Water street

As we proceed we become aware that size matters, after all. No, this is not about sex. It's about mooring. The Vecht banks appear to be an almost uninterrupted wall of arks (well, there will be an even more striking water street on reaching Utrecht, but this is the one I saw first, so it did impress me a lot).

No free space, lots of no mooring allowed signs here and there. Some signs suggest we may moor for 6 hours, but then we must move and can come back for 6 more hours. A bit too little for a good nap, isn't it? Our travel soon starts to remind the usual nightmare of a car driver... no parking lots to be seen. We meet again the black tjalk we saw in Muiden and they offer us to moor along them in Utrecht if we cannot find a better place. I'm beginning to understand that planning does include answering the question "where are we going to sleep?".

We eventually stop just before a bridge. On asking the bridge keeper we get to know that the mooring place we are at is... the last one before Utrecht, and it's too late to reach Utrecht. So be aware of that if you are on the Vecht. Be also aware that not far from that bridge there's a wonderful pub.

It's good bye time for Bert. We are happy with the trip and sad because he won't be with us tomorrow. Let alone having to cope with all the possible problems ourselves we will miss a nice man. Well, who knows? The canals are almost endless, maybe we will meet again.