The quiet of Enkhuizen is perfect to check the engine before leaving. We noticed that the engine transmission belt needed to be tightened. Therefore Gloria took her toolbox and tried to fix it. After many vain efforts, she did it !! 

Thanks to this completed mission, we were full of energy and ready to start our daily journey. 

matters of sailing

The sea was flat and there was no wind at all. Therefore, we decide to navigate without setting the sails. As soon as we left the harbour we passed through a new dike that was luckily already open. After that, we found ourselves in a magic atmosphere. All around us, the horizon line was dissolved and we could just see some light figures. 

We spent our navigation time eating grapes, dancing and singing ABBA’s songs! 

While boating, a stronger smell came out from aft. So, we started looking for what was wrong and finally, we discover there was a leakage of water in a part of the engine. After collecting some advice from a mechanic and Gloria’s expert dad, we decided to keep on and fix everything in Amsterdam, our daily destination.

At that time we started being super enthusiastic about our entrance into such a big city. We switched off the music e called all the city’s harbours to find a spot.  Luckily a cosy little harbour welcomed us. It is called “Sixhaven” and is located in the centre of Amsterdam on the river ‘IJ’ opposite the Central Railway Station. The Sixhaven is situated near the centre of Amsterdam, which can be reached by a short ferry trip. Once we moored the boat, our neighbours gave us a present two new life jackets. We felt so well received. 

first steps in amsterdam

Finally, we had a restful lunch on board and a little power nap just to be more energetic. Once rested, we rode our bikes and went around the neighbourhood called Noorderhof and located in Amsterdam’s Nieuw-West district, formerly Geuzenveld/Slotermeer district. The urban design was produced in the 1990s by the Berlin office of the Luxembourg architect Rob Krier and his partner Christoph Kohl in collaboration with the housing association Het Oosten and the city district. The construction of the district, which has 230 homes, started in 1995 and was completed in 1999. 

street art and installations

Another peculiarity of Noorderhof is street art. The neighbourhood is mostly a shipyard with a lot of vacant structures. It has developed over time into a cultural masterpiece for the city of Amsterdam and has a ton of beautiful graffiti art and even a museum. Some artists continue to reside in these structures or in defunct trams. Numerous well-known artists have completed various pieces here. Edward Boer, who is well-known for his container street art, is one of them. The iconic 24-meter-high mural of Anne Frank was created by Eduardo Kobra, another well-known street artist. Last but not least, there are a variety of other painters that are highly renowned for their murals, like David Walker, Logan Hicks, and Shepard Fairy.

Getting around, we have not only seen magnificent murals, but also new installations. For example, we came across the “Barrier Tape”. With this installation, SpY, the artist, transforms a ubiquitous urban object, which is frequently used to control people’s movement, into an intriguing work of art that invites viewers to engage with the installation. The interplay between the artwork and its natural surroundings is highlighted. Visitors can round and circle around the installation, which creates a large, constantly shifting surface. The ribbons, which are suspended on parallel strings and are driven by the wind, swing together as a single unit, producing a tremendous sea-like sound and a wave-like movement throughout the music.

It has been magic to go through it.

To conclude our day, we had a slow time chilling in pub Pllek with an outdoor area on the sea. Then we enjoyed the golden hour with a panoramic view!

The sun is up and the Dutch landscapes look gorgeous from the window of planes and trains on which Allegra is travelling to reach Gloria.

ready to sail

The journey from Milan to Harlingen lasted many hours, but still, we managed to be together at midday. 

Before leaving the Harlingen harbour, we had a coffee on board with three gentlemen just met on the dock. We immediately discovered to share many interests as demonstrated by their membership in Europa Nostra, the leading citizens’ movement to protect and celebrate Europe’s cultural and natural heritage. Europa Nostra is the voice of all who believe that cultural heritage is vital for our economy, our society, our culture, our environment, our well-being and for the future of Europe. Definitely, something we agree with!

So, after these fascinating chatting, we finally started sailing and set the sails. It has been Tetide’s first time and intense emotion for us. 

Unfortunately, we had some trouble in rolling the genoa: Gloria tried to fix it while Allegra was helming, but it was not possible to solve the problem. Nonetheless, we had to navigate only with the mainsail, we were in good mood. We were extremely happy to have started finally our travel and to be together again after a long time. 

the great dike

En route to Enkhuizen, we had to cross the biggest Holland dike.

The Afsluitdijk is a major dam and causeway in the Netherlands. It was built between 1927 and 1932, and it stretches 32 kilometres from Den Oever in North Holland province to the village of Zurich in Friesland province, with a width of 90 meters and an initial height of 7.25 meters above sea level.

We were so curious about such great engineering work that we explored a bit it’s history.   

Flooding was a possibility in the Zuiderzee region. Due to this, the Zuiderzee was already going to be sealed off in the 17th century. In 1892, engineer Cornelis Lely created his initial blueprint for the Afsluitdijk. The dyke was necessary to block off the water and lessen the likelihood of floods. The potential to establish additional agricultural polders with the land was made possible by the construction of the Afsluitdijk, which was advantageous for the economy and the food supply.

The dyke was not only historically interesting but also entertaining from the sailing perspective. Once we arrived in front of the dyke, we had to wait for the traffic light to become green. We were not alone: a lot of other boats were waiting with us. And as the dam has been opened, everyone went chaotically into it. It looked like rush hours in the city centre!

the ancient Enkhuizen

Then, we kept on sailing until Enkhuizen, where we arrived at 8 p.m. This little town welcomes us with a parade of typical tall ships at the entrance of the harbour. They are known as the “Holland Sail fleet” and are composed of a variety of faster clippers or traditional tjalks – a dutch type of barge with a flat bottom instead of a keel. Each ship has a unique layout allowing for different numbers to stay on board.

Luckily, we found a place in the harbour that allow us to see these boats during the golden hour! 

After appreciating this view, we have taken a tour of the town on our bikes. 

There are places in Enkhuizen where it appears as though time has stopped. The ambience of the XVII century is still present throughout the city. Indeed, Enkhuizen was one of the most prosperous cities in the Netherlands in the 17th century. It gained power and influence – together with the city of Hoorn – as a member of the Dutch East India Company.

Happily, numerous stunning fortifications and monuments have survived. For instance, we had the pleasure to have a drink in front of the beautiful “Drommedaris”. It is the southern entrance to the city of Enkhuizen. The building, which was originally on the Westfriesian dike was constructed as a fortification structure at the entrance to the Old Harbor. Later, the dike section close to the Drommedaris was removed to make room for the new harbour. The building’s ground floor chamber and the artillery cellar both date to 1540 and are parts of the original structure. Both rooms have cannon holes in niches along the walls where cannons that could cover the harbours formerly stood. A rib vault is present in the upper room. There was a structure with still-existing prison cells on the roof above the building.

 

The discovery of Enkhuizen has been the perfect ending for one of the longest days ever.

On my last day on my own, I woke up to quite a stressful realisation.

Tides.

The Wadden Sea is one of the world’s largest tidal areas. The region stretches across three borders, from  Den Helder to Danish Esbjerg. The Wadden Sea is a one-of-a-kind see part of the UNESCO World Heritage. At least twice a day, the world changes. At one point, you come across a kilometre-long stretch of mud flats. The next thing you know, everything is submerged. The weather is frequently violent and difficult to predict. You must adapt if you want to survive. And it looks like Allegra and I will need to start our trip adapting as well. In fact, on top of the normal tide tomorrow Harlingen will experience another exceptional high tide from 10:20 to 14:40.

flat lands

Therefore tomorrow we will not be able to leave the harbour as soon as Allegra arrives around 12:30 as the two sluisen (dikes) will be closed in order to protect the city of Harlingen, its canals, and the whole countryside behind. In fact, the main characteristic of Dutch geography is the flatness of the land: about half of the territory is less than one metre above sea level and a substantial part (27% of the total area, where 21% of the population resides) is below sea level. The lowest point, 6.7 metres below sea level, is located near Rotterdam. The highest point, the Vaalserberg, has a height of 321 metres and is located in the southwest, at the convergence of the borders of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Today, 65% of the Netherlands would be underwater without the system of dikes, sluices and canals that regulate its level: a cohabitation painstakingly built over two thousand years of complex relations between man and nature. A polder is a Dutch invention that changed the physiognomy of the Netherlands forever and has been used in various other parts of the world since. Polder is a Dutch word that originally denoted a plot of grassy land that emerged from shallow marshes, land of this kind, later reclaimed, reclaimed is now called polder. This is how the use of windmills developed, around the 17th century, which used the power of the wind to operate the pumps with which to draw water from the polders. To increase the land needed for agriculture and a growing population, the Dutch built bigger and bigger dams and canals. For the past sixty years, everyone has had their feet dry and agricultural land, nature reserves and housing areas have increased without harming the climate. If one compares two maps, one from the 14th century and the other from the present day, one realises that seventeen per cent of the country’s surface area has been claimed and obtained by water. After all, place names tell the story of centuries of Dutch engineering: ‘dam’ means dyke and the major cities have names associated with the first, ancient defence works. The Dutch have a unique bond with water, their best friend and most fearsome adversary. Economic prosperity has historically come along the waterways, a valuable element not only for trade but also for creating energy and for an agriculture that is now the world’s second-largest exporter after the United States. Water has, moreover, caused tragedies in the past, the last one in 1953. The flood came from the North Sea and eight thousand three hundred and sixty-one people died. The water swept away nine per cent of the cultivated area. 

