Catching some November rays of sun on the canals of Utrecht, Netherlands

The launch site - Kanoverhuur aan de Gracht.

Utrecht is a big city located in the middle of the Netherlands. It's rich in culture - apparently second only to Amsterdam - and a central point for transportation. With a student population of 30,000, it's definitely a lively college town. As we paddled through the city, we saw many bikes dangling perilously over the canal, held only in place by their locks... 

Henk Jan, Philip, and I meet in Utrecht on a perfect Sunday morning to explore the canals of Utrecht by kayak. We rented boats from Kanoverhuur aan de Gracht ("Canoe/kayak rental on the canal"). Since it's off season, we had to make a reservation to rent, but that wasn't a problem - I sent a reservation request a couple days ahead of time and received a response within a day.  The rental shop is based out of an under-road cellar (which we saw many of). To reach it, you walk down a steep flight of stairs from the road to a stone platform along the canal (see photo above). 

The rentals cost 12 euros for the full day, and they even had decent boats. Unfortunately, however, they only had one kayak that can comfortably fit someone who is 193 cm (6'4"), which is the case for both Henk Jan and Philip. This makes no sense, whatsoever, since the Netherlands has the tallest average male population on earth. Philip squeezed himself into a regular size kayak and still kicked butt for his first time kayaking.

Added bonus: they even have wifi! Philip asked this immediately upon arriving (I looked at him like he was insane) and the guy said "Sure thing!". To his credit, Philip had to submit a homework assignment - very necessary.

This section of the trip was lined by trees on both sides - pretty!

​We departed the rental shop and headed out of the city to make a big loop through some of the residential areas. The map on the rental shop's website is also super helpful for seeing where we went. We did the red loop and then most of the white loop. The big loop took us past some parks, boat houses, and houses. The last section became quite narrow, and we really had to dig our paddles to get through spots completely clogged by leaf litter. 

Passing through a tide gate. I couldn't help feeling like it was a giant guillotine, and passed under as fast as possible!

The canal begins to narrow...

At the end of the loop, we re-entered the centrum on the south side and headed for a drink at Eetcafe de Poort. The cafe overlooks the canal, and there is a convenient area to leave the boats (visible from the cafe) while having a beverage. Okay, we also had nachos. The Dutch don't seem to have figured out the nacho "cheese" that we have in the US, opting for a sparse handful of melted Dutch cheese, but maybe it's for the best. 

The Nieuwegracht - buildings on one side and cellars on the other, only bridges in the distance.

​​After our drink/snack, we paddled up the most interesting canal in Utrecht: Nieuwegracht. The canal is quite narrow, and buildings squeeze in closely on both sides. We caught up to a tour boat sitting under one of the many bridges. It was trying to maneuver out from under the bridge around some construction scaffolding that was jutting out into the canal. Most likely, since it was an unusually warm day, this was the first tour in a while. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get around it, the poor driver had to drive backwards for at least a kilometer to get back to a wider channel. We squeezed to the side to let them pass and continued on our way - tiny kayak power!

Philip full of nachos and ready to continue the trip!

Utrecht centrum

​Apparently you can do evening trips around the city, when lights decorate the canals in the centrum (even underwater installations in some places). That's definitely on my to-do list!

Click on a picture to enlarge and see captions!

Date: Sunday, November 8, 2015
Distance: 10 km
Duration: 3.5 hours (incl. cafe)