The next day after our unexpected stop at the lifting bridge near Willemstad, the bridge was fixed and we were able to go through into the lock, under the bridge and make a right turn into Willemstad.

These vessels were waiting on the opposite side overnight too to get through the lock and bridge. They went through first, and we went in after they had exited the lock.
Here we are safely in the lock. Finally!

I had phoned ahead and so the wonderful harbour master was there ready to greet us. She checked our dimensions, and then directed us to our berth. This is one of those places where we wonder how in the world we are going to fit, but teamwork always trumps our fears, and we dock successfully, not damaging other peoples boats, our boat or ourselves.

Looks like a lot of space, but to get out we have to reverse out to another area to turn around. It was tight and shallow. We love our lifting centreboard almost every single day.

First stop, despite the rain, is to take Bernie for a walk and explore around town. Willemstad is another town shaped like a star (you may remember Gravelines was similar) and is designed to be a fortress. There are a number of these types of towns dotted throughout the area. The Germans during the war noted the fortifications, and when the took over the town, they added various bunkers which are still here today. We walked the entire circumference of the town in about an hour.

Cute streets everywhere!
Urgh so cute!
Bunker additions.
Looks like a gun emplacement. Behind us is the waterway.
Gorgeous path that goes the whole way around the town. Brilliant for dog walking and exploring.

I wondered why when I went to the shops for supplies everyone was treating me so suspiciously… It was cold!

Ninja style.

But we couldn’t stay. The next day we were lifting out Away, and checking anodes and cleaning the bottom. So after the required morning coffee, we reversed out of our spot, turned around, again didn’t hurt anyone or anything, and exited the harbour. They had managed to park a large ‘hotel’ boat in the harbour entrance reducing the channel to a single boat width just for fun. We only had to go across the waterway to another town called Numansdorp where they had a 50 tonne lift ready for us. And up we went!

The ghosts of adventures past – also commonly known as “its too shallow – quick bring up the centreboard!!!”
The green carpet was soon washed away.

The team at the yard were excellent, and we had the whole job done in less than an hour, and were tucked up at the marina outside the yard before we even knew it. The following day was “Kings Day” here in the Netherlands, and so rather than go out sailing with crowds, we thought we would spend the day completing some outstanding jobs on Away, and have a nice meal in town for dinner and check out the celebrations. It felt so good to tick off some outstanding tasks (there are ALWAYS jobs to do) and it was nice to have a day of not moving as we had been moving a lot.

Bernie is such a help.

BUT – we want to get north soon. Cognisant of the Schengen visa restrictions we have, we do need to keep moving and we would like to continue on the Standing Mast Route through the Dutch canal system.

The following day, we had planned to get as far north as Gouda. We left early (ok maybe at like 9AM), and headed out in to the waterways. Soon, we turn left and the canal starts to pinch in a little. We feel very small with the massive container barges that traverse these waterways everywhere, transporting masses of gravel, gas, petroleum, containers – you name it.

This is an example of the barges we are making friends with. Often there are multiple around, and we need to give way of course. There is a lifting bridge we are heading towards on the right of the picture.

At one point we were four abreast with 3 barges approaching a T junction with a large barge and hotel boat from one direction and a ferry from the other. There is lots of Dutch on the radio and then they all seem to miss each other as they round the blind corner. We keep out of the way and scuttle across beside them.

We also need to convince the authorities that they should lift bridges and stop busy freeways and trainlines for us. We manage to do this successfully, if appearing a bit amateurish at times (my Dutch is not proficient).

We have successfully convinced the people running this railway bridge to lift it up for us.
Yes, someone decided to literally build the “Arc” from the bible. Apparently even with the specifications as mentioned in the bible (insert shrug emoji…). Whatever makes you happy dude.
Oligarchs? I think every one of these must be owned by them.

Eventually, we make it to Gouda, but not without helping some passing Grey Nomads from Florida who had NOT been given correct direction by their charter company on the use of locks, and decided to go and park in front of the closed lock doors, just as a tanker was due to exit. We shouted at them, helped them pull over in the proper waiting area, and told them to simply follow us to their marina in Gouda. The relief from them was palpable. They are pretty brave people to be taking this on with no knowledge…

We have an equine welcome to Gouda, park up in our marina, sort out the Floridians, and cook some dinner. The day started at 8AM with boat prep, and finished at about 6PM. I forgot to count how many bridges and locks, but we were in bed early, exhausted and realising we would have to do it all again tomorrow, if we were to get to Leiden – a university town just south of Amsterdam, and definitely off the beaten track for 20m tall, lumps of slick aluminium – so naturally we were going to go.

The next day, we would exit the marina and run straight into a massive railway bridge that would have to open for us. It would only open at 10:27 exactly, so we had a little sleep in and took Bernie for a walk into the Gouda township.

Gouda is beautiful. Typical Dutch canals, bikes and cute architecture.
I wonder how many cars like, just fall in. There is no gutter to stop you or anything.
Quintessential.

I buy 6kgs of cheese, and soon enough, 10AM is here, and we are leaving the dock, ready for our first bridge opening. This would be a trip of 5 hours and 17 lifting bridges. Glad we slept well!

This is Jannette. We followed this vessel for ages. They called up the bridges for us and told them that there was a crazy yacht with Australian’s on it who needed bridges opened to over 20m. Thank you Jannette!
Jannette’s backside that we stared at most of the day. The canals here were very narrow and so we were all escorted by the man in the dingy.
Adrian happy to have navigated through another bridge.
These bridges usually only open to 12m, but because we were here, they had to open it to 24 so we could get through. Note the yacht in front of us have their mast removed.

Eventually, after about 15 bridges, we were close to Leiden. We could almost taste the beer. Calling up the town marina, they told us just to come in to slip 10. Slip 10 is a 4.5m (ok maybe 5m) wide slip apparently. Away is 4.4m wide. Crikey.

Again, teamwork prevailed and with some help from our new neighbours, we were in, without hurting anyone, without hurting ourselves, and only touching the separating post with our aluminium rub rail, which is precisely what it is designed for. Winning.

You can see the post in the water to the right of our logo here. It is touching the metal rub rail just above the top of the black wrap. We are happy we chose the rub rail for Away. We only just fit in here.

Given the past few days as documented here, we have decided that some relax time is in order. It is a high stress trip on these canals for us, as all day we are essentially doing close quarter manoeuvring in waterways that our boat isn’t specifically designed for, plus trying to get massive infrastructure out of our way so we can enjoy our lives. So we will have some chill time now, and soon get this show back on the road – or on the canal as the case may be.