We have travelled the lakes between the coast line of the old Zuider Zee and the new polder of Flevoland before so this time we were just making a stop in Harderwijk to pick up Diana and Arthur who came by train from Rotterdam to spend a few days with us. We caught up with Bob and Lois for coffee in the square.
It was a beautiful sunny day as we cruised down to Naarden and the sandy beaches along the way were very busy with lots of people soaking up the sun and getting all over suntans.How do we know?
Next stop was Naarden and we stayed for the night just off the Gooimeer in a huge harbour which holds 1250 boats.
NAARDEN
We had a great BBQ in the restaurant
and rode our bikes into Naarden the next day to visit the fortified town which is in the traditional star shape and surrounded by moats and high walls. 
We visited the fort and had an interesting time wandering through and watching the cannons fire in the afternoon, then it was time for coffee and back to the boat.
We went into the canals past Muiden castle and onto Weesp.
WEESP
We stayed in a small boat club in Weesp with a beautiful garden with all sorts of flowers I had never seen before. The boat clubs are a great place to stay. Most of them make some extra money when their members are away and they hire out the pen. They are much cheaper than marina and usually about a euro per metre, have power provided with good showers for 50 cents.
What a small world it is. When we pulled into the club we saw a boat with an Australian and an American flag and met Rob and Terry, then as we were walking into town we stopped to talk to some Australians from Melbourne we had met a couple of years ago. While chatting, a young couple walked by and hearing us talking stopped to say hallo. Now we had four people and a baby from Melbourne and four from Perth plus two back on the boat in this tiny town.
Each year in Weesp art works are set up in the canal.
While walking through town back to the boat after seeing Diana and Arthur catch the train back to Rotterdam we stopped to speak with a man outside his house. He renovated the house which was built in 1625 and invited us in to see his handy work.It is always intersting to see the different styl houses.
We decided to leave for Dordrecht in the afternoon as we heard there was a big Steam Festival being held on the next weekend.
We consulted the chart and decided the quickest way was to travel was down towards Utrecht via Maarsen and take the Amsterdam Rhine canal down to the Merwede canal. It was a very pretty scenic cruise and we stopped overnight on the canal. In the morning we walked through a lovely park which was once the gardens of a large mansion and cruised through the lovely town of Maarsen.
Now a little warning to anyone interested. We have previously three times come out onto the Amsterdam Rhine Canal without any problem from different exits. BUT this time the exit was not all smooth sailing.
After Maarsen the canal carries onto Utrecht but we decided to take the Maarsen exit into the Amsterdam Rhine canal. Knowing the canal was very busy Kevin slowly approached the main canal and although we couldn’t see right or left as the exit is through a tunnel under the road. The canal ahead looked quite calm. However careful one is there is always !!!!!!!!!
As we came out, two barges on the opposite side were passing one another, because of this a barge on our side shifted across from the usual path of travel and was only about 10 metres from the side and 20 metres away from us. After lots of screaming from me, my trusty captain Kev quickly threw the boat into reverse and backed back into the exit with huge waves rolling us from side to side, it was like being in a washing machine.
At one time we bounced off the side wall while rolling around waiting for the 110metre barge to pass by the exit. All during this I was standing trying to hang on thinking of the next visit to the second hand shop to buy all new wine glasses. Every drawer and door came open and filled the floor looking like a nightmare day at a jumble sale. The trolley came off of the roof and was held on by the bike lock we put on in case someone likes it more than we do. Inside was our new little BBQ which Kevin had only just secured with a stretchy. The bikes moved out of their bike racks and were held there by the locks. Needless to say I was a gibbering mess and Kevin very white knuckled. However life on the canals goes on and out we ventured again and across to the other side without trouble.
The Amsterdam Rhine canal can be rough because of the steel shuttered sides, though once you are on it is usually easy to get out of the way of the barges. After gathering our wits and picking up the phones and the camera off of the floor we carried on to the Merwede canal in the midst of the jumble. After passing through the lock we found a quiet mooring, changed our undies, cleaned up the boat and had a drink or two.
GORINCHEM
We went through the next lock, passed by Noahs Ark and down to Gorinchem and a welcome rest. We got more provisions for the boat and had a red wine with an English couple and a dutch couple who live on their boats full time and winter in Roanne, France where we had been before and cught up with news of canal closures.
We spent two days in Gorinchem to regroup and convince ourselves we were having fun. I did some washing and thought how wonderful it is that the sock thief did not come with us. The socks are captured within our 9x3.5 m boat and have very few places to hide, consequently every wash day I am able to put the pairs back in the drawer without moaning about the sock thief.
We left Gorinchem through the lock onto the Merwede River keeping well out of the barges’ way, the wind was blowing about 30 kph as we made our way down to Dordrecht.
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