Before laying up Pirramimma for the winter, we decided to take a final cruise around - or more accurately, through - part of Flevoland. The Province of Flevoland was eventually incorporated in 1986 and is made up of the three large polders that were drained in 1939, 1957 and 1968. On this trip we travelled through the south west and south east polders. One of the interesting things here is that the Dutch decided to keep this 'new' land separate from the existing coastline. Effectively this means that they have created a large island. This has multiple benefits including the easier management of water levels, keeping the former coastal towns accessible from the water and, not least, creating a massive water playground (The Randmeren) which is hugely appreciated and used by locals and visitors in their thousands.
One of the results of land drainage is that the resulting dry(ish) land shrinks and lowers. The Randmeren water level is already a couple of metres below Mean Sea Level so when the polder was drained, the resulting land was another two or three metres lower and the drains they had to dig to remove the water are obviously lower still. So when we lock into Flevoland the drop is 5 metres, large for Dutch waterways. There is a warning on both sides of the lock. "Let op!" means 'Watch out!'
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| Warning sign at the lock. The large building is a pumping station. |
We entered the lock and had a gentle descent - all automated, including the VHF/phone system used to register our presence.
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| Crew waiting with a 15 metre line... |
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| At the bottom with the gate just opening. |
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| Looking back at the lock. |
The land/waterscape we now entered was completely different.
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| Looking astern ... |
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| … and ahead. |
On this stretch of water, between the lock and the town of Almere, there are two fixed bridges marked as 3.9 meters. With our mast down, our air draft is 3.6m. The water level looked 'normal' but we had no way of telling the exact air draft until we approached the first bridge, which we did … very slowly. With barely any way on, we inched under the bridge. My guesstimate was that we had about … 30cms to spare; the bridge heights are correct! Sigh of relief, as our only other option would have been to turn around and go back through the lock and into the Randmeren again. We approached the second bridge with some confidence but the bridge looked to us to be a bit lower, although it is incredibly difficult to judge bridge heights from the deck of a boat - they always look much lower than they actually are. So, exhibiting our usual caution, we again slowed to a crawl. Though the bridge was definitely lower than the 3.9m published height, there was - just - enough room for us, having quickly whipped out the ensign staff, which is the highest part of the vessel. Two bridges within a mile of each other with the same air draft marked on the chart, but different actual heights.
We motored on and in due course moored up at a nature mooring a mile or two south of Almere.
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| Last of the evening sun. |
We had two more nights in Flevoland, one at another nature mooring near Lelystad and the second at the WSV (Yacht Club) in Dronten (excellent). On the forth day we had two locks in quick succession into the Ketelmeer and thence back to our berth in Elburg.
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| Arriving at the Ketelsluis |
And of course this time we had a 5 metre rise to get back to 'normal'. I remember the first time I sailed to the Netherlands (March 1991) I found it somewhat surreal at IJmuiden to lock down from the North Sea into the canal to Amsterdam. It still feels slightly odd to be so far below sea level. I suppose it's normal to the Dutch; you certainly have to admire their hydraulic engineering skills.
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| Inside the lock. |
On our way home we passed this chap - they really load these barges to the limit:
Arrived at Elburg around 1500 having covered 68.5 miles over the four days.
/Rich
