Harderwijk (6 to 15 October) including visit to Elburg and Eiland Pier, and home
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6th October – On arrival I walked over to the harbour masters office to check in (we had been thinking that we’d only stay in Harderwijk for one night, but ended up staying for three, in part due to the horrible weather). Anyway, who should I find moored up outside the office but Vriebuiter (Gaelle & Russell’s lovely barge). That was a surprise, but sadly it seemed Gaelle and Russell and the girls weren’t there.
7th October – However, on our first morning Nicki took Casper out first thing, and on walking past Vriebuiter she realised that in fact the family were on board – they had arrived back later the previous evening – and stopped for coffee and a chat, catching up on all their news. She and Gaelle arranged for us all to meet up later in a local bar, and in talking with them then we realised that wintering in Harderwijk might possibly be a much better option for us.
8th October – Next morning Nicki and I popped into the Harbour Master’s office to have a chat, which ended in us booking and paying for a mooring till the end of March. (Obviously, as soon as we got back I emailed Deventer to let them know of the change, so hopefully they’ll be ok with that.)
9th October – Rather than just hang around Harderwijk until time to leave for the UK we took a trip further along the Ijsselmeer to visit the small town of Elburg which was once a fishing village, but is now mainly a yachting harbour with its fair share of old ships decorating the various pontoons.
We moored up a little outside of the main entrance to the town, entering via the “Fishing Gate” and walking into its small centre. Some parts of the old town wall still stand with small houses built right against the town wall (called “wall houses”).
Bob and Jane started off together, but we dragged her off with us so that Bob could take his time looking at all the various ships in the harbour, and the three of us stopped (to give my leg a test of course ( for a coffee in the square, after which I returned to the boat and they carried on looking around.
In their wanderings, Nicki and Jane came across a 400 year old forge which is still working even now (run by a lovely gent who also has interests in a forge in Aberdeen).
A few hours of exploring Elburg and we were ready to head back to the boat, and carry on cruising in the direction of Harderwijk searching out a location for the night, which we found in Eiland Pierland.
10th October – Eiland Pierland was another gloriously isolated island, very quiet with only one other ship moored down the other end of the quay. The weather was atrocious, heavy rain and even hail in the morning, but luckily we managed to depart in clear weather which continued for the rest of the journey back to Harderwijk.
On our way back to Harderwijk today, we called into a nearby fuel barge to fill up before wintering – unfortunately it was closed for the weekend, but at least we now know where it is. Another foray will therefore be necessary on Monday, so for now we merely turned round and headed back to the harbour to settled back in again.
11th October – With the prospect of wintering in Deventer, we had already left our car there last month (10th September), but due to our recent change in plans I decided to head over there today with Bob and bring the car back to Harderwijk in preparation for our return to the UK next week. The whole journey didn’t take as long as expected and we were back around lunchtime.
12th October – Whilst Nicki walked Casper, Bob, Jane and I departed on Shensi to try our luck with the fuel barge again – this time they were open and we are now all topped up for the winter.
Nicki moved the car to another spot (to hopefully avoid any parking issues), and then we popped over to the town hall to see if we could sort out official longer term parking for when we are back in January.
15th October – Our last day of the season; Shensi has been moved slightly further along the quay so that it’s in sight of the quay surveillance cameras (which we can view on our phones), all tanks topped up and all necessary electrical appliances turned off. So, she’s all wrapped up and sorted for our departure, the car is packed and it’s time to say goodbye to her for the next few months. Once again, we are all done for the another great season of cruising in Belgium and Netherlands.
The four of us and Casper plus our luggage all squeezed into the car for our road trip to Belgium – as per usual, we needed to get Casper’s passport updated before cruising the channel and had booked an appointment with our usual vet in Bruges for 16th, twenty four hours prior to catching the Eurotunnel. With that in mind, I took the opportunity to ‘book in’ a couple of nights with Janos and Rachel on their beautiful new ship, Csavargó.
We had a lovely time with them, having a look over the boat and then meeting up with old friends in the evening at the Baron Ruzet.
16th October – Nicki took Casper off for his vets appointment in the morning and got him all sorted for our trip tomorrow, and then she and I, together with Rachel, walked over to visit Grainne and Andrew on JoNi for a few hours, followed by another evenings outing to a bar with several more boating friends.
17th October – And so our 2020 adventures end today and Bob, Jane, Nicki, Casper and I were back in the car for the very last part of our journey home.
