Dead Centre

 Quite by chance we find ourselves in the 'Cadastral' centre of the Netherlands.

A red laser spot marks the geographic centre of the Netherlands. 

A change in the weather, and a wet and windy night moored up on an isolated island in the Eemmeer had us scuttling up the Eem river for shelter to Amersfoort. What a delightful town we found and just coincidentally, they were hosting a Latin American music festival.

It is 346 steps to the top of "Our Lady's tower" 

from where the view was spectacular

The performance stage was in the shadow of Our Lady's tower which at 98m high is visible for many kilometres. A laser mark on the floor directly below the tower spire marks the geographic centre of the Netherlands. 

Latin American festival in full swing

Any visit to Amersfoort must include a visit to the 3 Ring brewery,

which traces its heritage back to 1626

Koppelpoort, the watergate into the old town Amersfoort, 

with a carpet of duckweed.

The small boat waterway through Amersfoort

Before the weather change we visited the hansiatic town of Hardewijk where I found more enthusiastic Botter sailors. These very sturdy, traditional sailing craft were originally used for fishing or local freight. Now they race them! Despite the average age of these craft being over a century. That said, the traditional boat workshop in Hardewijk used their Covid lockdown time to build a brand new, all wood Botter.

A new build Botter, a Covid lockdown project !

These Harderwijk botters are all 100+ years old

As I write, a storm labelled 'Poly' is passing over the Netherlands, reportedly their most severe summer storm on record. We are securely moored just out of town in a backwater of the river Eem.

As I write a storm rages outside, 

the arrow marks our mooring spot

 

The calm before the storm

Weather permitting, we cross the Ijsselmeer to Monnickendam in the next few days to take up an  invitation to sail in another botter regatta !!