map coordinates:
51o58’14.31”N 5o20’59.84”E &
51o57’20.03”N 5o38’53.49”E
Well, we’ve
had an eventful week! We left Gorinchem
on Sunday and stopped at Vianen again before turning east for the Rijn. The rain followed us. The first interesting thing, we were accosted
by an elderly Dutch sailor in Vianen. He
sailed past us in the moorings about an hour after our arrival and recognized
our boat from when it was new!!! He
seemed to have a wonderful time checking out what was original, what was new,
and telling us all about it.
Unfortunately, I only understood about a third of what he said as he only spoke rapid colloquial
Dutch. But great fun and he gave us a
lot of contacts so we can learn more. We
stayed on a bit hoping to meet up with a friend from French class in the
States, but that was not to be. We've been
going through the (medium sized to-) big locks with the really big Rhine
freighters, but that's OK. When
everything's big, you just stay out of the way.
The "fun" experience was coming out of Vianen and being told
to come into a small oval lock behind one of the big guys. There were already a bunch of pleasure boats there,
so we had to squeak in between his (rotating) propeller and the lock gate, and
then hold that position till the lock closed, filled, opened, and everyone else
got out. That WAS exciting. We're still alive, so I guess we did OK.
Then it was
on to Wijk bij Duurstede on the Rijn. I’ve
been to Wijk several times with Jeannet over the years, yet I never spent
enough time there to realize what a lovely place it is.
Still didn’t see much of it this time as we
were there to meet Jeannet so I could visit the 2 week lace class she still
teaches every summer.
The ladies
in the class were really nice and I was able to visit with a dear Austrian lady
I first met 19 years ago. That was wonderful, and I even got to make some
lace. We were moored next to a big 100+ year
old antique tjalk owned by a friend of her daughter's,
and Mirjiam
and Peter were there to welcome us into the harbor, get us settled, and stay
for a short visit.
THANK YOU
GOD!!! that I nailed the mooring in spite of nasty winds, currents, and one of
those big river cruise ships that pulled into the harbor ahead of us and made
maneuvering in the congested harbor even more difficult. Also, a lot of antique boats we didn’t want
to damage. --- I hate looking like an abject
fool in front of people I know, it's bad enough when no one knows you and
you're just making the US flag look bad. Later that evening, Jeannet was
finally able to visit our boat and have dinner with us.
Now we're
in Wageningen, in the east of the country, and heading for Arnhem, site of the
WWII battle that was Field Marshall Montgomery's disaster. There's also an open air museum of Dutch
regional history and life that Bill needs to see (and I would really love to
visit again). Where we are moored now
isn't exactly the most picturesque spot I've ever seen, and it's expensive, but
it's got electricity, WiFi, and access via a half hour walk to most things we
need. We’re here for 2 nights to rest
and then on to Arnhem, maybe for as much as a week. We're fighting the Rijn (Rhine) currents and
burning a lot of diesel while not making good time. Though not difficult, it’s very
draining. When we head back west next
week or the week after progress should be much better. Where we are now,
they gave us the slip with the training wheels when we came in.
Probably a
good thing as I’m too tired now for much beyond a cold beer and maybe later a
walk into town.
Bill
commented that I’d posted a photo of my souvenir for the year but not what he
found, so here it is:
We’ve been
looking for a barometer for the boat but they’ve all been terribly
expensive. We found one at the flea
market in Gouda for €7, it works really well, and it’s a classic style – or it would
be if we lived in an ancient hunting lodge.
We were also visited by a mother coot mooching stale bread for her late
season babies.
Can’t say I’ve
ever seen uglier babies, sorry Mama Coot.
Anyway,
that’s it for now. More shortly from
Arnhem.
Tot
volgende keer!
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