Netherlands 2009

I left Amanda’s place at 1pm and 24 hours later I landed in Amsterdam.  I flew Malaysian Airlines and I can recommend this airline. The seats were great and the staff were very polite and attentive, and the food was great.

When I arrive I was to ring Russel to let him know when I would arrive in Meppel. I was catching the train there. My phone didn’t work – a prepaid Telstra. I had to find a public phone. I arrived in Meppel and thank goodness Russel was there to meet the train.

After unpacking we decided to sail to Steenwijk and spent the evening with John and Rinolda. We were able to park outside their house and use their electricity.

Rinolda went down to the local shop and got some fries and some local Dutch delicacies. One of them was a sausage cut down the middle and filled with onion. She also brought chopped onion and sate sauce that you put over your French fries. Very different from our Fish and Chips.

By 9pm Netherlands time I started to fade so off to bed I went.

Next day we sailed to Ossenzijl and stayed in the yacht club in which John and Rinolda have their new 14 metre boat. We stayed the night so we could catch up with them the next day so I could check out their new boat. It was very luxurious and gorgeous but very large.  It wouldn’t be able to sail France as it is too high for the bridges. It is their intention to sell their house and live on the boat.

Russel in front of John and Rinolda's new boat

 The day was about 32 degree C and it was very humid. Gosh it was hot. Even the Dutch were complaining. We decide to go for a 5 km ride to Kalenberg. This is a windy track following the canal. We have been here a couple of times now and always find it a beautiful and favourite part of Holland. By the time we arrived it was pouring with rain so we sat in the local restaurant and had a drink before we rode back to the boat. We had an electric storm that night, so we woke up the next morning to a reasonably cool and quite windy day.

We left the yatch club about 2pm and sailed to Sloten via a large inland lake called the Tjekermeer.  We sailed this lake in 2007 when we first bought our boat. Then it was raining and foggy and we couldn’t see a thing. This time is was clear but windy. So we are in Sloten for the night.

We are parked by the bridge and it is quite noisy but lots of interest. This is a cute little town. It is a fortified town. It is closed to cars and has the status of a protected townscape. We went for a quick ride before settling down on the front of our boat with a bottle of Alsace wine (French Region) and some local delicacies – Bitter ballen. Russel cooked them in his barby. I think they were supposed to be deep fried – but who cares they still were very tasty.

                                     

                                                  

Russel in Sloten

We left Sloten and sailed to Lemmer which is on the Ijsselmeer. We intended to sail the Ijsselmeer to Slavoren which is about a 3 hour journey, but the weather turned bad and we were a little frighten to try it. We were told the winds should be 2-3 beautfort. The winds were 5-6 when we woke up this morning so we gave it a miss and sailed back up the way we had come.

We stayed two nights in Lemmer . We woke up this morning to the weather really turned and it was pouring with rain. We still hadn’t worked out our internet, so we had to ride into town in the pouring rain. Out came the wet weather gear that Amanda had given us for Christmas. It worked a treat. One of the best things we brought over even though they are bright yellow. At least we can be seen coming.!!!!

                              Russel at the loch in Lemmer

In Lemmer we rode out to a pump house called Woudogemaal. It is world heritage listed site. It is world’s largest steam driven pumping station. It purpose is to support the drainage of Friesland in the time of flood emergency. It operates for about 400 hours a year.

                                           Me in the Woudagemaal with my wet gear!!!!

We the decided to leave Lemmer at about 3 pm. I undid all the ropes and we left the landing and then suddenly Russel’s says we need to go back as there is no water coming out of the tell tail. We went back and tied up and Russel checked it all out and got it going. The weather has now started to improve – that is stopped raining but still very windy. We sailed up until we needed to turn up the canal to Woudsend. We were sailing then suddenly stopped. Gosh it was quite frightening. We hit the shallows!! We went the wrong side of the marker and were in the shallow. It didn’t take us long to reverse out and turn around. We pulled up at the canal side of the Woudsend canal and are now perched here in no where land. It was very windy when we arrived but it has now calmed down and it quite pleasant.

Just outside Woudsend

Tomorrow we are heading to Workum.

