Ciao Zanussi

 Our month-long social visit to the UK ended up in Felixstowe, once a grand Victorian Suffolk seaside town, which now has England's largest container terminal in its backyard. Just across the harbour is the historic town of Harwich from where my way-back ancestors sailed, and it was from the Stour/Orwell estuary that Antiope began her voyage to Europe 12 years ago.  

                        

                            Some folk in Felixstowe have too much time on their hands.

                             A more comfortable mode of sea travel. (The ferry, not the lightship!)

Our trip across the North Sea was again overnight, but this time in a lovely cabin aboard the 240 m ferry, Stena Hollandica. Definitely a more comfortable ride than last time, according to Annie. 

Before leaving London, Annie and I made the Thameside walk from the old Docklands to Greenwich including the must do 'Cloud' cable car ride over the Thames. We finished up with a reviving pint in the bankside Trafalgar taven, then a swift 'Uber' ferry up into central London and a further walkabout. There is so much more to see of London by foot than getting around on the 'Tube'

The 'Cloud' cable cars cross the Thames, well worth the ride

                                 The Greenwich meridian crosses the Thames at this point

                               It then heads on South through docklands all the way to NZ 

A grand sight, the Trafalgar tavern on the bankside at Greenwich,

Coronation bunting still flying.

                                       

Meanwhile, back in Scheerwolde

Monday 6th June, re-launch day, and the first of the warmer weather

Once back aboard Antiope, she was smartly launched and we began the long delayed task of removing 'Zanussi'. The task made more difficult as Zanussi (the washing machine) was a big beast, wider than any of the boat access ways and we suspect built in before the original interior fit out was completed back in 1996. Zanussi had been misbehaving for several seasons and was on its final warning.            Pre Covid I had cut out a big enough hole and made a larger forehatch. This week the test, having dismantled it as far as possible a mobile jib hoisted the 80 kg up through the hatch. We knew that if we could get one out, a new one would fit in.

Going

Going

Going

Gone

Watch this space soon for some actual cruising stories and pictures.

Cheers Charles and Annie

A Coronation to kick off the season

 Annie and I arrived back aboard Antiope at the end of April, to a Netherlands that was still shivering. Spring, it seems, was a bit late arriving. Antiope, however, had been snug inside a shed all winter.

Antiope as we find her, snug in her shed. 

The family run business has storage space for up to 200 boats

No sooner had we unpacked our bags when were invited to join friends over in England for the Coronation! Well, any excuse for a good party. We also thought it should also allow some time for the weather to warm up just a bit. 

Eurostar trains run from here direct to London

We chose to travel direct from Amsterdam to London by Eurostar. So easy! We have come to prefer train travel to short flights around Europe as we are not in a hurry and find it far less stressful. With friends and with Pimms in hand, we watched the pomp, parades and the stunning concert in a riverside setting, followed by the obligatory British street party.

 

TheThames Meadow Coronation street party 

       Bunting and Balloons, essential additions!

                                               

      There was even a craft beer for the occasion.

Once the dust had settled, we took a couple of days out to visit the Historic Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth. This visit had been on my bucket list for a long time and was worth every hour. In fact, I could have happily spent several more days there. A must see was the restored 'Mary Rose'.

The Spinnaker tower overlooks Portsmouth harbour

 and the historic dockyard.

A model of the 'Mary Rose' 

The 'Mary Rose' was Henry V111's flagship and already a naval campaign veteran when she capsized in 1545 in a very local battle with the French navy, in full view of the king who was watching from a castle on the foreshore. It is thought that a tight jibe turn, open gun ports on her lee side and a sudden gust of wind sealed her fate.  

Re-discovered in 1971, salvaged and now preserved in a disused navy dry dock, she has revealed a time capsule of Tudor shipboard life. 

This largely intact part of the ship lay forgotten for 500 years under a layer of silt.

A salvaged cannon bearing the King's crest looking almost new,

 its original wooden carriage rotted away.

Alongside, in another dry dock, is Victory which was Lord Nelson's flagship in yet another battle with the French at Trafalgar in 1805 

300 years younger, Victory is in better shape than the Mary Rose and survived the battle. However, Admiral Nelson was not so lucky, felled by a French musket ball just when the English fleet was winning the fight.  

The Victory is undergoing a 12 year refit, her masts out 

and much of her massive oak planking being replced. 

On deck, a plaque marks the spot where Nelson fell

Nelson's bed, hard up against a cannon,

was put away during battle

Below decks, the term 'A Square Meal' 

comes from the mess plates served to the sailors.

