Watch Out For . . Feral Chickens?

The sign below was adjacent to the biking path I took to get to the grocery store on Monday, June 20. (There was also a sign that advised those using the path to stay 25 meters away from the cows.)

"Watch out for . . . ."

This was not my first time seeing a "wildrooster" sign, but every time I see one I want to laugh. We saw several in 2008 when a bike trip through portions of the eastern Netherlands took us through a nature reserve area. At that time Google Translate did not exist, so Lon and I wondered if we were being warned about some form of aggressive bird. (After all, we'd had experience with wild turkeys in Minnesota that were very possessive of the bicycle trails in parts of the suburban Twin Cities.) Ah, the danger of the "sounds like" when trying to interpret a foreign language. When we asked Dutch friends Joost and Yolanda about the term, they were highly amused by our interpretation, to say the least. No, there were/are no crazy, rabid chickens inhabiting the Netherlands--only paths and roads with very mundane cattle grates.

We spent a lovely Monday in Nijmegen, a city of just under 200,000 people.  It is said to be the oldest city in the Netherlands, its recognition as a city going back to Roman times. Its position on the large Waal River makes it part of a busy freight transport route. 

The Nijmegen waterfront on the Waal is more utilitarian than
touristy. Most shopping and restaurants are in the center of town

Oldest city it may be, but not a lot of the old Nijmegen still exists. Due to its proximity to the German border, it was the first city in the Netherlands to be captured by the Germans in May 1940. However, it was the events of 1944 and 1945 that caused the most devastation. On February 22, 1944, the city center was heavily damaged when Nijmegen was bombed by American planes whose crews thought they were bombing the German city of Kleve. Several months later, in September 1944, the city was a center of fighting during Operation Market Garden (an Allied military operation intended to establish an invasion route into Germany.) 

Thankfully, the main market square, the Grote Markt, managed to survive the
WWII destruction. The beautiful building to the right is De Waag ("scale"), a Renaissance-era weighing house built in 1612

Sint Stevenskerk was built between the 13th and 15th centuries.
It was heavily damaged during WWII

The Latin School from 1545 stands beside Sint Stevenskerk, and
somehow managed to survive WWII intact

The old town hall (Stadhuis), standing just to the east of the Grote Markt. Mostly
destroyed in WWII, the front portion was left as a burnt-out shell and was
 heavily restored. The current town hall was built just behind this building

Fragments of Nijmegen history preserved in walls of the 
old Stadhuis

A modern shopping street

Market day in the Grote Markt

The Lange Hezelstraat, a more traditional shopping street

The Sint-Nicolaaskapel, is a chapel on the Valkhof hill (in Valkhof Park) in the center of Nijmegen. The current chapel dates from about 1000, and is said to use remains from a palace chapel that Charlemagne
had previously built on the site. Unfortunately for us, we were in Nijmegen on the one day of the
week that the chapel is closed to visitors

Also in Valkhof Park are the Barbarossa ruins, known as St. Maarten's
 Chapel. It is the only remaining remnant of the Valkhof Palace,
built in 1155 by Emperor Frederik Barbarossa. The building fragment
is thought to be the apse of the Imperial Hall, which also served 
as the court chapel

On our ride out of Nijmegen we stopped briefly at a Commonwealth War Cemetery.

The Jonkerbos War Cemetery contains the remains of over 1600
British and Commonwealth servicemen who lost their lives during
the WWII operations in 1944 and 1945

On Tuesday, June 21, we continued our journey down the Maas. It was a pleasant, uneventful cruise, and we stopped for the evening on a floating pontoon ("dock" in America-speak) just after we exited the lock at Lith. We "celebrated" the Summer Solstice by noting that the sun didn't set until about 10 p.m., twilight lingered until at least 11, and it started getting light again before 5 a.m. the next morning.

In Lith we had a front-row seat for the comings and goings from the lock. Most of the recreational 
boats we see are cruisers, or other small boats, and we are large compared to them. But next to
a container barge we are itty-bitty 

Yesterday we turned off the Maas onto the Maxima Canal on our way to 's-Hertogenbosch, familiarly known as Den Bosch. We're on a quay quite near to the city center and plan to be here for 3 nights.

Easy Does It

The past few days have confirmed to us that a leisurely approach to cruising is "just the ticket" for us. Last year, with its shortened season and ambitious itinerary, saw us boating most days in the 2 months that it took us to get from Auxonne, France to Maasbracht in the Netherlands. We really want to avoid that sense of urgency this year, so we are making a conscious decision to boat fewer hours per day and to stay multiple nights at more of our stops. One immediate impact, given our later-than-desired departure from Maasbracht, is that we won't be able to travel as much on the waterways of the Netherlands as we had hoped. Our original plan was to spend 30-45 days cruising the Netherlands, up to the Haarlem/Amsterdam area before heading back to France via Belgium. Unfortunately, in order to ensure that we get into France by mid-July, we will have to satisfy ourselves with 2.5-3 weeks in Netherlands waters. That isn't nearly enough time for a leisurely cruise to Haarlem, so we will only go as far as the city of 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) before heading back to Maasbracht for a few days, and from there retrace last year's route through Belgium on our way to France.

