We live on our 44' Norfolk Broads cruiser, The Goose which is moored near to Southend Airport, but its to small for us, and we want to be in Europe, where there is more waterways and a better way of life.
The Goose
We started to look online, after many weeks of looking, we had a short list of boats, some in England, but most in the Netherlands.
We decided to go and look at one on Friday 19th Sept, as it was about 2 hours away in Kent, but we changed our plans Friday afternoon, and by by 4 pm, we were booked onto the night ferry to Hook of Holland.
Jill on the ferry
After we booked, I rang some brokers to find out where the boats where and Fikkers got back to me, they set up some boats for us to look at, the first was in Maastricht, where we met Nick the owner, who had built the barge up from a bare hull to a nice but over engineered barge that was in need of a total update, shame because that had always been the favorite, Nick was a fighter pilot for the Dutch air force, and was one of there top guns, he was at one point in charge of the display team.
His barge, Old Dutch was his life, and we got the impression that his children wanted him to sell her, because of his age, but it is the barge keeping him active.
We spent about 3 hours on board with him, before we left he said we will always be his friends, even if we didn't buy his barge.
Next stop Leer just across the German border, we spent our the first night in the car just outside Leer, sleeping in the car, with our 2 dogs. the next day we looked at the barge we came to see, and it had most of the things we were looking for, but was a bit over priced.
We spent some time in Leer, having breakfast by the river, and looking at the artwork along the river bank.
A very interesting mermaid with legs instead of a tail, but fins for feet.
Later that day we travelled back across the border to Feerwerd to look at Cyrus, we were a bit disappointed that the owner didn't want to start the engine, there was no way we were going to be buying that one, after all, I wouldn't buy a car without hearing the engine, she told me that she would start it next time we came to view it, well we had travelled from the UK to see her boat.
After that it all became a blur, but we ended up in Rotterdam on Sunday for the night, staying in Bilderberg Park Hotel, we walked the dogs round the block before turning in for the night.
Lulu in pink bed & Zac in blue bed.
We had one more boat to look at, and then the ferry the next day, we moved hotels as they didn't have a room for us on monday.
Can anyone tell me why the is an R missing from this
So we seached the internet for a room, and found the Ibis Hotel, near the Oude Haven and checked in, we then walked the dogs for a while, and soon we where at the habour musium, but I was just thinking about my Mum, and the family, so didn't feel much like doing anything.
That afternoon, I spoke again to my brother, and told him that there was little point in me rushing back as there was nothing I could do, so Jill and I had already decided to stay until Saturday to look for more barges, I was on the phone to him when I realised I was sitting on a bench in front of Val Poores barge Vereeniging, and next to it was Pax, one of the barges we had on our list, we had a look at her, but for some reason we decided it wasn't for us.
We spent the afternoon wondering around the Oude Haven, we watched a barge being lowered into the water and being realigned before it was lifted out again, so that the rest of the painting could be done.
We took photo's of the terrapin swimming in the Haven and had a great meal in one of the cafes overlooking the Oude Haven.
The next day we were again heading off, this time to Amsteldijk, to look at Jan Willem, a very nice barge, but again not for us, the owner was happy for us to hear the engine running as was all but one owner so far.
Next we were off to Medemblik to see a boat (Noordenzon) that had just been lowered in price, so we were asked to go see it, although it was not what we were looking for, but as we didn't have any other boats to look
at that day we went, we were met by Mr Fikkers himself, a very carismatic man in his later years, who turned up with his spider fighting brush to show us around, we loved the boat the moment we see her, and was already redesigning the kitchen before we left, we had decided to not stay in Medemblik overnight as we had a barge to look at the next day in Zwartsluis central Holland.
We left for Zwartsluis, about 6 pm, we had managed to buy 2 sleeping bags and a kettle in Medemblik, that was good as it was getting cold at night, we stoped in Sneek to get something to eat, but not much was open, so we drove on for a while looking a place to sleep, we found a quite service area and made some tea,and slept in the car with th dogs again.
The next day it took us about and hour to get their, and we got their just as the heavens opened, it rained the rest of the day.
