I suggested we take a trip in Sirion to Heusden and have dinner at the Restaurant/Hotel “in den verdwaalde Koogel”.
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A few days ago, Mrs. D announced she wanted to be treated to a nice dinner. We have quite a few restaurants nearby. Food is fine, but nothing special. So I suggested we take a trip in Sirion to Heusden and have dinner at the Restaurant/Hotel “in den verdwaalde Koogel”. (At the lost bullet)
Heusden is less than 30 kilometres sailing, two locks and most of the time we would find ourselves on the “Afgedamde Maas”. A beautiful stretch of river. The weather was going to be nice, so we packed an overnight bag, booked the restaurant and set off.
Here we are waiting to be let into the “Merwede-lock”
Along the Merwede, some fishermen. Even though the weather was nice, the water was still very cold.
Turning into the “Afgedamde Maas” at the town of Woudrichem, you often see this herd of wild horses roaming the fields of Loevenstein castle.
Nice!
At the second lock, Wilhelminasluis. We had to wait about 10 minutes. We have passed through this lock before. Slowest lock in the Netherlands. Takes forever to open and close the doors.
The boat up front is an old fishing boat from Scheveningen, hence the SCH at the bow. One of the old fishing towns of the Netherlands.
In we go. Notice how this lock does not have the usual lock walls? It is essentially just the canal bedding! Only lock in the Netherlands like this.
Some more pretty scenery coming up
At the beginning of this thread we discussed “trawler Yachts”. This is one of them. It is a Grand Banks 42. Lovely boat!
One of the many movable floodgates in the Netherlands. Almost at Heusden.
We decided to moor at the WSV Heusden. We had been here last year as well. Excellent facilities and right next to the city centre. Here you see Sirion tied up. In fact, we had tied up on the other side of the other yacht at first. I had contacted the harbour master about a mooring, and he told me to head for pier 8 and take any empty berth. So we moored Sirion at the very first berth at pier 8. Tidied her up, locked up and started walking to the gate. At that moment, the harbour master rocked up in his little Zodiac. “So sorry, this is my first day on the job! You can take any berth on pier 8, except this one. The owner of this berth will be here in an hour, so could you please move?”.
Which we did, of course.
Heusden is a lovely old fortified town. More on this later, you can still see the old city wall, which is completely restored. And a windmill of course!
This is at the market square. Heusden is a very popular day out destination. Many people will come on their bicycles. Not so you would notice of course.
One of the reasons Mrs. D likes coming here, lots of Brocante shops!
The day before was Kings Day (Konings dag), the birthday of the Dutch King. Which is a big celebration party day here in the Netherlands. Stil a lot of the King’s Day decorations were out. The weather was gorgeous, about 20oC. So all the terraces were packed.
Tell me you are in the Netherlands, without telling me you’re in the Netherlands!
Lots of car and bike clubs tend to use Heusden as a stopover location. Which means there is usually a steady stream of classic cars making its way through the village too.
Heusden has all kinds of quaint shops and ateliers. It’s that kind of town. This is a shoe shop where you can make your own shoe design. And anythign goes. They will make your shoes, or you can do it yourself with their help. Interestingly enough, we ended up sitting next to the original owner of this shop later that day on a terrace.
Another classic car, parked on the curb. A nice-looking Morgan.
Although Heusden is quite touristy, as soon as you step away from the main village square, you find yourself in a very tranquil, very pretty village. Lots of old houses, usually well preserved.
Look at the front of this lovely little house. You will find many houses like these.
Of course, there will be the obligatory “cute cat behind the window”
This is also a very “typical Dutch” thing. A so called “bakfiets” or cargo bike chained to the house. Parent will use it to transport their kids around town, take them to and from school and so on. Both my son and daughter have one. These days they are all electric and go like the clappers.
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