Parry's Sail To the Baltic

Alphen to past Haarlem doing the bridge shuffle

April 20, 2008

Sundays…what are they for?

Getting up and having a lazy morning followed by Sunday lunch. This is exactly the way of the Dutch too and so our trip from Alphen required careful timing due to the bridge masters knocking off for 4 hours at lunchtime!  We left Alphen at 10am and wandered up the canal, through the Braassemer (a lake) where we managed to sail for a few miles!!!

Then the decision came…do we turn left and do the Haarlem bridge shuffle or turn right and the Amsterdam night route? The Haarlem shuffle won and we meandered along the canals under bridges by windmills and tulips until 12 noon and Sunday lunch….the bridges then closed for 4 hours and we ended up mooring at Lisse….guess what the sun came out…Hollie even put on her swimming costume and her dolls even had a sun bathe too!

 At 4pm we then moved on towards Haarlem under 4 bridges before the town itself and then through the town and its further 8 bridges each one being very different.  When we got to the last one we had a man dangle a clog out and we paid him 8.25 euros for opening the bridges! We then decided to push on to the last marina before the trip into Amsterdam…what a long day!!  We finished it off with a team supper on Kaikoura at 9pm!

An easy Sunday?????  Not likely!!

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LittleSisJane

LittleSisJane April 24, 2008 at 02:30 PM

Following the trip everyday with you. Hope you have picked up the messages ‘cos they are not always appearing on the site. Love the photos – the dolls is a classic! Clogs are obviously the way forward. Have fun. Love to everyone. Jane x

kaikoura

kaikoura April 24, 2008 at 09:12 AM

Hi Don,
Thanks for the info. No problem with bridge openings per se we have the current Dutch standing mast route charts which have all the latest info on times (extracted from the Wateralmanak Teil 2) Better than the two Imray books which don’t always have the full info) The problem is the bridge attendants disappear for a scheduled 4 hour lunch on Sunday that slows progress a bit. However they probably have their work life balance better sorted that the Brits!
Still enjoying Holland, we have moved from the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam (stayed at Sixhaven) and have moved to the Markenmeer staying on the small island of Marken.

Donalex

Donalex April 24, 2008 at 04:54 AM

Hi,
Glad you are enjoying Holland. Accounts read as though you don’t have enough info on bridge timings. On previous visits we always planned our days in accordance with the published schedules and never found one not complying with its timetable – a bit like their trains too!
We used the relevant part of the Almanak – from memory Teil 1 plus pidgin Dutch!.
Also their Tourist Office sent me a free pamphlet. Try any local town.