Alkmaar

Our plan to go to the chandler (Dekker), did not work as the bridge we had planned to go under was not the advertised 2.8m but 2.4 m. We are finding quite a few inaccuracies in the inland charts this year. We could have taken another (longer) route, but the urge was not sufficient to do so and we headed for the Wilhelmina lock instead. We arrived just in time to lock together with a commercial barge and a few other pleasure craft. It was a bit of shuffling and squeezing, but in the end we all managed to fit in.
After the lock, one travels over the Zaan, along which are a lot of old industries. This was an important industrial area in the late 19th and early 20th century. Quite a bit of it remains (although of lesser overall importance) and some of the old factory buildings have been beautifully preserved or restored. This building is an example:





Also along the Zaan are a few nicely preserved windmills. Windmills were part of the early industrial establishment, they were used to saw wood or mill wheat or dye stuffs. Anything requiring 'work' before the advent of steam engines. Of course windmills were also used to pump water, but the industrial use is not as well understood. The 'Zaanse Schans', just north of Zaandam is a collection of various windmills, some operating as the would have been hundreds of years ago. It understandably is an important tourist attraction. We saw it from the river:








We continued to Alkmaar where we will stay until tomorrow. The previous owners of Onbekommerd live near here and we always enjoy catching up with them!

Location:Korte Vondelstraat,Alkmaar,The Netherlands