This is "Onbekommerd"!

Saturday, September 21, 2013

A few facts and figures to end with

We have had a fantastic 'voyage' on Onbekommerd this year. Varied too!

We started in the early and cold spring in the Netherlands, did a trip to Vlieland and Terschelling. Then we spent two weeks in Friesland and North West Overijssel in convoy with 'Amber'.

After that we started on the main 'adventure' and on 1 June we were in the Baltic. By then the weather had started to improve remarkably after a very cold and wet spring and we made rapid progress North along the danish east coast. We arrived in Gothenburg on 18 June and entered the Göta Canal at Sjötorp on 29 June. On 15 July we left the Canal and on 21 July we arrived in Stockholm, the Northernmost point of the year. From there the 'way back' started, we moved quietly South along the Swedish east coast. On 20 August we left Sweden (in Gislövs Lage) and spent a week in Denmark, arriving back in Laboe, Germany on 28 August. From there the weather started to deteriorate a bit and the way back through Germany took until 11 September when we were back in Delfzijl.

From there we took the shortest route to Franeker, but taking it easy time wise.

Everything is on the blog, you can read back if you want to!

Some figures:

We spent 163 days on board. In this time, we covered 2206 nmiles, which is 4085KM. To do that, the engine ran for 439 hours, using 1731l of diesel.

Our most Western point was Vlieland at 5 degrees, 05.30 minutes East. Most South was on the way to Giethoorn (52d, 41.62m). Northernmost was Stockholm (59d, 20.13m), Easternmost near Dalarö (18d, 29.92m).

Onbekommerd is safely tucked away for the winter now. We'll be back next year, some time in April all going well. Where will we go? No fixed plan yet, more than likely "North" again.

Thank you all for looking at and reading the blog. We get around 1000 hits per month, which we think is quite a lot. We enjoy writing it, hope you enjoy reading.

Friday, September 20, 2013

End of this year's journey

At first we thought Franeker was celebrating our return:





But it appeared the festivities were because of the annual 'agrariese dagen', somewhat freely translated as the 'farmers' days'. It was quite festive with all sorts of traditional events (such as 'ringrijden') in the evening. Unfortunately, after a reasonably dry morning, the heavens opened and we did not see a lot of the fun.

In the evening we had boating friends who live in Franeker for dinner, to help 'eat the leftovers'. As they are the ones who sowed the seed to do the Göta canal (and also introduced us to Fedderwardersiel), we had a lot to talk about!

This morning, we did the last of the tidying up and just after 9, Onbekommerd was waiting at the winter storage:





We are now on the train to Schiphol airport. I'll do one more blogpost with a bit of a 'season's summary' during the weekend.

Location:Hollanderdijk,Leeuwarden,The Netherlands

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Headammen

If you try to find 'Headammen' on a map, you might struggle. It's not really a 'place', it is where a bridge crosses the 'Headamsleat', a canal leading south from Earnewâld (or Eernewoude in Dutch rather than Frisian). So why are we here? Well, its where good friends of ours have a summer cottage. We try to visit them at the start and at the end of our annual Onbekommerd trip, to talk about old times (I have known them for some 40-odd years) and also about our adventures on the water. They own a boat called 'Waterbufvel' and we have in the past done some trips in convoy.
This is what Onbekommerd looks like from their house:






Tomorrow, we'll set off for the last 'leg' of this year's trip, back to Franeker, just under 20 miles.

Location:Smallingerland,The Netherlands

Monday, September 16, 2013

Groningen en Eernewoude

Again no post yesterday, getting slack!

From Appingedam to Groningen is not far, but from Appingedam to anywhere in Friesland (which is where we want to go) is too far for a day, so Groningen is a convenient stop. As it was Sunday, there was not a lot happening but it is always nice when another 'Valkvlet' (a 'maatje' we call them). Enters the harbour. We had some interesting chats yesterday afternoon and this morning about different experiences with our 'ships'.

