Kampen’s Buitenhaven was left behind on Monday the 12th of September 2016 at 10:00AM sharp. Reluctantly, as a bottle of (Heineken-)beer is sold for only € 1,00 per bottle of 25 cc. That must be a real pain for the ‘normal’ pubs and is a joy for the consumer. Well, we had our drinks -and more- in town as well. After leaving the river IJssel and entering the first Randmeer (bordering lake, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordering_lakes), being the Vossemeer, we even negotiated a lock by the name of Roggebotsluis, to continue our journey on the second Randmeer, named Drontermeer. On the way one’s offered the opportunity to make pictures like this one.

We moored in pretty Elburg (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elburg_(stad)) at 2:16PM. Not long after our arrival the turning boat in the background came to have a look at…?? Anyway, when the harbourmaster asked him whether he was looking for a space one of the crew-members answered ‘no, we are leaving’, all of us foisting off with the question what he was doing there in the first place. It made the harbourmaster commenting ‘Wa ‘n lillek ding, hè’. That was funny, vernacular, Dutch – in proper English ‘What an ugly thing, isn’t it (better of course: innit)’.

Our view to the left front from the position as showed with the last picture, just before or in the twilight.

Elburg’s harbour next to where we were moored. Full of antique ‘botters’. It’s absolutely a lovely sight.

This is the former Sint Agnietenklooster (Saint Agnietenconvent), nowadays Elburg’s museum. Construction started during the first half of the 15th century. Its initial female inhabitants lived according to the third rule of Saint Francis of Assisi. We suppose The Secular Franciscan Order (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_Franciscan_Order) is meant here. After the Reformation, in 1580, the buildings have been used for numerous purposes, like school, warehouse, vinegar factory, town auditorium and town hall.

Two days later, on Wednesday the 14th, we left Elburg at 9:55AM, crossed another part of the Drontermeer and the Veluwemeer and moored in Harderwijk’s new harbour at a time we did not write down. The reason of this omission being the company of very good friends always causing an unstoppable conversation, inevitable leading to a loss of concentration on the tasks that really matter – like updating a logbook!! Seriously now: we loved their company, of course.

The town of Harderwijk is situated at quite a distance from the new harbour, partly because a huge building project is on its way. It will be easier to moor closer to the town in the future. We had a good time with our friends and forgot to take any picture of the town. Inside the harbour we spotted an awkward looking ship and informed about the reason. It turned out to be a jury-vessel, used during sailing-contests. The flags can be withdrawn inside the cylinders underneath them. Each flag has its own meaning, thus giving the members of the jury the possibility to communicate with the contestants. We got it. Next time more about Harderwijk. Maybe.

As the weather still showed all the signs of a somewhat belated heatwave, six teenage girls amused themselves -and us- by swimming in the harbour in front of our little ship. It is officially forbidden but the sympathetic harbourmaster turned a blind eye to their activities. Or maybe, just maybe, he was pleased by what he saw, who can tell?

A crane-driver’s colleague proved to be more traditional. When he needed something from the opposite bank he propelled his purpose-built raft by using his spade as an oar. It worked out perfectly!

Spakenburg houses a genuine wharf for ‘botters’. When looking at it one fancies to have a look at a scene that goes back a century. There has been a wharf at this spot as from 1675. After the construction of the Afsluitdijk -see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afsluitdijk for more- the future of the wharf was obviously in jeopardy. Fortunately, new chances are on offer because of the rejuvenated interest for historic (brown) ships.

It was too tempting not to take a more detailed picture of an immaculately maintained botter. The historic fishing boats all show two letters, indicating where they come from. WR probably = Wieringen. HK = Harderwijk. BU = Bunschoten, SP = Spakenburg, EB = Elburg, HZ = Huizen and so on.

Spakenburg is well known for its traditional dress. We only have seen a few ‘in the wild’ and were able to take a picture of one of them. Will it still be there in the future? Or only in museums?

Our mooring in the city of Amersfoort, where the river is no longer navigable, was eventually reached at 1:51PM. This is our targeted mooring during the winter 2016/17. Since our arrival we moved already twice backwards, thus trying to achieve an easy spot for the fresh water intake. We want to be close to the only available intake-possibility – just once a week during the winter because the danger of freezing. This is the second position we’ve had; at present we are behind the boat behind ours at this picture. We tried to make a reservation earlier but were told that all positions are distributed on a first-come-first-take basis. That’s another reason to arrive early. Perseverance overcomes all things! Of course more about Amersfoort in the future. Bye for now.