Kerr Barging Blogs

Well, we are catching up on the blogs. Only a few behind now. We are still sponging water out but hope to have it all gone within another week. It is a slow and tedious job.

Friesland forms the North West of the Netherlands, to the West of Groningen. The land is very low and very flat, with a great deal of agriculture including large numbers of Frisian cattle. The land has a mixed history of being above and below sea level, of being built up then washed away, and of large lakes being formed by digging out peat. As a result there have been many floods and there is a constant battle to keep the water behind the levees and in the canals and lakes. The soil keeps sinking and the water level rising. Windmills, wind turbines and straightforward pumps have a great role to play.

There is a remarkable flag and a separate language, Frisian, still in use and greatly treasured and studied. Many towns are shown on maps with both the Dutch and the Frisian spelling. For example the town whose name we love best, Sneek in Dutch is Snits in Frisian.

A HOUSE travelling down this major canal (with Frisian flag)

We visited two major towns, Leeuwarden (Ljouwert) and Stavoren and we enjoyed sailing through the canals and especially the lakes. We snuck through the huge fleet of boats on the lake at at Sneek, and at Grou it was like dodgem cars and going to become even more crowded as a convoy of old tjalks passed us heading that way for two weeks of wooden sailing boat festival.

Canals in Leeuwarden

Most of the canals by- pass the towns as they are historically built on higher ground. At one stage we responded to an invitation (on a large sign) to divert from the main route to go through a little town, a route that seemed shorter and avoided a long wait at a lifting bridge and promised a width of 5.5 metres- we need 4.2 metres so 5.5 seemed generous enough. It was a very pretty detour but the canal was only just wide enough to accommodate us on some of the twists and turns. No wonder there were people leaning out of their windows watching us pass.

Quaint old town- off the normal routes

The first city we visited was Leeuwarden, the capital of Friesland. We found a good shady spot to stop outside town and after an hour's walk to the city centre on a very hot day (the temperature hit 33 degrees) we found that the museum had moved to a new spot. In fact, a Frisian architect Abe Bonnema had bequeathed 18 million Euros to construct a new modern building, opened in 2013, so everything was very new and beautifully laid out and fortunately only another ten minutes walk away. There were two main exhibitions that interested us: the story of Friesland, which displayed photos and artefacts of a wide spectrum of Frisian life going back to the earliest times; and the story of the Resistance in Friesland which allowed us a glimpse of the every day experiences of the people of this area during World War 11 as well as the stories of those who provided resistance to the German occupation. Every display had an excellent English translation.

Resistance kit for false documents

Stavoren was a complete contrast to Leeuwarden as it is quite small with few houses but hundreds of visiting boats. It is full of cafés and antique stores. Times have changed since the 13th century when it was the first Frisian city, very wealthy because of its excellent trading position on the coast of the Zuider Zee. However its Harbour silted up in the 14th century so the trade went elsewhere and the city lost its wealth and its prestige. While in Stavoren we climbed the dike which separates Friesland from the Ijsselmeer, part of what was the Zuider Zee. As children we had heard stories of the little Dutch boy who valiantly saved his country from the sea using his hand to plug a hole in the dike- and here we were, walking on just such a structure. And looking at the large body of water which we would be crossing tomorrow.

Stavoren, more boats than houses and us squeezed in on the left

 The Dike along the Ijsselmeer

A convoy of sailing tjalks

Traditional Tjalks sailing on a lake

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

Along the Eem River

A trip along the delightful River Eem gave us our first chance to explore the countryside on our bikes. Here there are well- marked cycle paths which do not simply follow the course of the river but also go into the quiet rural countryside. Our longest cycle was to Amersfoort, a city which dates back to the 13th Century and which has retained or restored its many beautiful and historic buildings. The museum gave us an excellent account of the life of the city, and we were very interested in the display regarding the German occupation of the town and of the prison camp, Kamp Amersfoort, just outside. Unfortunately there were also road works which almost doubled the distance we had to ride from a 12 kilometre return trip to well over 20 k. As it was all flat it really didn't matter too much. It was a good day out.

The old canal in Amersfoort
The old Amersfoort town

We had expected the whole route to be on cycle ways but in fact we shared minor narrow roads most of the time on this trip. Much of the traffic was rural machinery such as tractors and hay trucks so it was sometimes a bit squashy. In the town itself there were clearly marked bike ways separate from the road ways and the footpaths, and at traffic lights there are separate buttons for cyclists and pedestrians. The cycle paths are used not just by bicycles and motor scooters but also by people in motorised wheelchairs. We saw many quite elderly or infirm people enjoying themselves out in the countryside.

Bikes everywhere
The red machine is a pushbike (unlike motor bike behind)!

