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17th - 20th June Wadenzee to Leeuwarden
First of all, there is something wrong about the photo album associated with this entry, so go to Photos and select the album from there and not from the panel below.
Going North again after pausing in Amsterdam for 10 days We came up from Enkhuizen today to the top of the Ijsselmeer (I can now spell that with confidence ) on water not unlike a glass topped coffee table and Force 2 on the nose. Then out into the Wadenzee being the sea between the Frisian Islands and the North Sea, this had been a concern with a strictly buoyed channel to follow for 9 miles through the drying sand banks with charted depth at one point of 0.6 mtrs the like of which were intended to bring disaster to Caruthers and his chum in "Riddle of the Sands," but of course we went at HW which added exactly 2 mtrs on top of that. It seemed best to disable the shallow depth alarm as the constant noise would have been alarming itself - as it happened we followed two larger Dutch yachts out of the sea lock and it all seemed very relaxed and stress free yet with some inconsistencies being well offshore with a huge schooner under full sail to port and rows of sticks running along passages with less than 1 mtr depth almost everywhere.
On reaching the sea to canal lock at Harlingen it was stimulating to first be asked our draft by the lock keeper then once ensconced, to watch the depth gauge drop slowly from 4 mtrs then 3, then 2.4 then reach 2.1 before stopping at 2.0 - Jane and I were both looking big eyes at each other as we were each holding the boat against the lock wall with a piece of string. All well though with 10 cms to spare and back to 2.6 outside the lock to turn immediately into the small HSWV club marina.
I must be getting the hang of the Dutch language as I was complemented on my pronunciation of a particularly long Dutch word, however, it was the local wifi password so I had broken it down and used it a hundred times yesterday before getting it out in public !! - it is the name of the next bridge up from the marina. As with many small marinas outside the UK, this one is run by volunteers as a club where charges are kept to a minimum and everybody knows everyone and a warm welcome to visitors. With a view straight into the back garden of houses we spent an entertaining supper time watching a young black cat walk up a ladder and peer over on to the roof where the owner had gone to do some work. It gingerly considered following then turned around to go down - stopped, gulped as cats can, then realised it was stuck. After much encouragement from both above and below - mummy had come out to help - it awkwardly managed half way down before leaping on to a ground floor roof to cheers from the gathering audience it had created.
Either at the request of my call on VHF to a sluice control room with a stab at the unpronounceable bridge name or being spotted on CCTV beforehand, the road and rail bridges go on opening remotely with the welcome precursor of the canal traffic lights changing to "get ready" status followed by a metalic bell ringing as the red and white road barriers ("dongers") come down. Depths are slightly reducing but as yet we have not grounded with our deep keel. The canals in Friesland are quieter, somehow softer and rural although every now and then it is still possible to see a surprise large ship builder in full swing, a massive metal recycling process or a large black industrial barge pushing its way towards you around the next corner, however, towards Leeuwarden there are greater stretches of dairy farming along reed lined banks where lapwings tumbled and displayed together and marsh harriers put up handfuls of small birds feeding on the rush seed heads.,
Did I speak too soon? Entering Leeuwarden, the largest city in this area, and another where the star shaped defences of the original town form a wonderful parkland setting for boats to tie up along so long as there is mast clearance from vast overhanging specimen trees and water deep enough for the keel. Here we caught up with French friends last seen in Amsterdam in their UFO - actually their boat is an OVNI which is French for Unidentified Flying Object, a very strong and fit craft to take them around the world. Really nice to have somebody to help as we crept along the bank nosing into the shallows to find a space deep enough to take us. Lots of kisses on all the cheeks - they joined us for supper in the evening and we talked the evening away and gave Francois a taste for gin and tonic. A lovely evening with lots of young in groups and couples partying and picnicking in the sunshine along the lawns beneath the very fine trees.
In town, I ask myself how can it be that in a highly populated country there seems to be so much space and no motor traffic, in fact from my experience cars are a rarity and there is absolutely no doubt about it but that bicycle have seriously been given the highest priority of any form of traffic. The few cars that there are pay homage to both bikes and pedestrians - I know it seems unlikely but it is true. Conversely it has to be said that any aggressive driving tendencies have been bestowed on some of the cyclists - you really do have to watch out as they take no prisoners. What I like about visiting new places ( we were actually here in 1999 ) is the surprises you find - the discovery of the obvious, the quirky or the entirely new such as the use of drones - yes drones to cut the grass under the lowest bushes and up and down gradients which would make most sit on operators blanch with fear - all controlled by a man with what looked like a Gameboy controller. This drone incidentally had spikey wheels which conditioned the lawns at the same time as climbing mountains - OK,, I know we are in Holland. Then, looking a little closer at the rudders on many cherrished Dutch craft, there is often an amusing carved figure such as a walrus or a man smoking a pipe for example - I suppose a bit like the opposite to a figurehead. Even the graffiti come upon, which was very little, we found positive and a sense of art and fun with a blank brick wall made to look like a row of traditional Dutch houses.
Many examples of excellent sculpture to be seen and by our lovely parkland mooring we found a super bronze of a lady cyclist capturing everything one sees in the determined lady cyclists pedalling against all comers and at all costs.
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