Netherlands/Berlin Trip - Den Helder      18th July:

Koedijkervlotbrug Opening up for Us

    With a bright sunny sky and a breeze behind me, I set off into town to try and find some milk. The local Spar did not open until 11am on all days, incredible, so I ventured further afield.
    I discovered a market was being held down Gedempte Nieuwesloot, which I took the opportunity to explore. Surprisingly, I spotted a stall claiming to sell homemade English pies, though the claim to be English was perhaps a bit tongue in cheek. I made some purchases for our lunch, and asked the lady, "Excuse me, is there anywhere around here where I can buy milk? I can't find any milk at all." She beamed me a gorgeous smile, and replied, "Follow the market to the end, turn right and take the first left, and you will find the Jumbo supermarket," all in perfect English of course.

Pontoon Fully Retracted under Shore Staging

    Soon I was returning back to Duonita with fresh milk and pies. It was 09:15, and I had plenty of time to get back to the boat since the bridge to let us out of the Luttik Oudorp would not be opened until 10am. I rounded a corner into Luttik Oudorp, and to my horror I saw boats already leaving; it was only 09:25. I burst into a trot, but when I saw Rex and Meryl casting off and the bows of Duonita already sticking out into the channel, I moved up a couple of gears into a sprint. I arrived just in time and jumped onto the boat. "We would not have left you behind, we'd just have pulled up on the pontoon outside," Rex assured me, with a typical wry, mischievous grin on his face.
    We headed north and made the Alkmaar train bridge in time for its half hourly opening slot. Then it was plain motoring with regular bridges to be negotiated on the way. What was unique about this stretch of the Noordhollands Kanaal were the Vlotbrugge or floating bridges. These were actually pontoons that floated across the canal. On opening, the pontoon would split along the centre, and the two halves were drawn back to the shores; very ingenious.
    On our left we could see the massive sand dunes that stretched along the coast, all matted with forest and shrub land. To our right lush agricultural land stretched to the horizon, populated by occasional scatterings of cows, sheep and horses. The odd large water meadow was encountered, inundated with wading birds scavenging in the shallows.
    Many windmills went about their business steadily pumping water up from ditch level to canal level. Avenues of wind turbines lined the banks, harvesting the wind energy zipping across from the nearby North Sea.

Noordhollands Kanaal

    Grebes splashed and dived, coots with their young hugged the reed beds, and rafts of ducks played chicken as we approached them. Herons passed overhead, an oyster catcher was spotted, and the occasional cormorant reminded us we were not far from the sea.
    It was a most enjoyable 6.5 hour journey in bright sunshine and gusty winds, with one or two other craft for company.
    At the end of the canal, we entered the complex of Den Helder, the naval port for the Netherlands. We had just one lock to negotiate before we were back in the sea again. It was slow in opening, but eventually we found ourselves in the vast, echoing canyon of the lock. Rex struck up a conversation with a Dutch couple peering down at us from high above. It turned out they owned a Westerly Konsort Duo 29 too. I let all three of them sink into raptures about the boats and their exploits. Meanwhile, the lock gate to the sea opened. Rex, being a little distracted by his new acquaintances, started to motor out of the lock. Immediately the lock keeper came out of his control tower and screamed down to us. We guessed we should have waited until the exit light showed green.
    There was a spate of gilling about at the final bridge, most likely due to a large ship performing manoeuvres around the corner in the main harbour. Once through, we soon located the Koninklijke Marine Jacht Club just inside the harbour, where we stayed two years earlier. Within a short space of time we were safely moored up. We had been unable to fill up with water at Alkmaar, and we must have been at rock bottom since it took ages to fill the water tank.
    Nothing had really changed in the marina since we were last here, except the security into the marina had been really tightened up; after all the marina sat within a naval port.
    Kids hopped around the pontoon with lines and a net, catching buckets full of crabs that crawled along the marina walls, just below the surface of the crystal clear water.
    We had a cheap and cheerful meal in the club house in the evening. It was still run by the same owners. The views from the windows across the Marsdiep to Texel were marvellous. I enjoy this marina, the superb views across to Texel and the Waddenzee on one side, and the 24x7 busy port of Den Helder with all manner of ocean going vessels on the other, which held particular fascination for me.