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The weather forecasts aren’t looking too good – strong winds and fronts approaching. Decided to leave early morning – went through the lock at 5am and headed for the Crouch.

Took over 22 hours but at least we got closer to home.

Anchored in the Roach for the night.

Thursday 14 July

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Left midday and it took 3 hours to go 4.5 miles – much waiting at the bridges. Rang ahead to see if we could get into marina on the outside but it was full.

Wandered around Vlissingen – didn’t enjoy it too much – we were wet and cold and no one about due to the weather. However, had a wonderful seafood dinner at the yacht club.

Wednesday 13 July

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Nearly all the boats had left so we decide to leave and headed for Middelburg. There are quite a number of marinas but unfortunately they couldn’t really cater for us so we rafted up against a motor boat near the entrance. The marina(s) is close to the town centre and amenities.

Wandered around town. We watched the weather close in. Strong winds and lots of rain. This is causing us a bit of grief as there are a few fronts forming off England which means our journey home may be very unpleasant. We should be back in Essex by the weekend.

 We had a couple of drinks in the Yacht Club – very nice décor and a great atmosphere. Watched the food being prepared and the steaks looked terrific.

Tuesday 12 July

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Headed south. Were warned of bad weather approaching. We’ve been fortunate up to now, but this sounds pretty bad.

Found a spot where to anchor in between two islands. Shallow but firm holding ground. There were some pontoons (which were occupied). We watched one motor boater on a pontoon turn his boat around in a precarious way and nearly fall in. Curious as to why, and half and hour later we saw a hand pop out of the spray hood and adjust the satellite dish.

 The wind picked up (and so came down the rain) we put out another anchor (as it looked as if the wind might change direction). No internet signal so couldn’t check the weather, but luckily we heard the Dutch coastguard weather report which confirmed what we were told.

Monday 11 July

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Headed back north and went to Zierikzee. Got there around lunch time. Had no problems mooring near the town centre. Went for a wander and when we came back the harbour was full. We had 5 other boats rafted against us. In the evening there was a party atmosphere amongst the boats.

The town is delightful, very different architecture compared to the others we had visited. We had mussels for an afternoon meal, which were locally grown – it had to be done.

Sunday 10 July

Headed south. Needed to get through 3 locks which also included overhead bridges. Weren’t too sure of our air draught so spend an hour at anchor measuring the mast etc. Narrowly made it under two bridges (with around 10 – 20 cm’s clearance).

In one of the locks (water dropping) we needed to cut the centre line as it locked around the kleat. Luckily for Gens quick thinking we could have suffered major damage to the hull.

Missed the last bridge opening for Gravelingenmeer so continued on. Ended up anchoring near Kats pretty late in the evening. Quite shallow and moved spots a short time later as this lake is tidal. Although a lot of the places looked inviting to anchor they were either nature reserves or mussel farms.

Saturday 9 July

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Wandered around Rotterdam. A historic town which is unfortunately very hard to find (following the heavy bombardment during WWII), but what we did see was very interesting architecturally. We viewed Rotterdam from the tower – we were lucky with great visibility and could see for miles.

Friday 8 July

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Left Gouda – had to wait to get into the Julianussluis which we are calling Julianacraplock – the waiting piles were extremely dangerous – sticking out bits that could easily penetrate the hull if approached incorrectly and then the lock, the lock, the lock. On the water line there is a piece of wood to which you cant put a fender between it and the boat as the fenders float. Crap lock! (we recently got a really good tip for locks like this – instead of using fenders – use rubber welcome mats as these sink).

Heading towards Dordrecht passed a number of lifting bridges – very impressive technology. As we were approaching one there were up to 20 yachts waiting to go through – one hell of a scramble to get through and then you need to get back over on to the starboard side of the river dodging barges.

When we found the entrance to the yacht haven it was a race to get the best position to get through the bridge when it opened. We succeeded to get in early and were squeezed into a spot with inches to spare (right in front of the pedestrian bridge). The marina manager and his assistant were brilliant in accommodating all the boats of different sizes and types.

 Wandered around Dordrecht – one of Holland’s oldest cities. Saw all the key sites in an hour.

Thursday 7 July

Lep { margin-bottom: 0.21cm;ft our anchorage and headed for Leiderdorp – lovely canal. Got through one of the bridges and had to turn around as the one beyond it was broken / not functional. Shame, as it meant we lost over an hour and half as we needed to head back and take a different route. Also, this could mean if we missed the 16:12 rail bridges at Gouda we would have to wait 5 hours before their next scheduled opening.

 Had to go through many bridges and at one waiting pontoon I managed to lasso on to not one but two bollards at the same time – now that’s skill (not). Then I also managed to put us in a difficult situation as I misread what a barge was doing – I thought it was heading for us through the opening bridge where as it turned and went under the static bridge.

 We made it for the 16:12 with 20 minutes to spare.

As we were coming into the yacht haven (very narrow, lots of obstacles and not the best for large boats like ours) we passed a replica of Noahs Ark (which was doing a tour of the Netherlands).

The marina is not too far away from the town. We wandered around Gouda – yet again another interesting city – the market square and the cathedral are impressive.

Wednesday 6 July

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Wandered around Haarlem which is another interesting city. Loads of wonderful old buildings and small tree lined side streets.

Only spent the morning then continued on our way.

The wind picked up in the afternoon as a weather front was passing through. It was blowing F6 with F7 gusts. Had a lot of difficulty getting on to the waiting pontoon before a rail bridge that doesn’t open very often. Luckily someone decided to give us a hand.

Time was ticking away and we weren’t sure whether we’d make our next destination within a reasonable hour. So we decided to seek shelter in one of the lakes (Kagerplassen) and watched a lovely sunset and had a peaceful night.