Inland Waterways of the Netherlands by Louise Busby and David Broad, Imray, £30.
This attractively produced and well illustrated book is the latest addition to Imray's inland waterways cruising guides.
The Dutch inland waterways vary from huge areas of open water accessible to fixed mast yachts to much smaller canals, where a maximum air draft of 3.5m is required. This hugely informative book covers the whole spectrum - including more than 300 stopping places, large and small, across all 12 provinces of the Netherlands.
As well as sailing instructions and details of where to moor, it also includes useful notes on sights to see, museums to visit and restaurants to seek out in your chosen destination, too.
The book is particularly welcome because up until now a lot of this information has only been available in Dutch, or sometimes German. This will literally open up new cruising grounds for a lot of English sailors.
There's a very useful introduction setting out the practicalities of cruising these waters, from paperwork required to wi-fi availability, as well as a section on tidal flow and international waterway signs.
The two authors, prominent members of both the Cruising Association and the Broom Owners Club, clearly have an exhaustive knowledge of their subject. Louise is also a dab hand with a camera, and the book is packed with excellent photographs, while David's sketches have also been used to good effect.
It's always interesting to see how a pilot book covers places you know, and on these grounds I'm impressed with this one. I've looked up places I've visited many times, and learned things I never knew about them.
Next time I'm cruising in the Netherlands, I'll be looking to it for advice about places to visit and restaurants to try, as well as the practicalities of bridge opening times, mooring dues and all the rest.
One potentially very useful feature is the bilingual glossary, complete with pronunciation guidelines, and even more so, the guide to using the ANWB Wateralmanak 2, which it is essential to carry when cruising these waters, even if you can only understand a fraction of it!
