Canal Plus

If you ever find the need to navigate around a Dutch town then beware of the canals. For they are easily underestimated.

You look on your map or iPhone and decide that if you cross the canal in front of you and turn right then your destination should be just up the road. But that would be a mistake. For the canal in front of you isn't really a canal in Dutch terms. It's more of a side alley.

The canal you really want - the Amsterdam-Lek Canal is 2km away and when you get there you realise your mistake. For this one is a multi-lane highway that would put any British river to shame.

For when it comes to waterways the Dutch, through necessity, don't do their canals by halves.