We woke up to rain and wind!!! Gosh it’s an awful day. We were slow in moving this morning. We rang Amanda and saw her feeding little Josh on Skype. It was so clear and it was great to see Amanda and Joshua.

We left and headed back to the Princess Margriet canal and headed up for an hour then turned off to the Heeger Meer. This was really quite hairy. The wind was really bad. Our bikes fell down. Russel had tied our brooms etc down but the bikes were only lightly tied. I was frightened we would lose the bikes. However we managed to get through and we are now sitting on the boat in Workum.  It is raining so heavily that we are stuck on the boat so I thought I would finish this email and send it

Here is a photo of Russel in his wet weather gear, which we both really appreciate.

Penny in her wet gear on Arcturus

It rained heavily all day so we put on our bright yellow outfits and went for a ride around Workum. We certainly got some looks.!!!

Next day we decided to catch the train to Stavoren which is a coastal town on the Ijsselmeer. We took our bikes on the train so we had some wheels once we arrived in Stavoren. The weather was even worse on the coast. The winds were about 6 beaufort, yet their were people sailing in and out of the sluis which took them from the calm waters of the canal and the rough seas of the Ijsselmeer. We stood and watch a big barge come in because his load was too big and he wasn’t making headway.

Windy on the Ijsselmeer

Barge coming in from Ijsselmeer as it was too windy for it.

We arrived back at three so we decided to see some sites in Workum. We went to the Jopie  Huismand Museum. He was a scrap metal merchant who decided to paint his junk. They had the articles he painted and the painters. It was very interesting and well worth the visit. We then raced up to a big church which had a museum attached. There we met an Australian couple from Melbourne so they came around to our boat and over a bottle of red we swapped notes. They bought a boat for less than 10000 euro. I didn’t see anything worth as little as that. It was great to sit down and have a good laugh and chat. They left and we started talking to an English couple that was moored next to us. They sail from England across the channel each year. This was the first time I had been on a yacht. It was interesting, but very close living quarters.

We needed more gas so on the bike and ride into town

We woke to wind and rain again and after morning tea with the English couple we headed off to Bolsward. It rained all day but once again we put on our faithful wet weather gear and rode around. We headed to the local boutique brewery Us Heit Distillery for a tour. The lady was able to speak a little English so we learnt how they made their beer, and whisky and even bought some mustard that is made from the whisky.

We woke to a glorious day at long last so were able to ride around without looking like geeks. However its Saturday and not much is open. We wanted to see the Stadhuis (Council House) but sadly it was not opened. The Dutch seem to close down on weekend – even the local pool doesn’t open on weekends. Sunday is even worse. The towns are really dead.    We took the opportunity to do some washing while the sun shone as next day we woke to heavy rains and winds.

We headed off to Akkrum via Ijlst, Sneek (had lunch here as the bridges are close between 12 and one) and Terherne where we finally caught up with the Carr’s. This is the area we brought Arcturus so we know it well.

Crossing the Sneeker Meer was fun. Below is a picture of all the yachts having a great time.

Penny heading to the Sneeker Meer

I do all the work, Russel just drives!!!!

                                            

Sneek where we had lunch

                             

                          

We spent two days in Akkrum and then headed to Grou. The weather has been good for three days now. We have been able to get out for rides and even had a barby.

Today we left Grou and headed for Pikmeer which are a group of lakes near Grou. It was very windy all day, but we are tied up now in a little island alcove in the middle of Pikmeer. Its very pleasant. We spent the afternoon to a bit of cleaning on the boat in preparation for the Chatfield’s who are due on Sunday.

Relaxing on a mooring in the Lake

In the middle of the lake.SKUTSJE yachts were practicing for a competition in Grou on the 18^th July

Today is the 2nd August- I haven’t written a word since the 15 July, so I need to get my brain working and catch up with my diary.

We left the Pikmeer and headed passed Leeuwarden to Franeker. This was a very boring part of the canal but we finally arrived in Franeker at about 4pm and settled down at the side of a very noisy canal side road. The cars and motor bikes going up and down all night made me decide that when we come back we wouldn’t be staying there. The reason for going to Franeker was to see the Eise Eisinga planetarium, the world’s oldest functioning planetarium. Eisinga , a wool carder by trade, built the model of the solar system in the living room of his canal side house between 1774 and 1781. it still accurately depicts the movement of the planets in real time by a gear mechanism using hoops and disks with 10000 hand forged nails and teeth. It was fascinating but as it wasn’t open until Monday we decided to head for Harlingen the next day and return on Monday to see it.