We had a lovely day on the 16th for lunch and a walking tour of the town of Venlo. Venlo is in the northern part of the Limburg province on a bend in the Maas River. It has a significant amount of industry, and a very busy center city was bustling with shoppers.

We were surprised by the number of people in the center of town
on a Thursday afternoon. It was nice to see so much activity

Like many of the towns in this part of the Netherlands, Venlo suffered significant damage in WWII. Up until October 1944 it had hardly been affected by the war, but as the battlefronts approached Limburg the bombardments of the bridge on the Maas and a nearby German airbase caused significant damage in the city center. Many medieval buildings disappeared, so the city currently has a mix of the old, the very new, and the "newish" styled to look like the old.

The surviving old . . . 

The Romerhuis, from around 1490, took some damage from the 
bombardments, but was repaired

Lon in front of the Renaissance style Venlo City Hall,
originally built in 1300 and rebuilt in 1597-1599

The new . . . 

This bridge on the Venlo waterfront spans a small harbor. "The Peaceful
Warrior" sculpture resides on the peninsular park. I've seen photos where
the water of the Maas was in flood up to the level of the base of 
the statue.

A mini heat wave has been going through Europe, and our local temperatures started rising on Friday. 80's F is pretty warm for the Netherlands, but our Florida sensibilities were grateful for a little heat and it was a beautiful day to be on the water. Besides, our new bimini kept us comfortable during the 5 hours it took us to get to our next destination, a marina on an offshoot of the Maas near the town of Boxmeer. A cruiser that pulled into the marina shortly after we did was owned by a lovely Australian couple, David and Melanie, who have been doing cruising seasons in Europe for about 8 years. We enjoyed being able to share experiences over "docktails".

We had enough time and energy left to take the bikes for a quick spin through Boxmeer, which was about 2 miles from the marina. It seemed like a nice small town, and again, had that tell-tale mix of old, new, and "newish" that is indicative of the WWII 1944 front-line towns.

Boxmeer centrum was quiet on a late Friday afternoon, but from the bands setting up things promised
to get busier later. The church tower was a 1950's rebuild--the Germans had destroyed many of the
church towers in the area in 1944-45 to keep the Allies from using them for reconnaissance

The town may be relatively small, but it had a nice castle--Castle
Boxmeer. The site of the castle used to be an island in the Maas. Castles
were on this site for many centuries, but of the 18th century version,
the only thing that remains is the left third of the building above.
 The portion of the building to the right is an old age home

Saturday was a short day for us, only an hour-and-a-half to reach our destination for the next three days, a marina in the Kraaijenbergseplassen--a recreational area that consists of several lakes. The heat continued, with forecast highs near 90 F, but it was beautiful cruising in the morning. The landscape is flat, flat, flat, except for any dikes that may be present, so it was possible to see interesting features from the water without too much effort.

The H. Martinuskerk in Cuijk (the darker brown brick to the 
left) was an imposing site from the river. This is the "new" 
church, "only" about a century old. The tower in the right of the
photo is from the Gothic church of the late 1400's, which now
houses the history museum Museum Ceuclum

The monastery of Sint Agatha, continuously inhabited by the
Crosiers since 1371. It is the oldest monastery in the Netherlands,
and the only one functioning since the Middle Ages

In the stretch of land around Cuijk there were quite a few WWII
bunkers still standing on the dike

The Jan van Cuijk windmill, a corn mill from the 1860's

After we got settled we got on the bikes to head toward the nearest town, Cuijk. It must be located in a strategic position, because significant archeological artifacts from the Ice Age and Roman era have been discovered. As it turned out, Saturday, June 18, was National Archeological Day, and the Museum Ceuclum (the Roman name for present-day Cuijk) had extended hours and free admission. It was a small museum, but very well put together.

The 100-foot (35 meter) tower which houses the
museum could be climbed. We've said it before, I'm
sure we'll say it again, "have tower, will climb." 
Two floors of circular staircases followed by 2 ladders
got us to the observation level.

A panoramic shot of the Maas from the observation deck of the tower. Can you say "flat"?

Pat on the observation deck, Maas in the background. Some day
the stairs will get to be too much, but that day has not yet arrived.

The "new" church next door and a view toward
the center of Cuijk

The cemetery adjacent to the church and museum looked old,
but most of the stones were from only a few decades past. The
area seems to grow lichens and mosses with ease! Another part of 
the grounds was a sculpture garden, with old headstones incorporated
into the displays

The museum was small, but contained some amazing artifacts 
(no, Lon is not one of the ancient artifacts)

The tower still contains the original 2-person prison from the 
18th-19th centuries. I was fascinated (and amused) that they chose to
include a rat in the re-creation of prison conditions. Stealing a cow
could get you the death penalty!

