After joining the ship, we spent the first afternoon settling in to our cabins (named staterooms on board), and prepared to meet staff and other passengers whose company we’d be among as we made our way from Amsterdam towards Basel, the culmination of our river cruise. As we imagined, the food and wine was of a high standard and helped us enjoy the eight days on board very well. Added to this was a crew member, who doubled as a great pianist and singer, whom we listened to throughout the evenings pre and post dinner. There was a rundown by the Programme Director on the following days’ events each day, with guided walks included in overall cost of cruise, and other excursions which cost more. But, if you have trouble sleeping, I suggest you do such a cruise as I, an erratic sleeper, cannot recall such a sound sleep as we moved through the night, and docked without my hearing a thing.

We needed to board a water taxi next morning to transport us a short distance from Dordrecht where we were docked, to the amazing Kinderdijk Windmills. These were built in the 18th century and granted Unesco World Heritage status in 1997. The link tells a lovely legend about a boy, a cat and a baby in a cradle, which I don’t have the space to write in full here, so please take a look.

It was a lovely day and the setting of the row of windmills, idyllic. The eight mills on this site are known as Bonnet mills, (as only the top section revolves with the wind). The image below gives an idea of their construction and size.

We were able to enter one, which was beautifully restored, and learned of the family who had once lived here. What was most astounding, was that the family raised thirteen children in here! How had they squeezed everyone in? Naturally, the base was the largest space, and the placement of bunks, kitchen and washing spaces were ingeniously tucked into the slope of the building.

This image shows a washing area, with stairs intruding, following the pitch of the walls.

I would have taken more images, except for the other tourists needing me to step aside.

I thought the house I grew up in was small, with four children, three adults and a cat – but these windmills take the prize for limited space housing such a large family. It truly was hard to imagine how they worked it out. Maybe some had to sleep standing up. Or stacked.

I did promise sketches from this trip, but there was not a lot of time to sit still I found, and with this sketch I was forced to work later from a photo. (I prefer working from life as there is not the same tendency, or time, to mess around). With the above sketch, I accidentally used a pen which had water-soluble ink in its refill and not permanent as I believed. Anyway, I carried on, not wishing to start over with the sketch and did my best to cover my slight blunder with the biggest windmill.

PS. I used Fabriano mixed media paper, a first time use of this product and I found it great! It has a slight texture, but works well with pen or pencil and holds water well.