From Hoogeveen to Coevorden

This was taken on the canal from Hoogeveen to Coevorden (which I pronounce incorrectly of course). It's a very quiet canal - we met only one boat this day - but there are dozens of bridges. Some, like this one, are old swing bridges others are modern automated ones. Each bridgekeeper is responsible for between 3 and 5 bridges. They work you through and then jump in their car and drive to the next and open it as you approach. When they have completed their stint they phone on to the next bridge keeper. It all works beautifully unless you upset the system by stopping. We stopped overnight in a small town called Nieue-Amsterdam which incidentally bears no resemblance to old Amsterdam. It's only claim to fame is that Van Gogh stayed there for 2 months. We set off the next day and there was no-one expecting us at the first bridge. There was a phone number but the bridge keeper who answered didn't speak any English at all and my few words of Dutch were apparently unrecognisable to him. Eventually a passing cyclist kindly phoned him for us and we were then back in the system.