Postcard from Lemmer

So, out onto the Ijsselmeer and on to Hindeloopen, a lovely little fishing village. In the days when the Zuider Zee was salt water, it's fleet would have sailed to far distant places. Now, of course, the Ijsselmeer (it's new name since it was dammed from the sea) is a lovely fresh water lake that is so large that with the curvature of the earth, the trees seem to come up out of the sea as you journey towards your destination.

4 days in Hindeloopen sheltering from pretty foul weather – wet, windy, cold - a bit like it was in the UK really.

We loved watching these children learn about their fishing heritage!

Hindeloopen marina has very cheeky sparrows

Hindeloopen in the rain

The old fishing harbour

Let's not go sailing today!

Dramatic evening sky over the huge marina was followed by  ...

the most amazing rainbow - huge and complete  with a second visible too

The large lounge which we used to avoid the rain!

We set off on a breezy morning with a brisk north-westerly wind F4-5 and sailed south to Stavoren … and that's where our troubles started.

Foolishly, we tried to cut the corner of the Vrouwezand but put poor old Andromeda into water that wasn't quite deep enough to float her! We had sailed her in and so quickly had to get the sails off the boat before we were driven on further. After a nervous few moments we were relieved to see a Dutch inflatable rescue boat that patrols that area especially for twits like us. He pulled us off and sent us on our way. We think there may be a salvage bill in the post!

Being towed off the sand by the rescue boat

We safely reached our planned destination of Lemmer and had the boat lifted out of the water by a friendly boatyard. Nervously we watched as the boat came up. We had chipped a few small pieces of gelcoat off the fibreglass on the rudder but the keels showed no sign of damage and there was no bilge water in the boat. Phew!   We were lucky bunnies!  Thank goodness our Westerly yacht is a tough old boat.

There may be a little irony at this moment!

Once this relief set in we could enjoy Lemmer and a delightful bike ride to see some huge locks on the Princess Margaret canal, handling large commercial barges, and then on to the small “village” of Sloten which is actually one of the eleven cities of Friesland – much smaller than Southwold. Lunch by the canalside was so picturesque.

Playing with our food!

We were far too complacent and shambolically inaccurate with our navigation on our way here. When we set off again we shall be contrite, with our tails between our legs, and have resolved to be more diligent with our navigation.  The Ijsselmeer may not be tidal but it still needs treating with great respect and creates its own special problems for the yachtsman.

Post card from Harlingen

The sail from Vlieland to Harlingen was definitely photogenic – the large sailing barges seem to collect passengers from Harlingen and take them out to the islands, and we timed it just right to be sailing the other way – what a glorious sight.   It had us wondering whether Britain still had so many traditional boats in regular use – I fear not. 

 We went through a couple of bridges into the Nooderhaven and found a berth right opposite the Raadhuis (Town Hall) which has a tower (hidden behind the tree!) that holds a carillon which chimed and played a variety of delightful tunes every hour and half hour from 7am til 10pm. At 10 it is followed by a small “obedience” bell which tells the town that it is time for bed!

The warm (yes, really) weather persuaded us to have a lazy afternoon wandering around the town and finding excuses to drink tea and eat ice cream. We loved having such a pretty town at the end of our berth and enjoyed another self-guided tour the following day. It seems that a local, very rich buttermaker formed a foundation to restore many of the buildings and they have done an excellent job. I also liked the way that even the modern development reflected the older style. 

Chris mimicking the lion guarding the bridge!

Is this story from the Harlingen area, or just generally Dutch?

There were lots of similar bits of detail on houses - this one seemed appropriate for us!

Considering a new restoration project?  Think you need a bottomless purse!

Evening across the Waddenzee

We called in to the cemetery in Harlingen - there seem to be a few Commonwealth War Graves in most of the cemeteries, mostly from air crew during the second part of the war.  There was also a moving memorial to the Jews of the area who had not returned from Concentration Camps.

Another cycling day took us a little way inland. Many of the Fresian villages date back to the times when the village was built on a slight mound to avoid the marshy land around. Now all of the land is dry, mostly agricultural, with drainage ditches … and wonderfully flat for cycling! No wonder the Dutch have developed such an excellent cycle network – almost every road has a “Fietspad” alongside and often there is another route well away from any traffic.

Ordinary life

Traditional farmhouse

Leaving Harlingen we had a glorious, gentle sail along to the huge lock at Kornwerderzand. This is at one end of the amazing 1930s engineering feat that is the Afsluitdijk – the massive dam that closes off the Ijsselmeer. Nowadays it is almost impossible to imagine that it was once sea virtually down to Amsterdam.  The motorway along the dam shows how transport has changed over more recent years.  As we went through the lock we said goodbye to tidal waters for a few weeks.

Look at the tide on that buoy - thanks for the help!

Martins nesting under the lock-keepers tower

Lock gates - goodbye Waddenzee, for this year

Postcard from Vlieland

It has been worth sitting through some gales to have the days in between when we could enjoy the little island of Vlieland. Virtually no traffic, cycle paths and footpaths through idyllic woodland and across dunes, a picturesque village. the best baker's shop ever – it has been heaven. 

I was excited to find this orchid ...

... then later saw all these!

The two days of gales have been spent doing chores on the boat, battling our way to the village and taking our turn to be the rotten yachtsmen watching others struggle to get their boats safely into the harbour.

These large sailing barges are waiting for their turn to try an entry to the harbour

We struggled into this harbour in much the same way, except that our boat is somewhat smaller, but both the wind and the tide were tearing across the entrance, making the approach extremely difficult. It was also quite intimidating to have a small crowd on the harbour entrance just waiting for you to make a mistake – the boat in this picture got safely through but at least four similar ones didn't and they gave the piling on the side of the harbour a pretty brutal crunch.

This one is about to take his turn

Somehow all of this lot managed to get in and moored up sheltering from the gale. Some Greek harbours are called “mandraki” which means sheepfold – looking at this picture you can see why!

We think there were sixteen or so in the end!

We went to a baroque music concert in the church - complete change of  activity

Tomorrow we are back out into the Waddenzee, heading to the ancient seaport of Harlingen.  Somehow I think we may be coming back to visit Vlieland another year.  We have both loved it here.