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A 4-day trip to Middelharnis in my 2006 Drammer 935 Classic yacht

20th July 2024, 16:02 by Brij Gawde

8 or 9 bridges of which 6 need to open for Sirion. One is the railroad bridge in Arkel.

BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

A four-day trip to Middelharni

Day 1

I have just returned from a four-day trip to Sirion. Quite the adventure! Lots of exciting stuff. We battled it out with ocean-going vessels in the harbour of Rotterdam, came across a floating tour bus and Sirion’s engine died on me, in one of the busiest shipping lanes of the Netherlands!! Nerve wrecking. It will most likely take me several days to put the whole story online so stay with me!

My eldest son Luc and I had planned this trip some time ago. We went on a day trip to Sirion a few weeks ago, and he really liked it. So, it's time for a bit more adventurous sailing.

Luc and I enjoy sailing on busy rivers, canals, and open water. Keeps you on your toes from a navigational point.

Luc, his family, and our other son, Thomas, live in Schiedam. A nice town just west of Rotterdam. There are several marinas out there.

The plan was for me to sail on Sirion to Schiedam on Friday. We would all have a nice dinner in Schiedam.

There are two ways to sail to Schiedam, via the river Merwede and Dordrecht, or via the Merwedekanaal and the Lek. I chose the latter, even though it was about 26 kilometres longer. I had not sailed on the Lek westbound, so I thought I would give that a try. A total of 76 kilometres

Mrs. D and I had bought all the provisions for this four-day trip the night before. I got up at 05.30. By 07.30 Sirion slipped its mooring and headed north on the Merwedekanaal. This first part of the trip is identical to what you have seen me do once before when I went to Kampen.

8 or 9 bridges of which 6 need to open for Sirion. One is the railroad bridge in Arkel. They don’t have a radio, you call them on the phone and ask for the next available opening slot. The operator told me 08.04 which meant a 10-minute wait. Not too bad. However, 08.04 came and went and nothing happened. Now, these operators look after a number of bridges and locks, all remotely. So just because they are not busy with yours, it doesn’t mean they aren’t busy doing something else. I just did not want to call immediately. However, I checked the train timetable and I could see another train was due in 15 minutes. So I called again. The operator apologized, he had forgotten about Sirion!

The weather was atrocious, with lots of rain, and poor visibility!

At the lock at Vianen, I chatted to the owners of this nice yacht. It's a Tuna 40. Never heard of it. Very nice looking motor yacht. Twin Yammer 75 HP engines. This couple was on their way to Denmark!

Coming out of the Vianen lock I turned port onto the river Lek. It wasn’t too busy, but at times visibility was really poor. About 2-3 km/h current behind us.

You come across some odd floating contraptions these days. Look at this thing, what were they thinking?

This is much, much better, more gracefully!

I know the area around the Lek pretty well. I often ride my bicycle along here or my Spider. I often cross the Lek with my bicycle on this little ferry.

We have hundreds and hundreds of these little foot/bicycle ferries. And not two of them are the same. For some reason, everybody designs his/her own!

We have never been into camping. I did a bit of camping as a teenager, but that was about it. But camping with caravans and tents is hugely popular in the Netherlands. Not only Dutch camping guests here, but usually a lot of Germans, some Belgians, and French folks too. But with heavy rain, it is utter misery!

Of course, being out on a boat in the pouring rain is much better, than sitting in your silly little tent in the rain. But not by much. I was very happy passing this boat, sitting inside the cosy cabin of Sirion, sipping hot coffee with the heater on!

Passing Schoonhoven, a lovely little town. Schoonhoven is known as the Zilverstad. (Silver City). lots of silversmiths around.

The watertower of Schoonhoven. For some reason the same design approach to water towers as to foot/bike ferries, every single one is totally unique!

Some barges steaming up the river Lek.

An interesting classic boat converted into a passenger/cruise ship.

Given the amount of rain, it was only appropriate we passed the one and only Ark of Noah! Yes, you read that correctly. The Ark of Noah is to be found in the Netherlands!

