Thursday 30 June - Bridges, locks, boxes and 10 million bikes

Morred at Vlissingen

A tranquil scene

7am local time, and it’s a still and soundless awakening—no sway, no lapping, no tinkling of shrouds nor creaking of ropes. Outside, the sun is rising through a cotton wool sky, perfectly reflected in the mirror surface of the water. The only interruption is the sound of perhaps the same gulls who practically invaded our dining table in the cockpit yesterday.

Faced with such tranquillity, what else to do but turn over for another hour or two’s snooze…. Later, we paid up the Euro28 (for 2nights and 2 persons, inclusive , even with wi-fi), and then, when we saw yachts assembling in front of the lifting bridge, we fired up the engines and set off  on the first leg of the Dutch Inland Waterway adventure...

Ship’s log  -Vlissingen to Middelburgh, 30 June  - less than 3nm.

Engine 850, fuel 5/16—7/16, water 7/8

1145 Follow 4 yachts through Keersluisbrug. 1000rpm 3.5k. Try running on one engine, but lots of hanging about needs more manoeuvrability. No GPS fix(!) (temporarily, not that we need it here, but very unusual for main antenna to drop out)

1146 Through Sloebrug

1147 Clear passage for a mile or so. Overtake yachts at 6k. Beautiful day , great scenery.

1148 Temporary tie-up at Schoebrug—50 minutes. 2 Bridges, only 1 will close at a time.

1149 Hanging about on a tie-up at Stationsbrug—20 minutes, but where’s the rush?

Through the bridge

1150 Enter Middelburg, and straight through lifting bridge into Binnhaven. All the excitement of a first-time box-mooring.

The Walcheren canal

Calm down, cool down.  Sort out boat and ropes (“A good cowboy always looks after his horse”, my mum would say.) Explore the lovely town of Middelburg, its canals, its squares, and its cafes. (Including coffee and apple pie in the Market square while the weekly market is packing up. We have never seen so many bikes. Home for dinner, a nightcap at the Yacht Club, then a few rounds of cards, and retire.