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| Photo: courtesy Inge-Brith Nielsen. |
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| Photo: courtesy Inge-Brith Nielsen. |
Saturday morning, 24th October and here we are, leaving Harwich for the final visit to Pirramimma of 2015. The year has absolutely flown by. One of the best sights at this point on any of our journeys to the Netherlands and therefore to Pirramimma, is watching the bow and stern thrusters on the ferry as they work to push the ferry away from the dockside. Hooray… off we go!
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| Just a tad more powerful than Pirramimma's bow thruster!! |
As we drove away from the port, rain began to fall and continued to lash down for most of our journey, only stopping as we passed Harderwijk. I couldn't help but compare it to the first journey we made this year when we enjoyed the most amazing sunset which seemed to follow us for most of the way. And funnily enough, pretty much turned to darkness as we passed Harderwijk! A quick detour to Nunspeet and and a super quick whizz through good old Jumbo for supplies - tomorrow is Sunday and the supermarkets will be shut. Even so, we arrived at Pirramimma by about 1945 hours. The usual chores: moving a small amount of kit from the car to the boat, packing it all away and munching some restorative nibbles before we collapsed in bed. It had been a long day as the ferry had been "scheduled" to leave an hour earlier than usual.
Sunday dawned bright and clear. What a joy and utter treat to have this glorious weather so late in the year. I grabbed this shot through our aft cabin port hole…
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| No filters or tricks - just straight from the iPad camera… glorious colours! |
Sunday remained warm enough for us to eat our evening meal on Pirramimma's aft deck - imagine: late October and warm enough to stay there until quite late, without wearing enough clothing to vie for Michelin Man status!! We supped on sautéed prawns, roasted vegetables and green salad. Oh, and a glass or two of a smooth and mellow Merlot.
Tomorrow we'll be prepping for our cruise through the inland waterways of Flevoland. Running up the engine, checking lines, provisioning, topping up water etc, etc. The usual stuff. Plus catching up with more friends before casting off the following day.
The plan is to cruise south to Harderhaven and to lock down into Flevoland via the De Blauwe Dromer sluis; a 5 metre drop. The weather forecast is superb and we're looking forward to seeing Flevoland from a completely different angle. In the past, our experience of this polder has really just been about the commute between Hoek van Holland and Lemmer where Pirramimma had been berthed for the summer.
We've discussed our route several times and according to all chart data, this one will be fine. There are two fairly low, fixed brug to contend with, but again, chart data gives both as 3.9m air draft. Let's hope so - but if not, we can easily retrace our route, then turn south/starboard to Almere before entering via the main sluis there.
We slip out of our berth at 1050 hours and motor slowly south to Harderhaven. The weather forecast is spot on - it's a beautifully sunny and warm day. When we arrive at the De Blauwe Dromer sluis, there's a large sign telling us the sluis is 4.8m wide, not the 5m given on charts. Pirramimma is 4.45m wide: add some fenders either side and it's going to be a tight fit. All bar one of the sluis and lifting brug on Flevoland are remotely controlled. To access them, each has a sign with a telephone number and the numbers you then need to access/press to work your way through the menu. How civilised! So Crew gets on the phone and does just that. And we wait. And wait. And wait a little longer.
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| Patiently waiting. We have time to remark on how crystal clear the water is here. In fact, we probably have enough time to read the full Oxford English Dictionary. |
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| Lock gates shut. |
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| View from the lock showing the mural on the side of the pumping station. |
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| Going down! Skipper's view aft and across to Harderwijk. |
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| Leaving De Blauwe Dromer sluis - you can probably see how tight the space was in there. |
It's on this section of waterway - the Hoge Dwarsvaart - that we have the two fixed brug with, according to chart datum, 3.9m clearance. The first one looks good. It's an arched, wooden bridge that's used for foot and bicycle traffic. Slowly and gently does it and we clear it easily with about 30cm to spare: Pirramimma has an air draft of 3.6m to the top of the flagstaff and that is about 5 - 10cm higher than the canopy. That's the brug in the distance - we've gone under and are on our way to the second of the two…
The second of the fixed brug looms. It's a concrete structure for carrying vehicle traffic. Even from this distance, Crew is becoming concerned as to the true air clearance we'll have…
Crew gets the binoculars onto the subject and squeaks urgently to the Skipper who immediately slows us down to a crawling pace. And crawl under it we do, but only just. Crew reckons the brug was close to 3.6m clearance and the Skipper had to rush to take down the flagstaff. Our original plan was to come back this way at the end of the cruise but now we decide to alter plan and leave via the Ketelsluis on Friday; a day earlier than planned too.
We continue on and make our way to our evening mooring at De Groene Kathedraal (the Green Cathedral) on the outskirts of Almere.
