Richard Hewson

This morning we woke up to an overcast winters day in Muiden N.L. It is Halloween and also daylight savings time. Kids adjusted instantly to daylight savings waking up at their normal time of 0630 (new time)! We made the most of our early start re securing rigs, removing the spreaders and clearing the decks. Rich re checked our max height at 2.88m so we have 12cm clearance at the lowest bridges on our planned route. Issy found a stick to tape to the front of the rig to make sure we don’t touch!

At 0900 we departed Muiden as soon as the locks and bridges opened. As we departed Muiden we enjoyed watching all the historic fishing boats snd ships lining the canal.

Fishing boats were soon replaced with house boats lining the banks. Beautiful little cottages about the size of our house in Cremorne Tasmania. Out of place on the river was mini transit proto #454. The scenery along the Vecht canals is nothing but spectacular.

We parked at the local Yacht club in Weesp and walked to town to do some shopping and find a bakery. Kids enjoyed looking at the swans.

We continued to motor down the Vecht canal enjoying the sites, only to find the bridge keeper at Luenen had gone to lunch. We took the opportunity to enjoy soup and today’s before the bridge opened and we continued past the mansions, beautiful estates, windmills, and even a castle or two!

At 1445 we exited the Vecht canal and joined the Amsterdam river. We were now in the commercial zone, a far cry from the tranquility of the previous 6 hours. Commercial traffic and the wider river makes for bumpy motoring. The kids retreated downstairs to play some games.

After an hour on the river we passed into the Mewede canal…. ahhh tranquility again, but a little more surburban. At the First lock we learnt a few locked lessons as this was the rise we have experienced thus far. A bit different from blue water sailing!

The rain started to pour down and the weather got chilly so at 1630 we found a nice place to stop along the banks of suburban Nueuwegein.

Thankful I had installed a 4Kw heater we enjoyed playing cards with Issy and Max while sipping a glass of red to the sound of rain pouring on the deck! Oh the joys of a warm dry boat on a river!