A second interesting bike trip was in Drenthe, along the Noord- Willemskanaal. There are fifty four Passage Graves (hunebedden or burial chambers) in the Netherlands and of these fifty two are in the Province of Drenthe. We visited the Balloo Hunebedden, one of the largest and in excellent condition, dating back over 5,000 years. It is made from huge stones washed there from the Baltic Sea during the Ice Age. The Passage Grave is simply sitting out in a field, surrounded by trees, very tranquil. Nearby is Kamp Heide which has been farmed since Neolithic times. We also visited the little township of Balloo and admired the thatched roofing, which is very common in this part of the Netherlands, on new as well as old buildings.

Balloo Passage Grave


We have remarked before on several city centres where the bike is much used. In Groningen, over 50% of transport movements are by bike. Instead of providing cycle paths, the road system is set up to filter out the cars and leave the space for bikes. We were moored near an opening bridge on the main thoroughfare. When the bridge opens to let a boat through the bike traffic lines up in front of the queue to be off first. Up to 100 bikes would move off from each side of the bridge, and only when they had all cleared would the buses, usually the only other traffic, make their move. It's quite the opposite of what would happen in the  main street of an Australian city of 900,000 people.

Bikes in Leeuwarden

I think I commented that in one town the only people who walk are those with their dogs- in Groningen, that does not apply. Often the dogs are on a lead attached to the bike. In other places the dog is taken for the ride, travelling in an attached trailer. This is a very common way also for children to be carried; those children carried at the front of the bike are often protected by a windscreen.

Interestingly, Groningen does not have the type of widely distributed bike hire spots we have seen in French and Belgian cities such as Namur, Paris, La Rochelle, Lille and Lyon. There is bike hire at the station and we have now discovered that there is a hire system operating in the Netherlands but it is available only to those who have a Dutch credit card, as payment and top- ups are only done by card and only local cards are recognised. This is a common problem for us in the Netherlands and applies to shopping, to public transport cards and topping up phone credits. Only a Dutch credit card works in many instances, even for on- line  transactions. This has been one of the main annoyances for us as tourists in the Netherlands, especially frustrating after navigating a payment site in the Dutch language only (for example, to top up a Vodafone card) to find out at the last payment point that only a Dutch card would do.

There are parking stations for bikes in the cities and at major train stations. Some retail venues and at least one restaurant we have been in provided secure bike parking.   

Only racing cyclists and Penny wear a bike helmet in the Netherlands. This applies also to children and to motor cycles. Penny is too uncertain of her bike balancing skills, and too concerned about her brain, to let go of Australian habits but no- one else seems to care. At first when it seemed as if the cycling would be on bike paths, I was prepared to compromise but once we started mixing it in 60kph zones with really heavy trucks, I resumed my ingrained habits. Then I see a two year old riding pillion on a motor bike without any protection- maybe Dutch heads have thicker skulls!

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

We really liked Groningen. Its buildings are attractive and well kept and it is very comfortable to walk (or cycle) through because there are very few cars. Its history is well presented on plaques and signs so we could get a feel for its past.
We entered from the South after a slow day with the bridges culminating in a lifting rail bridge, which is always a bit tense as one does not know how long it will be before there is a break in the railway timetable long enough to allow the bridge to open. Finally we had to go through two very cute manually operated swing bridges. The bridge keeper would stand on the opening span and go for a ride as it swung open each time.

The Prinsenhof Garden

We had chosen our ideal spot, in the old harbour area just about in the centre of town, and lo and behold, when we entered the harbour there was a space just exactly our size. We could not believe our eyes. Later when looking at images of the city we found that we were in the exact spot typically chosen to represent it pictorially. Surrounding us were 14th century warehouses, attractive brick buildings now residential. In the Harbour were several boats as old as we were, so we felt at home.

Our mooring place- but as it was 400 years ago!
and us in the same place in 2014

We explored the town on foot, but did not have far to walk to go to the Museum which drew us most strongly: the Ship Museum was 60 metres away, housed in two mediaeval warehouses. This museum presented a most informative history of inland shipping, particularly in the local area, so filled in many gaps in our understanding of Anja's history. We had been disappointed that the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam had virtually nothing about inland shopping, surprising given its continuing importance in the Netherlands.

Other old boats but the foreground one is almost identical to how Anja would have been in 1903

Groningen has been an major trading city since the 14th century and at that stage had a tidal port. Its university is the second oldest in the Netherlands, established in 1614 so celebrating its 400th birthday this year. A quarter of its 900,000 residents are university students so they are important to the city. The Groningen Museum had an excellent display showing the university's history through that time, as well as a small but well- presented gallery of beautiful paintings and a good timeline of pre- historic settlement in the area, as far back as 10,000BC. The descriptions were available in English, not always the case in provincial museums in the Netherlands. We continue to be grateful for our Museum Cards which allow us free entry to every museum we have so far chosen to visit.

