The Night Convoy

Another 7 yachts arrived quietly as soon as the Westersluis bridge started opening again at 2200. The announcement came on VHF 69 around 2330 that the start time would be 0020 - good news this is earlier than is normal apparently. We actually started at 0035. The lights go from red to red-over-green while they close barriers and lift or swing the bridge then green for us to go. 

The pics show the different visibility between day and night! The city lights make it quite difficult to see in the canal, especially those 2 boats not displaying a stern light. The 14 bridges and 1 lock are only 4 miles but took 2 hours because we had to sit and wait in front of each bridge. Idling in the canal is the hardest part esp for our boat because if we get too close to boat or bridge and have to reverse then she can go in any direction. So very far from restful.  The last bridge complex over the lock to enter Nieuwemeer were rail and motorway - massive. 

All the others went on, some were rushing south as fast as they can. We didn't see the point of more night motoring and instead turned into the first little marina, tied up at the first pontoon, ate soup, went to sleep. 

Waxing lyrical about Ams

OK, I know we often fall in love with the places we go - I guess we choose well from experience - and the love affair always fades back into context when we return home. But Amsterdam really is great and we could see ourselves renting a small static barge with 2 bicycles in the Westerdok area, a peaceful urban backwater yet only 10 minutes from the centre. Rather like the way Greenwich relates to London in a vastly scaled-down way. 

As I write these ruminations we are tied up in the Westerkan, inside our first bridge - a huge road bridge that obligingly opened for us when we asked. It's a little strange being at street level with traffic and people going by, and we don't feel like leaving the boat for fear of bits being nicked. Perhaps we're being unfair to the denizens of Ams. A regular procession of motorboats come buzzing, burbling and plop-ploping past us, some with balloons, some with wine. It is perhaps the Ams equivalent of promenading, no doubt intensified by being a pleasant Sunday evening in August. Most are slow causing little wash, with the occasional plonkers drunk already and going too fast. We'll see more of those later I think. 

Meanwhile the trains regularly thunder across the bridge which will be opened for boats like us with masts after midnight when all trains have finished, thus starting the convoy south ... convoy of 1 so far though we expect more yachts to arrive after 2200.

Adieu Amsterdam

For the last time,  we watched the beached Soviet sub adorned with graffiti  (pictured) as the ferry took us in to land. We were arriving back at the marina having been for a Sunday morning food shop at Albert Heijn in the centre of the city.

For today is our last day here. Tonight we cross the waterway to go through one lifting bridge at about 5pm when we will moor up and wait until the midnight convoy of yachts takes us through 9 bridges and one lock,  to emerge south of Amsterdam just short of Schiphol airport. 

It feels like home after 6 days. We will both miss Amsterdam. The next leg of the trip will be gentle motoring, no sailing, through Dutch country side. 

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Flea market and planning in Ams

We spent a large part of the day with our friend Peter in the monthly flea market just along from the marina at IJ Hallen, or rather outside it.  Apparently the largest in Europe, certainly more than 500 stalls. (pic) Nic bought a few little presents for Ilona and Katherine (birthdays soon), and a rather nice captain's hat for costume purposes to go with his navy blazer (at home) - all we need now is an invitation to a fancy dress party. Lesley got some clothes for €2 or 3 a piece, Hilfiger no less. Peter found a rare bakelite vase to add to his enormous collection (possibly second largest in Europe).

When I'd had enough (long before them) I caught the free ferry over to Houthaven and talked to a lock keeper about the night convoy that we have to use to go south through the canalks of Amsterdam. I know exactly how we get started now and we can go over early while it's light which removes the stress. We go through the first bridge on demand before 6pm (that's best), or between 10 & 11pm, and tie up before the railway bridge and listen on VHF 69. The convoy is free now. Hooray. I'm not sure any of the leaflets had this detail.

