WINDMILLS OF HOLLAND

                                Kinderdijk

            Kinderdijk is a small village 16 kilometers from Rotterdam and a little less than 10 kilometers from the city border of Dordrecht, the oldest city in Holland. The village is unique for its 19 windmills dating from the 1500s.

The name is derived from a 16^th century legend about a baby, a cradle and a cat that all survived after being tossed into raging waters. For centuries the Dutch were at the mercy of floods. The innovative structures drain water from  polders (reclaimed land below sea level) pumping it into rivers and canals. This distributes the water levels and prevents devastating flooding. Today engines turn paddle wheels that scoop up water to redeposit it. Understandably the country has a unique bond with windmills.

            Kinderdijk is the only place in the world where one can find so many windmills concentrated in such a small area, and is the reason Kinderdijk is a UNESCO site.

            The Kinderdijk milling complex consists of 8 stone brick windmills,1738, of the waterboard Nederwaard; 8 thatched windmills, 1740, of the waterboard Overwaard; 2 stone windmills, 1760,  of the polder Nieuw-Lekkerland; and 1 windmill, 1521,  of the polder Blokweer. The last windmill  burned down in 1997, but has been rebuilt and operational since the spring of 2000.  

Kinderdijk is the final station of water of the Alblasserwaard, an area approximately 10 by 20 miles, before the river Lek empties into the sea. Even today rain water needs to be disposed of. Since the 1950's water has been pumped by one of the largest pumping stations in the world.  However, in case of emergency, the windmills that were operational until WW II still can be used.

Windmills have two doors on opposite sides because the blades are always facing the wind, and the direction of the wind vary. The blades turning in front of the door make for a dangerous situation!

The top floor of the windmill rotates with the blades and the tail of the mill, and therefore a chimney cannot be attached to the roof. Sparks of the open fire used to heat the windmill might set the thatch roof on fire. The chimney of a windmill is horizontal instead of vertical. The smoke would be blown down if there was only one ending. The second ending creates a natural draft through the chimney pulling the smoke out.

A windmill is a windmill. Not necessarily so! Watermills, can drain the land like in Kinderdijk. Grindingmills, grind flour, as well as colors to dye fabrics. Sawing mills cut wood. There are also modern two or three-blade electricity windmills. Windmills have different shapes and constructions. Windmills in old cities were built on a house, so they would reach over the buildings of the city. Windmill blades are 42-feet long and mills are placed at least 1300-feet apart. There are 1000 windmills left in Holland, a tiny fraction of the many mills that once dotted the landscape.

When there is a hole in the sail, it is patched, if there is another hole another patch is made, and when there are more patches than sail the sail is replaced. The old sail would be used for making children’s clothes. Capacity of an older windmill is 40.000 liters/min while capacity of the Nederwaard pumps is 1.350.000 liters/min.

ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

                       St Andrews

Golf, golf, and more golf. That is about it for the small town of St. Andrews, Scotland. It was explained, “A link golf course is one that connects sandy beach with the course. In Scotland all beaches are public, so a link course cannot be private. Most golf courses in Scotland are near a beach and therefore are public link courses.”

The Central Highlands, north of Edinburgh, is the county of Fife where the area is still referred to as a kingdom. The Stuart kings were from this area. The Cult of Green is a 1754 club where golfers still flock to.

The medieval and  royal city was once filled with monasteries and ancient houses that did not survive King Henry VIII.  Little remained after his destruction. Most of the city today was built in the 18^th, 19^th, and early 20^th century of local stone. Golf was first played in the 1400s. The municipality owns the six courses. A letter of introduction from a bonafide golf club and a certain handicap are required to play the Old Course. The other courses are the New Course (1896), Jubilee Course (1897), Eden (1914), Balgove (1942, a nine-hole course for children), Strathtyum (1993), and Royal and Ancient Golf Club (1754) which remains a private men’s club. Golf  is the symbol of St. Andrews.

Our guide told us, “An ancient law prohibits golf to be played on the 18-hole courses on Sunday. And since it is Sunday you may walk on the course, and we’ll stop by the 18^th green.”

The University of St. Andrews, established in 1411, makes it the oldest in Scotland and Britain. St. Andrews Castle, late 13^th century, maintains secret tunnels, bottle-shaped dungeons, and high stone walls to keep religious heretics out.

 I headed to the bathrooms a block away. It was a bit of a surprise to pay 20 pence to do so, and the first and only time we had to pay to pee in Scotland. Then we headed uptown to wander the streets. All the stores were open and 9 out of 10 was a golf store. I did find some fresh raspberries in a grocery store. Scotland is known for raspberries and I do love them. The whole container was gone before we reached the corner of the next block!

We sat in the park and listened to a band concert, which was a delight, while we waited for everyone else to do their thing.  Can you tell neither my travel buddy nor  I are sports fans or shoppers? Because of its familiarity it was nice to see St Andrews, but I wouldn’t bother to stop there again.