A touch of Dutch

While involved in a bicycle ride across the continent, I visited some of the many and varied waterways that the Netherlands are justly proud of. Rotterdam is a noted large city and sea port, catering for epic ships and smaller 'boots'. The towns of Aachen and Maastricht are more intimate, with smart mooring docks hosting a range of attractive craft, many of interesting styles, and often surrounded by pleasant buildings, trees, and gardens. Land lubbers and water folk are interchangeable, and at one with each other.

Heather's bluff shaped hull looks unmistakably Dutch in design, but more of her fascinating early history has yet to be brought to light. Key questions remain shrouded in mystery: What was the original alleged military purpose of the flushed deck lighter? How and why was the boat shipped over to Norfolk? And, will the identity of the batchelor gentleman be revealed, who in the jazzy twenties commissioned the conversion into a houseboat?

Matthew