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Another morning, another marina. The German school ships start sailing away from 08:30, hoisting vast areas of sail as they process down the dyke. By the time we get underway ourselves nearly all of the ships that were in last night have returned to sea.
We head towards Hoorn over more areas of wetland and canals, but there are noticably more trees here than we've seen to date. Approaching Edam we decide to see if there is any camper parking in the town and whether a short visit is worthwhile. There is a campersplaatsen, but it's about three miles out and none of the town car parks are suitable so we give it a miss. To rejoin our oiginal route we take a single track road out into the sticks, past rugged little farms each with a small flock of sheep. Short of the inland seas, this is the wettest wetlands we've seen. It's obviously below sea level, the high dyke tells us that, bur fields are criss-crossed with ditches into which, in places, drainage pipes spurt out brown water. It is another side of the Netherlands and all very interesting.
Just south of Edam is the Simonehoeve attraction, which is also a camperstop, our destination yesterday until we stopped in Enkhuizen. We arrive at 13:15, Ali check it is OK to park and we have lunch; cheese on toast! Ali's idea of a joke.
After lunch we go into the building, accompanied by a family of Germans, and we are all welcomed into a cheese room by a lady in traditional cheese-maker's clothing of striped blouse and massive, full length apron. When we are all seated she stands on a podium and starts to tell us the story of cheese production, repeating each few sentences alternatively in English and German. Immediately 'deja-vu' kicks in. We are both certain that Mum came here on her trip to Amsterdam a few years ago. It's exactly as she described and looks like the photos she took.
Anyway, we hear about milk and rennet and curds and whey, salt water baths, plastic coatings and ageing, and added flavourings like nettles, pesto, chilli and 'shmoking'.
Next we are led into the clog making room. Harry tells us wooden shoes were made by poor farming folk but they are actually very good in the damp, cold clay. Fishermen had spiked clogs to grip on the ice and other people had 'Sunday best' clogs which are painted with flowers. As a sign of love, a young man would carve patterns in a pair for his sweetheart, but as this could take 60 hours, (a normal pair takes 3 hours to make), he had to be sure she was the one. Clogs are made from soaked poplar wood. Harry showed the rough shaping with an anchored knife, then how a special lathe can follow a pattern model to reproduce the same over and over, first outside the scooping out the inside.
Then it's into the shopping area where clogs of every size and colour are arranged, with something for everyone, from clogs on keyring at €3 through to €50 for wooden shoes in your size; plus the tasting room where all varieties of their cheese can be tasted and bought. Our choices; pesto cheese and smoked cheese plus a couple postcards.
Although we could stay the night it's a bit early so we pick another marina just south of Amsterdam [we've decided to leave Amsterdam for a warmer time of year]. The route is mostly motorway, and being on Amsterdam's periphery is very busy. More than once traffic grinds to a halt across all five lanes.
Major roadworks don't ease things much either, but we leave the city behind us and arrive at Almera haven just after 17:00. Driving through the resort there were some attractive bars and restaurants, but by the time we've ramped up, plugged in and had a much needed coffee a series of showers arrives and we decide not to go out after all.
So it's another quiet night in, the only sounds being the raindrops and a blackbird singing with joy for the worms coming up in the rain.
- comments
Jacquie Burns Hi Nick and Ali, Some how only one star coloured, but I loved your blog. So great to go travelling with you. Jacquie