When the world is grinding you down, or you’re letting it, there can be few better way to put things right and recover your sanity than slow travel. And there are few slower forms of slow travel than hiring a boat with a speed limit of 10 kph then messing about on the river. Or in this case on the canals.
With this in mind the three of us, Monty, Charlie and I, jumped in the van and headed for the ferry. Charlie is my amazing son (mini-me, but don’t tell him!) and Monty is my camper van, my home and fellow nomad.
From Harwich to the Hoek of Holland – here we come!
The drive to Harwich docks was only an hour away. From there, a seven hour sailing takes us to the Hoek of Holland. We weren’t just going on a boat, you see, but slow travelling to another country, then spending a couple of very slow days getting the short distance, 50 miles, to the marina at Vinkeveen, a little west of Amsterdam from the boat hire company le Boat. There we picked up our 11m Clipper for six days of the gentlest exploring. No plans, no itinerary, just meandering. Stop when and where we want, for as long as we want. Bliss!
This Clipper is a reasonably sized river boat with two double berths, but it’s no speed wagon. It’s top speed was around 12km/hour but with speed limits between six and 10km per hour this was more than enough. Remember this was an adventure to unwind, so speed was really irrelevant and totally unnecessary.
Welcome to the Netherlands!
Between the port and Vinkeveen we stayed a night in Monty near the coast and a second one in the small village of Noorden. Like so many Dutch rural villages it’s centre is the canal and everything fits around that. The latter stop turned into a bit of a treat when we discovered a fabulous little bistro bar – Leeuwtje – and decided to treat ourselves to a small, early, inexpensive dinner. We sat down with a couple of dutch beers and pondered the menu. Maybe we’d just have a couple of starters… and then the specials menu came out. It’s funny how our appetites suddenly grew!
Isabella, our lovely waitress, earned her tip that evening. The menu was in Dutch, and whilst between us we spoke a little German, French and Italian, plus the odd word of a few other languages, Dutch proved impenetrably. The mystery added to the experience though. Each translation sounded more and more tempting. Eventually we opted for one of the healthier dishes – a sharing platter of three different types of steak with beautiful and gently roasted vegetable. Hardly a calorie in sight until the accompanying frites arrived.
A walk afterwards, back along the canal back to Monty, completed the evening and, replete, we slept well. The drive to the marina the next morning was only about 15km so without the slightest hint of “rush” we were there well before midday and in glorious sunshine. Seriously, not a cloud in a perfect blue sky.
Our Clipper in Vinkeveen marina at the start of our waterborne adventure
Safety briefing complete, luggage and food/drink supplies loaded, the engineer ran through the boat controls, then showed us the driving basics before getting us to pilot in out of the harbour, onto the lake, around a buoy then back again. If you haven’t driven a boat like this before it takes a little getting used to but isn’t rocket science. You simply have to understand that it doesn’t have brakes, just forward and reverse and a captain’s steering wheel which, incidentally, only really steers when you’re going forward! Sounds simple? Mostly it is.
From Vinkeveen marina it was about 500m across the lake to the bridge leading to the canal network. They warned us the the clearance under that bridge was low so to keep our heads down, and assume the same under some other bridges too. The clearance was indeed low – five centimetres!!! I kid you not! Even peeping out over the top deck steering wheel risked scalping!
Immediately, the other side of this first bridge, we hit our first lock. Not literally though! We’d decided on a whim to head south east, towards the main canal – Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal (Amsterdam Rhine Canal). It carries the large barges and tankers to and from Amsterdam. Once across it, we entered into a network of canals which head north east to fortified port town of Muiden. First night, though, we just moored on one of the many free mooring points along all the canals. This one wasn’t in anywhere named and there was no jetty to the shore. Our neighbours were coots and grebes, and the only sounds apart from nature was the odd cyclists chatting as the pedalled along the tow path.
The Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal and leaving it through Brug Nigtevecht
So moored up, it was drinks and dinner time, or so we thought. When I came to cook dinner, we couldn’t get the gas hob or oven to light. My cabin boy, as I liked to refer to him before the mutiny, had the genius idea to check the two gas bottles in the back only to discover that there was only one and it was empty. It turned out Le Boat had forgotten to change them but a quick call and someone was on the way from the marina with a new one.
We had to get to a jetty for the gas bottle handover. There was one only 50m away so we unmoored and moved the boat towards it to get the bottle. The Latvian Le Boat technician, a delightful man, was on the shore as we approached and was suddenly shouted at, then almost accosted by a guy who had climbed down from scaffolding on the nearest house to swear profusely because, apparently, I was going to demolish his little jetty – I’m not sure whether through malice or incompetence. I never even touched it during the gas exchange, although I almost wish I had, but the hottest expletive-filled gas still came out of scaffold man. That was about the most dramatic thing which happened all trip!
On a boat hire you have to choose a captain – presumable the one who takes the responsibility and pays if it goes wrong – so I was captain (due to Bank of Dad) and Charlie was the crew. It didn’t take long into the trip for the crew to initiate a mini-mutiny and take over the piloting so the dad could “take photos or go and have a rest”. Or so I was told. Getting the captains seat back again proved a lot harder from then on. No matter, he made a good skipper and quickly got to grips with seeing if he could break the speed limit.
Wildlife on the water!
The canal to Muiden took us past a small town called Weesp, which looked enchanting, so we earmarked it for exploring on the way back. Going beyond Muiden meant going out to sea so we had to come back that way.
Moored in Muiden we took some time to wander. It was the only place we went to where we came across English-speaking tourists, presumably day-trippers from Amsterdam further the coast. The smell of fresh bread kept us near the town centre and in the end proved too enticing. Bakkerij here we come! Everything we bought was delicious but the caramelised onion loaf was to die for and kept us going for a couple of days. Lunches on the boat after a trip to a local bakery were always good.
Now, if you remember, this is slow travel. We never cruised for more than a couple of hours at a time and most it was a lot less than that. This left plenty of time to relax, either on the boat or by taking walks. I got plenty of ‘me’ time too, as I lost Charlie for several hours a day as he chatted to or messaged his prospective future wife in America. After the first day or so I could feel all the tension and stress pouring out of my body like a lock emptying to take me to the next level.
Moored in the beautiful town of Weesp
Weesp was on a side canal which we entered through a drawbridge and a lock. It was everything we’d hoped for. We moored up right in the centre of the town, opposite its tallest church, and stayed there for many hours. After a stroll together, Charlie went off exploring for an hour or two, apparently scoring very delicious, huge chocolate ice cream cone in the process, while I hunted down the best bakery in town – actually it felt more like a large village – and discovered a Thai deli in the process. I also asked about the the local biscuit, the Weesper moppen. There more like small cakes made from eggs, almonds and sugar. I was also introduced to Frikesand by the baker – a delicious puff pastry sausage role with spices in it. Time just drifted by, conversations with locals meandered and the joy of messing about on the river seeped deeper into me.
Alexanderhoeve deli in Weesp and the local cheeses
This region is well known for its cheeses so we had to try some. Close to our mooring, by one of the small lock bridges, we found – actually it was harder not to find – Alexanderhoeve, an exquisite deli with wine and the usual fair, but also with lots of different cheeses. We had to try the most local one, Boerenkaas extra belegen. Official verdict from Charlie, “the best cheese he’s ever had.” Some vague time later that day – I’ve no idea if it qualified as lunch or dinner – we tucked into boerenkaas extra belegen from Weesp with Muiden’s onion bread, some fresh local tomatoes and a glass of wine. I like this place!
If you’d like a to hire a boat like this then contact le Boat. You can do this in Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Scotland, Ireland and England,
Read “Messing about” – part two
Check out “Travels with Monty”
All images Chris Coe
