Cruquius pump museum to the mouth of the Rhine

Travelled : 120km
Stay:Maassluis (near Rotterdam)- 8 free parking designated spots with possible overflow parking,  no service point (3 more spots on the other side of the canal with free electricity). N51.91559 E4.25058
Visited: Cruquius (pump house) museum,  bulb fields, mouth of Rhine River -Rotterdam.

Our first destination this morning was the Cruquius (pump house) museum. 

This was one of 3 built in the 1800's to pump out the water from a large lake between Amsterdam,  Haarlem and Leiden.  Up until then wooden sluices and windmills had been used to drain water logged areas. It was calculated that over 100 windmills would have had to be built to drain this lake  . King William I wanted to use steam pumps as he had seen in the Cornwall mines. At the time the compression chambers were the biggest in the world.

 They would pump 8 arms to shift 64 cubic meters of water each, 5 times a minute.  

It took just over 3 years to drain the lake but first they had to hand dig a canal to carry the water away. This took 400 men 6 years. The map of Holland was very informative showing when the low lands were regained. 

Their fight against water is on going as well as the rising salt levels but they are forever working on solutions. After our visit we drove through the famous bulb fields. Unfortunately it is not the tulip season so we did not see all the beautiful colours. It is obviously a huge industry  as we drove past many fields and glass houses.

We made our way to the mouth of the Rhine River near Rotterdam.  It is here that they built the busiest port in Europe and the 4th in the world. We walked along the channel for a bit watching some big ships come and go. 

Then it was off to find a spot for tonight. Luckily the first one only 17km away was great, right on the water edge where the ferry service takes you across to the other side! And perfect for some barge watching! A peaceful way to end the day as the traffic especially close to the cities is hectic and a bit stressful as you need to be fully alert with all the bicycles.