We met Mandy the Agent for Bowcrest Marine, and went aboard Vertouwen to meet the owner, this one was a project, a very big project, the owner had done a lot of work on her, but there was still a years work to be done to make her livable, and at 29.5 meters long she was going to be a handful for just the 2 of us to handle, but the main reason for not taking her on was the engine, it was an air start Bolnes, and was nearing the end of its life, so was going to have to be replaced at sometime.
We left and headed to Rotterdam, but it was rush hour and we were both tired, so pulled over into the services by the Schiphol Airport, I looked online for a hotel, but couldn't get connected, so I walk over the bridge to the Hotel Van de Valk, and asked them if they had a room for the night, and allowed dogs, they allowed dogs, but only had a suite, so I booked it.
I went back and told Jill we had a suite, we had to go up the motorway to the next junction then back down to get to the hotel, once in we had a bath, and used the steam room in the suite, we had room service bring us some dinner, and went to bed happy in the knowledge that we had decided to buy Noorderzon, but first we wanted to see her again to make sure she was the right barge for us.
I called Fikkers the next day and asked if we could view her again, and if it was possible to hear the engines running, hopefully before we returned to the UK on Saturday, we stall had a barge to look at the next day, but we had already made our choice, but as it had been set up, we went to view it, we were disappointed to see that the photos on the web were old, and she was in a poor state indeed.
Fikkers got back to us that day, and said that they had arranged for us to to see Noorderzon again, and Chris the caretaker of her was going to start the engine for us.
We met Chris, and he told us about the barge, and that he had done lots of work for the owner, and had been looking after it for a year or so, he know her inside out, and was very proud of her, he said that she had been maintained and was ready to go, just needed some stuff finished on the inside, and a good clean, he took me down to the engine room and explained what was in there, and he opened up the valves to the fuel & cooling water, and said we could start her from here, but it would be better to start her from the wheel house, so I followed him up the ladder, he turned the key and she started first time, I had already felt the engine, and it was cold.
He let us walk around and we asked him questions, and got honest replies.
He told us were the key was and said we were welcome to look over her again later if we wished, which we did, we spent about 2 hours on her later that day, dreaming about her, and finding stuff that we missed, we talked about what she could do, and where we couldn't go with her due to the air draft, but we decided that we would rather have her then any of the other barges we had seen, and also as she was sea going, we could sail on the med with her as well as over to the UK.
Noordenzon
The next Day I got up early, and took the dogs for walk , and ended up back at Noordenzon having another look at her, she was in need of some TLC, but I could see what she would look like when she was cleaned up, and repainted, I returned to the Hotel and made Jill a cup of tea, and we chatted about Noordezon for the rest of the day.
Later that day we called Fikkers to say that we were interested, we the made our way to Groningen to Fikkers office, where we sat and had coffee while we signed the contracts, that done we got on the ferry home, and that's where we are now.
On the 25th Oct, we will again be travelling out to the Netherlands to be their while the survey is done.
25th Get on ferry at Harwich.
26th Arrive in Hook of Holland.
27th I will accompany one of the previous owners to Harlingen for the survey.
28th she will have a short sea trial, soon after that she will be lifted out her & bottom cleaned for the survey.
We will stay in Harlingen until we have the survey results, after that if all is well we take ownership on the 7th Nov.
and return to UK on the 8th Nov.
Thanks for reading this my first blog.
Gary
Later that day we called Fikkers to say that we were interested, we the made our way to Groningen to Fikkers office, where we sat and had coffee while we signed the contracts, that done we got on the ferry home, and that's where we are now.
The view from our mooring
On the 25th Oct, we will again be travelling out to the Netherlands to be their while the survey is done.
25th Get on ferry at Harwich.
26th Arrive in Hook of Holland.
27th I will accompany one of the previous owners to Harlingen for the survey.
28th she will have a short sea trial, soon after that she will be lifted out her & bottom cleaned for the survey.
We will stay in Harlingen until we have the survey results, after that if all is well we take ownership on the 7th Nov.
and return to UK on the 8th Nov.
Thanks for reading this my first blog.
Gary
