Maastricht

We are moored in the middle of the river here in Maastricht looking out our windows at the old city. The weather has turned grey and cool again, which is OK as we will be here for the weekend doing city stuff and catching up with our long lost Dutch friend Marco.
The recent travelling has been mainly on commercial canals which are interesting in their own way but not very picturesque. It is amazing how much gets moved around on the waterways in this country, although it seems that most of it is sand, rocks and dirt for construction, or demolished structures on their way to be converted back to sand, rocks and dirt. The barges are huge and often loaded down to the gunwales, or even over. Mostly they seem to be operated by Husband and Wife teams with their car on the back; usually he is driving and she is outside cleaning.

There are more locks here and they are BIG - Long enough for two or three of the big barges and up to 10m (30') deep. Fortunately they are well organized and have bollards built in to the side to tie up to, or even ones that float up with you. We will stay around this area until we leave it looks like we will leave the boat at a yard in Maasbracht where we can have a few things done that we have learnt we want as we have got used to ARMIDA. When we return in early August we will be well positioned to leave the crowded waters of Holland in the summer and head up the Maas/Meuse into Belgium and France.