Keeping the water out.

 'Netherlands',  literally meaning 'Lower Countries'. With more than a quarter of their country below sea level, the Dutch peoples have been pumping the water out for centuries. At the same time the Rhine and Maas rivers have been bringing much needed extra land in the form of silt from across western Europe and depositing it in a vast delta known as Zeeland 

This pumping 'Kagermill', built 1683 ,has been faithfully restored. 

When we can, 'Antiope' finds quiet remote mooring spots, here at Keverhaven. 

The land beyond the waterway is several meters lower.

Hard to resist taking pictures as we pass.

By shovel and wind, they have also created land from where there was formerly sea. These pieces of new land are known as 'Polders''. Windmills are a feature of the landscape fringing the waterways, and with a more or less constant westerly wind, their job was to pump the soggy land dry via thousands of kilometers of drainage channels. Over the last century the task has been taken over by diesel and electric pumping stations. 

The Adriaan mill in Haarlem still in use, 

built high to get clean wind over the town. 

Restorations we have seen, use authentic wooden gearing

Although now, of the thousands of windmills that once existed, a good many remain in working order lovingly preserved and restored and commonly adapted as residences. In addition to the pumping mills,  the grinding mills are still a focal point in towns and cities, often in full working order as tourist attractions.

Our voyaging this season has been a deliberate dawdle, heading slowly towards the Western regions of Noord Holland. We stayed put for a few delightful days in Haarlem, getting to know the city which is only a bus ride from Amsterdam, with all the charm but fewer tourists.

After sunset from our mooring spot in the centre of Haarlem. 

The Stadhuis in Haarlem dates back to 1370 

The Organ in St Bavo's church, Haarlem has 5068 pipes,

 and was played by G.F.Handel and also in 1766 by Mozart  at the age of 10 

The sole surviving Haarlem town gateway, 

to the once walled city, The Amsterdamse Poort 

MH17 memorial, with 298 trees, one for each of those aboard that flight 

Just a short distance from Haarlem is the sleepy village-like town of Vijfhuisen where we are currently moored on a quiet, less traveled waterway. In the distance we can hear the rumble of jets at Schiphol, and it is here that a memorial and forest has been created to Malaysian flight MH17, which, having taken off from Schiphol was shot down by a Russian missile over Ukraine ten years ago. Our visit to the memorial made more poignant having met another cruising couple here, James and Carol aboard their boat Paddington V.  They had close relatives, a family of 4, lost on that flight. Last week there was a formal 10 year anniversary commemoration, attended by the Dutch King and Queen and ambassadors of the many nationalities who were aboard that aircraft.