Finding the marina entrance in Dordrecht was our first challenge and we did a few laps up and down the river until we eventually spotted the small entrance into the Nieuwe Haven (which is, in fact, not at all new but in the heart of the historic city). We had to wait for a bridge to be lifted in order to enter and the harbour master greeted us with words you don't want to hear when there's nowhere else to stay- 'we're full' (in Dutch but it was absolutely clear what he meant). We just looked uncomprehending - not hard - and he glanced at our flag, kindly took pity on us and told us to raft up to another couple of very expensive boats. Not as nerve wracking as it might have been as they were naturally most keen to help us. We discovered later that berths had been booked weeks in advance and some boats had been there a week in order to guarantee a spot. We were last in and extremely lucky to get a spot.
The festival began that night with a naval sail past on the river which lasted a couple of hours. In amongst all the historic ships and small boats the commercials kept working.
The weekend continued with all types of gleaming historic machines and engines on display throughout the harbour area. A lot of the fun of owning a steam engine seems to be making as big a display as possible - so lots of bursts of steam accompanied by hooting and once one starts everyone else has to join in. Very musical it was too.
Nothing like a good sing along
The weather was great all weekend until the closing moments on Sunday afternoon when everyone ran for cover as a huge hail storm come over.
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