Wormerveer 52:29.534N 004:47.467E
Pelagia
Frans & Sarah Toonen
Tue 9 May 2017 19:00
Tuesday 9 May 2017. 24nm. 7 engine hours. We continued north passing through (the other) Haarlem. This historic city is often overlooked due to it’s proximity to Amsterdam but it is full of charm along the water. No place for us to stop and we arrived at the Noordzeekanal by 1430 and travelled east for a while past the commercial ports with the big ships before turning north into the Zaan. This river is lined with old warehouses and the air was sweet with the smell of chocolate as numerous barges carrying tanks of cocoa (or maybe chocolate) passed by headed for the Gerkens factory. Near Zaandam we were held up due to a mechanical failure with an opening bridge and found an old pontoon at the river bank we could get near enough to so we could wait. There was one other boat there and the man kindly advised us where to stop for the night so we had a free nights mooring in Wormerveer when the bridge was mended and opened up. We were so focused on getting alongside and securing the lines we didn’t notice the tree until bits of it started falling on us. No harm done. There are no trees on pontoons in marinas of course and so this reminded us canals and rivers are very different. Haarlem  Zaandam, wooden windmills and facades.  Chocolate.  |