This place is the Zalmhuis. (Salmon House) It is quite a fancy venue for parties. During my working days, I have hosted several parties here for our business associates and partners. More importantly, this was also the wedding venue for Luc and Maloeke! When it was built, there were none of these ugly modern buildings in place.

And another unique water tower design

Rotterdam is a very international, busy, happening place. However, almost all of its houses and buildings were destroyed by the Germans during bombing raids in the first days of the war in 1940. Just about all of Rotterdam Centre got completely flattened. This means that the Rotterdam skyline looks pretty modern (and ugly depending on what you fancy)

If you are a Jackie Chan fan, you might recognize that building on the far right. In one of his movies, Jackie uses this building as a giant slide. He slides across that sort of triangle-lookingglass structure!!

These days the shipping company Maersk has its offices in this building. During my merchant navy days, this building was purpose-built for the Dutch Merchant Shipping Company NedLLoyd. I have visited this building frequently as I worked for NedLLoyd for several years. Maerks bought Nedlloyd years ago and kept the building by the looks of it.

A few more shots of the Rotterdam skyline. Spot the Eurotower, 180 meters high. Large lookout platform at 100 meters and you can take a rotating elevator up to the top at 180 meters. With good visibility, you can see Hoek of Holland.

Zooming in on a monument that I like to highlight. During World War 2 lots of soldiers and civilians were killed. The Netherlands has a big ceremony every year on the 4th of May where we remember those soldiers who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. What is less known, is that more merchant seamen got killed than navy sailors during the war. In the Netherlands, in times of war, the Dutch navy has command of the Dutch Merchant fleet. Every merchant sailor can be called up for duty by the Navy in case of war. It is one of the reasons I was exempt from being drafted, as a Merchant Officer, I would have to serve on a Merchant vessel in case of war.

This monument depicts the bow of a ship cleaving through the waves. It is in memory of all those Merchant Sailors who lost their lives during the Second World War.

The well-known "Erasmus" Bridge, also known as Swan. It is a very pretty and gracefully looking bridge. They are doing some maintenance (painting) so there is some ugly-looking scaffolding built around the base.

Some years ago we had the Red Bull air races right in front of the bridge here. Hugely spectacular. They even flew one of their planes underneath the bridge!!

Video

Not allowed anymore

This here is the old headquarters building of Unilever. On the right, you see an old bridge in the open position. It is known, affectionately, as the "Hef" (heffen means lifting). This bridge is not in use anymore, but Rotterdam kept it as a monument and left it permanently open. Not too long ago, Jeff Bezos caused quite a stir here in Rotterdam. In order to get his new super yacht out to see it would have to pass the bridges here in Rotterdam. The idea was to dismantle the Hef, pass his yacht through, and rebuild it. To be fair to Jeff, that had been done once before. But Rotterdam was up in arms. No two-bit billionaire was going to touch their "Hef". Action committees were formed, people were mobilised, and eggs and rotten tomatoes were gathered. Jeff decided to take his mast down and not upset the good people of Rotterdam

This here is another legendary landmark, the Hotel New York. These days it is surrounded by massive buildings. Along this pier in the early 1900s, the passenger ships taking Dutch Immigrants to the USA and Canada would be moored. The same company, HAL (Holland America Line) still exists today and is one of the largest cruise ship operators. These days only cruise ships moor here.

Hotel New York is a nice hotel and a good restaurant. Huge terrace at the front, where you can watch the ships come by. We have been there several times for just a drink, lunch or dinner. I have stayed in it for a couple of nights as well, during one of these Management Offsites.

Right opposite the Hotel NewYork, you will find another famous restaurant, the "Ballentent". Remarkable, this used to be a proper seamen's cafe in my days and long before my days in the merchant navy. If anything a bit divey and you would not find anybody other than seamen in there (and some hookers of course)

These days it is very popular with the up-and-coming in-crowd in Rotterdam. You can't just barge in, you need to make reservations way ahead, like in a previous life, to get a table.