The Ham Nomads

29 Sep 2015. <NL> Zaanse Schans, Zaandam —

Today we were finally pulling out of Amsterdam. One slight hiccup — Gertie misbehaved! When we tried to start the van, the starter-motor gave one feeble flutter, and then died. Luckily the caretaker of the campsite was able to call Appie & Sen, a local garage (just round the corner). They were out on a call, but turned up in 45 minutes. A quick jump start with a battery pack, and all was well. But they did suggest we call through the garage to get the battery tested before we went on our way.

We dropped through Appie & Sen's garage. The battery was fine, so we were on our way, after first dropping off to shop for supplies at a local Albert Heijn supermarket.

While we were in the vicinity, we decided to go across to Zaanse Schans, basically an outlying village in Zaandam near Amsterdam, that has been set up as reserve to preserve the fast-disappearing historic Zaan-style wooden buildings — windmills, wooden merchants' houses, workshops — many of which are being used as residences for the locals. They even have what might be the original Albert Heijn grocery store, brought here from Oostzaan.

The area was already a historic district, as during the Eighty Years' War a defensive entrenchment, or schans, was set up here. Many soldiers lost their lives in the 1574 battle for Kalverschans, which the locals won against the Spanish.

But the pride of the area are the eight working windmills set up on the banks of the Zaan river — a pale relic however of the more than one thousand that used to line the banks of the Zaan. Most of them were industrial mills — only a few served to pump water.

The Zaanse Schans was officially opened by Queen Juliana in 1972, and has been a popular tourist destination ever since. There are museums, cheese-makers, dye-makers (making their colours according to Rembrandt's formulations) — even a wind-driven sawmill!

We spent a pleasant afternoon here, walking beside the windmills, taking the little ferry (a dinghy) across the Zaan, and wandering through the historic township. We then started on our way towards Brussels. We didn't get far — we noticed a really great rest stop still technically within the environs of Amsterdam, and settled in for a well-earned rest!

The original Albert Heijn grocery shop

Distance driven — today, 16 miles ( 26 km ); to date, 29,037 miles ( 46,731 km )