Dordrecht to Zierikzee via De Heen

Westerly owners reflected in the astonishing Museum Boijmans van Beuningen

A better view of the building

I have always liked Dordrecht but the last time we spent more than a night there was in Magewind, way back in maybe 2004? This time we had three nights and lots of activities organised by the very active Dutch Westerly owners group.

On Tuesday 10 June we all headed off via river bus for a guided tour of Rotterdam. It’s a big, brash modern city with some nice bits, it rained quite a lot and we covered a lot of ground. I’m glad to know that I have now visited and learned a lot, including what meatballs taste like in the Ballentent restaurant, but it was a shame not to visit any of the museums and galleries.

On Wednesday there was the option to visit the world heritage site of Kinderdijk. After consideration I decided to stay in Dordrecht and enjoy a run around the edges of the centre, a shopping trip to find red thread so I could mend our fraying ensign, a bit of maintenance on the boat including the removal of the long-redundant Navtex aerial and one of the rusty loudspeakers (I cut through the wrong cable, but fortunately not anything important), and a trip to the Dordrechts museum for some intensive art and culture. I had a wonderful day. In the evening we enjoyed a big but slow and slightly disappointing Westerly meal together at a local restaurant.

Thursday saw the whole fleet depart at 0830 for the 0900 rail bridge opening and then a modest 24M to De Heen. The wind had thoughtfully gone east so once again we were able to trickle along with just the genoa, faster once we got through the Volkerrak lock into non-tidal waters. Way back in 2004 we spent a happy night at Benedensas in Magewind and I never realised that the waterway continued. This time we carried on to the rural and peaceful location of De Heen. It was a very, very hot day 30° or so), I didn’t really eat until we arrived at 1430 and started with a beer, so not surprisingly I felt awful and didn’t really enjoy the group barbecue, although the food was excellent. I ran away and had a shower, filled the boat water tank, planned the next day’s route and then retreated to my hot bed to feel queasy and listen to the cuckoo.

Friday 13th was just as hot but I managed things better, with earlier food and more water. With instructions not to arrive in Zierikzee until 1400 I didn’t see any point in leaving early so we headed off just before 0900 and once through the Krammersluis had an unexpectedly excellent sail, with both sails up for the first time for a while. We were actually too fast and had to sail very slowly towards the Zeelandbrug for the 1400 opening, before mooring safely in Zierikzee with the help of Dutch organisers Gerard and Gina.