Ijssel
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As we said before, Tim and Glynis were joining us at Dalfsen and after a night’s rest for them, on our first morning together we set off towards the river Ijssel, stopping at a rough mooring in a lake just outside Zwolle. It had been a lovely day cruising the river but as soon as we arrived at the mooring it started to rain so we got a little bit wet whilst securing the boat. Unfortunately, it carried on raining, then thunder and lightning and even hail, so we were very pleased that we had stopped when we did. Anyway, once it had stopped raining Tim, Glynis and I and the dogs (Nicki stayed back at the boat) set off for a walk but 30 minutes in, it was raining hard again and we turned round to walk back to the boat, but by this time there was even more thunder and lightning. So instead of a pleasant rambling walk we just hunkered down for the evening.
The next day everything was calm and peaceful again and we set off towards the Ijssel past the town of Zwolle. Now the thing with the Ijssel is that it took us south in the direction we wanted to go, but it is one of the distributories of the Rhine as it reaches the sea and we were effectively heading upstream – not the recommended direction of travel but the one that I had settled on. There was a bit more current than I had expected, such that we were 200 revs more on the engine just to travel 1 kilometre slower. But ever the optimist, I still expected it to be ok. In addition to this, the weather was set to be a bit volatile which meant we had to be prepared to adapt our plans.
The first stop on the Ijssel was Hattem where we were welcomed into the marina but had to negotiate our way into a box mooring with a bit of a cross wind. We always lie about our size because we pay by the meter so we end up a bit oversized for the box moorings and in situations like this it becomes more of a challenge. Still, as the weather had not been great, being in a marina gave us the chance to fully recharge the batteries. They also had a free pump-out although they said we were too large to get to it as it was tucked away in the corner. Again, ever the optimist I decided to give it a go – it was an interesting exercise for us, but we made it and they even took a photo for their records just to prove that larger boats could get in there. Then we had to do the whole thing again just to get back to the box mooring again!
Deventer was our next stop and also the place where Tim and Glynis would leave us to travel back to Delfsen, collect their car and return to the UK. But before that we explored the town – the marina was a bit outside of the town so we did a lot of walking but it was worth it. Deventer was lovely and full of surprises. One of these was the spectacle of geese being paraded through the streets by two people dressed in geese costumes, and strangely the locals we spoke to didn’t know the background to this, which seemed a bit odd as it was a very quirky event. One even went so far as to say she’d lived there all her life and had never seen it happen before – so I guess we were extremely lucky to catch it.
Further on, the streets were decorated with hanging umbrellas or balloons which made it all look a lot more interesting, and while walking round we identified a place to eat in the evening, a nice little Greek restaurant.
At that point we were thinking that we would take the dogs back to the boat and walk back in, but suddenly there was (yet another) major downpour and so we just settled down in a bar until it stopped, agreeing to stop in the town until it was time to eat when the restaurant opened (and luckily they were willing to let the dogs in which was a big help). We were all hungry by then, and the food was lovely.
The following day was Tim and Glynis’s last day with us, and we all walked to the station where we said say goodbye. Nicki and I then spent the day wandering around the town again, this time discovering a national Boules competition taking place in the town Square – since the previous evening, the whole area had been covered in sand just for the event! A pity about the rain again, but everyone seemed to be having a great time.
Back at the mooring we had a word with the harbour master about the possibility of using the marina as a winter mooring for 2020/21 – it does seem to have good potential although we will still look at other locations on our way to Maastricht.
Another night was spent aboard in Deventer, and then we were off the next morning toward our next stop at Zutphen. Again, a bit of a trek into town but also quite a nice town to visit – all of the towns on the Ijssel were historically part of a trading collective and they all have lots of character as a result of that.
Moving on again next morning, we made it to Doesburg but it had become increasingly difficult battling the current, as it seemed to be getting stronger at 4 or 5 kilometers and while this was not generally a problem, it increased the concern as to whether there would be somewhere to moor at the end of the day. Mooring along the Ijssel is fairly limited and in this case by the time we got to the marina at Doesburg there was almost no free space for us. I moored in a temporary slot whilst I investigated, only finding one space big enough for Shensi just as a cruiser arrived and decided to take that very spot! I had to use my considerable powers of persuasion to encourage them to use another slot (falling on the floor, kicking and screaming – well, it seems to work for children), and fortunately they moved a little further away. We ended up staying for two days and during the rest of that time the marina was half empty, so we had obviously just been a bit unlucky arriving when we did.
