There’s a saying amongst boating cruisers: Cruising is boat work – or in our case, make that renovations – in exotic places. How true that is, as this week Bob and I worked at a pace to complete painting and varnishing the pilot house. By late Saturday, the pilot house reno was finished, with the […]
Week 1 1st to 7th May, 2018 At last, the long awaited 2018 European journey has commenced. The 1st of May saw Bob and I embarking the plane for a flight that took us from the heat of Bali to the chill of Vlissingen in the Netherlands. On arrival at Gratis, it was to find […]
The province of Zeeland isn’t that large, so the towns are a hop and a skip apart. On departing Veere, it was a short 8km motor that took us to the beautiful old town of Middelburg. The moorings situated on the outer edge of the old township were peaceful and the view of the 16th/17th […]
Taking the road to Arnemuiden Bob and I then trained it to Goes (pronounced ‘goose’). Today’s trip was a journey through crop country in which corn, spinach, onions and potatoes abounded. The roads were a thrum with the sound of tractors, as crops of onion and spuds were in the process of being harvested and […]
A short 3km motor south across the Veerse Meer brought us to the tiny township of Veere. Situated on the shoreline of the Western Scheldt, the township was once a busy sea port for Scottish ships, and its old harbour now houses pleasure boats. The history of Veere commenced in the 1200s as the small […]
Fishing boats were out on the Oosterschelde where tall sapling trunks marked their channels were placed. With it being close to low tide, the guides were necessary. Having passed beneath the last of the major bridges for the year, we passed through the lock that led us from the Oosterschelde National Park into the Veerse Meer, where […]
How packed and long are our days, and what days are they!! A short trip along the canals brought us to to the bucket list item of the day: the Het Schipvaartmuseum. The royal barge built for the first king of the kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815 was exquisite. There was plenty to see in […]
On our departure from Zierikzee, Bob and I were in the process of exiting the channel when a blue yacht drew our eye. Imagine our surprise on realising it was ‘Kind of Blue’, the owners of whom we first met on the far – off island of Cocos Keeling way back in June of 2014. […]
A quick visit to the Tower to look the now uncovered period costumes. Another beautiful tower. And time for a break.
Days of drab grey cloud came to an end as fog and soft blue skies welcomed us upon waking. Time to move on, Gratis crossed the flat Zuid Vlije, passed through Krammersluizen (jachtsluizen) – no radio or phone number here, the lock operator opens the gate when he/she sees you. On exiting into the Zijpe, […]
Another two items on the bucket list ticked today. Initiated by the Amsterdam council in 1638 as a medicinal herb garden, Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam is among the oldest botanical gardens in the world. In those days, medicines were created from herbs and with the plague running rampant through Europe at the time, the race […]
A tram trip or two took us south of Amsterdam to Sloten. Just loved the Molen Van Sloten and Kuiperijmuseum! Run by volunteers, our guide was a font of information. This photograph was beautiful – my image of it doesn’t do it justice, but you get an idea. This image shows the levels of Amsterdam in […]
This was market day! First off, the Dappermarkt. Other than for a few food stalls that served foods not usually found in these markets, it didn’t hold our interest, so on we dinghied. The Noordermarkt, now that was worth the effort! A wide variety of healthy fresh bio foods, numerous cheese stalls – one of […]
In a combination of cycle and train journey, Bob and I travelled to the modern township of Lelystad. An unexpected tour through the exquisite Zuigerplas, with its creeks, lake and multitude of wood and heath areas. This was a large parkland and pond area that was created from the sand extracted when the dyke that now […]
Day two of the Bucket List to in The Nemo Science Centre. Adults, let out your inner child. One has need to experience the electrical buzz in the atmosphere, as words can’t describe this place! Fun packed floors of activities (work labs and lectures), covering all areas of science, there is something to find there […]
A few short hours of motoring took us from the smaller canals to the main waterway and western edge of Amsterdam. The chart plotter was a mass of black triangles – each one represented a watercraft that carried AIS. After travelling through the western canal, we discovered it was impossible to reach the marina that […]
The Huis Van Hilde Museum was so worth the time. This wasn’t a place that dealt with showing the artefacts. The Dutch really do fantastic work in this realm. One of the things that set this museum apart was the way many real life figures that had been reconstructed from their skeletal remains. It really brought […]
First thing this morning, Little G2 was lowered, and to the gorgeous village of De Rijp headed we. De Rijp, we discovered, is a township in which many building are constructed of wood and where the lone canal runs through the centre of town. There were several museums, quite a surprise in a township so […]
A lovely rainy day in which we motored toward the tiny town of De Rijp. The final bridge was, sadly, too low and not a lifter, so Bob motored Gratis into a free berth in front of the closed B&B. There, we spent the afternoon relaxing, whilst the rain continued falling.
Settled inside the marina, away from the barge traffic, Bob and I settled into to explore Alkmaar. In one word, ‘delightful’ describes the township of Alkmaar perfectly. We loved the few canals that surrounded the old centre as we wended our way through them in Little G2. The old Protestant – ex Catholic – church […]
