Not much curbside classics on this tour, since cars, trucks and motorcycles are not allowed to drive on the major part of this route. And that makes the dike (from the Dutch dijk) south of the Waal river ideal for a good walk, or bicycle ride, on a sunny day. With a great view to both the river forelands and the land protected by the dike.
Former farm and farmhouse, right after the main entrance of the dike.
On the left, that’s north of the dike, the river forelands.
The bridge in the background leads to some industrial plants, in the past it was the road to a ferry-boat.
A dairy farm, on the right the stockpile forage for the winter season.
Front view of the dairy farm.
The dike is getting more curvy here.
Meanwhile the ships are gliding through the landscape.
Shipping containers, heading east.
More of them on this one.
All kinds of concrete products are made in this plant, situated in the river forelands; we saw the bridge that leads to it above.
Glory days from the past, an abandoned brickworks. The river brought us clay, the raw material for the production of bricks.
Right after the old brickworks a group of cranes rises above the flat land.
They belong to the flourishing local shipyard.
On the opposite side of the shipyard’s premises are these new houses.
They just keep on coming, those shipping containers.
This part of the dike is also the only road to the shipyard and houses pictured further above.
Have a save journey, Michelangelo.
The shipyard from a different point of view.
The Fighter from Rotterdam, carrying a load of sand. The family car is also aboard.
Stand here for an hour or so and you’ll see more river vessels than you could imagine.
A Viking ship, evidently.
Closed due to circumstances.
In the background the narrow road that leads to the quay where I’m standing, and back to the dike. If the river level rises more, this whole quay will be flooded too.
There used to be a bunker vessel, right at this spot.
Way, way in the background is a house with red roof tiles.
For the time being there’s no need to empty the trash cans.
This old house at the corner of the dike and the road to the village seems to be built into the dike.
18th Century tea house, originally owned by the noble Van Deelen family. In the tourist season you can still have your cup of tea here.
Walking further eastwards.
Two wonderful houses, built at the riverside of the dike. Obviously the occupants and visitors can always enter the houses, regardless the river level.
Sailing to the east, which means upstream.
This vessel is heading west, down the river.
One of two identical and fairly new apartment buildings.
Another river vessel with the family car aboard.
Jewish monument, to honor and remember the small Jewish community. In 1860 the Protestants sold their former church to the Jewish community and they used it as a synagogue. The only synagogue in the whole region. Some bricks and a window from that building were used in this monument. Looking through its window you can see the original location of the former church and synagogue and the tower of the Roman Catholic church (also visible in the picture).
A last salute to the mighty river….
…before we leave the dike behind us here.
This is how the dike looks from ground level.
This little scenery reminds me of the 1981 movie Southern Comfort.
We’re away from the river, but that doesn’t mean we’ve run out of water…In the background a furniture factory.
Well of course there’s also some roadworthy machinery, like this 2013 Fuso (Mitsubishi) Canter COE flatbed truck. Powered by a 4-cylinder 3.0 liter diesel engine, good for 150 hp. Japanese trucks have become rare here, since Europeans prefer Euro-trucks in all segments nowadays.
Now you’re talking ! A bunch of brutal take-no-prisoners hammering Swedish Vee Eight Scanias. They sound as good as any US muscle car from the sixties, in my opinion. On the other hand, many would call it noise…
I was just feeling nostalgic for the Netherlands (lived there for two years, moved back to the US in August) couple days ago—I thought I was over it and then you had to come around, Johannes! I remember seeing many landscapes like this in Holland and Gelderland on foot, on fiets (that switchback brought me back to a similar one near the Amstel), or from the train window. Heel erg bedankt.
My apologies + my pleasure.
So pretty ~ THANK YOU for sharing .
-Nate
Great pictures and beautiful scenery………..thanks for sharing them with us.
Nice! Glad to see something else than another evaluation of a broughamy interior.
When are we getting a writeup of the Solex?
Wonderful pictures and it makes me oddly nostalgic for my time growing up along the Mississippi River. The backwater among the trees is eerily reminiscent.
However, I don’t miss flooding at all! We had a major flood here the last week of December, making it about the fifth or sixth 500 Year flood of my life.
No worries Jason, the high water level isn’t really a flooding, it’s still within the usual confines of fluctuating water levels. Nothing unusual this time of the year with rain and melting snow upstream in Germany and Switzerland. Strict building restrictions prohibit construction works within in or on the river banks.
That’s right. It’s a “controlled flooding”, only the river forelands (the land between the riverbed and the dike) can flood, which is very common at the end of the winter.
Just look at the plant (with the silos) and the two houses at the riverside of the dike; nothing can go wrong there, regardless the river level.
Thanks.
These pictures really brought a smile to my face for a variety of reasons. Thanks for composing this.
Unlike my uncle’s farm during the last big flood nearly 25 years ago, their large silo was mounted on a concrete base with a bit for discharge of grain, and there was a crack in the drain pipe that was letting water in with the outlet blocked; they had to pump out the pit every 45 minutes to avoid the possibility water getting into the silo, for several days.
Very interesting to see the landscape and some quite different farms to what I am used to, for example we don’t need winter barns here!
Likewise the river is very different than the Murray River that I grew up on. From the 1860s paddle boats were the main transport for heavy freight to a large part of inland Australia until the railways took over. The boats were side wheelers due to the narrow, twisting rivers with very shallow draughts to allow operation longer into the summer when rivers would often dry up. One of the largest paddle steamers is the PS Pevensey, that featured in the mini-series “All The Rivers Run”, that has a draft of 4’6″ loaded with 120 ton of cargo plus the timber fuel, water etc.
