On Monday the 9th of September we left our mooring at (Overmeer/)Nederhorst den Berg at 9:17AM. We stopped only 47 minutes(!) later – still within the Nederhorst den Berg-area. We’re moored here in front of Charley’s Diner (not visible, https://www.charleys-diner.nl/), where excellent food is served.

That same day we were surprised to see an narrowboat-type, a wide-beam in this case, passing us. We noticed this boat passing us several times during our stay at this spot. Obviously commercially exploited.

Likely using the connection between the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal and the river Vecht at Nigtevecht some huge tourist-boats are cruising the (wide) river here. We can imagine a cruise including the canal and the river is very attractive, given all the beautiful landscape, villages and buildings ‘en route’.

Something completely different now. Wednesday the 11th of September 2019 will be on record this year being the first day (evening) that we lighted our stove. We’re now in that time of year that it’s too cold without and too hot after some hours of burning.

Remember the weeping willow, seen opposite from where we are moored,, as shown two pictures back? This is what it looks like in the morning two days later around 8:00AM. The summery looks interchange on an almost daily basis with the autumnal looks. Everything one touches is a bit damp in the morning when there’s no sun yet.

After 4 nights at NdB we left on Friday the 13th (oops!) at 9:22AM, our destination for that day being Weesp. The plan was to organise a second ‘drone-day’, as Weesp is partly rather picturesque. Weesp’s centre appeared to be fully booked, forcing us to moor fairly far from the desired scenery at 10:54AM. After contact with the drone operator we decided to relocate the ‘drone-session’ to Muiden. Not without contacting before the harbourmaster at highly popular Muiden and getting confirmation for mooring 24 hours inside his marina we left Weesp again at 12:09PM. There’s a fee of € 3,-- for the central bridge (of three, so one’s always ‘de sjaak’ (= caught) if one does not pay – clever!). The bridge-keeper, when recognizing us, asked for a good reason why we left almost immediately after arriving. After explaining by our female part he skipped the second fee. Good man!

Having arrived in Muiden, not far away from Weesp, the engine was switched off at 1:45PM – some waiting-time before we could pass Muiden’s Grote Zeesluis (‘big sea-lock’, the name dating from the Zuiderzee-era). Talking about the lock: although arriving from a ‘river’ and entering the ‘sea’ we ascended a bit – while descending would be more logical. Descending happens sometimes, too, according to the lock-keeper. Either end of the lock is equipped with a double pair of gates which can be used depending of the level of the water. This is the spot where we have been for the next 11 hours and 15 minutes for a modest fee of a bit under € 40,00. Only. As you can see the scene is superb though – and the harbour-master-couple are very welcoming and helpful.

Saturday, ‘drone-day’ again. The afore mentioned Vranz VanMaaren, accompanied by a good friend (listen to ‘Candlelight’, https://candlelight.nl/site/, and at least the Dutch will recognise the voice of this friend) visited us again. After some nice conversation and a few cups of coffee they left to occupy a strategic position for picturing our planned cruise towards the artificial island of Pampus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pampus), once protecting the entrance to the IJ Bay and the harbour of Amsterdam. The used drone is seen here in the air. Notice the camera hanging from it’s belly. We left for the island at 12:00PM sharp. AGAIN THE RESULTS OF THE DRONE-PICTURES ARE TO BE FOUND AT A SUB-PAGE OF THIS WEEK’S BLOG, THIS TIME THE SECOND ONE. THEY ARE A LOT MORE SPECTACULAR THAN THE FIRST SERIES, MOSTLY BECAUSE THE DRONE FOLLOWED US UP TO THE ISLAND – AT A DISTANCE OF SOME THREE KILOMETERS (1,85 MILES) FROM MUIDEN/THE COAST. THEREFORE WE STRONGLY ADVISE NOT TO SKIP THEM. THE DRONE-PILOT WAS ABLE TO MAKE THE DRONE RETURN SAFELY. See: http://www.hebbesonthecontinent.nl/443500587

Nearing the artificial Pampus-island.

After fairly long manoeuvreing moored inside Pampus’ small harbour (see the drone-picture of it).

Our little ship as seen from the island. The contours of Amsterdam are visible in the background.

A panoramic picture of Pampus’ small harbour.

Bye bye, Pampus. Because the island proved to be very popular -at least on a sunny Saturday- and we did not feel the need to visit the fortress itself -we only took some pictures and had a refreshment- we have been there from 12:45PM until 1:37, even less than an hour. That had to do with another boat starting to breast up to ours – and one cannot know when the next opportunity to leave will arise.

Both the IJ- and Gooimeer, followed by the Eemmeer were very busy that Saturday, especially with sailing boats – though there wasn’t a lot of wind. The weather made up for the lack of wind, though, it was a really bright day – a day to be out!

We found the entrance of the river Eem less than two hours after leaving Pampus and were able to switch off the engine at 3:30PM. Here we are, seen during or shortly after sunset, around 7:50PM.

This is the view towards the south (roughly Amersfoort) around 8:15PM. It is not all that unique, we know. But always a catching site, isn’t it?