I then walked through some lovely quiet backstreets in the Westerpark area and had a look at the Westerdok which is inside some lifting bridges but is in principle somewhere we could have berthed.  There was only one yacht in there, it was almost full of barges (liveaboards) and motor boats (which don't need bridges lifting). (pic)

I just missed a ferry back and they are every 20 minutes so was forced to have a coffee and apricot flapjack by the waterside looking down towards Centraal. (pic)

Chilling on the boat was the late afternoon pastime. If you like spy novels set in the last few years I can recommend Charles Cumming. Although his writing isn't quite as good as Le Carre, the plots and spycraft are great. Lesley is deeply into the 'Bolitho' series by Alexander Kent - nowhere near Patrick O'Brian yet very entertaining. We also made some entries into the Cruising Association 'Captain's Mate' app which provides updated information from personal experience on ports and passages.

Living in our cottage in the city, we have not been very focused on the weather other than whether (word play intended) to take a coat (we always have). There is some sign that the incessant strong winds and showers are giving way to a more settled period, to coincide with our journey across the country. (As I write this, the rain is suddenly pouring down on the cabin roof.) Poor SIRENA IV, her sails probably won't be unfurled until we're south of Rotterdam - unless we sail a meer just for the hell of it.

We love Amsterdam in all its wateryness, with more bicycles than cars and no trucks or even white vans - who knew how lovely it would be to go around a city and not see a white van.  The buses and trams are splendid. The people are lovely.We could happily spend another week here, however the plan to reach home by 3 Sep requires that we start heading south, giving ourselves some time to enjoy the polder (countryside).

Friday wash day

Today was wash day in more ways than one. We camped out by the marina washing machines to seize the one moment when no one else was stuffing vast piles of dirty clothes into the machines. The marina is massive with hundreds of people staying,   and has sadly underestimated the need for loos showers and washing machines. 

Queues of grim faced sailors wait outside the 8 shower cubicles and 4 loos per gender. Anyway the washing is done and dried.

The other wash is from vessels on the main waterway beyond the marina. Suddenly we rock and sway as a 100 foot barge powers past.

We saw more of the giant vessels that ply these waters at dinner tonight.  We sat outside in bright sun at an Italian restaurant next to the water,  as a succession of lumping great tankers and barges powered past.  There were many yachts too, all rushing past at top speed of 8 or 9 knots. Everyone drives fast in Holland. The food was good but the view was better. 

After dinner we saw the latest (glorious) Woody Allen film at the giant cinema institute called the Eye. And then we hopped on two free ferries to bring us back to the marina through a beautiful dusk, watching the navigation lights of great barges gleam like stars.

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Good wet day in Amsterdam

Despite the hassle from the Marina yesterday, in making us move, we decided to grace their restaurant in the evening which has a reputation for steaks. Talk about popular, a Wed night and the boats streamed in to tie up directly below the tables - very Caribbean. The steaks were indeed excellent and the Dutch brown ale strong. In the pic the mast on the left outside the window is ours. So a bit wakeful last night due to digesting all that unaccustomed meat, and slow up this morning. 

Once started we had a most excellent day with our good friend Eric who came over from Utrecht. First was 11ses in the Toren, a very ship-like cafe across the road and 200m left from Centraal Station old main entrance. It was once the corner of the old city wall, from where wives would wave goodbye to their sailors. 

Thence to the National Maritime Museum (pics various) where we appreciated many objects and paintings and a tasty lunch. The weather was foul all day with grey cloud and persistent rain varying from drizzle to downpour, so the NMM was rather busy. A fatigue overcame us all at mid-afternoon so we abandoned any plans for more site seeing and instead caught a 48 bus and the free ferry back to the boat where we could relax and chat in peace. 

Eric has lived in Holland for very many years and is fluent in Dutch as well as being a sailor. He helped us understand the Staande Mastroute book with some translations.

Lesley cooked a lovely veg curry while the boys had a beer at the restaurant bar, and much of the world was put to rights by the time Eric left at 2200 - if only the world had been listening. 

Men only

(Our blogs are written by both of us of course, and perhaps you cannot always tell who it is. For the avoidance of doubt,  this one is by Nic.)

You may know that the Dutch are reputed to be the tallest of peoples. This is borne out by the height of the urinals, at which the average British man would have to be on tippy-toes, or even need a step! Luckily I am more of a Dutch build. 

Then we go to the poshest, hugest marina in Amsterdam and the facilities there have NO urinals and only 4 cubicles - I have never seem such a queue of disgruntled men. The showers are excellent though, unlike Shotley and Ijmuiden. (I could, and may, write a book on the shortcomings of marina showers.)