Doesburg was not very big but quite an enjoyable stop. We picked up a self guided tour booklet and set ourselves the challenge of following it, and happily we made it all the way round (although sometimes you were just looking at a bit of a wall that used to be a school after being an abbey after being the lord commanders residence after being something else strategic).
Leaving Doesburg, we were faced with the last stretch of the Ijssel and the increasing flow against us, but with the anticipation that when we joined the Waal, the current would be in our favour. Most of that day was a struggle but then we started to fly as we joined the Waal, although it started to get stupidly busy with commercial traffic! Here we were able to really get value for money from our blueboard – because of the size of many of the commercials and because of the bends of the river, a lot of them were using their blueboards to change the side they wanted pass you on. Ours was going up and down like crazy to acknowledge their actions. Whilst I thought I understood the rules, a new dimension made me question whether I actually did as, faced with two large commercials bearing down on us, one with and one without a blue board showing, I ended up going between them. This turned out to be the correct course of action but it really didn’t feel like it at the time.
Our next stop was at Nijmegen and as we approached we ended up with the blueboard situation yet again, this time complicated even more by a stream of five cruisers all on the wrong side and unfortunately we needed to cut through them to get into the marina! Apart from cutting across the path of the cruisers we then had to make a tight turn to go back on ourselves to enter the marina, all whilst dealing with a strong current.
Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands and the marina was a bit strange, slotted into a small area near the main bridge. I certainly had my doubts about getting in there so we phoned on the approach and the harbourmaster confirmed that it would be OK to moor, and indeed was waiting for us and directed us in. I thought he was joking when he pointed out our allocated spot because the perspective did not give the impression of any free space, but sure enough we slotted in between older barges with ample space to spare. And the plus side was free electric and water, and it was a standard E15 per boat/night, bonus.
The marina is very close to a large bridge, and at the end of the marina and under the bridge is a large outdoor 60’s/70’s themed drinking and eating area with live music, which all made for a very pleasant area to relax and drink on the warm evenings – surprisingly it did not disturb us whilst on the boat despite being so close. Beyond the bridge were lots of beaches and walks for the dogs, with families and young people having a great time.
It was getting a bit hot so we stayed in Nijmegen for three days and kept the A/C running, limiting our excursions and even going to the cinema to escape the heat of the day. “Angel has fallen” was released that day but there were only 5 people for the screening including ourselves (and the other three ticketholders chose the seats directly in front of us!).
From Nijmegen, our plan was to leave on the Sunday and head to Den Bosch on the basis that there would be less commercial traffic. Wrong! It was incredibly busy and being a hot sunny Sunday, loads of leisure traffic was out and about as well as some commercials. Once again, the commercials were travelling very fast with the current and most upstream ones were blueboarding, and it was excessively choppy so it did not surprise me that after a while Nicki was feeling a bit ill.
Turning off the Waal, we finally got away from the commercials but the leisure traffic increased exponentially, and now it was speed boats and jet skiers powering up and down. They really don’t seem to have a care in the world, and passing a marina entrance was like driving across a firing range as they exited in droves to join the melee. Still, after a long day we made it to Den Bosch, which was such a good place to stay with plenty of mooring and close to the town.
Unfortunately, Nicki quickly became quite ill with some kind of allergic reaction and for the next three days she was almost beside herself with itching all over her body. We finally gave in and she got a local doctor’s appointment to get some strong antihistimine relief, and eventually the itching died down.
So, we had reached the middle of August and it was time to begin our return to Bruges for the end of September – we anticipate it probably taking 6 to 7 weeks. Once there we will have only a few days to collect the car, arrange vet and doctor visits, and generally sort out things in Bruges and to set SHENSI up for the winter before we head off back to the UK.