Advance another 200 years and moored up only a cannon shot away is the latest addition to the King's navy, the massive HMS Queen Elizabeth, just short of 300m long and weighing in at 65,000 tonnes.  

HMS Queen Elizabeth. (France beware)

Meanwhile in our urban London garden !

Windmill land

 Since entering the Netherlands we have been able to slow down and stop for a day or two when we felt like it. We arrived at the old fortified port of Willemstad in the midst of a yachting weekend and Sea shanty festival. a kind of song fest where shanty groups from across the Netherlands performed on different stages through the town on the Sunday afternoon.

Regatta day Willemstad

Traditional 'English' Sea shanties sung with a strong Dutch accent.

Willemstad flour mill, still grinds flour once or twice each year.

Willemstad, from the top of the Church tower, a very pretty old town.

Underway again we took the incoming tide up through Rotterdam. Arguably the busiest network of commercial waterways in Europe.

A full load aboard. in the Hollandsch Deep

Dordrecht rail bridge carries 4 main line tracks, high enough for us, 

but can be a long wait for yachts.

These flood defences were built following the 1953 floods

In Gouda where we were in time to see the last open air cheese market of the year. While most of the trading is now done online the traditional market is put on for the tourists combined with the annual best Gouda cheese awards.

Lotsa Gouda, the final open air cheese market of the year.

The 'fairyland' town hall Gouda.

Gouda is as far inland as the big cruise boats can navigate. From here we were able to take the more gentle non-tidal Vecht river, meanering through towns and villages, each with their own type of traditional lift bridges and seldom having to wait more than a few minutes to pass. 

Peaceful cruising off the big commercial waterways.

We had planned to cruise through Utrecht but couldn't due to closed bridge which was too low for us. So it was out onto the Barge motoway, the Amsterdam -Rhine canal again for a few kms. 

Weesp town lock, firmly closed, for the first time in 40 years. 

While we thought we had dodged the drought conditions of France and Flanders, there was the unexpected issue in the low lying Holland provinces of too much water, of the salty kind. These Delta regions normally rely on the fresh waters of the Rhine to irrigate and keep the water table 'sweet' as much of the region is below sea level. In Weesp they had closed the lock gates leading into town to help balance the salinity. We were told this was the first time in 40 years.

Muiden castle 

As I write we are in Muiden, where the Vecht river finally runs into the Ijsselmeer. We are sitting out a day or two of wind and rain before tackling the last leg of our voyage up from France. Autumn has arrived. Across the channel I can see the old castle, unchanged since we were here back in1966 aboard Jacandor our small open boat on our way home from Copenhagen.

            

Mixing it with the big ships

 I was about to post this episode when we received news of the Queen's death on the day we arrived into the Netherlands. It is a sobering thought that I can remember her coronation. It was in the same year that I first visited the Netherlands aboard my parents' boat 'Bonita'.

  

'Bonita'  as she looked in 1953

Aboard Antiope we had reached Zeeland and could relax the pace a little. The worry of water shortages now behind us, we were now only a week's cruising away from our winter base in Sheerwolde which is a day or so beyond Amsterdam.   

Not much spare room to pass here

These lifting bridges don't give you much time once a commercial arrives

In some the big locks the bollards are 'floating'  

and they move up or down with you. 

Our passage from the Sambre took us North through Brussels to the Scheldt river where we had to share the waterway with seagoing ships and massive barges. Restrictions applied to pleasure craft meant that we frequently had to wait for commercial craft to pass low bridges and share locks when and if there was room for us. 

We did take time out in Brussels for a bit of sightseeing. 

The Brussels Royal Yacht Club, 

a tram ride from the city centre

The 'Atomium', a "temporary" survivor of the 1958 Brussels world fair

'Manneken Pis' on the tourist trail and this model dates from 1618.

The central square hosting the annual 'Beer Fest' on the weekend we visit !!!

We find an axe throwing beer bar. What could possibly go wrong?  

On our way out of town we pass mountains of scrap 

waiting to be barged away 

On a clear calm day we lock out onto the Scheldt river to bypass the Antwerp docks, which are currently off limits to any vessels without AIS. Yep, it's on the shopping list for next year.

A perfect day for motorboats on the Scheldt

A crane museum on the Antwerp waterfront

Antwerp docks stretch for 15 kms along the river

Shall we follow that one ?

Windmills, this must be the Netherlands

 

8th Sept 2022