The weather is still extremely pleasant and we are able to sit out on the aft deck for a while. It's an interesting mooring location: on our port side we have the peace and quiet of this Green Cathedral but on starboard and across the canal, there is the noise, movement and lights from the fast flow of evening traffic as folk make their way home from work. Quite a juxtaposition. If you're thinking of mooring here, then be prepared for the evening/morning traffic noise but also be prepared to delight in the true beauty and peace of this 'Cathedral' on the other side of the canal.
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| Photo: Richard Hayes |
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| Photo: Richard Hayes |
And also if you do decide to visit these lovely waterways, remember to check your boat's water intake filter. There were lots of leaves in the water and some of the mooring places also had significant water weed growth to contend with.
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| It pays to check regularly! |
We continue in a north-westerly direction and just short of the Zuidersluis, take a sharp turn to starboard onto the Lage Vaart canal and on to the Vaartsluis. At the Vaartsluis, we drop down another metre or so, and continue on in pretty much a parallel route to that we've just come on but in a south-easterly direction. This section of the canal moves through the industrial part of town and is definitely not so well kept, but still interesting. Crew was amused to see a purple three-seater sofa floating in the water. And a little further along, what looked like the seat from a car also happily bobbing in the water. But it passed quickly and as we swung to port and north-east we again moved into residential areas that were neat and tidy. Well: there has to be industrial sections somewhere - and these towns are actively thriving so more power to them. We've driven past this area along the A6 motorway and it was of great interest to Crew to be able to get a closer look at the buildings. Curiosity, and all that!
We're heading up to Lelystad for our evening mooring and once we're past the last of the houses, the waterway widens out and we motor through heavily wooded and very beautiful countryside. By now, the drizzle has stopped but it's still cloudy and grey. Cold, too.
At Lelystad, we turn to starboard and move into the Larservaart for 1 mile before mooring up for the night. We're about 200m away from a brug but just a handful of vehicles cross it and the only life we see are cyclists, walkers, runners and lucky dogs enjoying walks with their owners. A very peaceful evening.
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| The view to port... |
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| The view forward. Skipper inspecting the water for weeds etc... |
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| The view aft. That brug looks much closer than it is... |
The next morning and we woke to quite thick mist cover. We had just finished our breakfast when a smallish Bayliner motored past at some speed, slaloming its way through the water. It set up a really nasty pendulum effect that went on for a good 15 minutes, slamming us around in the process. Thanks a million, mate!
We slipped the mooring around 1125 hours and also had to veer around all the leaves and weed. But at least we did so at a very gentle pace and leaving next to no wake at all. Turn to starboard back into the Lage Vaart and the sun breaks through the cloud. It's a glorious day again.
A short journey today to Dronten where we will hopefully be able to get a spot in the jachthaven. We continue to move along at a very gentle pace, enjoying the changing scenery. Woodland mixed with open farmland, including some large fruit farms. It's a very pretty and peaceful approach from the south of the town. Through the lifting bicycle bridge and a turn to starboard into the jachthaven, WSV Dronten. We are warmly welcomed by the charming havenmeester, Jan. Thank you, sir! €17 for mooring, including excellent wi-fi connection, Tourist Tax for 2 adults. Power an additional €2 but again, it's a good supply. The haven is gated and secure, with the usual amenities including diesel. There's a private club bar/restaurant but it was closed that night. Maybe closed for the winter? The haven is close to shops including an excellent Jumbo, Mitra etc etc. All in all, a useful stop-over spot and a very friendly one too.
That evening we're treated to a lovely sunset - tomorrow's forecast is good also.
Galley Slave also treats us to a lush meal of pan fried chicken breasts in black pepper, brandy and cream sauce, ravioli and parmesan plus roasted cherry tomatoes on the side. Oh, and salad. There has to be a 'healthy' component to all of that cholesterol.
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| Mmmmmm! |
Arriving at the first sluis of the day, the Kampersluis, we were dismayed to see a heavy 'crust' of weed, reeds, branches and leaves covering the surface in the lock. The water was a dark, sludgy brown. Ugh. Skipper cautiously moved us into the lock whilst trying to avoid the worst of it. I snapped this pic as we left the sluis - and this is after all the water movement involved in the locking procedure cleared most of it away...
And this was the result in our engine raw water intake filter. Look how dirty the filter mesh is compared to the other photo earlier in this post…
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| Keep checking those water intake filters!! |
We left the lock and followed the channel around to starboard and cruised gently back south on the Drontermeer to Elburg. This chap was taking up most of the channel at one point but kindly moved over as soon as he saw us approaching. Loaded to the gunnels - and then some!
Our cruise back to Elburg was uneventful and we were delighted to receive a 'Welcome back!' hail from our good friend as we made the approach to our berth there. It's good to be 'home'! Later that evening, we celebrated an enjoyable and successful End of Season cruise. Cheers, my friends!
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| Cheers! |
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