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We had a good sail up from Amsterdam, filling up with fuel on route. The wind increased to about a force 5 as we arrived at the small harbour Marken. We could not work out the layout very well and another boat directed us to a box mooring side,on to the gusting wind, the box was for a larger boat than us so we had all the wrong ropes on, we had to get out the longer ones. Our first proper box mooring, we need a bow thruster!! in any sort of wind our bows just get blown off. After getting charged more for a night than in Amsterdam without any facility's we moved on to the harbour wall, this is were we should have gone in the first place. No facility's but no charge. We decided to stay here for a few days and cycle to the nearby towns, also we would be able to catch up on some maintenance. We cycled around the island. On our second day we set off early to first visit Monnickendam, Volendam, then Edam, then back to Volendam to catch the ferry back to Marken over 20 ks on little wheeled fold up bikes. Marken was an island until a causeway was built in 1957. It survived as a fishing village but after Dutch created the inland sea with the use of dams the water is now more fresh than salt, so the fishing declined. There houses were all built on stilts as the area folded a lot, but since the creation of the Markermer and the IJsselmeer they have built rooms under them. There has also been new developments, these are below the water level. All the old houses are painted green and tourism is now there major source of revenue. They have a good stream of visitors as the ferry from Volendam comes in about ten times a day. There is a small museum and a clog factory.
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