Barge Heading to the Zwarte Meer
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The wind had abated a little overnight, though the forecast this morning indicated it should be worse, at least Force 5.
Rex was still keen to try to reach Amsterdam and then Ijmuiden. We said our farewells to the Swiss crew of the neighbouring craft, and edged out into the Ketelmeer. The waters were kind to us. Barges furrowed their way up and down, cavalcades of motorboats tried to run us down, and only one other yacht was on the scene.
Sculpture on Ijsseloog
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Within an hour we reached the Ketelbrug, just as the bridge was about to open. Once through into the Ijsselmeer, we turned to port to head down towards the lock at Lelystad. The Ijsselmeer was a lot choppier than the Ketelmeer because of the long fetch. A long line of wind turbines saluted us as we headed down towards a headland. Indeed, long lines of wind turbines stretched all along the coast for miles around.
Sharing a Lock with a Barge at Lelystad
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Once around the headland we were heading directly into a Force 5 wind, and with no land now to protect us, we felt the full force of the wind, and the sea was decidedly bouncy. I was worried about Rex's back; would he cope with this?
A few hours later we followed a large barge into an equally large lock at Lelystad, and in no time at all we were out of the other side, passing the Batavia and Maritime Museum we had visited in 2015. Before long another barge was right on our tail, so Rex bore off to get out of his way, but the barge bore off in the same direction and got even closer. Only by doing a complete circle did we manage to shake him off. It looked as though the renegade barge was heading across to Hoorn.
Batavia
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We resumed our course across the Markermeer towards Amsterdam. This was a long straight run, and we decided to use the autopilot to keep us on the correct course. However, it appeared to be malfunctioning, continuously flashing up error messages. Rex deftly solved this problem - I won't let him forget that one!
Sculpture at Lelystad
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The wind was straight on the nose, the waves about a metre high, short and sharp, causing the boat to lurch dramatically with periodic huge thuds. Our progress was dragged down to about 2 knots by this wave action. We kept just outside the marked barge channel, gritted our teeth and got on with it. After an age we spotted the Paard van Marken (Horse of Marken) lighthouse off Marken; a heart-warming sight since we then knew we were not far of Vuurtoreneiland where we would turn right into the Buiten-IJ, the channel leading to Amsterdam.
Barge on our Tail at Lelystad
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As we passed Durgerdam, the channel was fairly narrow with barges passing in both directions. A sailing boat came out from the marina there and almost rammed us. Rex was fluent in his blue Dutch language at this point. After ten hours of travelling we reached the Zuiderzeeweg bridge conveniently as it was opening, and straight after it we entered a lock at the Oranjersluizen.
It was rather crowded at the entrance to the lock, mainly because a Belgian boat had decided to moor only half way through it. The crew of a beautiful Dutch boat kindly took our lines and let us tie up alongside them. "No problem," said a guy dressed in heavy weather kit at the stern.
I noticed he had a striking American accent, and commented on it.
Vuurtoreneiland
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"Ah, I am from America," he grinned. He agreed it had been quite bouncy coming down the Markermeer. They were heading for Aeolus, a marina a short distance down the Noordzeekanaal. We wished them luck as we parted company on leaving the lock.
We headed through Amsterdam, carefully avoiding the numerous other recreational craft, ferries and barges, eventually turning in to the large Amsterdam Marina, a marina we knew well. We were shattered by the punishing trip, and on top of that Rex had just heard that Meryl was suffering a terrible pain in her stomach. There was nothing he could do about it here apart from offer words of advice and comfort. This news reinforced his plan to get back home as quickly as possible.
Totally whacked, we did not go far, but dined in the excellent Loetje aan't IJ, the excellent restaurant at the marina. Its reputation was so good that folk not even connected with sailing came there to eat. Rex had his usual banter with the serving staff, with no repercussions this time.
We slept well.
