Volendam to Amsterdam – 18 miles in 4 hours 25 minutes
Back home again today … We set off from Volendam about 9.15 this morning to head back to Amsterdam Marina. Volendam marina was really nice – a modern marina with excellent facilities (apart from an oddly positioned pump-out station again – where is all the waste going ….). I’d be happy to head back there again notwithstanding the fact that it is box berths – my favourite! Once out of Volendam we did manage to sail for a while but the wind slowly died and headed us and in the end we reluctantly had to motor back to the Shellingwoude bridge and Oranjesluis. After a short wait for the bridge, we then had a similar wait for the lock. Going through the lock felt like the Tokyo underground at rush hour – boats crammed in every which way. The final dinghy that squeezed in even had to go across the end athwartships to get in without becoming a lock gate sandwich. We were quite glad to be close to the front with just a small motor launch beside us and we managed to make a fairly quick escape from the chaos.
Once back, a quick diversion to the pump-out and then lunch at Loetje’s. Then sadly, an evening ferry home.
