June 2026 – part 1 (1st to 15th)
After spending a lot longer in the Groningen area, we finally managed to move away and set off on 1st June in the direction of Veendam. Several bridges later we turned into the Winschoterdiep, and a little later we spotted a nice-looking mooring (which was a remnant of an old lock from many decades ago), tucked just behind some green spars in the water, and we moved across to rope in for the night. There was a lovely long grassy stretch along the land, edged by a small forest, perfect for walking the dogs …. until Pip bright some ‘friends’ back with her and we realised we were in tick country again!
On our way to the mooring we had passed what appeared to be a shipyard for very large ships, and this was confirmed by some BIG old barges passing us as well as some heavy duty machinery pulled and pushed along by tugs.
We spent just one night there and then moved on again, now heading to a little mooring in the town of Sappemeer and managing to fit ourselves in at the very end of the canal. This turned out to be a very pleasant night’s stay (despite heavy rain overnight) with a nice walk along the main canal.
Sappemeer is home to an historic luxemotor from 1928 called Nomadisch which had been owned by the same family until the last descendent passed away in 2018, when a friend of the owner inherited it with a proviso that it be managed under a trust by a team of ten who are now engaged in renovating it.
During a conversation with one of the team, I was lucky enough to be invited onboard to look round and it really was like stepping back in time. The original accomodation (which at one point had hosted a family of five) was still in place.
I was taken to view the two cylinders from the original 50hp engine that had arrived back from being reconditioned and were waiting to be installed, which they were hopeful might be working on my next visit.
It was explained that to start it, they have to heat it up with a separate fire and generate compressed air – I’m not exactly sure how they used to generate the compressed air but now they have a compressor, it should be a bit easier – all this to overcome the low compression of the engine and generate enough heat for the gases to ignite in the cylinders!
Happily the next morning was brighter and we were able to leave Sappemeer to travel onward to our intended destination of Veendam, some three and a half hours later. Arriving at the municipal moorings, it was almost as if we hadn’t been away long as several people seemed to recognise Shensi despite it being four years since our last visit, and stopped to say hello.
For various reasons we ended up spending eight days in Veendam, and during the stay the weather deteriorated from lovely sunny days to thunder storms, lightning, hail, heavy rain, and even some dry spells popping up occasionally during which we did manage to squeeze in a walking tour in and around the area, appointments with the local council and a drive to Grou to collect a package, plus bring the car back to Veendam. On my drive back, Nicki phoned to say that she was trapped in a supermarket because of a heavy storm, and could I collect her. This I did and drove us back to Shensi only to discover a lot of police activity at the end of the road. Apparently a house nearby had been struck by lightening which emphasized how bad the storm had been!
Eventually it was time for us to move off and we travelled along the Oosterdiep and then the Stadskanaal, passing through 32 movable bridges and four locks, all the while accompanied by a team of bridge/lock keepers. The trip from Veendam to the town of Stadskanaal is 16 kilometers by boat.
The first leg of the trip was in pleasant sunshine. At the halfway mark there is a railway bridge for the Red Star line, with a height of 3.7m – we were pleased to discover that we could just scrape through with our new bimini in place although the mast still had to be dropped. Over the second leg, the weather turned against us with a few heavy showers – in one of the locks we even had to wait out a hail storm whilst the lock keeper took shelter in his office.
All together the journey took four and a half hours from start to finish until we moored up in Stadskanaal, just after the Eurobrug in the town itself, where we stayed for two nights before setting off once more to Ter Apel, cruising along the Stadskannal, into Musselkanaal and then turning on to Terapelkannal, passing 17 lifting bridges and 4 locks along the way.
With depths less than two meters in places, numerous abandoned boats littering the sides, a selection of residential houseboats and some historic boats (which always seemed to be close to a bridge), the navigation was at times quite fraught. The weather was reasonable although the wind speeds picked up during the afternoon.
This route however is mostly tree lined, providing some shelter from the wind, and is also lined with historic farmhouses, mostly converted now, but all quite attractive.
We were relishing mooring just outside of the centre in Ter Apel, and happily were not disappointed – a nice wooden staging on a corner of the Ter Apelkannal, close to some strikingly attractive houses as well as the only remaining rural monastery from the Middle Ages in the Netherlands, all surrounded by a national forest (Ter Appelerbos). A lovely location, with great dog walks.
During one of the dog walks in the forest Nicki came upon a small railed-in cemetery with headstones dating from 1800s and on investigation, it turned out to be a Jewish cemetery, tucked away among the trees.
Two nights were spent in Ter Apel before we were on our way again, heading toward and into Germany, passing along the Ruitenbroekkanaal, with a brief stop at the mouth of the waterway at a canalside fuel station to fill up one of our tanks with diesel (398 litres for €796.92/199.9€/litre).
Unfortunately it turned out that the canal was closed further along, so we made a stop at the next bridge/lock we came to, and roped in for the night, which is where the first half of June ended.