That was a castle!

Muiden to Leonen

We set off in good time to walk round to the castle – about 20 minutes – and arrived a few minutes before it opened at 10 a.m. It is certainly impressive from close up, with the obligatory moat and drawbridge:

Inside we started off looking at the dungeon, at the base of the tallest tower. Full of nasty things like shackles and chains and stocks. Actually it was probably a grain or wine store, or perhaps a guest bedroom, but visitors love dungeons!

Surprisingly it was equipped with a loo draining into the moat – all mod cons!

We decided it would be feeble not to tackle the 85 steps up a tight spiral staircase to the top of the tower. On the way we encountered this statue of St Florian, a 4th-century saint and Roman soldier, a bit like Sebastian apparently. The castle's original builder/owner, Floris, was named after him.

When we finally reached the top of the tower and recovered our breath, the views were certainly spectacular:

We explored quite a bit more, but actually found that all the interesting contents are long gone, and the visit is really focused on families, since one owner in the 20th century was a well-known (to the Dutch) writer and illustrator of children's books, who created a kind of fantasy castle saga based on this castle.

Outside, there is a rather famous formal garden, which we wandered around:

Past its best this late in the year, but very nice all the same:

Then it was back to the boat for the half-hour run upstream to Weesp. According to Google, it was market day in Weesp today, and we had some shopping to do. Google got it right, it was market day, and we stocked up on meat for the barbecue, some kibbeling and calamari rings for lunch, and lots of fruit and vegetables:

As we were leaving Weesp to head further up river, we were intrigued by this vessel coming up behind us at the bridge. A houseboat, no question, with captain and crew enjoying themselves on the front porch:

The Vecht was as charming as we remembered it from last year.

Lots of people were out in their boats – low-slung open launches with inboard engines are particularly popular. Many with convivial parties aboard, knocking back beer and wine. They have the great advantage of being able to go through the bridges without waiting for them to open.

After some discussion we decided not to queue up for the lock through into the Loosdrecht Plassen, and found a pleasant mooring on the river bank just after the Loenen bridge. Deck chairs on the bank, and supper tonight al fresco, I think.

Tomorrow we'll slip down to Utrecht.