From Groningen, once you are through the Oostersluis (lock), it is a canal for the next 50 KM. Not boring, as there are quite a few obstacles to negotiate: quite a bit of dredging going on and a bit of commercial traffic too. We negotiated the last lock of the year at Gaarkeuken and entered our 'home province' of Friesland (or more correctly 'Fryslân') a bit later at Stroobos. Without much excitement, we arrived at Eernewoude (Earnewald). The weather is nothing short of 'autumn', with rain- and hail storms, strong winds and low temperatures. Fortunately, Onbekommerd is dry, warm and comfortable inside, but it is no surprise the harbour looks like this:





If you would look the other way, there are a few charter boats with German crews (without the German market, the Dutch charter business would have been finished many years ago!), but that's about it!

We'll be here for two nights, and start to prepare for Friday when we put Onbekommerd to sleep for the winter. Wednesday we'll move a few miles 'down the road' to meet up with good friends. Thursday we'll do the last 18 mile stretch to Franeker.

Location:Wiidswei,Tytsjerksteradiel,The Netherlands

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Damfestival

Sorry, no blogpost yesterday. We decided to stop here in Appingedam for a few days and although it is nice here, we are sure you are not really all that interested in our shopping experiences!
Today however was 'Damsterdag', the main event of which appeared to be the 'papier corso', a procession of floats mainly made mainly out of paper. The theme was 'Disney / Dream Works'. As it had been raining all morning, our expectations for a 'paper based' event were not that high. Fortunately, the rain stopped for about half an hour at just the right moment and we were most pleasantly surprised by quite a few very nice floats, put on mainly by schools in the Delfzijl / Appingedam area. The route was lined by lots of people, it was very pleasant, all in all. We were sorry that we left the camera at home because of our low expectations.
This is clearly a big event here and as I write this, just before 8pm, there are lots of people flocking to the church where the prize giving will be.
Tomorrow, we'll move about 20KM to Groningen. The weather continues to be rainy, in fact there are not many dry spells predicted until Friday when we put Onbekommerd to bed for the winter.

Location:Stadshaven,Appingedam,The Netherlands

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Appingedam and Appie

After we left the yacht harbour in Delfzijl we had rather a unique lock experience. I had called the lock keeper on the VHF to ask to be locked 'inward' and he confirmed that there was a boat just coming out of the 'small lock' (there is also a 'big lock' in Delfzijl) and we could go straight in on arrival.
So we did. Lyn was just getting the back line onto the mooring post, the lock door behind us not even having been closed, when the door in front of us already opened. We had gotten to the lock just at the time when the tide 'outside' the lock was exactly the same as the fixed water level 'inside', i.e. inland. This obviously happens (on tidal water) 4 times every 24 hours for a very short time, but it was a first for us!

It was only a 6 mile trip to Appingedam, which is a small but pretty town, boasting the biggest 'Albert Heyn' supermarket 'in the North' (whatever that may mean). The short for 'Albert Heyn', a supermarket chain, is 'Appie', hence the title of the post.
Although we thoroughly enjoyed our Baltic trip (and plan to go back there next year), its good to be 'home' at this stage too, speaking the language and knowing 'how everything works'.

On our way back to Franeker - where Onbekommerd will experience a well deserved hibernation and some TLC - we'll stop for two days in a few places.
I'll try to post something daily, but hopefully not too much excitement!

Location:Stadshaven,Appingedam,The Netherlands

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

What a day!

