Another mind boggling stop today was Kinderdijk where 19 windmills dominate the land. After watching a film, walking around the windmills for a couple of hours and climbing inside one we slowly made sense of their purpose.
So they could farm on the boggy land the Dutch have been using windmills to pump water from low canals to high canals and then out to the rivers for years. The Dutch have been doing this for centuries which has caused many areas to sink below sea level. Now they must keep the sea out too!
This place was a photographers paradise and a really magical place to visit.
In the afternoon we made our way to Zeeland. This is the area which Abel Tasman named New Zealand after.
Our tiny rental was really great as you could squeeze into tiny car parks
Perfect day on the Kinderdijk canals
The stone windmills were built in 1738 and the thatched ones were built in 1740.
There were windmill all in rows lining both sides of the canals
When the windmills used to lay slightly on the left of the front door then there was a birth or marriage, when it lay to the right of the door then there was a funeral.
We had a visit of this windmill and saw one a man putting the sails on so it would spin. They use this lever to turn the windmill to get the most amount of wind
When they to start the windmill they put on all the sails and off it goes. Even when we were there on a almost wind free day, the sails still got the windmill spinning and water pumping.
These are all the teeth and main arms that joined onto the bottom wheels
This was a main log that spun through the middle of the windmill to get the water wheel going
Karen in her clogs on this really cool stone windmill.
The funniest thing we saw all day. They had the car, the clothes, the wine, food nd tablecloth,and the perfect setting.
We also visited this nearby flour mill which was being restored.
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