2000 Middelfart, Denmark 55 28.4 N, 009 44.4 E We left Zierikzee April 22, after replacing the roller furling bearing. There was a very good wind and we had another good sail after we passed through the Zeelandbrug, which only opens every half hour. It has a clearance of 12.2 m, but we need 14 m for our mast height. Calculation of the closed bridge heights and opening times is an important part of passage planning. The chartlet we have is this year’s, however it is in Dutch only, and we have to do a lot of guessing as to some of the terminology and exceptions to the regular hours, especially since we were travelling over the Easter weekend. Is Easter Monday a holiday here? Once through the bridge, we had a good sail for two hours down the Oosterscheld and up towards the Gravelingenmeer and through the Kammersluisen, the lock that blocks off salt water from entering the fresh water system of the Volkerat. Because of the waiting and the slowness of the locking procedure when salt water is prevented from entering fresh, we stayed alongside the lock wall for the night. It took an hour from the waiting wall into the lock and out the fresh water side. However, most locks are reasonably efficient. It was the opening of the bridges that we were not impressed with. However, with only two exceptions, all the bridges and locks were free of charge. The next day was Easter Sunday. We motored up the Volkerat to the entrance to the Dortse Kil, the canal going from the Hollands Diep 13 kilometers up to Dordrecht. However, we thought being Easter Sunday, the bridge to Dordrecht would be closed, and so stopped at Yachthaven Bruggefof, a sleepy retirement home yacht haven. We paid 15 guilders for the day (we arrived at 1110) but upon finding out that the bridge did open at 1600, decided to leave for Dordrecht. We did not receive a refund for our two hours alongside! Happy Easter! We made the 1600 bridge, but could not see any of the bridges going into Dordrecht as being operable to get into the enclosed moorings in the canals of the town. However, after circling the waterfront for a half hour, we cautiously made our way into a narrow opening with a bridge that had a small waiting wall and a speaker button. We went on that wall and pressed the button, only to get a recorded voice in Dutch. Now what? However, a couple of minutes later the bridge started to open, so in we went. It was a long canal with box moorings on both sides. We entered one with a beautiful tree in full cherry blossom bloom overhanging the dock. Of course no one was at the harbourmaster’s office, and we had no key to get into the washrooms and showers, or to get back into the marina itself. We could get out with a buzzer release, but would have to wait for someone to let us back in. So off we went on a walk around ancient Dordrecht. It was ancient – a city with baroque gate facing the Maas River, cobblestone streets, a few interesting parks and walkways, but I think we were exhausted from the sail up, and the concerns for the bridge openings, the lack of information (everything was closed), so we just went back to Veleda, and I cooked up an Easter dinner ham roast. We left at 0800 the next day, after paying another 25 guilders, continuing our trek up the Neue Maas River, past Rotterdam (we didn’t want to go into that industrialized major port city), and on up towards Gouda. This stretch is north of the delta area and is heavily industrialized, with plenty of barge traffic, several bridges and a couple of locks. We have had to wait at every bridge so far for them to open. The locks tended to be more efficient. I pity the bargemen if they have to wait as much as we did for the bridges, as for them, time is money. Up to this point (at Gouda) in Holland, we have gone through 7 locks and 18 bridges. There is a major bridge outside Gouda that only opens three times a day, we think. In Gouda there are two marinas in town, but one has to go through a couple of bridges to get to them. We were turned off bridges, and so stayed at a minimal yacht haven, the W.V. Gouda, for which we only paid 10 guilders. As we arrived early, by 1300, we had the afternoon to wander around Gouda. The central town square was only a ten minute walk away. There we saw the ancient town hall, built in 1450, the Weighhouse for the cheese market, built in 1688, and especially enjoyed the 15th century St. Janskerk with its magnificent stained glass windows. We were fortunate in the church to join a group who were being given an extremely good tour, in English, by the church verger. He explained how the church started as Roman Catholic, but was continued in its construction after the Protestant Reformation as a Dutch Reformed church. He explained several of the beautiful windows, all of which have been maintained in the original designs, as they have all the original plans and drawings. He also explained the most recent window, representing the liberation of the Netherlands, made in 1947 to commemorate the sacrifices, deaths, and hardships of the Nazi occupation, and the liberation from it. We also had our first opportunity to visit a Dutch Resistance museum. After a pleasant dinner at a sidewalk café on the markplatz, we went back to Veleda and set the alarm for 0530 so we could catch the first of three bridge openings next day at 0613. The alarm did not go off, and we woke up at 0600. We didn’t even try for it and went back to bed, to catch the next opening at 1013. We got out there in plenty of time only to see a sign indicating the next opening would not be until 1313! Gosh darn!!! So, back to Gouda (It was only a kilometer away), and rather than go back to the W.V. Marina, we thought we would have time to go into the inner marina of Gouda through the town bridges. No way! The first bridge would not open for us, and so I went ashore to find out why. The second bridge was under repair and so the first bridge would not let boats through as there was no place to moor until past the second bridge. As a result, we just tied up to the canal wall outside the bridge to wait the three hours for the next opening. Murphy’s Law!! More later, after we finally get through that bridge in our next log |
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