We left Aurich not all that early, around 9:30. The plan was to go to Oldersum, spend the night, take the early morning outgoing tide tomorrow to Delfzijl and continue to Appingedam, where there is a nice guest harbour right next to our favourite supermarket, Albert Heyn!
The trip to Oldersum was uneventful, we did have to wait out the lunchbreak at one bridge, but we took the opportunity to have our sandwiches ourselves too.
By 3pm we were tied up at Oldersum. As I am a compulsive planner, I decided to take a walk to the lock in order to negotiate a 7:30 lock time. The lock was deserted....... After some searching I found a 'notice to mariners', stating that the lock was out of order until further notice. Rats! Or some slightly stronger words.... The only option was to go back 9 KM to the Borsumer lock, into the Emden harbour and through the Emden big sea lock. Now the only reason we took the detour to Oldersum was to avoid that Emden lock which is notorious for long waiting times. Two years ago we ourselves waited there for more than 4 hours....
But as there was no alternative way out of Germany, we started the engine and went back. The friendly lock keeper at the Borsumer lock was aware of the 'problems' around the Emden sea lock. He advised us to call them on the VHF and try to negotiate something. If there was not going to be an option in the next hour (6pm was our locking deadline to get to Delfzijl before dark), we were allowed to tie up on the jetty outside 'his' lock. So I called the 'Emden Seeschleuse' on the VHF and very politely asked if there was any chance for a 'sportboot' to be locked 'out to sea' in the next hour. Now normally, 'sportboote' (that's us) can only lock with commercial traffic which is few and far between so we did not expect the reply we got:
"Where are you now?"
"At the Borsumer lock"
"Just come over"
??
We got to the Seeschleuse 20 minutes later and reported we were there.
"You may enter the lock"
They operated massive the lock just for us, which for Emden is completely unheard of.
By 7 we were back in the Netherlands (its the Northern province of Groningen, so definitely not 'Holland'). The starboard side spreader is bare of any courtesy flag for the first time since 26 May. We are 'home'!
But we are also very tired. A good rest and onto Appingedam tomorrow!

Just a quick addition: Why not spend the night in Emden and go to Delfzijl tomorrow morning? Answer: to get to the guest harbour you need to go through the railway bridge. And it is...... broken..... See earlier notes about everything in Germany always working.....

Location:Handelskade West,Delfzijl,The Netherlands

Ems - Jade canal 10/09/2013

We did two thirds, 25 miles, of the Ems - Jade canal today. This canal was dug between 1880 and 1888 to provide a means to transport peat from the East Frisian region. It was also meant to transport coal, ammunition and spare parts from the Ruhr area to the Wilhelmshaven Naval base (the Dortmund - Ems canal being the other part of that route). As the canal is quite small and shallow (officially 1.70m but we have had readings down to 1.50), it is nowadays almost exclusively used for pleasure craft, especially the Wilhelmshaven to Aurich part that we covered today. In fact, this part of the canal closes for the winter next week, on the 16th.

It was a pretty miserable day, weather wise. Almost non stop rain, the East Frisian lock keeper called it 'nice, dust free, East Frisian weather'! Also cold, we had the heater on for most of the day, for the first time since 25 May.
The nice thing about the organisation of this canal is that once you are 'in the system', everything happens sort of by itself. The bridge- or lock keeper either accompanies you (in his little black car) to the next bridge or lock or he 'passes you on' by calling his colleague 'down the road'. The result is that normally the bridge or lock is ready for you as you arrive, with the exception of the two railway bridges which of course need to take the train time tables into consideration.
I say 'normally', because one of the bridges early on in the trip had a technical problem, which held us up for about an hour and a half. Fortunately a bit later a lock keeper was kind enough to operate his two locks during his lunch break which meant that we made it to Aurich before the operation closed for the day.
25 miles in 8 hours is not a lot, but there are 4 locks in it and the speed limit is 8 KM / hr which is about 4.5 knots.
Aurich is a pleasant enough stop. Excellent, brand new facilities and the first night is free! We found the supermarket and afterwards treated ourselves to 'dinner ashore'.
Tomorrow we'll do almost the other third of this canal. Just before Emden we will turn off into the Ems Seiten canal which will bring us to Ottersum. There, depending on time and weather, we will either make a stop to catch the next morning's tide or continue to Delfzijl.