We've seen this before, too--damage from WWII bombardments
on a portion of the church wall, left as a reminder of how it was

Our museum visit was followed by a quick spin around the center of town (lots of shops), dinner by one of the lakes, and a meandering return to the boat. Our "meander" took us by and through the village of Linden. The eastern part of the Netherlands has quite a few remembrances of WWII, including the memorial below, near Linden, for an American C-47 which crashed during Operation Market Garden. Four crew members and one paratrooper died in the crash. 

The memorial markers contain the names of the dead and 
an inscription in Dutch says, "Here were five lives given for our freedom"

As predicted, the heat of yesterday has been chased out by the cool temperatures and off-and-on rain of today, so it's been perfect for just "hanging out". Tomorrow promises to be brighter and we are hoping to have a touristy day in Nijmegen, said to be the oldest city in the Netherlands.

On the Move

At last! The exterior painting was finished on Saturday, so after nearly two months in the Netherlands we were finally able to start cruising yesterday. Our fuel situation made things interesting right up to the end, to say the least.

Late last week, via a rather roundabout process, we were able to get 100 liters of diesel delivered to the boat. This was enough to get the engine started and enable the final electrical project to be completed, and we'd hoped it would also be enough to get us across the river to the fueling depot. Unfortunately, in a fuel tank our size, it turned out that 100 liters was barely enough--maybe--to cover the intake pipe that delivers fuel to the engine. Lon was concerned that any little thing could allow the end of the intake pipe to become partially or fully exposed when we started cruising, thereby letting air into the system and shutting the engine down. We did NOT want to start our day drifting in the Julianakanaal with no engine power.

We made arrangements with Tinnemans to have a work boat with us as a kind of insurance policy should Lon's concerns become reality. As it turned out, Jan Tinnemans decided that it would be best to simply tow us to the fueling station. So that's what was done.

Jan Tinnemans (with Lon) and his son Sem (in the small
boat) moving us to the fuel dock

Last look at our "home" for the past few weeks

The fueling itself was straightforward, but the "cash only" policy was not. We'd been forewarned, however, and so we'd been acquiring cash for several days prior. I can attest that it hurts more to hand over a thick wad of bills than it does to use a credit card. 

A few days prior to departure we cycled to the Linne Lock, located just a few kilometers from Maasbracht, and the first of what would be three locks to get through on our first day of cruising. It's helpful to have advance knowledge of lock layout, availability of waiting quays, etc. Cruising has enough surprises as it is, so a little advance scouting can lower anxiety levels. Our route took us through the small town of Heel.

Anyone want a fixer-upper? The Kasteel van Heel (this wing
from 1686 and 2 side wings from about 1750) needs a little TLC

The chapel on the castle grounds, the only thing left of the 
monastic buildings after demolition in 2012

Lon ponders our route out of Heel

We thought that the cruising route on the Maas that skirted Roermond and the lakes south of that town would be more scenic than a bypass canal used by the commercial barges. However, after having to deal with two long lockages (one-and-a-half hours to get through the Linne Lock and one hour to get past the Roermond Lock) for less-than-inspiring scenery, we would probably take the bypass canal were we to do the route again.

After waiting for nearly an hour, the upstream-bound traffic
finally cleared the Linne Lock

Happy to finally be in the lock, but then we had to wait
another 20-25 minutes for all the downstream bound
traffic to enter

The Dutch appear to enjoy camping as much as the French. It's not quite "getting away from it all"

Lakes are just visible beyond the river banks. The Roermond skyline is in the distance

After the Roermond lock it was lovely, stress-free cruising. The weather was sunny and in the low 70's, our new bimini did its job flawlessly and made us incredibly thankful it had been on our list of boat projects to accomplish, and we had no waiting on our third (and last) lock of the day.

The ruins of the Kasteel de Keverberg in Kessel were reconstructed
in 2015 with a decidedly contemporary twist 

And just to remind us we're in the Netherlands . . . 

We are currently moored at a marina near the town of Venlo. The fueling and lock delays yesterday meant that we didn't arrive until nearly 5 p.m., so we are taking the day today to do some sightseeing in the area and will continue our cruise north tomorrow. Because we have AIS (automated identification system) on the boat, anyone with an interest can find our physical location by logging into www.vesselfinder.com and searching for us by boat name--C.A.R.I.B. III--and don't forget the periods!

Finally, pass through any Dutch neighborhood this time of year and you're likely to see the following on some of the residences:

The Dutch flag and a backpack

The same, hanging from a Tinnemans
crane

In a Dutch tradition that probably started in the 1950's, flags and backpacks (and sometimes things like notebooks) are displayed to announce that a Dutch student has passed their final high school exams and will graduate. 

