Boats waiting at Friesesluis

To go to previous part click here or to go back to the beginning of the trip click here
The weather was still not particularly great. Frequent heavy rain showers, and gusty winds.

Karen had been hoping to go out onto the Ijsselmeer for the trip to Urk.

This would have taken about a 3 to 4 hours, but the forecast for the Isselmeer was not good, and the wind and waves would have been on the beam, so we would have rolled continuously, which would have been most unpleasant.

Lunch stop right by a truck stop

So we opted to go the inland route across the Noord Oost Polder, along the Lemstervaart, through the town of Emmeloord and along the Urkervaart.

We left the marina around 11.00 hrs and motored round to the Friesesluis.

A frustrating 40 minute wait, along with several other boats, all trying to hold still in the gusty wind.

Karen driving in the rain

Finally a whole batch of boats came out and we went into the lock, and went down 5 metres!

It never ceases to amaze me that the reclaimed polders are as much as 5 metres below the level of the Ijsselmeer.

The Netherlands has a fascinating water management system, not only continually pumping out water, but controlling the salinity levels as well.
In addition to trying to keep the North Sea out, they have a couple of large rivers like the Elbe that

Another wild overnight stop

feed into the delta area.

Anyway, once through the Friesesluis we headed down the Lemstervaart which is long and straight and completely different to the waterways we had been travelling on.

Also the roads tend to be next to these artificial canals across the polders and we had a lunch stop at a jetty right next to a truck stop.

Sunset on the Lemstervaart

Although we could have reached Urk in one day, we had a bit of time in hand and wanted another wild stop.

The one shown on the chart did not seem to exist, but fortunately we found another one a few kilometres further on.

All this time, the rain had decided to come bucketing down.

Markenesserbrug – approaching Emmeloord

So Karen was driving while I tried to keep the windscreen sort of clear.

The broken windscreen wiper is now almost top of the repair list!

We are also starting to learn a few tricks – this time when I moored up I turned the boat round to face the wind.

Makes it much more comfortable on the back deck.

Emmeloord – relatively new town

Despite the rain, there was a lovely sunset that night.

Next morning we had a short one hour trip to Emmeloord, with just one bridge – Marknesserbrug.

We decided to just spend the day here and have lunch before continuing on to Urk.

Returning with provisions at Emmeloord

Emmeloord is a relatively new town having been built on the reclaimed polder only about 50 years ago.

The buildings and architecture are clearly different from the old Dutch villages.

This area is apparently the potato growing region and Emmeloord is known as the potato town. Urk, just a few kilometres away, like Lemmer, is an old fishing village.

Starting to Lock Up in Urkersluis

Every year Emmeloord hosts the FishPotato run which is about a 10 K run. Had we known before, Karen might have even wanted to run it.

We did a small stock up of provisions, and continued on along the Urkervaart to Urk, passing through 3 bridges – Tollebekerbrug, Zwolsebrug and A deWitbrug.

Just before Urkersluis we passed Yacht Charter Urk where we had charted a Dutch Steel Cruiser in 2011 as a test run before buying Shangri La.

See this post.

After Locking Up in Urkersluis

We thought we might have a chat with Pieter and Truide, but there was nobody about, so we carried on.

Finally we locked up through Urkersluis, again rising up 5 metres.

We tied up at a berth along the breakwater, right opposite the harbour master’s office.

Method in our madness – the internet signal was good.

Moored in Urk

We stayed 2 nights here, and wandered round the same places we had seen a couple of years back.

Urk, like Lemmer was once a thriving fishing village, but now relies on tourism and sailing on the Ijsselmeer for its income.

We did see the memorial to the numerous fisherman who have lost their lives at sea over the years, one or two of them mere boys (one as young as 8 years old)

Next up – finally out onto the Ijsselmeer towards Zwartsluis. Click here to see next post