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.