Groningen was the centre of fierce fighting at the conclusion of World War II, when Allied (mainly Canadian) soldiers with some Dutch resistance fighters overcame a fierce German defence, to free the town. The bullet marks can still be seen in the Town Hall.

WW2 Bullet holes

Town Hall and Church
The city is less than 50 kilometres from the German border, so would have been vital to the German effort.
As we left Groningen to travel east we became more aware of the huge new port facilities now on the outskirts of the town. Commercial traffic is still very heavy but is not seen in the centre of the city. The other notable feature of Groningen's city waterfront is the large number of yachts with their masts still in place. Groningen is on the "mast up" route which allows yachts to enter from the sea and continue unimpeded (with the aid of lifting bridges) across the country. We therefore saw flags from Scandinavian countries for the first time and several boats from Switzerland, plus much larger numbers of German boats than we had previously encountered. We are still the only Aussies since we entered the Netherlands and the English do not seem to penetrate this far either.

 1330 warehouse- now apartments
The gold counting house- motto "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's"

Groningen is the most Northeasterly city which we are visiting, 'though we will be going further North and West after leaving the Groningen/Hoogezand area.

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

Anja's background

Anja in Groningen, near Hoogezand where she was built in 1903

One of our purposes in visiting the Netherlands was to travel with our boat to where she had been built, in Hoogezand in the Province of Groningen, and to find out more about her background. From her original registration documents we have quite a deal of information: built and first measured in 1903 by a boatyard in Hoogezand (ship yard's name not recorded) for Mr A. Bruining of Oude Pekala (about 20 kilometres south east of Hoogezand); a Bolpraam design, made of steel, 19.8 metres long, 4.16m wide and able to carry 64.96 tons, named Excelsior. Because of a change in regulations, she was measured again in 1930 and there were some changes: still Excelsior, she was now described as a Tjalkschip made of iron; her current owner was Mr L Lammers of New Amsterdam; the measurement was carried out in Meppel, about 70 kilometres south of Hoogezand. Length was now listed as 19.3 metres and breadth as 4.17m, tonnage 63.979. Perhaps this measurement was more precise.

Our further research has allowed us to establish that Meppel, Hoogezand and Oude Pekala are all significant in the production of peat; Meppel was the centre of peat distribution, which used barges for transport, so Anja was probably built and first used to carry peat. This was the major industry for many years in the North East of the Netherlands although by the beginning of the 20th century it was failing and in the Groningen area cardboard, sugar production and potato growing became more important. So probably in later years Anja carried cargoes such as these and maybe sand and soil.

Originally Anja would have had large leeboards (like centre boards but on the side, to stop sideways drift) and she had a mast but no engine. We were told that she sailed to the outer islands, but with the history we now know, this seems unlikely; her flat bottom makes her more suitable for the canals, rivers and shallow lakes. The re- registration at Meppel supports this view. In the ship museum at Groningen we saw photos of boats very like her being towed along using the mast as a towing point, and it seems likely that this was how she normally travelled, though perhaps at times she could hoist her sails on the canals too if there were no bridges or locks and the wind were favourable.

The Ship Museum at Groningen has wonderful photos of the inland shipping fleet over many years but we have not found any clear answers on why Anja was originally classified as a "bolpraam" (translated as flat and round) and later as a tjalk, a more general definition. Tjalks were very common at that time and in the preceding century. Perhaps the new registration was less precise about the exact fine details of shape and concentrated more on the overall classification. Perhaps it is clearest to say that a bolpraam is a particular style of tjalk.

The Drentsche Hoofdvaart Canal
Old brick kilns along canal (most buildings here have been brick for hundreds of yesrs)

For the last stages of Anja's journey back to her origins we set out from Zwartsluis for a journey of 50 kilometres with ten locks and forty eight lifting bridges, so on average one lifting bridge every kilometre. We started out along Meppelerdiep, leading straight to Meppel. This was probably a route that she had taken many times before.  Continuing along her likely old routes, we left Meppel and took the Drentsche Hoofdvaart Canal which dates from the 16th and 17th century, and to make her (and us) feel at home, here we had our first Netherlands manually operated locks, and chatty friendly lock keepers as well. Next was the Noord Willemskanal to Groningen. Unfortunately this canal had been modernised in the 1970s and we were back to mechanised locks and bridges. Our passage was very slow, mainly because, especially approaching Groningen, the operators were rarely there when we arrived. We hung about for at least 20 minutes at almost every bridge, longer at the start of each day and after the one hour lunch time closure (where operators stopped early and arrived late after lunch!). Still, Anja's passage along here undoubtedly was slow too as she was towed along, probably by horse, man (or woman or child) power into Groningen.