Location:Aurich

Monday, September 9, 2013

Wilhelmshaven 09/09/2013

It was quite a dreary morning, with non-stop light rain. And colder too: I am wearing a pullover for the first time in a few months!
We had to wait for the water to return, this really is a tidal harbour:





As early in the new tide as we could, we left. No wind and the rain stopped too! There was a bit of activity, a fishing boat in addition to us 'yachties':





After 2 hours through the 'prikken' over the shallows, and another hour through the deep water shipping channel we got to the Wilhelmshaven lock. I had spoken to the lockkeeper on the VHF so we knew there would be a short wait. But then the huge lock operated just for us and a diving boat:





We tied up at our by now well known 'Cramer Marina' (with WiFi Internet).
Tomorrow we start the two day trip through the Ems-Jade canal. We should be in Aurich tomorrow, where there is no Internet. The likelyhood is that we'll spend the next night at the Ottersum lock (no Internet either) although there is a small chance we'll de at Delfzijl, tide dependent. In the latter case we should have a 3G connection, otherwise it will be Thursday before the next post!

Aborted attempt 08/09/2013

At 1pm there was enough water to leave, so we cast off. It had just started to drizzle a bit. Off course the same 'rules' apply to everyone, so a total of about 6 boats left. As we got outside, we remarked that there was more wind than in the harbour. And 15 minutes later it was blowing over 20 Knots! The sea was building and the visibility decreasing and as we don't do this to prove we are heroes but to enjoy it, the 'lets go back decision' was easy. Half of the other boats that left with us felt the same. So after less than 3 miles we were all safely tied up again in Fedderwardersiel, in windy and rainy conditions.
Although the storm passed in about an hour, it was by then too late to catch the ingoing current to Wilhelmshaven, so we'll give it another try tomorrow. As tides work, it will mean we'll leave between 30 minutes and an hour later than today but as it's only a 15 mile trip that is no problem.

Feddewardersiel 07/09/2013

We have split the Bremershaven to Wilhelmshaven stretch into two days. On the way out, you may remember, we had planned to do it in one day but we were caught in the fog and 'diverted' to Fedderwardersiel. Splitting it is more relaxing anyway as you don't have to do both the Weser and the Jade against the tide, something that would be necessary if you had to cross the shallows of the Hohe Weg in one go.
So we left the Bremerhaven mooring at 2 and were through the lock by 2:20. Then almost 8 miles down the Weser, initially against the last of the incoming tide. Then along the 'prikken route' to Feddewardersiel, where we got with about an hour to spare before the level in the harbour entrance dropped too low.
This is a REAL tidal harbour: as I write this - about an hour before low tide - there is NO water left in the harbour basin. All boats are on the ground, in the soft mud. Lots of birds walking around, and we like this picture of what seems to be a heron, with the harbour entrance in the background:





Tomorrow after midday, when the water is back, we'll go through the Kaiserbalje to the Jade. There we'll have the tide helping to push us to Wilhelmshaven. With some luck, there will be WiFi Internet there.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Bremerhaven

Today was one of those days that things just worked.
We left Berdekesa at 9, got to the selve-service lock at Lintig half an hour later. Quietly down the Geeste (which seems to be getting rather shallow in places) to the Bremerhaven 'tidal lock' which was just about to open.
We decided not to stop at our 'normal' place, the rather grandly called "City Sporthafen" on the banks of the Geeste (not more than a few jetties that fall dry at high tide) but to go to the "Lloyd Marina" which is accessed through a lock. I called the lock on the VHF when we were 15 minutes away and as we arrived it was open and waiting for us.
It has been nice, sunny and warm all day, but now (20:30) it is getting cloudy and there may be a rainstorm.
For tomorrow, the forecast to go to Fedderwardersiel is excellent, so we'll probably be off around 1pm to make sure we can get into the harbour there on the high tide (the harbour falls dry).

There will be no WiFi there, so I'll 'accumulate' the post for the next day (Wilhelmshaven should have WiFi). One of our followers suggested I date my accumulated posts. That's a good suggestion, so I will!
This is a 'live' post, on 6 September!



