I followed a narrow nine-kilometre branch canal to Ens and moored in the small basin at its end. This cul-de-sac is in the middle of nowhere about five metres below sea level on the bottom of the former Zuiderzee. I had come here because it's only a four kilometre pedal from Schokland. Schokland is a former island, and it has a long and complex history. The landform, a low rock and gravel ridge, was one of the banks of the ancient River Vecht, and it originated as a glacial esker at the end of the last ice age. It was home to wooly rhinoceros, aurochs, mammoths, Irish elk and European bison. In the museum are displays of remains of many of these. As the ice receded, the ridge became the occa
When the Zuiderzee was closed off from the Noordzee and the polders were ringed with dikes to begin creating new land, a chain of lakes was left between them and the old coast. These are called the Randmeren, which means rim or margin lakes. The ancient towns around the Randmeren have well-equipped and maintained public mooring facilities, but after 1600, fees are charged, and the fees are expensive. Because Zonder Zorg is equipped with all modern conveniences, I need nothing but a place to pause for the night. I don't like paying for toilets, showers, laundry, electricity and other facilities I don't use, so I explored the towns, did my shopping, and in the late afternoon, before fees were
The old Zuiderzee coast is rimmed with historic villages, towns and cities. Some have been modernised, such as Naarden with its new town hall completed in 1601. Many of the towns have historic harbours filled with lovingly-maintained antique fishing boats. Here, in Spakenburg, there are several dozen antique wooden botters, jols and bons dating from the late nineteenth century, all in full sailing trim. These former fishing boats are now used for pleasure and racing. Also in Spakenburg, some of the women still wear the traditional costume. Everywhere there are ancient wooden boats, such a in this small harbour in Hardewijk. But there are also many of the old windmills which had been used to
I've long been fascinated by the geography and the history of the Zuiderzee. It was an arm of the North Sea which had gradually evolved with the rising sea levels caused by the slow global warming which melted ice sheets from the last ice age twelve thousand years ago. Global warming is not a new thing invented by pseudo-scientists and popularised by Al Gore; it's one of the natural cycles of the earth’s climate, just as is global cooling. This map from 1818 shows the inland sea in the early nineteenth century. At the end of the last ice age, the area now known as the North Sea was dry land. Then about five thousand years ago, the rising sea levels from the melting and recession of the of th