Along the canal

The countryside along these canals is very flat and still devoted to agriculture as it would have been 111 years ago. There are some very attractive houses lining the canals and a few small towns. This is ancient land, settled and farmed since about 4,000 BC.

Sculptures along the canal remind us of earlier days

When we arrived at the major port of Groningen we found an excellent spot in the original harbour area, surrounded by the old warehouses that were very busy in previous times, but are now mainly residential. They are most attractive brick buildings which have stood the test of time. One adjacent to us was built in 1330, but looks stylish and modern still.

Next we made our way to Hoogezand, which meant turning on to Winschoterdiep, no locks but plenty of lifting bridges. Then finally into the old Harbour area at Hoogezand to tie up along the side at a rough but satisfactory quay: the end of the journey back.

Huge seagoing ships are now built in and near Hoogezand

We cannot be sure which of the shipyards was responsible for building our boat. We have passed four on our way here, all now engaged in making massive ships and a fifth small old yard which may have been mainly for boat storage. We had found out from a helpful assistant at the ship museum in Groningen that there have been about 50 shipbuilders operating in Hoogezand over the years; she listed eight operating around 1903. We saw just one still in operation which was working back then, now the Royal Bodewes Shipworks, previously without the "Royal" to its name. Founded here in 1812 the Hoogezand yard is located in the old Harbour area but it is now an international company. Their head office is opposite where we were moored, 50 metres away. So maybe that was where Anja was built, or maybe the yard went out of business or was taken over by someone else. We will probably never know. But we do know that Anja has come home to where she started, and that we have more of an understanding of her past.

 Headquarters of Royal Bodewes Shipyard which might have built Anja plus a boat like Anja in 1903

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave

Giant ships are builtt here now- to 220+ metres!

Since the 15th century, the Dutch have created "polders" through draining land and reclaiming it for residential, agricultural and industrial use. We have read that the land mass has been increased by 30%, originally by land- developers and more recently through Government projects.

The longest running Dutch court case was about just this issue: at first the owners of the land at the waterfront were deemed to own the land on which the in- fill took place. During his relatively brief time in power, Napoleon decided that the State would  in future be deemed the owner of the land and therefore all the proceeds. In 1844 the landowners won the case to assert some rights in this matter and a compromise was reached.

Windmill from approximately 150 years agoIn some cases a small amount of land has been filled in to make better use of it. In others the polder involves a very large area. We sailed through Flevoland, one of these most recent polders, over 40 kilometres long, 20 kilometres wide, where development began in the 1950s and continued well into the 1970s. It was made by pumping water out rather than making the level higher (except for the dykes all around). What a most amazing and huge engineering feat! The canals within Flevoland are 5 metres below the level of water outside the island, hence the 5 metre locks to enter and then to leave it. The water sits one metre below the land level so that the soil can be drained. Modern wind pumps and electric pumps are used to maintain the water level below sea level. They have put wind generators all over Flevoland and these generate enough electricity for one million people. We have yet to hear any noise even right up close. It is about time our own government woke up and properly exploited the power of the wind.

 Wind pumps and wind generators lining the shores of Flevoland

The waterways are in excellent condition and there are plenty of spots to stop and stay a few days. The canals are wooded with agricultural land predominating. Cycling is very easy because of the excellent cycle paths and the flat terrain. There are well- planned towns and excellent transport connections with such places as Amsterdam. When we read about it, it sounded rather artificial but in fact it is a very attractive and comfortable place to spend time.  

One of the canals on Flevoland- much more pleasant than we expected!

Of course the Dutch are famous for their windmills and there are many older windmills throughout the country, some still working or restored for demonstrations. We have also seen many wind turbines throughout the Netherlands and some farming properties and factories have installed their own turbine so that they are self-sufficient for power. One pole can produce enough electricity for several hundred homes.  However in recent years there has been a concerted effort to tap into this source of renewable energy which was judged the most appropriate for the Netherlands, and the two polders of Flevoland and Noordoostpolder (finished in 1942) have been chosen for intensive wind farms. The quiet, elegant turbines dot the landscape.
In 2010 the Netherlands was providing 4% of its power from renewable sources; it has committed to raising that to 16% by 2020, mainly through installing more wind turbines. The aim is to improve the Netherlands' levels of CO₂ emissions per capita from a 2007 figure of 11.1 tons per person, above the EU average of 7.9 tons per person and 7th worst in the OECD. The sad comparison is that Australia at that time produced 18.8 tons per capita, third highest in the OECD (exceeded only by USA and Luxembourg). This was reduced by 2% by 2010, still a long way to go to fall in with OECD averages.

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave