The next day's travel led us along part of the Maas, and then briefly on the Waal River followed by the Lek- the two latter are tributaries of the Rhine. These three huge waterways flow into the sea through Rotterdam. At this point they were not too daunting. More of a fear was the Rhine- Amsterdam Canal, which we had chosen not to go onto after reading the warnings about many huge commercial barges speeding along, but we had no choice when the first lock on a more minor route, the Merwedekanal, was unexpectedly out of operation.

The old port area- Utrecht

In practice the main issue was crossing the traffic lane to get to the correct side, and then at the end to leave the canal. Once we were on our way we could cling to the bank and let everyone else overtake us. It was a good quick trip and we soon darted across to enter the Merwedekanal at the other end, and tie up in Jutphaas, a suburb of "Nieuwegen", a new town built in the 1970s to serve the growing population of Utrecht. This was a very comfortable and convenient mooring adjacent to a tree- lined street and close to a bus stop to take us into Utrecht. We had originally planned to take the boat there but closer analysis suggested that many of the bridges would be too low for us, so it seemed better to place ourselves conveniently outside.

Old Utrecht with its canals

We travelled into the city and enjoyed the interesting architecture and the historic port areas and canals which had made the city so successful over many centuries. It is a university city- the University of Utrecht dates back to 1636 and the this was reflected in the lively street life. The bike is king here. There are few cars in the ancient city centre, only bikes. There is a multi storey bike parking area and plenty of smaller ones. Another feature of the city was the large amount of building activity on huge projects. There is a large mural to celebrate the fact that next year's Tour de France begins in Utrecht, already a cause for celebration a year before it will happen. 

 The Dam Tower

Best Regards,

Penny & Dave

 University courtyard