Biesbosch

Where would we be in Holland's Biesbosch, with all its water, without a boat.

Well it so happens that we know some kind people who have one, a nice sailing yacht which can take us on a tour of this maze of waterways in safety and comfort. And since the main purpose of us visiting Holland in the first place was to meet these very people, our friends Theo and Anneke... well enough said.

This is a friendship that goes back long before this blog began, back, in fact, to the year 1988; recalling this date involves a consultation between all parties in our Dutch friends' house in Ramsdonksveer before we are finally all agreed. We met back then because our own family, stuffed into a small sailing boat and having sailed across the North Sea from England, closely matched in ages another young family stuffed into a similar boat, this one being called Tara, and our respective children met and played together easily despite not knowing each other's languages, just as children will do everywhere. Then and now we still enjoy each other's company, but this time we get to meet the children of those children who first played together all those years ago.

We now need a bigger boat!

The Biesbosch has just that, bigger boats, correctly known as ships, many of which whilst carrying cargoes from destinations further inland, are also family homes. This can be seen from the presence of the family car parked on deck outside. Well where else would you park it?

To our eyes these vessels have always appeared a little strange, lying so low as they do with very little freeboard, as we are used to seeing much taller sea-going cargo ships. But of course they are like this for a reason. They ply the riverways of Europe, many of which have bridges beneath which they must pass. Height would be an unnecessary impediment.

 

At the other end of the scale there are the Sunday fisherman, ever hopeful of the catch to brag about when they return home.

Many many miles of interconnected channels here with farmland protected by dykes, farmhouses raised up on mounds so the water can flow over onto the land when the rivers can no longer cope and little harm is caused. It is these rivers flowing from across Europe that provide the water which feeds the Biesbosch, and the people who live here will have little control over the volume of water that arrives to pass through their country, which in many ways explains the complex systems for management of the environment here.

Staying as guests with our friends for several days enables us to see their world through different eyes, an opportunity not to be missed. Their town has its own windmill, as you might expect, and beside it now live some deer peaceably alongside a herd of goats, animals placed there by the community for reasons unknown.

 As we walk about the town, stocking up with groceries at the local Lidl, we are again struck by the infrastructure designed primarily for people and their bicycles, cars taking second or third place. Guidance is provided by signage, much of which we find confusing, and being afraid to break the rules our behaviour must appear odd at times. We can only guess at the penalties that might be imposed here.