Day 8 - Last Full Day on the Boat

Today, we got to sleep "late".  We couldn't leave the marina until after 9AM because we had to return their gate key and retrieve our 50 Euro deposit.  Immediately after leaving the marina, we had to cross under a bridge.  Now we've gone through hundreds of bridges all week, both fixed bridges that are plenty high enough for us to pass under and opening bridges.  This bridge was an opening bridge (or a BB, which stands for beweegbare brug) but it was actually high enough for us to pass under - just barely!  As we approached this bridge, David yelled to me to lower the bicycle handlebars and the flag on the front of the boat.  I ran up there and took care of those two things and looked back at David who was steering while sitting on the floor!  If he'd sat on his chair, his head would have been too high!  I started back up to where he was and almost forgot to duck myself as I ascended the stairs!  I decided to sit down right where I was till we were out from under.

This is us going under the bridge.  The bar you see in the center is the railing I would have held onto if I had been standing

Soon after this, we had to cross the large canal that we'd spent an hour on after leaving Utrecht back on day 4.  We approached it very carefully as we knew that there were barges traveling up and down, and we couldn't see what was coming until we were there.  David slowed the boat down and I moved up to the bow to see if we could cross.  Fortunately, the only barge we could see was far down the canal so we crossed easily with no problems.

This was the view up the canal as we crossed.

Soon we were approaching the small town of Weesp.  We had to go through several bridges to get there, and I had to pay a "golden shoe", which means put money in a wooden shoe that was lowered on a fishing pole.  David had done this earlier in the trip.   In Weesp, we found the tourist information center where I paid 2 Euros for a walking tour guide.  It was very interesting to follow this guide and learn about the history of the town and with historical buildings being pointed out.  We were very surprised to learn that the town had once had a Jewish population with a synagogue and a Cantor in residence.   

This plaque commemorates the deported Jewish community of Weesp.

A small canal in Weesp

While in Weesp, we bought some sandwich materials and sodas so we could eat lunch while we were traveling.  Right after leaving Weesp, we encountered another very low bridge that would open, but not for us because we could "fit".  This one was just about three inches above David's head while sitting on the floor!  After that bridge, we had a slow meandering ride in front of us as we headed back toward Loosedrecht and the home base of Locaboat. 

Some of the scenery we passed.

Since there were no bridges or locks for a long time, we kind of lost track of where we were!  Suddenly, we came to a fork in the river and we didn't know which way to turn.  Fortunately we saw a sign indicating the direction to a particular town.  We quickly consulted the map and determined which fork to take.  We arrived at the Locaboat base by 3 PM. 

Approaching the lock at Loosedrecht

The "Lock Queen!"

We chatted with the service people at Locaboat, and they attempted to fix our electric problem (which I think was mostly our converter's problem and less the boat's problem).  Then we decided to spend some time exploring the lake there called Loosdrechtse Plassen.  It was a windy day, so there were lots of sailboats.  We had to pay very close attention to where we entered the lake so we could find our way back to the base!  

David had been talking for days about cooking dinner on the boat on this last night.  We had gone shopping earlier in the day and while he cooked, I showered in a "real" shower at the base.  Of course, the shower there allows you 7 minutes for a half Euro, so I had to be quick!  Along with the meal, David cooked the stolen corn.  Even though he boiled it for a long time, it must have been feed corn because it was still hard as a rock!  Yes, stealing is wrong!

Washing dishes after dinner.

1 Comment:

AnonymousJune 9, 2012 at 7:52 AM

I really loved hearing about your trip. We are doing the same trip June 25th for 10 days. We are also renting from Loca boat. So your blog was very helpful. I wished you would have named the restraunts as the food looks amazing.