Chinese Water Torture

Chinese Water Torture--that's what this phase of our boat projects feels like. Most things are done, but it's been a slow "drip, drip, drip" to finish off the final items. As feared, the weather has had an impact on finishing the last bit of exterior painting, so we see no prospect of wrapping everything up this week. Our fuel tank repair was made last week, but we're running into some issues with getting refueled. The original plan was to have a fueling boat come to us at our mooring; however, it turns out that the boat only pumps "red" diesel (dirtier, taxed less, only available to commercial boats) and not the "white" diesel that must be used by private pleasure craft. It's been a frustrating few days trying to resolve the problem. There is also one remaining electrical project to complete--troubleshooting upgraded electronics on the flybridge--that requires an operating boat engine, so that is also "on hold" pending resolution of our refueling issue. Throw a Monday holiday into the mix (Whit Monday following Pentecost Sunday) and the "drips" keep accumulating.

Still in Maasbracht, but at least the name went back on 
the boat yesterday

The boat name and new Polish registration number gets applied, as well as
 a home port that the boat will likely never see

Our European Identification Number (ENI) on the cabin

We are now legal to be on the waterways

The scheduling uncertainties are keeping us close to Maasbracht and the boat during regular work hours, so we are finding "simple pleasures" where we can.

We're enjoying the new layout in the salon/galley

We were visited briefly by Joe and Sarah Bazey on May 30-31. Sarah is Lon's youngest sister, and she and Joe were good enough to stop by as they made their way back to Amsterdam after a 10-day trip to Germany.

 

The photo shows Lon, Joe, and Sarah by the local Maasbracht windmill. A short visit, but very nice!

A peacock was out to attract the ladies in a local zoo we
discovered in south Maasbracht

Deer; sheep; goats; a llama; turkeys, emus, and other fowl
all peacefully coexisting

We think this was a shipping company party last Saturday

While Lon stayed at C.A.R.I.B. III, I took the bus back to the town of Roermond last Friday (June 3). My stated purpose was to check Roermond's stores for some small items I hadn't been able to find in Maasbracht, but I have to admit that it was a relief to get away from Maasbracht for a few hours and just stroll through Roermond.

Roermond has a huge designer outlet, with over 185 designer stores arranged to look like a 
small Dutch town. Very Disneyesque.

The Rattentoren (Rat's Tower), the last of 30 towers that
lined the defenses of the old city. In 1613/14 this particular
tower was the prison for women accused of witchcraft. When
the city walls were demolished 200+ years ago, this tower was left
in order to avoid damage to the nearby cathedral. It was nearly in
ruins-and full of rats-before its restoration

The Roerhavn waterway dividing the main city center (left) from
the old quarter of Roermond, Voorstad St. Jacob (right)

We had a good time attending the "Top Gun" sequel at the Echt movie theater the last weekend in May, so took advantage of a beautiful June 4 to cycle to Echt for a quick look at the town and to see the Dr. Strange movie.

We were the only ones in the theater for "Dr. Strange"-I guess
no one else wanted to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon indoors.
In this cinema it's possible to order refreshments from your seat
 and have them delivered to you

Similar to the town of Sillard we visited previously, Echt has an old church, a pedestrian/bike-only town center filled with people enjoying the outdoor cafes and restaurants, and a few more empty storefronts than is probably healthy.

Echt's current primary claim to fame may be its past association with the Catholic saint Teresia Benedicta a Cruce, also known as Edith Stein. Stein was a German Jewish philosopher who converted to Christianity in the 1920's and became a Carmelite nun. In the late 1930's, as persecution against Jews in Germany was increasing, she and her sister Rosa (also a nun) were sent to the monastery in Echt for safety. In late July 1942, Dutch bishops issued a pastoral letter that criticized Nazi treatment of Jews. In response, on August 2, 1942, nearly 250 baptized Catholics of Jewish origin, including Edith and Rosa Stein, were arrested by the Gestapo. The Steins were sent to Auschwitz and died in a gas chamber on August 9, 1942. Sister Teresia was beatified as a martyr for the faith in 1987, canonized to sainthood 11 years later, and is now one of 6 patron saints of Europe.

Stein memorial in the square outside Saint Landricus
Catholic Church

Finally, as we were walking to lunch yesterday we wondered why netting had been put up at the railing along a length of the waterfront. The answer came a couple of hours later, as we were treated to a Dutch approach to ecological landscaping.

Sheep to the left, sheep to the right. I was standing on one of the walkways to the commercial boat moorings when I took these photos. The sheep were allowed to graze for a few hours, were collected for the evening, and were re-delivered this morning. It's a steep bank, so it's probably safer "mowing" the grass this way than trying the usual methods.