 

We spent the next three days in Harlingen. This is one of my favourite places – a pretty little city on the Waddenzee. It is here that you can catch a ferry to the islands just off the coast. We in fact did this the year we brought Arcturus. We spent the days riding around – Lois and I had a shopping spree where I brought heaps of clothes for Joshua at 50 euro cents up to 1 euro 50 cents for some really great looking shirts, jeans and spray jackets. We had a good laugh trying to find the bargains.

We followed a walking tour on our bikes. Below are some of the sights.

A local restored home



 




Typical Dutch Building

Saturday was Bob’s birthday so we lashed out and went to a Chinese Restaurant for dinner. This was our first evening eating out and we all enjoyed the experience even thought it was a very cold night.

Sunday we were expecting the Chatfield’s to arrive so we spruced up the boat and waited for them to arrive. We waited most of the day.

Jean rang to say she would arrive on the train at about 1pm- then another phone call 2pm – they had got on the wrong train – then another phone call 3pm – another wrong train – they saw most of Holland by train – however they finally arrived and had to put up with a lot of teasing for the rest of their trip.

We left the next day for Franeker where we spent a night on the opposite side of the busy road. We did a big shop to stock the larder and then visited the Planetarium, and then Jean and I went on a shopping spree. It is great having some female company. We can hit the shops and try on heaps of clothes. The ends of summer sales are on at the moment and there are heaps of bargains.

Next day we headed for Leeuwarden and stayed in the middle of the city on the pretty green banks of the city park. It was really an ideal camping spot and close to the city.

Leeuwarden is the Friesland capital. We visited the local museum on the Wednesday as it was a free day for all. We spent a lot of the time listening to the English movie of the adventures of Mata Hari.

She was a world war 1 spy who had grown up in Leeuwarden. 

We followed Bob and Lois's Boat



This is the road that lifted so we could enter Leeuwarden

Next day we headed to Dokkum and arrived too late to get a really good spot. We were parked just out of the town ship where we stayed for a couple of days, but our power was starting to get low so early one morning as soon as the bridge opened we headed into town to get the last spot available. Bob decided not to follow. Every morning there are heaps of boats that leave and heaps they stay. There were about 4 bridges to get through Dokkum and one guy that opens the lot. He opens and closes one, then gets on his bike and cycles to the next and so on. It takes ages to get through Dokkum and the boats are all waiting between the bridges. It mayhem.!!!

Next day we hopped on a ferry called Silverwind and spent the day going out through the Lauwersmeer to the Waddenzee and onto the island called Schiermonkoog. We had lunch on the boat – typical Dutch treats which we all enjoyed. It was a long day and we were pleased to get home.

The weekend arrived and there was a festival on in Dokkum and all the tourists sites were free, so we decided to stay two more nights in Dokkum, which turned out to be great fun. We all fell in love with Dokkum!!!

Festival Dancing in Dokkum     

                                                        

                                                   Boats selling local produce



         Dokkum- it was vry busy due to the festival



Laurie showing the Dokkum canal

the boats were lined up on both sides of the canal.

On Sunday we left Dokkum and spent the night tied to a stieger (small Jetty) in the middle of the Lauweersmeer, then sailed to Groningen where we stayed until the 2^nd August.

The Gilberts arrived in Groningen and we all got together for drinks on the front of our boat.

                                       Very crowded on Arcturus but fun was had by all

We visited the rose garden in Gronigen. It was gorgeous.

                     The roses were gorgeous!!

The gardens were surrounded by hedges

The Chatfield’s left us on the Tuesday and the Gilberts on Thursday and then there were four.

Sunday we have left Groningen and have sailed to Delfzil which is on the coast and is the last place we will be in the Netherlands. Depending on the weather we will leave the Netherlands and sail out through the dollards to Germany.

I am a little frightened but once I am back into the canals of Germany I should be fine. The Gilberts gave us heaps of information  and maps so lets hope our Germany adventures has been as great as the Netherlands.

Carr's sailing into Delfzil