It was Sunday, and the local Hema Supermarket did not open until noon. As I headed up to the supermarket, I noticed an ambulance parked just outside the marina carpark. For some inexplicable reason, the medics were pushing an elderly man on a stretcher down towards the marina. Rex reckoned the sick man was put on a boat that then headed along the canal in the Ijmuiden direction. We never did get to the bottom of that.
Once provisions were obtained, we wasted no time in heading along the North Sea Canal across to Ijmuiden. At the beginning there was little traffic on the canal, but soon we came across large cargo ships and tankers. Ferries dashed back and forth across the canal, and several road and rail tunnels passed underneath us. Convoys of planes from Schiphol passed overhead.
 Wind Turbine Parts on the Banks of the North Sea Canal |
The North Sea Canal, Noordzeekanaal, is a waterway in the Netherlands that extends in an east-west direction between Amsterdam and Ijmuiden on the North Sea coast. Its construction was first proposed in 1852; work started in 1865; and the canal opened in 1876. It has been enlarged several times. Navigable by 90,000-ton oceangoing vessels, the canal is 24km long, 15m deep, and 235m wide. It gave Amsterdam direct access to the North Sea, avoiding having to go out through the Zuider Zee and round Noord Holland province, and made it a major port. The sea locks at Ijmuiden were destroyed during World War II but were later rebuilt; the largest is now 400m long by 50m, wide. The canal ends at Amsterdam in the closed-off Ij bay, (the Ijmuiden name literally means "mouth of the Ij"), which in turn connects to the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal.
The Tata steelworks were initially betrayed on the horizon by clouds of smoke and steam from two large blast furnaces, which came into view as we rounded a bend on the approach to Ijmuiden.
There were only us plus two other yachts waiting to pass through the sea lock. It took a while of gilling, and the lock in use spewed out a small armada of yachts plus a couple of barges. We then piled in, all three of us, rose by about four feet, and then disgorged into the large, tidal harbour on the other side. We motored through the harbour, avoiding the DFDS ferry on its way out to Newcastle, and made our way to the Ijmuiden Seaport Marina.
Once ensconced in a box, I went up to pay our fees to the harbourmaster, and seek advice on how to contact the Marechausee and their location. We would need them to stamp our passports before we left the country.
Back on board Duonita, I tried to call the Marechausee number the receptionist had given me. The all too familiar response of "Number not in service" came back. Rex, the internet smartie, checked up the Marechausee on the internet, and offered me an alternative number. I went through the usual wading through an interaction with a robot call handler, yes Holland uses these too, and was then connected. "I'd like to speak to the Marechausee," I stated. "Which one?" was the rapid response. That flummoxed me, and I blurted out, "Ijmuiden, please." "One moment, I will connect you," In an instant I was speaking with a chap actually based at the address the receptionist had given me. "Yes, we can stamp your passports, but we prefer to do this on the day of departure. You can come around to our office, it is manned 24x7," the fellow advised. I was relieved that they had an office based in Ijmuiden. There again it is a major point of entry and departure for the country for all manner of vessels.
Later, we set off to hike (Rex whinged that it was a marathon hike) to the Marechausee offices. We passed through an industrial area, many buildings devoted to large scale fish preparation and distribution. Passing the Haringhaven and Visershaven we saw vast numbers of trawlers ranging in size up to factory ship scale. We scaled a hill through a residential area and dropped down the other side to the North Sea Canal. Then we simply followed this to the locks where the Marechausee building was located. Since they were meant to be manned 24x7, and it had been a long hike for Rex, we thought we'd ask the staff if they could drive across to us in the morning, as they did at Vlissingen. On the door, which was locked of course, I followed the instructions and pressed a series of buttons to raise their attention. No one answered any of our attempts.
We gave up. Food and drink was now our main priority. Another long hike through residential districts brought us closer to Ijmuiden centre. A parade of shops sported a few eating establishments. Rex spotted an Italian restaurant, and headed straight for it. I was getting worried about Rex now. Not only was he fixated on learning the Italian language, but Italian food was the only food he would eat nowadays. This was our third Italian meal in a row! A few Middle Eastern guys sat at tables outside, drinking and chatting and engaged with their phones.
We entered, and I asked for a table for two. The waitress gleefully said, "Sure, just take any table you want," waving her hand around the empty restaurant. We sat, ordered a couple of beers and consulted the menu. When the girl took our order, Rex asked her if she could order a taxi for us later to return back to the marina. He could not contemplate the return short walk. "No problem, just let me know 15 minutes before you require the taxi," answered the waitress.
The restaurant seemed to be run by a Middle Eastern chap, who also seemed to own the Sweet and Spicy kebab restaurant over the road. Once replete, Rex exited the restaurant to absorb a few more coffin nails, as he is often wont to do, and of course he got chatting with a Middle Eastern comrade in arms. The next thing, one of the blokes offered to drive us to the marina, at a price of course. The deal was struck.
Once on board, Rex expressed his frustration that many of the phone numbers we are given don't seem to work; perhaps we are misdialling. "Why can't I just dial the number on the piece of paper?" he queried. I tried to explain to him the significance of the leading 0s on phone numbers, and the double 0s plus country codes required when calling from abroad. He could not understand that if you used a UK mobile phone in Holland, it was virtually still based in the UK, and you needed to precede Dutch numbers with a double 0 plus country code. "That's nonsense, of course you don't need to do that!" he bellowed. I bowed to his superior knowledge gained from his decades of working in the telecoms sector. I was tired and just wanted to sleep.