I find the water life in the Netherlands so fascinating. So much of residents’ daily lives revolves around the sea, canals, bridges over the water, tunnels under the water, ports, marinas, boats, just to name a few! Today I want to show you just a few facts about drawbridges and locks in the Zeeland area. By the way, the people here pronounce Zeeland differently than I ever have. They say “Zay-land.” I dare say they probably have the correct pronunciation. 🙂
I actually don’t feel qualified to speak on this topic, because the amount I know about water life just scratches the surface of what a life long resident could share. But I am going to tell you what I have seen, because it is probably new to you just like it is to me.
The Water Based Land
Much of the land in the Netherlands is marshy. It is water saturated due to being surrounded by water inland, being close to the ocean, or originally being underwater but later exposed by man. The walking tour leader in Amsterdam joked that God made most of the land in the Netherlands, but man can claim to have made about 17%. That is because over the centuries man decided to extend their square footage of land by building dykes to hold back the sea water. Then they pumped the water out of their walled in area, exposing extra land to cultivate and build on. They pumped the water out with… windmills! I am guessing that windmills once had many functions!
The water that they pumped out of the walled in area they simply moved to an area where they could use it. For example they made canals through their farm fields so they could water crops. Or they built waterways into the cities so they could ship products in. Or maybe they even just pumped it back across the dyke into the ocean. But the large amounts of moved water plus frequent rain keeps their plants well fed and their waterways full.
The Drawbridges
Which leads me to one point of my post. So many water ways in the Netherlands leads to many bridges that boats need to go under. And letting boats pass under the bridges requires drawbridges. Many of them. Drawbridges are a frequent sight throughout the Netherlands. Cars, bikers, and walkers get backed up waiting for the bridges to lower after boats go through. People here have to plan ahead if their travel route includes a drawbridge. They have to add a few minutes to the commute to allow for the possibility of the bridge being up. Some drawbridges are small and some are massive. And most of the towns have them.
This drawbridge is in the Stadshaven of Goes, the historical city port. It is only a few blocks from my apartment and I cross it often. This bridge only allows bikers and walkers to cross.
It is a very small example of a drawbridge, but one that still gets a lot of use. Boats come in from the North Sea, travel into an inlet of the Netherlands, and through larger canals into Goes. The boats that come into this small Goes port are just private “fun boats”. Ones that people travel the coast in and stop in Goes for the night or weekend. In fact, some people that own larger boats will park their big boats at the marina in the ocean inlet, and then take a small boat into the Goes harbor for the day. They might shop or visit a friend for a while, but then sleep on their big boat at the marina at night. Quite a life! I have even heard of people parking their boat in the ocean inlet, and then taking their bikes into Goes for the day or afternoon.
The second picture shows the drawbridge up so a boat can come into the port. Notice the boat at the bottom of the picture making its way under the bridge. This particular bridge does not have an attendant working at all times. I assume the boaters calls someone to lift the bridge when they are getting close, because I have seen the man on the left side of the picture bike up really fast, quick park his bike, and proceed to lift the drawbridge for a boat.
This is a slightly larger bridge in Goes. It is farther from my apartment and in a busier, less historical area. There is a stoplight on the water for the boaters so they know when it is safe to proceed under the raised bridge. I could sit there and watch this process for a long time. So interesting.
On a different note, notice that the brown road in the foreground is a bike path, not a car road. The Dutch have very nice road like paths designated for bikers, with traffic lines and smooth surfaces. Love it.
Maps
Hopefully these maps help you understand what I mean by the ocean inlets and the canal direction. I kind of plopped the maps in the middle, sorry. Hope it all makes sense to you.
The Locks
Now on to the locks. If you follow the canal in all of the above pictures all the way to the shore, you get to Goese Sas, a small village on the ocean inlet. Here there are scenic views, a restaurant, and the locks. If a boat wants to make its way into Goes, it has to switch water depths and water levels from the ocean to the canal. So it goes into a lock, or container, where water is pumped in so that the boats sits at inland water level. Then they open the canal side and the boat can proceed inland. See the descriptions on the pictures below.
In the foreground is the lock area. In the background is the ocean inlet. The lock doors are currently closed.
The boats have notified the attendant that they want to come inland, and the doors are starting to open for the boats to enter the lock from the ocean inlet.
One of the several boats are coming into the lock.
Here the boats are parked in the lock while they pump water in to increase the water level. The entry doors are closed to create a container that holds water.
When the water reaches the same level as the canal, they open the canal doors so the boats can go inland toward Goes.
Off they go!
I love watching the lock process, but it takes a bit. Once they open the doors, they wait for as many boats as possible to fit in the lock. Letting the boats in, closing the doors, pumping in water, and opening the doors again probably takes 30-40 minutes all together.
And that is just a small sample of living in an area with water ways, drawbridges and locks. There are many more facets to water based land, and much of it I have to learn yet. Pretty interesting for a girl from water free Iowa.
