Haarlem

 

After two days anchored we moved on towards Haarlem. There is one really tricky bridge to pass on this part of the canals. The bridge is only open at certain times and so there is a place to tie up but it is really difficult to use, especially as the wind was really strong. When the bridge opened and we had the green light we had to make a hard turn to port to leave the mooring which happily went well.

Happily because shortly after there is another bridge and at that point the steering refused to let Ti Gitu turn to port!!

We made the bridge and then there was a bend in the canal to port which we just made and desperate to find somewhere to stop Mo used her binoculars and saw a stopping place to starboard. We made it OK.

What had happened was when I had looked at the single lever control I must have disturbed the control cables one of which caught on a shackle at the end of the steering chain and as the steering moved to port it stopped the steering moving.

At first I had thought there was something jamming the rudder and I am so glad I didn’t try to force it as that would have broken things.

Once stopped the steering pedestal was dismantled and the problem was obvious so a ‘U’ bolt was fitted to guide the cables.

We spent the night there and the harbour official came along for payment. He was incredibly helpful, telling us where to moor in the middle of the city and that it would be a nice quiet spot but to get there mid morning before things became busy.

In Haarlem there are nine bridges that have to be negotiated and an official will allow a convoy to form and then cycle from bridge to bridge opening them in sequence. We had another incredibly helpful official called Celeste who also came to help us berth.

The facilities are great and once the harbour people had helped me put an app on my phone we could easily pay for mooring, electric and all other services that way. The app emails you each day with the amount you are spending.

It was also arranged that the harbour office would accept a parcel for us and so as the gear change had been getting very stiff we decided to spend a few days in Haarlem while a new gear change and cables came from Denmark, promised in 3 to 4 days. Believe it when it arrives.