A Plassan day on the river

Apologies for no update yesterday, but our idyllic overnight stopping place didn’t have any sort of connectivity. So today it’s two in one.

It was grey and rather cold when we sailed from Venlo, but quickly the sun broke through, and it turned out to be an excellent day. There was plenty of traffic on the river, and this cruise ship overtook us – the passengers waving from their breakfast tables. How the other half lives!

The river doesn’t have many bridges, so there are a large number of ferries scurrying back and forth. Most carry cars, but some smaller ones just walkers and bikers. They tend to shoot out across your bows without warning so one has to keep a good lookout.

Along the river we saw plenty of cows, munching away, or some just standing in the water. Also bathers, like this group of girls having a good time.

We lunched in our first plas. These are large lakes leading off the river resulting from sand and gravel extraction, but now turned into watersports features, with yacht harbours, sailing, bathing, camping etc. We sat in the sun on the aft deck with a glass of wine and enjoyed the experience. 

After lunch it was back to the river, where there was plenty more traffic, including this imposing container barge: keeps lorries off the roads, I suppose:

This is the church of Cuijk, pronounced Cowk apparently, that we passed shortly before turning into our second plas of the day at Mook. We had a good, peaceful night, though as indicated, without getting online.

Mook plas

This morning we steamed for an hour to the village of Grave – not pronounced like that – where we heard it was market day. It is a pretty little place, and the market was fine. Also a good butcher. We were struck by how much cheaper food seems to be than in France.

On our way back to the boat we were accosted by an inquisitive goose:

And as we sailed on we saw another windmill, and then a third, which was actually turning. Of course one can’t catch that with a still camera. 

We lunched at a small harbor at Battenburg, then sailed on through the second lock of the day to Heerewarden, which is where we now are to be found.

Our impression of Holland so far are very favourable. It seems to be a prosperous, calm and well- organized society – though of course we have not experienced any big cities yet. A majority of people speak English, which is a relief, including almost all the lock keepers contacted on the radio. Place names seem to be totally unpronounceable – for example tomorrow we hope to reach the famous city of  ‘s-Hertogenbosch which apparently has the best gothic cathedral in the country, and also may be the birthplace of Hieronymous Bosch, whose paintings are well represented in the art gallery.