Dutch Holiday on Sabine

[Hockham Admiral]

Now onto today where we left Joure at 08.30 and stopped at a riverside mooring later on for breakfast when we found an empty space. These moorings are superb and nearly all have access to a well-maintained footpath which follows the river; ideal for country walker types!

 

We had planned to stopover in Terherne but there was nowhere apart from two yards to moor; so we carried on to Akkrum.

 

We're so pleased we did! It's a cracking little place and we found a delightful old Dutch guy (by my standards) running his bar at lunchtime who spoke no English. Amazingly enough he managed to pick up most of my Dutch (I wasn't writing it) and we had a delightful half hour in his company. He was a big fan of our Royalty and knew all about their love of horses.

 

Now I’ll have a (little) rant at BR; here’s how it should be done! Express trains hurtle past our moorings (on time) every 20 minutes or so (hopefully not through the night) and immediately they have passed the bridge swings open until the next one is due to arrive. It’s all controlled remotely and they have cctv cameras covering both sides of the bridge. “Hardstikke Lekker” or ‘Pretty damned good’!

 

Here’s yet another for you, Dan, they do seem to like ‘em!

Also a private island for Robin!

And the tugboat with a miniature one towed behind for the children. (It actually works)!

 

 

 

[mbird]

I'm intrigued by the fact the sides of that swingbridge lift as it's rotating! Can you imagine Network Rail ever being able to successfully maintain something like that without it breaking every 5 minutes??

[Hockham Admiral]

I'm intrigued by the fact the sides of that swingbridge lift as it's rotating! Can you imagine Network Rail ever being able to successfully maintain something like that without it breaking every 5 minutes??

, No, frankly, I can't!   :naughty:  

[Hockham Admiral]

Thursday, 29 August 2013

 

I awoke to a typically Norfolk Broads misty morning at 06.30. Not to worry, we aren’t intending to depart until 10’ish because Grau, our final stopover, is only an hour or so away.

 

I did mention earlier a list of things you might bring if you came this way and we’ve added a few more which might be useful:

Fold up bikes (if you either have them or have room for them). If not you can hire bikes quite easily here and they would give you a much wider radius of exploration.

Books, if you like to read for relaxation, would be very useful.

A wheelie-bag for shopping if you’re into the heavier items we tend to buy.

 

Things we’ve not needed:

VHF radio, they don’t answer you anyway here in Friesland! (But one would be very useful elsewhere in Holland, for locks and marinas).

Lifejackets (but this is a personal choice) because we’ve always moored side-on to a fixed jetty. Except for very small children the Dutch just don’t use them.

 

It’s now coming on for 8 o’ clock and the viz has picked up a bit; I’m sure it will be fine by 10. It was!

 

And so on to Grau, our final stopover. Another tight mooring spot but yet again passers-by took a line without being asked, all very friendly.

 

Here are a few pics of this very old sea-minded town. The workmanship on the Wherry moored nearby us is amazing, where there’s wood it’s varnished and everywhere else is polished. The sail-raising gearing is a masterpiece of old-fashioned engineering! She was built in 1920 and is a credit to her owners.

 

Somewhere in there is one just for Lori! 

 

The last pic is of this very old fashioned hotel we are sat in at the moment (20.15 here). It's a real throwback to the '20s!

 

[trambo]

 

Somewhere in there is one just for Lori! 

 

 

Save some for me too Lori! 

 

Fred

[loribear]

Oooooh you creep fred hahaha, well i'm having the omes with strawberries & cream john yummeee Lori

[loribear]

hi john i was having a look at how far below sea level they were & they're 23ft below, thats really worrying, how often do they flood over there ? Lori

[Hockham Admiral]

hi john i was having a look at how far below sea level they were & they're 23ft below, thats really worrying, how often do they flood over there ? Lori

Not everywhere is that low, Lori, Schipol is -11ft. They built enormous sea walls around Holland after the 1953 floods which killed thousands over here. If they ever had another I dread to think of the consequences.