Alan "Grating" Cheese with a Potato Peeler
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We awoke to another blue sky day, and Rex and I had a wander along the nearby streets. There seemed to be several marinas within the confines of the town, all very picturesque but hampered by gate opening times. The surrounding architecture in the vicinity of the Nieuwehaven marina was a mixture of aesthetically pleasing typical Dutch style interspersed with mid '50s counterparts; a hangover from the destruction during the war. Our stroll in the fresh, breezy sunshine, having almost the whole walk to ourselves, was exceedingly pleasant. It would have been interesting to see the city during a working day, but we needed to press on.
We headed north up the canal, gingerly edging our way under a 12m bridge with our 11.3m mast. Shouts of encouragement emanated from neighbouring boats whose masts were just too high, and who had thus to wait until the bridge was raised later. After an enjoyable motor up to Rotterdam, we pulled into the first marina we came across; quite reasonable at 11 euros per night.
View of Rotterdam from Marina
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Once moored up, we lazily watched a male/female pair of mallards gliding along amongst the boats, escorting their three ducklings; an idyllic moment, which was shattered when a gull swooped down and snatched one of the chicks and flew off with it. Other gulls hovered to make a killing too, but with much commotion, the two adult ducks led the remaining chicks to safety under the pontoons. An example of nature in the raw.
