L'Avenir - Cruising Europe's Inland Waterways

Once we joined the River Ijssel we were back onto commercial waterways. This sign is encouraging us to be nice but it all looks a bit cosy to me. Personally we prefer to keep our distance - though we do the smile and wave bit. Sometimes you have no option but to get up close and personal.

And that's not only the flag. Things have gone pretty well this summer but there's nothing quite like a force 7+ gale to blow away your complacency. Over the past few days we have been wending our way back south and west towards Amsterdam. We locked out of the deserted canals of eastern Holland onto the River Ijssel and then out onto the Randmeren - a series of meers, or lakes, 97km in length. When we came this way 3 months ago it was sunny and the lakes were full of yachts and cruisers. I remember commenting then that I wouldn't like to do it in bad weather.... The first 2 days weren't too bad. Just wet. A year ago, when we first embarked upon this, a woman said to me, 'Don't worry about rain. It can't hurt. Worry about the wind.' We've had plenty of windy days along the way but it's really a question of where you are when they start blowing. Out on a meer wouldn't be your first choice. The final in the series of meers is Markermeer which ...

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 unrecognisab...

Last year, in a city not a million miles from here, legislators voted for the eventual ban of patio heaters. A waste of precious energy. In a country where nearly everyone seems to smoke, there's a ban on doing so inside pubs and cafes and there are bitterly cold winters, smokers now face the prospect of dying of exposure rather than lung cancer. Or they could give up - going to the pub that is. Meanwhile, enough gas to warm every patio in Holland is instead warming the corn fields and cattle of rural Drenthe. We passed these flares at Geesbrug on the canal from Hoogeveen to Coevorden. They are a couple of kilometres from the canal but we could hear the roar before we could see the flames. This area is apparently the largest oil and gas field in western Europe. Now, how many energy efficient light bulbs will it take to make up for this....... ? Answers, by e mail please, (saves paper) to the legislators in your country. And this is what it sounds like.......

A delivery of thatch for a new roof seems less trouble than tiles. And look - they do still wear wooden clogs in Friesland.

What is it that this family in Joure is gazing at? Answer - the clock on the church tower. Clocks and watches have been made in Joure since the mid 1600 s. The watchmaker beside the church has a fine collection of beautiful old clocks and the oldest one in the window is connected to a speaker in the street so you walk to the slow rhythm of the tick tock. A little disconcerting being reminded of the seconds of your life. I haven't worn a watch since we arrived in Holland. Not because time has become irrelevant. It hasn't - not completely. We still need to know when bridges and locks are operational. I haven't needed a watch because there's usually a church tower visible and they often have not only a clock but also a carillon. I love the sounds of these, always cheerful. The first peal begins at 8am. The get up and get moving signal. Thereafter they play short tunes on the quarter and half hour and the full version on the hour. The final tune is at 8pm.We stayed...

First time we've tried a video!!!! Narration by Rob - stating the bleeding obvious...