ships ships coffee and ships

 Hi everybody.
Bit nervous about the ferry tomorrow and i wanted to get the harbourmeester wife some flowers for offering her help yesterday.
So i went a wander around Hellevoetsuis. I met a local man who has a scottish wife.And his father in law lives in Kilmarnock. Well he told me to go and find the lighthouse ship and the minesweeper. So I did

The first picture is the ship that deploys the many bouys in the channel here and brings them in for painting and the big black and white one does many duties but it also moves the lighthouse ship about.
The lighthouse ship called the Noord Hinder was built in 1963 following many varying designs and ships in the past. She was active in many places North sea , Zeeland. .These ships were vital to warn large ships of shifting sandbanks. This one  served till 1994 when it became obselete due to ships having there own gps.

They used to be manned with a crew but in 1984 they became automated. It was a very dangerous job as these ships had no drive engine and were towed into situation. They were only secured by a 275 metre long anchor chain, and in all weathers the crew had to maintain the ship and the three engines that provided the electricity. Go up to the light and clean the salt of the lenses to keep the light bright.

Because of the automation they changed the engines from watercooled to aircooled as these required less attention.
One of the ships went down with all but one hands in a storm. The one that survived was a zoologist studying migrating birds. And in later years one of the automated ships went down and washed up on a beach.
The Noord Hinder  was retired and was going to be sold for scrap or made in to a disco pad. Some lovely people got together and saved her.. I met two of them today and they work very hard keeping her looking  fantastic .
The tour was great most of the literature is in english as well and the tour guides speak perfect english. They are enthusiastic and passionate.

I couldn't remember the name of the ship which went down with all hands but one but i have found out and it is the South Goodwin
Very tragic.

I am afraid i chickened out going to see the light. I forgot [ha] i had vertigo till i was just under the light and my legs went all wobbly and then i looked up , remembered and went what the hell am i doing..I really enjoyed the tour and was amazed at how self sufficient the ship was with its own toolshop and even when they were aut omated they had a hatch at the anchor wench locker where ship wrecked people could get in get food water ask for help and tools were available to help fix their own boats if they could.. I have never seen this type of ship before which is why i was so eager to see it. The man who showed me the engine was sad to hear Britain is leaving the union. The lady made the world feel small again. She is half norwegian moved to Glasgow when she was six and then down to Bedford to go to boarding school. She spent her holidays with her auntie and uncle and they would all go sailing at , oh my god you won't believe it Walton on the Naze. She has travelled to Ireland on the Stranraer ferry many times and she was amazed we had brought cats across the channel. Isn't the world a small place and doesn't it really mean we are all connected never mind the barriers of borders or seas or government. Noord hinder is always kept ready to be deployed in case a war breaks out and Gps goes down
Now i want everybody to take note, These people were lovely and it costs a fortune to keep it going and i promised them i would put them on my blog and ask you all to please take the time to visit this amazing ship and there is a minesweeper in front and a beautiful barge and it is all at a 200 year old dry dock system that is still in use today.
Every two years at Dordrecht there is a parade of steam and working ships and Noord Hinder is in it. So please put in your diary next year .the third week in june. Check with the Hellevoetsluis tourist board first just incase the date has changed .. I would love to go myself it will be an impressive thing to see.
 I had a wonderful time and even though it was close to finishing time they told me to take as long as i wanted just to make sure i told them when i left so i wouldn't get locked in.
On the way to the ship i wanted a coffee to go but couldn't find any cafe that would sell me one  to go ,till i went to a petite cafe and asked there and got the answer why. Plastic cups. They wont use them. So you have to have it in a cup. I apologised and went to leave and the husband went a bit sharpish . You could always spend five minutes and sit down. I said i had to go and left.. After the visit to the ship i did go in to petite cafe and apologised again and explained and had a sit down coffee.

It was a lovely cup of really good coffee with a nice biscuit. and the lady was lovely. She loves the ship as well and was glad i got to visit. She gave me a tourist brochure of Hellevoetsluis.
There is a lot to do here.
It is a walled town and there are plenty of cannons present and military barricades. I found a plaque . Telling the water line of the 1953 storm surge. It devastated  this area. as well as Britain and Belgium and France.

Stranraer itself had a tragedy with the Princess Victoria  going down in the Irish sea. because of the storm surge. She was a roll on roll of ferry and her doors were open when she left the relative safety of Loch Ryan and they couldn't get them closed. There was problems locating her and it was fishing boats from Ireland going looking for her that found her. Most of the lives on board were lost .The radio operator did  his job till the very end Helping the resuers locate her.

 I could do with abit longer here just to see some more of the lovely place.
So if you are visiting Holland come here.
It has a lovely mix of really old old and new. Plenty of shops A good chandlery and a lovely shopping centre at the far end of the sluis. Many marinas and good sailing. And loads of eateries.


One little snipe i am going to have and it is with the mobile phone system. Everytime i try and use my phone it wont work. i have to use the plus 44 no before the phone number. I have tried the plus 31 but it won't work so it has to be routed through the plus 44. This has cost me a bloody fortune and i think is extremely cheeky. I dont have a fancy phone all mine does is calls and texts. I shall be having a word with vodaphone when i get back a very long pissed of word..

The minesweeper. I didn't have time to go on board this one, but it looks good.