Berdekesa

Although you could do the Otterndorf to Bremerhaven stretch (60 KM @ 8 KM/hr) in a day if you wanted / had to, we have so far broken the trip in Berdekesa, almost exactly half way on each of the four occasions we have done it.
This morning we were 'stuck in the mud' in Otterndorf (the harbour is clearly silting up), so we only left around 10:30. Through the little tunnel in the dike and into the lock and then 32 easy k's to Berdekesa. Suddenly the autumn-like weather of the past few days is over and during the trip we change into shorts and T shirts. Nice!
In Berdekesa we take out the bicycles and ride around the lake and to the eel-smoking place. Eel as a snack with pre-dinner wine is a real treat!
Tomorrow off to Bremerhaven, where we hope to find WiFi so we can upload these posts.



Not a very 'productive' day

We have decided that we'll continue to write a blogpost every day, even if we don't have a connection to upload them. Then we can post them when we can and the 'story' still continues.

The plan ( of us and a whole lot of Dutch, German and one Swedish boat(s)) was to go through the Brunsbüttel lock at around 2 to pick up the start of the outgoing tide. Most of the yachts want to go to Cuxhaven or even 'out to sea', to Helgoland, Norderney, Vlieland or even Vlissingen. For us the target was less ambitious: Otterndorf before 5pm so that we could still get through the lock into the Geeste. Otterndorf is only 9 miles from Brunsbüttel, so what can be easier? WRONG. In the past one could count on things working in Germany but this is no longer the case: of the 4 lock chambers in Brunsbüttel, 3 are 'out of order'. Not really surprising, the whole setup looks very poorly maintained. The result is that they have to 'load' the lock with a combination of commercial and pleasure traffic every time which causes serious delays for everyone. So the 2pm lockage only finished at 4 and we got to Otterndorf at 5:30. No problem really, the little lock here is planned to operate at 10am. That means that we won't make it to Bremerhaven tomorrow as it is an 8 hour stretch. But we have enough time and the forecast for the 'Bremerhaven to Wilhelmshaven via Fedderwardersiel' trip a day later is also fine! The only slightly frustrating thing is that we messed around for a day with only 10.5 miles 'on the clock' to show for it.

Here are some pictures taken in the lock:








And the Otterndorf light at sunset:





Location:Otterndorf

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

A different kind of harbour

The canal stretch from Rendsburg yesterday was uneventful. It is 66 KM but not really boring as there is always something happening, passing interesting bridges (42 m high!), seeing big ocean going ships etc. We take 'shifts', steering the boat for 10KM at a time.
As planned we stopped at Brunsbüttel, where the yacht harbour is just inside the lock. When I say 'just', that needs to be taken quite literally: the big ships pass meters away from us. The lock is 330m long and 42m wide and yesterday around 10pm a cruise liner came through which only just fitted in!

These pictures (taken from Onbekommerd), show a slightly smaller one that came through this morning:









After midday we'll go through the lock ourselves (probably the 'small lock', which is half the size although they were using the big lock for yachts yesterday) and go 9 miles with the tide down the Elbe to Otterndorf.

There appears to be a coffe shop with WiFi close by here, where we will now try to send this post.

Location:Brunsbüttel

Monday, September 2, 2013

Rain and wind in Rendsburg

The last two days have been rainy and windy, but we are snug on Onbekommerd. Tomorrow we'll go to Brunsbüttel and on Wednesday the forecast is excellent to go down the Elbe to Otterndorf (only 9 miles) and a bit up the little Geeste towards Bremerhaven. The forecasts for the week also look very good for a continuation via Fedderwardersiel, Wilhelmshaven, Aurich and Ottersum to Delfzijl in the Netherlands.

I have little idea about what Internet connectivity will be the next few days: in Bremerhaven we need to use the WiFi in the public library, but that's not open all day. In Wilhelmshaven there should be WiFi. Otherwise it's unlikely that there will be blogposts until we have 3G again in Delfzijl. So apologies for that.

As mentioned, we can be reached by mobile phone on my Dutch number if required.

Location:Am Obereiderhafen,Rendsburg,Germany