Category: Holland 2012

It was the final leg of our Holland adventure, but that being said it was warm, sunny, calm and easy. The journey was a tad under 60 miles but with tide with us it took just 7 hours. But when the sea is flat calm you can sleep and cook and eat with ease so…

We left Calais on the last but one bridge opening, on the morning tide which was at 7am, which meant that again we fought the last hour or so of tide, but this meant we should be going with the tide till just before Eastbourne and so it proved to be. The channel crossing was…

View Larger Map The trip from Blankenberge to Calais was a breeze, it’s so much easier and quicker when you have the tide with you! We left at 7am, about an hour before the tide turned in our favour. Once it did we carried a 1.5 knot tide all the way and it just started…

View Larger Map We left Colijnsplaat with just 17 minutes to go before the Zeelandbrug opened some 2.9 miles away. We made it but only by the skin of our teeth, actually going through the bridge when the last of the yachts were coming through from the opposite way (with the man who operates the…

View Larger Map Our raft of four boats all dispersed at 10am so it seemed logical for us to make a move aswell, so we went to the fuel berth to fill up with diesel for the first time in Holland. Now of course in Holland you only have white diesel so you know it’s…

View Larger Map Well, what started out as a simple trip to Stavenisse a couple of hours away turned into a 6 hour marathon trip. We left Numansdorp at 10:30am, intending to pop over to Willemstad to fill up with fuel for the first time since filling up in Dover. However, we saw a couple…

View Larger Map We left after a leisurely morning fitting our new 12v media player, which is most definitely the Mutts Nuts, and then having a stroll around town before leaving about 1pm, bound for Middelharnis which is somewhere new for us. We couldn’t find out much about the place so we are kinda taking…

We had to back track a bit today so basically we did the reverse of our previous post. We were going to go on but it was so stonking hot we wanted to stop somewhere that would have a bit of a breeze (i.e out of a town) and also have electricity so that we…

View Larger Map We left just after 10, heading back to the Oude Maas river heading north towards Rotterdam. We had a good 2 knots of tide with us until we turned left onto the Nieuwe Maas river where it ran against us at 2 knots, but we only had a couple of miles to…

View Larger Map Getting out of our box berth in gusts of 30 knots of wind and turning around in a tight marina with no bow thruster, when we only had a few feet either end, gave us a few interesting moments. As did getting through the little bridge that opens up to give us…

They say “intrepid travellers never retrace their steps”. Well I guess we’re not intrepid travellers as that’s exactly what we had to do. We were completely scuppered in our travel plans because of the Erasumus bridge being out of action. So today we decided to backtrack and take the long route round. Yet again they…

View Larger Map Well we started the day going only 3 miles to Schiedam, so we left City Marina, turned left and waited for the Erasumus Bridge to lift at 10am, as per the schedule. However, by 10:15 we figured that it was not going to happen. So we called them up on the VHF…

View Larger Map We left Alblasserdam about 10.30 to a nice surprise in the weather department – it was meant to be windy and raining but in fact it was sunny and no wind, much niceness! Today was definitely a day of not wanting to watch….. Before the first bridge, we noticed we were about…

View Larger Map We left Dordrecht at 1:30 as this gives the right time for the bridge, Verkeersbrug, further north. It opened at 2:15 and not again till 4:15 and there is nowhere to wait so you have to float around on the river for a couple of hours, so timing is important. A lot…

View Larger Map We left Dordrecht at 1:30 as this gives the right time for the bridge, Verkeersbrug, further north. It opened at 2:15 and not again till 4:15 and there is nowhere to wait so you have to float around on the river for a couple of hours, so timing is important. A lot…

View Larger Map We left Willemstad about 11am, which was a bit early as we had to fight the tide a bit but nothing too strong. Basically we came out of Willemstad and turned right along Hollands deep and travelled about 5 miles to the east before taking a northward canal to Dordrecht. There is…

View Larger Map Although pretty uneventful it was a beautiful sail through lovely countryside where huge windmills prevail over the landscape. It was simply too hot to go into a harbour so we decided to anchor for the night just outside the channel to the east of the krammer lock. The Krammer Lock (Krammersluizen) The…

View Larger Map So what can we tell you about the trip to St Annaland? Not a lot really, pretty uneventful except it was hot and sunny when back home it was raining and cold, so we felt quite smug! The trip itself only took a couple of hours, we weren’t rushing but we had…

View Larger Map We left Middelburg on the 11:15 bridge opening, just!! Decided to do engine check before and realised were a tad low on oil so Paul went to Texaco garage over the road for some quickly and got back with about a minute to go before the bridge opened up. Everything was ready…

Spent 3 lovely days chilling in Middelburg which was heaven! Didn’t really do a great deal; went to the supermarket a couple of times, walked round the shops a few times and played with Lucy in her bath/paddling pool a few times in the cockpit! Also attempted my first batch of fairy cakes onboard which…

View Larger Map We set out from Dunkerque at 5am (4am UK time). Once again with gentle 14 knot breeze on our stern. Due to the red diesel issue with Belgium we had decided not to stop in Belgium and to sail straight to Holland entering the canal system in Flushing/Vlissingen and travel a few…

We left Dover at 5 am to catch the north going tide. On the way out we had to dodge a cruise liner all be it a small one that was heading into Dover. We crossed the channel about 5 miles north of Dover with wind and tide up chuff. Although motoring most of the…

Started our summer holiday with dinner at The Castle on Tuesday night which was a fantastic start! Kinda weird to think the next time we go there we’ll probably be winter-berthing in Gosport marina! Wednesday morning we set off at 7.30 and headed for Dover. Pretty uneventful trip, apart from thick fog which lasted from…