To Dordrecht via Oud-Beijerland

Monday 19th -Tuesday 20th June

It's just 8 miles from our mooring up the River Spui to Oud-Beijerland and then just under 12 more miles the following day to be tucked up cosy in Dordrecht. We're still in familiar territory here so there are gaffer friends wherever we go. Or rather we are stopping wherever there are gaffer friends...

Some sights along the way:

Costa del Spui - classy little caravan park with its own beach

We were surprised to see how far these piles go in

Nice quiet spot on the river bank for swimming

Obligatory windmill/dyke/village shot

That's a ferry ahead

It sets off again as soon as we pass, angled due to the 2kts of current

Oud-Beijerland is a good place to stop - the harbour is in the town with lots of shops (and bars) around. Anneke and Kees live near here and we see their gaffer Snoopy in the harbour. Kees is away working but Anneke joins us on board for a barbeque and we spend a very jolly evening - if rather hot!

Then next morning onward to Dordrecht. We're on bigger rivers now - the Oude Maas junction here is the busiest junction for river traffic in all of Europe - or so they say.

Dordrecht is a lovely old city, once hugely important for trade, with lovely houses on the river and in the various harbours




Soon after this we pass the back garden of our friends Ad and Jules - Jules waves a welcome


Here's our spot in the Wijnhaven in Dordrecht




These coots had chosen an interesting spot for their nest - when the chap tried to come down his ladder they went for him. He eventually turned is engine off again and gave up the attempt to go for a spin.

Ad and Jules have a back garden for Howard to envy - after that wall it's the river

They both look even happier in this one - that beer came from Ostend and seems to be going down well

Wine for me and Jules


And, good company aside, the evening's entertainment: barge-watching!

Comments

Post a Comment

We've set this up so anyone can comment - though we'll see your comment before it's published on the blog - please comment away!

Popular posts from this blog

Inland Schleswig-Holstein

Image
Wednesday 19th July to Thursday 20th July - River Eider inland Reasons to take the River Eider route to the Baltic: 1. It's easier to get to from Heligoland (in the right conditions). 2. You avoid travelling (and crossing) the River Elbe with all its traffic and strong current. 3. You avoid the massive ship lock at Brunsbüttel where we have heard of yachts having to wait as long as 4 hours out in the Elbe before locking in. There are some issues with the locks and they are not all operating. 4. There's no commercial traffic, till you join up with the Kiel Canal 5. Once in, it's more interesting to travel along a river with small towns to visit than 100km of straight ship canal. So, Tönning was our first town with its small harbour a feature in itself overlooked by houses and cafés. When the tide went out overnight we didn't see the mud, we just floated in almost no water.  On Wednesday we moved on to Friedrichstadt, just 10nm further on, a pleasant short trip with withi
Read more

Denmark. Mission accomplished!

Image
Thursday 27th July Schleimünde to Sønderborg - 18 nm The final leg to Denmark is achieved under sail. Goose-winged to start with (from 7.30am) then pole down as the wind veered.  9.45: into Danish waters, time for a new courtesy flag. White cross on red ground duly hoisted. 11am: tied up on Sønderborg quay, prime spot with great view of the castle (Slot). We left the east coast of England back in May with the aim of cruising "towards Denmark" and now we're here. Mission accomplished. We've travelled about 830 miles, mostly with the assistance of the engine, especially inland in the canals, but we've also had some great sails on the way. We've enjoyed visiting Kent, northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands including the Wadden Islands, the German Watten, Heligoland, Schleswig-Holstein and now we're in Denmark.  Sønderborg on the island of Als seems to be the current mooring place for the Danish royal yacht so we're in good company. We've still
Read more

Rigging screws? Hmm...

Image
Sunday 23rd July - guest crew join at Rendsburg. If you believe what you read in Riddle of the Sands (sorry, here we go again) then guest crew joining your yacht in the Baltic can be prevailed upon to bring any number of weird and wonderful items of equipment.  Carruthers brought rigging screws, a prismatic compass, a pound of Raven mixture for Davies's pipe and a No. 3 Rippingille stove.  We thought that a replacement heating system was rather a lot to ask of guests trying to stay within the Ryanair hand baggage limit, and in any case the current heating system is not quite ready to be consigned to the deep. Though Howard does distort its name from Webasto to Webastard sometimes, so it may only be a matter of time. Anyway Pete and Sarah very kindly made room in their bags for our new cockpit cover (now adjusted since its first fitting back in Bergen op Zoom) and a pair of shorts we'd asked for. Pete had also packed a rigging screw which we hadn't asked for, but you can see
Read more