Wife and I passed through Natchez last year and stayed for a couple nights at a B&B above the Mississippi. Like you, these pictures of the barges took me back to a very pleasant time.
Thanks JD
Lovely pictures that remind me of my many trips to the Netherlands, mostly during the 1980s when I worked for Philips. I stayed in Holland for three months in 1986, which gave me the opportunity to drive along some of the hundreds (thousands?) of kilometers of roads located on top of dykes. Fun way to see the countryside. Back in 1986, many dykes were still open to car traffic.
Here are a few pictures I took back then.
First is a picture of a flood gate located above a major 4-lane highway (not too far from Schiphol airport IIRC). I had seen this bizarre structure from the highway a few times before, but it was only when I happened to drive on the dike itself that I realized I was looking at a floodgate, which can be lowered onto the highway to close the breach in the dyke. Flood prevention and control is a national priority in the Netherlands, prompted in part by the great floods of 1953, and now by rising sea levels caused by global warming.
Holland is of course famous for its tulips, but it also produces a huge variety of flowers for export in vast greenhouses. I remember driving along a major dike in the south that was located in a ‘sea’ of greenhouses that stretched for kilometers on either side. It makes for a rather surreal (and very shiny!) landscape.
The winter of 1986 was one of the coldest on record in Holland. My colleagues thought it was quite funny that a Canadian was complaining about the cold, but it was the high humidity that really hit me hard.
Extreme cold in Holland means hundreds of kilometers of frozen canals. I remember driving through a village where there were dozens of ducks wandering in a daze, incapable of finding any open water.
The record cold created the world’s biggest, if temporary, skating rink. It was a good excuse for a 200km skating tour/race that attracted over 15,000 skaters, the “Elfstedentocht” (Eleven City Tour). It’s only been held once since 1986, in 1997, the last time the ice was sufficiently thick.
This picture is not from the race, but a typical scene that winter.
Some great pictures and extra info, Louis !
The blue tractor in the background of your thirth picture is a (conventional day cab model) Scania and the light green colored car on the right seems to be an Opel Rekord E, we had many of them ! Lovely pictures from the eighties.
A great noise comes out of Scanias, I used to drop the passenger window pulling up steep hills to listen to it, I’m not much of a fan of the DSG transmissions they use but in steep going they have their uses and you can always turn the auto function off for cruising on the flat so it wont downshift all the time, nice trucks.
Oh, you like the “Symphony Of The Scania V8” too ? I just knew you would…
Listen to this…Yes, I know, the guy is playing with the gas pedal and clutch, and the truck must have straight pipes…but what the heck !
Well worth listening to. Thanks for sharing it, Johannes.
Thanks for the story & pics, Johannes.
That Scania in the video sounds fantastic!
Nice! As always I appreciate the lack of advertising signage in Europe..
Beautiful landscapes
Thanks for posting these interesting and beautiful pictures of life along the water in Holland. You have learned over the centuries how to live in an area that basically wants to be underwater.
I attended university in Oestfriesland, in Deutchland, which was just a quick train ride to Groeningen. Without any money, I spent days on my bike, riding around in both countries and enjoying the Wattensea, the dykes, and the slow pace of life. I have always loved working rivers and have always found the harnessing of rivers and seas to be a fascination. Being from Chicago, I’m familiar with how we do it here, so it was fantastic to see it there.
I used to freeze two plastic liters of water, wrap up my cheese and bread between them in a bath towel, and ride off for adventures and swimming wherever I found it. The sun never burned, the scenes were stunning and pastoral, and the Dutch forever friendly. It was nice to speak English for a change and living the life of a carefree college student was a blessing that I savored every day.
It was amazing how different both countries were in so many ways, yet within a bike ride from one another. I knew from the photos of the houses that you were in the Netherlands, as the Deutsch versions look far more plain than the Dutch.
Thank you for sharing.
Good story ! When visiting Groningen (both the capital of the province and the province itself have the same name) you were right inbetween Friesland in the Netherlands and Ostfriesland in Germany.
Quick question??
Do “families” live on the tugs or do they carry a car for the convenience of the Captain to return home after a duty shift with a replacement Captain??
Yes, the families and the crew live on the vessels. Their children often go to boarding schools.
The ships start in Rotterdam and follow the Waal (the vessels sailing east in the article) and then the Rhine, into Germany and further south.
I’m pretty sure that Dutch commenter Rammstein knows a lot more about the shipping business than I do.
I only have an uncle who has worked at several shipyards for many decades, that’s about it….
It does depend though. Some vessels, particularly Dutch are privately owned with the owners living in the rear-appartment, often very comfortable ones. Others, especially German vessels and tankers carrying liquids and petrochemicals, are company owned and have changing staff onboard, often a combination of nationalities (German, Hungarian, Bulgarian).
Thanks !
I saw many little family tugs with a spot for their personal car. I’ve watched hundreds pass through and it looks like more than less of them have living quarters on them.
You’ll see a lot of barges on the Rhine River that have a place for a car, or sometimes two, and a crane for loading and unloading them, perhaps also used for cargo. We got quite a kick out of seeing a yellow 05-09 generation Mustang on one of them. Many of these barges had what appeared to be quite comfortable family living quarters at the stern – on one of them Mama had her kids studying at the kitchen table.
They were self-propelled for the most part- apparently the term “barge” doesn’t strictly apply to vessels that need to be towed like it does in the US.
Beautiful part of the world. Great pictures as well. The Scania V8 is music to my ears.
A fine tour of some beautiful parts of your country. Thanks for sharing them with us!