Today a mere 20-minute train ride from the center of Amsterdam, and even less time by car from the international airport, is the small village of Abcoude. In times long gone by - think 9th to 15th C - it was a place where rich families from the big city had their second home, one with a small plot of land to grow their own flowers and vegetables. For me its importance lies in it being the home of a much-loved cousin and her two darling daughters.
This charming old Dutch village boasts three drawbridges: the Dorpsbrug over the Gein, and the Hulksbrug and Heinkuitenbrug over the Angstel. Here I post the two on the Angstel, but don't ask me which one is which... I didn't know when I took these photos that I would one day post for Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridges.
Abcoude, The Netherlands, 2008
View with the drawbridge going up:
This canoe can calmly be paddled under the lowered bridge:
A pleasant walk on that footpath along the Angstel gets us to the second, smaller drawbridge:
For more links to bridges, just click on the link. Click the photo for enlarged version.
20 comments:
these are all very interesting to me as we don't have any draw bridges here. marvelous photos!
That looks a delightful place. I especially like the first shot with the bikes.
Hi, your post is so interesting. I love the bridges here - terrific! There's something special about drawbridges, isn't it?
Happy Sunday to you and greeting from Poland:)
Excellent contribution to Sunday Bridges, Francisa. «Louis» doesn't recall seeing a drawbridge as small as the little one you show here. Très intéressant.
The Netherlands, land of bridges! Lovely shots of a pretty place.
Very interesting capture of the draw bridges, Great shots.
Lovely pictures!
Greetings
Elisa, Argentina
You really never know when a photo will come in handy! This is a really charming bridge! I'd love to try the canoe :D
Lovely! I wish I could visit Amsterdam once again and could see this small village. Have a great week ahead!
Nice little drawbridge this theme is a fun way to view the world!
An unusual post about bridges, I like the sequence and the passing canoe.
Wonderful bridges. I, too, love the canoe.
Re your comment on smallcityscenes: Yes there are lots of Dutch settlers in the Valley. They first emigrated up north but found the climate and soil perfectly suited for bulb growing. The two largest companies are DeGoede and Roozen. MB
I started reading you description while I was looking at your header photo. Talk about cognitive dissonance. Something wasn't adding up as I tried to reconcile a desertscape with your description of this area in the Netherlands. Then I scrolled down. Oh. Sometimes I can be so dense.
Love the engineering of Dutch draw bridges.
Wonderful! This brings back memories for me as I lived not far from there for a few months many, many years ago.
This is really cool. I bet it made that canoe-er feel really important to have the bridge opened for him.
Wonderful! Never been there but your bridge post provides some fascinating images and great story to go with them.
I love drawbridges. There aren't that many around so it's really nice to watch.
It's nice to see this "other" area of the Netherlands. I've seen so little of it. I love the theme, and especially Photos 2 and 3. I also like your new background, but I'm not sure if I like it better than the red one. I liked that one a lot. What do you think?
Post script. From my dear cousin:
The first one is the Hulkbrug over the Angstel and the second (smallest) is the Heinkuitenbrug.
The Dorpsbrug one over the Gein is missing... it's in front of my favorite bakery...
@tapirgal - I liked the previous red background too, but the 60s pattern didn't quite work for me. Main reason for changing, though, was that the type colors were not showing up very well, so I played around. This is no doubt not the final version.
I cannot imagine living way back when these draw bridges were originally constructed. It's interesting to imagine...or try to imagine. Wonderful photos!
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