outstanding protections

The Delta Works project defends the Netherlands from the enormous amount of freshwater they are crossed by and the salt water they are totally surrounded by. Thirteen large dykes have been built, together with sluices, tidal barriers, polders, and artificially dried land, most recently an entire province, Flevoland, in 1976. The Delta project, as far as large structures are concerned, was completed in 1997 and is characterised by its ability to give space to water when it is not dangerous. The work as a whole has been declared one of the seven wonders of the modern world by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Such a high level of vigilance and protection is not improvised: the windmills, with their ability to pump water, are a symbol of the early efforts of the Dutch to protect themselves. The nineteen windmills built around 1740 near Dordrecht, in Kinderdijk, have been declared by Unesco as a common heritage site of outstanding universal value. The Zuiderzee, the gulf called the South Sea, was transformed into a lake in the last century: in 1918, civil engineer Cornelius Lely’s project was also approved after several floods, which put an end to the doubts of part of the public. 

necessary compromises 

All defence works are a compromise with nature: the dams allow, except in critical conditions, the normal flow and, in this way, clean water enters and polluted water leaves. The barriers have made room for large green areas: the Eastern Scheldt National Park has been carved out of dunes and sand and mud flats. Open dykes allow fish such as salmon or trout to migrate through special openings. More space is being created for some of the rivers to balance the impact of the works and also to create freshwater reserves that, it is estimated, will soon be precious. This is why the project involves the periodic flooding of some land considered indefensible and no longer inhabited. Living with water and even in water: a futuristic answer, but one that is very trendy, is the floating houses, usually, high-quality villas or duplexes, often designed by well-known architects, passive in terms of energy and super-technological in terms of equipment. The visual impact is remarkable. Indeed, environmental care, according to former Delta Works commissioner Peter Glas, must be taken responsibly, looking at the facts and listening to science. “We deal with, and prepare as best we can, even hypothetical scenarios. Even if the sea level were to rise by two metres.”

gezeiten

On top of that, in the North Sea, the currents are very strong and parallel to the coast. The sea is shallow and very flat, so much so that it looks like a continuum of land. The Wattenmeer (the sea between the coast and the Frisian Islands) has a depth of about 30 metres, while in the more central area of the North Sea it is about 200 metres deep. The Mediterranean Sea can be up to 4000 metres deep. The North Sea is therefore characterised by the large difference between the Flut (high) and Ebbe (low) tide. This major difference is due to the currents parallel to the coast and its shape. The tides depend on the attraction that the moon and the sun have on the earth. A lunar month lasts 28 days and is divided into four weeks in which the phases of the moon alternate: full moon, first quarter, new moon and last quarter. Each week the moon is in a different position in relation to the sun: there is a maximum tide in the full and new moon phases, i.e. when the moon and sun are aligned on the same axis. In this case, the vectors of the moon and sun add up and the tide is called a sigiziale. There is a minimum tide in the first and last quarter phases i.e. when the moon and sun are perpendicular and not on the same axis. 

why exceptional

Tomorrow we will not only have flut tide, but an exceptionally high one, a trend more and more common in the Netherlands because the sea level has risen by 12 to 20 centimetres between 1902 and 2010. The rate at which sea levels are rising has accelerated. It has risen twice as fast in recent years as it did in the twentieth century, at a rate of 4 to 5 millimetres per year. The rate at which the sea level is rising also continues to increment. The study “Effects of sea-level rise on tides and sediment dynamics in a Dutch tidal bay” demonstrated that sea-level rise (SLR) not only increases the risk of coastal flooding, but it also has the potential to change tidal regimes in estuaries and coastal bays. The study considered the impact of SLR on tidal dynamics in the adjacent North Sea. The findings show that compared to the nearby shelf sea, the bay experiences higher increases in tidal amplitude and stronger nonlinear tidal distortion as a result of SLR up to 2 meters. Tidal asymmetry during SLR up to 2 meters influences an essential part of sediment transport. The altered tidal asymmetry may result in increased export when merely taking into account sand bed-load transfer, which could have effects on coastline management.

As a result, I will simply need to leave Noorderhaven earlier in the morning and dock outside the dike on the incredibly high Waddenzee while waiting for Allegra’s arrival. Thankfully the harbourmaster will be my crew for a few minutes of support, and the Harlingen harbour authority will allow Tetide to dock right outside the dike, basically in front of the train station. Not too bad at the end of the day, but not thinking about the tangibility of climate change impact is impossible.

First train ride today, thrilling travel to Zwolle. 

After a morning dedicated to accounting and general boat maintenance, I got confirmation of a very sweet opportunity. 

fons’ support

Fons Janssen, the Coordinator of the European Climate Pact Ambassadors of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg was visiting Mello and offered to spend some time with me offering moral support and guidance in the beautiful city of Zwolle. Excited by the opportunity of being finally able to meet him in person after many calls online and emails I accepted. After having – as always – jumped on the train right before it left from Harlingen Haven I enjoyed a peaceful ride through the Frysian countryside. At my arrival in Zwolle Central Station, I had Fons waiting for me on the spoor (platform) and bringing energy as well as three much-appreciated gifts. The first one was a batch of free-range chicken eggs coming from his family farm Zorgboerderij de Haam, he also kindly brought me a black and white decorated red bandana, actually a farmer’s handkerchief, and finally a t-shirt of the European Climate Pact. 

the city

The ancient cities of the Hanseatic League have preserved to this day a culture unparalleled in Europe, from Germany to the Netherlands to the Scandinavian countries. Zwolle, in the Netherlands, is one of them. The current capital of the province of Overijssel, with 115,000 inhabitants, is located about 120 km from Amsterdam and very close to another Hanseatic city, Kampen. Zwolle is not a seaside town, as perhaps its history might suggest; the powerful German league chose it for its river connections: today the city is situated on the waters of the Zwarte, a small river that flows into the river Ijssel, but at one time this small hilly area was surrounded by three rivers (I]ssel, Vecht and Zwarte). The name Zwolle derives from Suolle (hill), which was given to the town immediately after its foundation, which took place in the year 800 by merchants from Friesland and the troops of Charlemagne. In 1294, the city became part of the League and thus in 1361 took part in the war against Valdemaro IV of Denmark. In medieval times and especially in the 15th century, the city flourished economically, thanks to the trade brought about by membership of the league; art and culture followed as usual. Many palaces built in the period – sadly still – known as the Golden Age can still be admired in the old town, bearing witness to a rich and prosperous history.

the visit

Immediately on a first visit, Zwolle appears as a lively city with many opportunities and a vital economy. Easily accessible by road, river and rail networks. Just north of the railway station, we find a bought medieval centre. Most of the ancient walls that once surrounded it have been demolished, but the defensive channel is still clearly outlined. Within walking distance of each other, one can find many old buildings and picturesque streets. Fons and I firstly enjoyed a coffee in Nieuwe Markt before a chill walking tour in the city centre. The first sight we observed was Grote Kerk which is located in the centre of the Grote Markt square and is also known as the Sint Michaëlskerk church. It is a large sandstone building and can be regarded as one of the most unfortunate churches in the country: it was struck by lightning three times in less than 150 years. Inside the church, there are some examples of Renaissance sculptures and an organ that dates back to 1721. The rest of the church is straightforward in style compared to other Dutch churches. The Hoofdwacht is a beautiful building attached to the Grote Kerk, built in 1614 and formerly used as the city’s guardhouse. Public executions were only carried out outside the Hoofdwacht. At the front of the building is an inscription with the text ‘Vigilate et Orate‘ (watch and pray), perhaps a warning when considering the terrible punishments once carried out here. One of the places we mostly enjoyed were the Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady) located just outside the Ossemarkt, is an old Catholic church from 1399 with a difficult history. In 1580 it was closed to Protestants and was used for various purposes, was later returned to the Catholics and reopened in 1809. The structure has a neo-Gothic style and is adorned with an interesting tower known as ‘De Peperbus‘, one of the tallest church towers in the Netherlands. The Doopsgezinde Church, a large church located at Wolweverstraat 9, is one of several churches created by members of the ‘doopsgezinde Societeit’ (Mennonite Christians of l Anabaptist sentiments). The church was built in the early 17th century and was extended and renovated in the late 1800s. We walked by the Museum de Fundatie and its amazing round-tiled roof before getting back to the Sassenpoort: a Saxon gate from 1408 located at the end of the Sassenstraat. It was originally built to protect the southern entrance to the city and is the only surviving medieval gate. The brick building with five spires currently houses exhibitions on the history of the town and it represented the perfect background for a lovely institutional picture. 

dutch dinner

Find and I enjoyed an early dinner again in Nieuwe Markt during which we managed to better understand how we could cross our actions and he shared with me exciting plans for the European Climate Pact Ambassadors community. I caught the train back to Harlingen and had an early night. Already planning tomorrow and the preparations for Allegra’s and my new departure for Navigandum per hereditatem.