Tuesday 3 – Friday 6 April
We slipped away from Oostmahorn on Tuesday, motored across Lauwersmeer in a pleasant sailing breeze, and enjoyed a rural potter towards Groningen. Small groups of diminutive deer were spotted in a number of fields, and marsh harriers were prolific on this section. Unfortunately, the skies above were unremittingly grey, grey, grey.
By the time we were nearing Groningen, the bridge keepers had already knocked off for the day, so we tied up to a pontoon meant only as a staging post while waiting for the bridge to open. At this time of year, there is very little leisure traffic around, and technically we were waiting…until the following morning. At least the sun put in a brief appearance, and the road traffic all but disappeared after the rush hour, so a peaceful night was passed.
On Wednesday morning we made our way into the centre of the capital of this province of North Holland. Groningen is picturesque, rather like a mini-Amsterdam, with narrow canals full of houseboats and huge traditional sailing barges, leaving little room between stone walls to manoeuvre me around a couple of tight corners and through slimline bridge openings – thank goodness there was nothing trying to come through the other way. Again we had to stop for lunch, to await the bridge keepers’ return from their midday break.
After another half-a-dozen bridges we were free of the city and into the enormous Eems Canal, wide, straight and much used by barges of the sort we’d encountered on the Nordsee Canal in Amsterdam. The air was still very cool, and the off-watch crew took the opportunity to snuggle into the warmth of my saloon with the latest Kindle blockbuster and regular hot drinks.
Our final port of this section of the journey was Delfzijl, reached through a huge sea lock with a separate, relatively narrow channel for yachts, complete with another lifting bridge. The lockkeeper was busy locking through commercial vessels in the opposite direction, and seemed to keep us waiting much longer than usual. Eventually the high gates swung slowly open and we were able to escape, and follow the marks to the Neptunus Marina, at the inland end of a long channel that leads out to sea.
On Thursday, Skipper made final arrangements to take the liferaft to a local servicing depot, while Mate rested her sore ankle as much as possible, in between dealing with some routine domestic chores. Otto and his fellow harbourmaster made us welcome by being friendly and helpful, although their season has barely begun.
On Friday, Skipper collected the repackaged liferaft, and took the opportunity to fit new winches to my cockpit coamings, to make flying the staysail easier and safer. He also did his best to wash my decks clean of the evidence of this busy, noisy and dirty industrial port, before filling my tanks with clean water, ready for the next few days out in the islands. Mate waded through a huge pile of washing up that was filling my galley. Non-stop glamour, this life afloat…