Our position is 50:42.274N 05:18.123E

Distance travelled: 14.6Nm

We left Volandam late, having made the most of the facilities and were able to sail out into the Markermeer heading for the locks at Enkhuizen, which would take us out into the Ijsselmeer and Lemmer for the next part of the canal journey to Delfzijl.

 Waving goodbye to Volendam

For once the wind was in the South and only around F4 so we ran with just the poled out genoa and enjoyed some sunshine.

 There’s always jobs to be done

Unfortunately it didn’t last and by the time we reached the locks in the mid-afternoon it was gusting F6 and rain was threatening. The Netherlands Coastguard had been announcing this as a gale warning and we didn’t really fancy another 4 hours sailing to Lemmer so we ducked into one of the marinas at Enkhuizen for a bit of well-deserved rest. It has felt a bit intensely non-stop since we set out in spite of the enforced rest at Ostend.

It had been fairly chaotic going into the Enkhuizen locks with a strong cross wind and all these other big boats. The barge was not my idea of recreational

The attractions of Enkhuizen

These little fellows and their mum kept hanging round our boat in the marina – they were surprisingly noisy – but seemed to enjoy the ride