Windmills and Clogs

This week started by leaving Gouda for in Alphen a/d Rijn, a short distance North along a busy canal. The next morning was perfect and we bicycled to Avifauna, a lovely bird park which is famous in the area. We saw more toucans than we can ever remember seeing before, and lots of birds or prey. It was very quiet with few visitors. In the afternoon we continue along the Oude Rijn to the lovely Kaag Lakes where we tied up to a landing stage in a remote, peaceful spot surrounded by more birds and the occasional yacht. Unfortunately a thunderstorm struck soon afterwards and the lovely day disappeared very fast and we have had bad weather all week until today, Sunday.

Then onwards along the Haarlemmermeerpolder Ringvaart Canal (what a mouthful). Basically it is a circular canal that surrounds the old Haarlemmer Meer which has been converted into a polder and so is now below sea level. The water that drains in there has to be pumped out into the Ringvaart in order to flow to the sea. In the middle of this polder lies Schiphol Airport so called because it means Ship Hole where many ships perished in turbulent seas in the old Lake (meer). Today it was peaceful with cows grazing, the odd windmill, and more modern pumping stations that replaced the windmills and continuous succession of planes landing and taking off 10 metres below us!

We turned off the Ringvaart and spent the night in one of the most beautiful towns in Holland –

Haarlem. It is the quintessential small Dutch town, but with few tourists, lots of restaurants and outdoor cafes. Lovely churches, narrow alleys and an old world charm that is missing in Amsterdam now as it is overrun with tourists. We found a lovely restaurant that was sort of a mix between Dutch, Japanese and South African and had one of the best meals of our lives, albeit not the cheapest (90 euros for 3 courses and wine). They specialised in Umami or the 5^th taste that is associated with field mushrooms and MSG. For desert we had a Japanese assortment of dishes made from Sesame Seeds incl. Sesame seed ice cream. Lovely!

Then the next day we continued North and past through the Port of Amsterdam and up into the Zaan River where we past the famous Zaan Schans, a group of 5 old windmills and onwards to the best small town in Holland – Alkmaar. The weather was poor but that could not detract from the lovely town, with narrow, carless alleys. Huge cobbled squares and great shops. There was a Culinary festival on while we were there and the town was packed. We stayed two nights and on one of the days we encountered Monument Day. On the second weekend in September all Dutch museums and attractions and town halls etc are FREE. It was a pity we weren’t in Amsterdam to really take advantage of the opportunity but we did visit several places in Alkmaar and saved quite a few euros.

Then today, the weather has improved and under 1038 barometric pressure we sailed serenely down the Nord Hollands Canal to Amsterdam and into the main visitor yachthaven called Sixhaven. It is jam packed with boats from all around the world. In fact so jam packed that it would be impossible to leave if we wanted to. After tieing up we caught the free ferry over the IJ to Central Station where we managed to find some British Sunday newspapers. It was crowded with tourists.

So a few days in Amsterdam with the prospect of good weather for the next few days. Then a few days in the Ijsselmeer before heading Northwards and home.